The union and if they are helping or hurting?
In many ways the history of the unions is one of helping the working public because in this history many terrible things did happen and people were often considered an expendable force.
Most people understand that in the past people who had to work in factories were abused and that unions were necessary in order for many of these bad faith practices that caused injury and death to the labor force to be addressed.
Unions were needful things.
Looking at what is going on right now though it seems that the unions may be harming its members rather than doing the right and appropriate thing.
When deciding to go on strike there are of course numerous things to consider.
One of the most striking things in this particular situation is the idea that the big three auto manufacturers have profited from increased prices during the covid years, 2019 to 2023…
So from 2019 to 2023 the big auto manufacturers they made a lot of money.
They did make a lot of money from a situation where people were prohibited from shopping, so they did it online and that created higher prices because if you wanted a new car you had to pay more for that car.
The thing here that seems strange is the idea that the unions want more money from the past three years because they do not think it is fair that the business made more money but they made the same money?
That seems strange to many people!
Can you go back in the past and say hey you made more money but we did not get our share of that extra money?
No that is not how it works but it would seem that this is exactly what the UAW want to do and that is never going to happen.
So the price is high and higher and the UAW continue to up the bet with strikes.
Increased prices for cars, trucks, automobiles.
Inflation has been a really big issue and it is something that has reached a point where the average household cannot afford to buy a new automobile.
The average price for a new truck is over $70,000.00
The price for a new diesel truck is over $85,000.00 this hurts farmers, construction companies, even landscape companies who need heavy duty trucks that can pull heavy loads and diesel engines are the most economical way to do that work.
Families are having a hard time keeping up with the cost of groceries.
Inflation has caused a great deal of harm for everyone in this economy.
How can the average family afford to pay $65,000.00 for a small four door car!
The answer is they cannot afford the payments and that is reflected in the number of repossessions that are taking place.
Repos are going up every month to the point that there is actually a huge surplus in cars and the big auctions are flooded with used low mileage cars that people have turned in because they cannot afford the high payments.
So what are families doing about this problem.
They are buying used cars which are also selling at a higher than normal price.
When you begin to look at what is going on in the economy plus the writers and actors strike which is also going on right now then you have to begin to wonder if this UAW strike is really prudent.
The perfect bad economic storm?
There are dark clouds on the horizon with respect to a third event that could realistically happen soon and that event is the debt and the possible shutdown of the government.
The true risk in this UAW strike is that if the economy gets really bad not only will people stop buying new cars, (which they really already have) then the demand for new cars may actually go so low that the big auto manufacturers may choose to stop making cars for a while.
If that happens then many of these people that are striking for a 46 percent increase in pay and some other things that in this economy the manufacturers cannot afford to pay unions for a 40 hour work week while the union workers only work 32 hours?
Wait what? That does not make any sense at all.
It is strange mostly because it is not a reasonable thing to ask for but also because it makes it so that the factories cannot hire part time employees.
So they want to create a situation where the auto manufacturers have no control over their own business.
That is a big issue and it is likely that many of these jobs that are currently in contention by this strike may go away or worse may end up in another country because they will not be able to hire people here.
That is the real risk here.
It is a big problem and you can see how with inflation these striking workers have the same problems with inflation as everyone else has.
Everyone is hurting right now.
During a media interview one striking auto worker made the statement that they could not afford to buy the cars and trucks they were making.
That is true but also most car buyers cannot afford to buy these same cars and if no one can afford to buy a car?
What does this mean for the striking union labor worker?
When the cost of a car is so high that few people can afford to buy them?
The truth here is that what goes up must come down!
That is the truth because prices cannot just continue to go up and up and up.
That is what is going on the prices keep getting higher and higher.
It really looks like all of these striking unions may be well intentioned but they may have chosen the wrong moment in history to begin a long strike.