One day I am going to stop fighting them and just join them. The audacity of the BQPFRC has my respect. I have to admit my envy. Regardless of how the past truthfully transpired, their version of events has them coming out smelling like a rose.
This quote captured my attention. It was the reactions of two individuals that heard Jackson's words:
His message came at the right time, said 27-year-old Jonathan Guest of Detroit.
"We need to stand behind them and fight for them," he said of the auto industry and its workers.
It all made sense, said Doris Jordan-Smith of Detroit. The auto industry's jobs crisis has affected others outside the car companies, said the 65-year-old insurance company marketer. "We fought to get those jobs. We've got to fight to keep them," she said.
Detroit NAACP president Wendell Anthony attributed the rise of the black middle class to the auto industry, which was honored at the dinner.
"Detroit is still the motor city capitol of the world," Anthony said. "Standards have been set and innovations have been met."
I have argued for a long time that industry built the city of Detroit and other Northern cities. The presence of abundant jobs attracted Blacks to move that way from the South. From this came the Black Middle class.
I also note the key importance that organized labor has had in this entire scenario. Initially the owners of the corporations received the bulk of the benefit from the operations while the employees worked in horrid conditions with little pay. The efforts of organized labor helped increase the size of the slice of the pie into the workers pockets. From this came a thriving city and a thriving middle class.
Most people prefer to stop right here and make the case that everyone lived "happily ever after". If they do talk about the crash of Detroit it will be spun toward the story of GREEDY CORPORATIONS. They sought to maximize their profits and thus started building manufacturing plants in "Right To Work States" to avoid union rules or they moved to Mexico to exploit their workers. We never hear about any "greed" from the organized labor side of the equation.
If we are dealing with two sides sitting at the negotiating table why is it that the interests of one is presumed to be "greed" and "maximized profits while the interests of the other side are all golden? They desire to achieve a "fair pay rate" for the workers - how can anyone argue against this? The truth is, however, that the unions went too far. They too often saw the corporation as their enemy rather than noting that the firm was engaged in a cage fight with both domestic and then foreign competitors that sought to take market share from them.
For too long there was an abstraction between the market realities that the Big 3 faced and the compensation packages received by the employees. Oh yes, we can talk about executive employee pay packages but it is not too popular to talk about rank and file compensation packages.
Jesse Jackson, the NAACP, the UAW and other progressive labor entities stood against these companies. They are the key forces that drove up the cost doing business in the Detroit area. The employees that backed their position now stand as economic victims of following along.
The small "tremors" that management sought to extract back from the employees over the years have turned into a major earthquake as the stress that was being built up on the fault line has been relieved as these firms now stand near bankruptcy.
You have to give Jesse Jackson and the NAACP credit. They are not going to stand accountable for their part in the pressure from organized labor. Instead they will claim that they fought the VALIANT FIGHT against the corporation.
WHAT DETROIT NEEDS TODAY!!
Take a step back and listen. Listen to the words that are used. "Fight" and "Struggle". These are the key forces that built Detroit up and, if you believe them, these are the forces that will bring it back to life.
My key challenge to the ideology that now dominates the area: With you running the board now - WHO ARE YOU GOING TO 'FIGHT/STRUGGLE' AGAINST NOW?
Anyone who reads my thoughts know that I don't believe that progressivism is an organic ideology. With Detroit possession a bunch of raw resources, scattered at its feet there needs to be a force that comes in and orders these resources into a system of production. The Progressives are more prone to go to Washington DC and "fight" to draw resources that were generated elsewhere (today they are generated from the Federal Reserve out of thin air) than they are inclined to agree to the conditions that will create a favorable investment environment.
With hundreds of thousands of people in this metro area (and others around the USA) seeking an outlet by which they can exchange their labor and talent for money and experiences upon which to grow - the time is now for the forces that now dominate to take the lead and put forth the jobs that will lead us to "The American City 3.0". As a skeptic I see far too may strategic flaws in their agenda to belief that they will achieve this while following this present course.
1 comments:
Great points! No one really speaks about what the unions did to the car industry and factory jobs. At one time, unions were very much needed and they fought for a good much needed fight. But somewhere along the way, things got twisted or either they wanted revenge for all the years big business took advantage of them and went way too far.
There's no way a company can survive and pay 100% medical bills and many of the other demands the unions have made. Instead of looking towards each other as partners, they turned into enemies. The only thing is that the union needed the companies more because without them, they do not have jobs and that is where their bargaining has left them.
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