MIGRATION FROM THE MOTOR CITY: UAW a hard sell in Southern comfort

Detroit Free Press ^ | 8-28-03 | Jennifer Dixon

[Dan from Michigan]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- For eight years, Pat Saltkill has struggled to do what has never been done before -- start a union at a foreign-owned auto factory in the South.

Now, he's so burned out and so discouraged that he's retiring as president of the Labor Council of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, a coalition of 47 unions.

[Dan from Michigan]

They hinted that if the workers voted for the UAW, "people from Michigan would come down and get your jobs," Saltkill recalls. "They'd say, 'You don't want people from the North telling you what to do.' "

And that's true. There's a LOT of midlevel bureaucrats that will be running things. A lot of the 'benefits' would be with companies that are buddies of the union bosses. David Bonior types will be paying a lot of visits to your area, and no one will give a damn about who the union is supposed to help. Oh yeah, did I mention goon squads?

Workers say they also are shown video clips in break rooms of past auto strikes and headlines about layoffs at unionized automakers or factories closer to home.

Ever been to Flint, Willow Run, Pontiac, Highland Park, or Detroit?

The company fought back, they say, showing videos in the break rooms of past strikes and violence. Some of the footage was so old that the people pictured were wearing bell-bottoms, one of the workers says

It's old so what? The union goons still do that stuff today. Ask Don Adams. Ask the Gray Davis recall backers.

paint the union as a Northern institution and its leaders as crooked fat cats.

They ARE, and they will be fat cats in the South as well!!!

[Dan from Michigan]

Abortion coverage new goal for UAW [United Auto Workers]

[BlueLancer]

I've found the best way to keep my union rep out of my office ...

I have an autographed picture of Ronald Reagan on prominent display on my wall. She won't enter the office and, if she tries to talk to me from outside the room .. before I shut the door on her .. she makes sure that she's standing in such a position that she can't see the picture.

Now if it would just work to keep the other roaches out of my office.

[southernbychoice]

There was an article in yesterday's Free Press on this subject...about southern factories threatening the UAW. Somebody in Detroit got their boxers in a wad about the south?

[eno_]

Of course they never ask the question "Could it have anything to do with the UAW being corrupt and people not wanting their pension to be the piggy bank for the mob?"

[Texas_Dawg]

They ARE, and they will be fat cats in the South as well!!!

No they won't because people in the South don't like unions. Never have, never will.

[Texas_Dawg]

The UAW promises that in return for its dues -- a tax-deductible amount equaling two hours of pay a month -- the union offers workers job security, especially when they are hurt on the job, dignity and a voice in disputes with supervisors.

...and to help elect every anti-conservative, left-wing radical running in elections across the country and world.

[Grammy]

Tennessee, a right to work state. I love it!

[1Old Pro]

Well, if unions are out of manufacturing one of two things will happen, Companies will make more money at current price levels or car prices will drop.

[Sloth]

Southerners don't like unions because they know they're evil. It's that simple.

[bourbon]

(((MS PING)))

My prediction is that the union issue will be a big issue in MS in the years to come. I would say that out of all the Southern auto plants the one that will be most likely to unionize is the new Nissan plant in Canton, MS. Considering the demographics of that particular region, I would surmise a higher degree of reciptivity to the union message than, say, at the Smyrna, TN facility. (For those on this thread, who aren't familiar with the area, the Canton plant is located in and draws most of its workers from a heavily black area of the state).

Also, the union can continue to pretend that dated Marxist "economics determines attitudes" theories describe everything, but they are fools not to consider culture as an obstacle to their success in the South.

[bourbon]

reciptivity = receptivity
ooops.

[Redbob]

""It's just not our time," Saltkill, 46, says with anguish in his voice."

Wake up and smell the grits!
Today's workers rely on their OWN skills, and don't need some d@mnyankee to come tell them what to do.

We just laugh at the UAW "informational pickets" outside the Peterbilt Plant in Denton, Texas
They've been trying to organize here for 22 years, and have never had more than 15% support.

[Redbob]

""It's just not our time," Saltkill, 46, says with anguish in his voice."

Wake up and smell the grits!
Today's workers rely on their OWN skills, and don't need some d@mnyankee to come tell them what to do.

We just laugh at the UAW "informational pickets" outside the Peterbilt Plant in Denton, Texas
They've been trying to organize here for 22 years, and have never had more than 15% support.

[Redbob]

""It's just not our time," Saltkill, 46, says with anguish in his voice."

Wake up and smell the grits!
Today's workers rely on their OWN skills, and don't need some d@mnyankee to come tell them what to do.

We just laugh at the UAW "informational pickets" outside the Peterbilt Plant in Denton, Texas
They've been trying to organize here for 22 years, and have never had more than 15% support.

[Redbob]

"'It's just not our time,' Saltkill, 46, says with anguish in his voice."

Wake up and smell the grits!
Today's workers rely on their OWN skills, and don't need some d@mnyankee to come tell them what to do.

We just laugh at the UAW "informational pickets" outside the Peterbilt Plant in Denton, Texas
They've been trying to organize here for 22 years, and have never had more than 15% support.

[Redbob]

SORRY!
I only posted once, but I kept gettting "failed to read headers" messages!
(mea culpa, mea culpa,...)

[wardaddy]

Blacks may go union in Canton.

All one need do is look at the Nissan plant in Smyrna's productivity and the Saturn plant in Springhill which is union....a no brainer.

Likewise, the Peterbuilt plant near my office here in Old Hickory is union and is on strike half the time and the productivity is 1/3 that of a non-union Peterbuilt plant in New Albany.

Some folks never learn. Matewan is over....dead and stinking.

Ironically, one of my neighbors is a lawyer who specializes in labor contract law for the unions. His wife is a Dem activist and sits on the school board.

But...frankly, they are both very civil and knowing I'm a right wing extremist actually pick on me less than some of my more emotive and ignorant neighbors.

[Dan from Michigan]

I saw that that posted it. It's a three part series up in Detroit.

While I'm a Ford person, I think it's great that transplant factories are opening up in the US. As long as the jobs are here instead of China, it's great.

That said, the unions and Big Three management need to sit down and make sure that the Big Three can adapt and compete here. Unions need to quit fighting about abortion coverage and the like and compromising on plants and layoffs(in exchange for bennies with companies that have buddies in union leadership), and worry about OUTSOURCING and keeping our jobs home.