As we approach the holidays I am sure you are all wondering about the economy. I have a lot to say about this subject but I thought that in a nicer merrier season we might take a look at one of the many reasons we are in deep doo doo. (I am trying to clean up my act.)
CLICK HERE TO WATCH VIDEO OF FORD PLANT IN BRAZIL
Having lived through a depression, and any number of recessions in future blogs I will have some suggestions as to how we begin to think about alternative economic models. Have a great holiday in spite of it all. RS
1 comment:
The Ford plant in Brazil is quite amazing, but really just a step forward from other plants, Bob, that you and I saw 30 years ago (like Volvo's Kalmar plant in Sweden, where teams of workers built the whole car). Like foreign companies setting up in the US, Ford headed for a rural area without a history of labor strife and, I gather, no unions (they were not mentioned). And like a lot plants then and now in the US, there are limited status differentials and lots of teamwork. Integration of suppliers is unusual in US terms, but a logical next step. Too bad the announcer had to get the obligatory dig in at the UAW, our best and most progressive union. There's a long history, as you well know, why unions distrust management and have problems integrating suppliers with usually lower pay/benefits inside the same plant. But that may come even here, with companies facing extinction. We have to remember what my old friend Irving Bluestone, UAW VP used to say, "Companies get the unions they deserve." Memories of the Battle of the Underpass die hard. Ford, of course, is now the most advanced-minded of the auto companies. Even when I was living/working in Detroit Ford was known among union circles as the company you go to for principle, GM for money. It's true that the auto industry's labor contracts are a big part of what's killing them now vs cheaper foreign competitors even within our own boundaries. But in a country with no national health insurance and weak Social Security, it is hard to blame the unions for getting what they could when they could. Now it comes back to haunt them. When I was in Detroit (1980-86) I remember a GM manager saying that identicle Oldsmobiles were built in two plants, one in MI the other in Ontario. The MI car's cost was $2,000 more than the car built in Ontario, because GM had to factor health care costs into the MI car's cost total--and price. The best thing we could do for the auto industry right now--and for any export dependent or threatened industry--is get those health costs out of the products' prices via national health insurance! Go, Barack!
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