The real political problem as reported by the NYT in its article on the new GM plant http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/13/business/with-chevrolet-sonic-gm-and-uaw-reinvent-automaking.html in a nutshell:
"The radically revamped factory here operates with fewer and cheaper workers, many of whom are paid $14 an hour rather than the full U.A.W. wage of $28 an hour. [...] The U.A.W.'s president, Bob King, said the union considered the significance of a competitive subcompact to G.M.'s overall product lineup. [...] "We are committed to the success of the company," Mr. King said recently. "We had to talk about a business model that makes sense." Any thoughts on this constellation? At 16:07 13.07.2011, Louis Proyect wrote: >NY Times July 12, 2011 >With Sonic, G.M. Stands Automaking on Its Head >By BILL VLASIC > >ORION TOWNSHIP, Mich. The only subcompact car being built on >American soil will soon roll out of an assembly plant here in >suburban Detroit that is as unusual as the car itself. > >The production line has been squeezed into half the space of a >traditional plant. Welding robots are concentrated in efficient >clusters, instead of being spaced along the line, while many of >the workers earn half the typical union wage. Even the first coat >of rust-proofing has been reformulated so that it is one-hundredth >as thick as and thereby cheaper than the coating on other cars. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
