Courtesy of United Auto Workers
In a confusing turn of events, the UAW is reaching out internationally in order to strengthen its domestic business. The union appears to have a two-prong strategy.
First, it's attempting to unionize auto plants located in the South. This has been a goal for some time. Automakers have so far outmaneuvered the UAW's attempts to unionize its southern plants. Key aspects of their winning strategy include the following:
- locating plants in economically depressed areas where well paying jobs are scarce and anti-union sentiment is high
- working closely with state lawmakers to resist any union-friendly legislation
- closely monitoring any organizing attempts
- suggesting that a successful union drive could cause plants to move
While not exemplary, compared to other companies and industries, these tactics are tame and perfectly legal.
To get around these obstacles, the UAW created the "Global Organizing Institute" which trains interns from Asian and European countries who have auto plants located in the South. After six weeks of training, these interns are supposed to take what they learned and apply pressure to those companies in their home countries. Presumably, they will argue that foreign (US) workers are treated worse than domestic (Asian and European) workers.
Cost is the number one reason for carmakers to locate plants abroad. Those costs are multi-faceted and consist of foreign currency risk, regulatory costs, cost of input materials, plant and equipment and the cost of labor. Considering that companies such as BMW have had production facilities in the US for some time and no German autoworkers are at risk of losing their jobs because of that, I suspect this type of argument will not gain traction.
The second approach the UAW is taking is to create a global solidarity movement by forging close ties with autoworker unions in other countries. The aim of this tactic has not been clearly explained. One paper, quoted Mr. Holifield, UAW vice president, saying the aim is to help "the companies that we all represent be that much more prosperous" and "to provide a forum that will aid in finding common ground." What does that mean? Perhaps it’s as simple as learning from the Italian unions just how exactly Chrysler and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne managed to reduce their bargaining power so the UAW doesn't suffer the same fate.
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