Our Voice Now

The first big question is - should they even be bailed out?  Well, yes and no.  Yes for GM and Ford who have shown that they at least have tried fixing things prior to going to Congress and actually have plans that include cutting the salaries of management and building more fuel-efficient cars and getting those cars out sooner than planned.  Should they have done this sooner?  Yes, but live and learn.  GM is even willing to let their decisions and everyday practices be carefully watched.  Chrysler?  Chrysler by no means deserves a bailout.  Their CEO has been nothing but arrogant and condescending throughout the hearings.  They are making no concessions such as cutting the current salaries of management, instead they are merely going to not have raises (at least not this year).  He even had to audacity to say that he didn’t make that much last year - only $1.2 million.  I guess when he runs a company that even Mercedes found too expensive to hold onto $1.2 million isn’t that much.

 However, one other thing that has come out of all of this is that the unions are as much to blame for the destruction of our economy as the CEO’s and Wall Street.  I had no idea that at least the UAW employees continue to get full health benefits, completely paid for, even after they retire!  WHAT?  Name any other company that does that!  Why are we paying for them to continue to get health care when we cannot even afford our own?  Last time I checked, when people retire, they go on Medicare (not the greatest but it’s something).  The unions were necessary at the time they were formed and they are still necessary to make sure that employees are not mistreated however, over the years, the unions have also become far too powerful and greedy - they are the current day mafia in my opinion.  There are union employees working the assembly lines who are getting paid close to $100/hour.  While I would hate working an assembly line there is no way that it is worth $100/hour!

So, while if the auto makers go under it will affect millions of other companies and business owners so yes, at least GM and Ford should be helped out, the unions really need to be looked at and dealt with as well.  The unions are destroying America, the economy and jobs.  THEY are a big reason as to why jobs get shipped overseas.  It is the unions who play a big part in making it so companies don’t have a choice but to either ship overseas or go out of business.

And yes, I am a member of a union, albeit not an auto union.  But the union’s abuse of power does not sit with only the UAW, it holds true for all unions nationwide and right now a number of us in the union I’m a part of are fighting the President of our union over his pride and arrogance and greed that have cost a number of us jobs!

 So, Congress, Obama, whomever, if you really want to help get the economy back on track, keep jobs in America and help all Americans, take a long, hard look at the unions and their practices and what they have been given and maybe it’s time we take a bit back from the unions.