The United Auto Workers and GM have reached a new contract agreement that will, no doubt, be ratified by the UAW members.
The two-day strike was nothing more than posturing, as I said the other day. Neither side was willing or able to handle an extended strike which would have been a lose-lose proposition.The UAW made some concessions that will allow GM to become more competitive with the non-union lower labor costs of the Japanese and Korean manufacturers who have populated the right-to-work southern states. GM gives assurances that it will not ship out the remaining U.S. jobs to Kuala Lumpur or some other "exotic" location where workers are uneducated, unprotected, and underpaid.
That doesn't mean the U.S. manufacturers will close up shop in foreign nations. After all, if the Chinese decide to use lead paint on the fenders, no one will worry about someone licking the fender and getting sick.Now that the UAW will be funding and managing future health care plans, it is likely that there will be increasing pressure to reduce costs because UAW members will see such care as a cost more than a benefit. I imagine there are a lot of people quietly smiling at GM about that.
That's a lot different from the attitude people would have with "free" government-funded health care. It's harder to make the connect with the taxes that are paid...