He's Overplaying His Hand a Little
For the first time in US history a sitting President is going to walk the picket lines with striking workers. Yes, our beloved leader Joe Biden is going to Michigan to support those striking UAW workers.
As I have said before, my hardline stance against unions has softened quite a bit. I still think they can be egregious in some of their work rules but by and large, unions have helped make their member’s lives better. There is a very important place in American history for unions and that should not be forgotten.
The writers strike in Hollywood seems to have come to an end and looking at that one objectively, I can see the reason for it. The wages these people were making were poverty level and hopefully, this new contract will help give them a living wage.
There is the opposite side to that as well. They put out crappy product and should be paid accordingly some would argue. Giving them a better wage will not make the product any better. They will be better paid, that’s it.
I am not a fan of Hollywood and what was once a source of pride for all Americans has turned into something else.
The writer’s strike and the actors guild strike mean zero to me. I watch scripted shows sure but by and large, they all suck. Billions? It has gone from a decent entertaining show to a show bordering on stupidity. Succession? Interesting start, crashed and burned the last two seasons. Blacklist? Another very entertaining show that went on for too long. I don’t watch reality TV and I don’t watch contests or races. Yellowstone? Come on. You barely can understand what Kevin Costner is saying and the plot lines border on dumb.
My point here is that the writers may be back and better paid but they will still churn out bad TV. The networks wonder where everyone has gone, all they need to do is look at their Fall lineup.
Back to lovable Joe.
President Biden wants to stand in solidarity with the UAW and “have their backs”. Pretty obvious that this is a political ploy in a swing state and what the Union members are failing to see is that the President’s Climate consciousness will eventually put a good chunk of these union members out of work.
The switch to electric vehicles is a mandate that President Biden has been pushing. “To save the planet”, he says but if the UAW looked at the numbers, they might not be so happy to have this semi-comatose man on their picket lines.
Do simple math. An electric car has roughly 90% less moving parts than a gas powered vehicle. The manufacture of an electric vehicle takes roughly 60% less people. So, the President is pushing for these new union contracts and the unions are glad to let him help but at the end of the day, his policies will effectively kill about half the union jobs he is fighting for.
The great inflation fighter is clearly on the side of what may end being another factor in the rise of inflation. Again.
The big three will settle at some point. Ford, tentatively has already. They will incur higher labor costs for sure. Be it a 4% increase or an 8% increase, autoworker wages are going up. They are fighting for some benefit relief as well. So, the big three automakers will be spending more money to have the same output (for now). Where is this money going to come from? The price of new vehicles will increase faster than the inflation rate, again. While, auto purchases are considered into inflation models, I have read that the rise in auto prices has a very minor effect on the overall CPI. I disagree for the simple reason that you own or lease a car now and you pay a set amount for that vehicle, should you want to trade it in or turn in your lease, your new vehicle will cost probably 15 to 20% more than the vehicle you had. Bottomline, your $450 a month payment is now going to be close to $500 a month.
In this day and age looking at the average wage of a UAW worker and comparing it to other union jobs you can understand why they are striking. The average UAW wage is around 28.50 an hour. Union carpenters make anywhere from 38.50 to 50 an hour. Electricians, they can make upwards of 60 dollars an hour. Granted these are trade union jobs and they have a defined skillset but still. Autoworkers can use a bump in pay.
I am sort of defending the unions in that everyone in this country is entitled to a living wage. Unions try and represent the whole and try to protect their members from labor abuses but also try to help negotiate a living wage for their members.
If you looked at President Biden as being altruistic, that is what he is trying to do. Help support union members in their fight for a living wage. However, he is not altruistic, he is a politician and as a politician he is only looking for the best optics for himself. The union members on strike should see through this phony attempt at support for what it is, trying to tilt a toss up state in his favor.
Here in lies a bigger problem with unions however and it has nothing to do with making cars. The liberal media has and always will be on the side of unions. That is a fact. Some of that stems from the fact that the bulk of employees (non-management) at all the big media companies belong to a union. They would never report negatively about any union brother/sister. Ever. On top of that, the bulk of the media in this country is run by and staffed by liberals who have a very soft place for unions. Another undeniable fact.
Take that with their love for all things Joe Biden and what you have is a media frenzy staring Joe Biden as this white knight coming in to help the impoverished workers in Detroit and other locales.
The GOP should not miss this opportunity to point out that President Biden, while showing support for the UAW, is working in Washington to destroy their present situation with an agenda that does not include the one thing these workers are great at, building gas powered vehicles.