Sunday, December 14, 2008
Why management does not like labor unions
If you ever wondered what union work rules look like, click here.
Labor union work rules were designed for an era when businesses did not have to change quickly. It has always been true that businesses either adapt or they die, but the pace of change has accelerated enormously since the Detroit Three and the UAW carved the ruts in which they are both stuck. Now and probably forever after, the only successful adaptation is rapid adaptation. I cannot imagine how it would be possible to adapt at "internet speed" remaining in compliance with more than 900 pages of rules.
If you click through the link and read some of the actual rules at random. For example, randomly scrolling to page 349 (of 934) we get this:
During these negotiations, the parties discussed the issue of reflecting jointly identified efficiencies in the cost analysis associated with the sourcing of components/operations at a facility.
This letter confirms that such cost efficiencies agreed to by the parties, e.g., Competitive Operating Agreements and Continuous Improvement actions, that are directly tied to the component/operation within the facility and have a commitment as well as a requisite implementation plan that meet agreed-upon timing, will be taken into account by the Company when determining the business case of the component/operation under review.
Huh? You need the company's law department even to understand that. Scroll through the two reams of rules and you will realize that this is a business model for a bygone era and a bygone market share. No business that is not a protected monopoly can adapt quickly enough to survive if every decision becomes a subject for the interpretation of a rule, yet that is the fine mess that the UAW and the Detroit Three have made for themselves. It is ridiculous, and anybody who has run a modern manufacturing company knows it.
CWCID: Ace.
3 Comments:
By 
smitty1e, at
Sun Dec 14, 09:43:00 PM:
As a sailor, I look at a union, and see a mutiny waiting to happen.
I realize that unions have done important work in protecting people from abusive management, in an acute sense.
In a chronic sense, let's not kid ourselves: they are a solution in search of a problem.
By 
, at
Sun Dec 14, 09:53:00 PM:
Unions originated before we had laws to protect workers form abusive employers.
OSHA has replaced the need for unions.
Unions are leeches, they suck the life out of businesses.
By Purple Avenger, at
Sun Dec 14, 10:52:00 PM:
I'm sure those UAW members will have no problem getting jobs in a business where the pace of competitive change isn't as fast...like...lawn care.
