When speaking to my coworkers about the recent United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against General Motors (GM), I came across some interesting responses. I tried to frame the discussion in terms that made the UAW appear positive. I made a strong statement that the UAW won because they scared GM into making a better offer in less than 2 days. Therefore, the strike tactic was a success and is still a viable and powerful tactic against corporations. These are the responses I received:

1) I don’t care because it doesn’t affect me.

2) The UAW didn’t win, GM did because now they don’t have to pay retiree health benefits.

3) The UAW went on strike for show and called off the strike because they feared going bankrupt.

4) I’m disappointed in the management at GM for allowing the UAW to dictate their business, thereby costing GM valuable market share.

5) I don’t care about the UAW because they’re a bunch of lazy assholes. Every time I go there, they’re either on a break or changing shifts.

6) The UAW is full of a bunch of stupid, lazy people. They get 15 minutes for break but they take 30. They get 30 minutes for lunch and take an hour.

All of the above responses came from non-management workers. With workers like these, who needs union-busting management techniques?!?

The seventh type of response I received was from a manager:

7) The outcome of the strike is still unknown. They’ve only reached a tentative agreement that still needs to be ratified by the workers. It’s likely that GM didn’t give up any more than they had to, and we’ll see this all more clearly when the details of the contract are released to the public. Saying the UAW won because of the strike is simply a premature assumption that is just as likely to be false as it is to be true … in other words, it’s meaningless.

Only one coworker I spoke to about this seemed to agree that for now, it appears the UAW pressured GM into making a better offer.

So, what does all of this really mean? The people I work with are relatively anti-union. To me, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, a victory for the UAW is a victory for every worker in the United States. And by victory, I mean better working conditions, better benefits, better pay, more respect from managers, etc… To hear so much negativity towards the UAW from fellow workers is frightening. Are these people really satisfied with making less than $13/hour and being forced to work overtime? Many of the people I spoke to had families. Aren’t they interested in being able to provide more for their families? I think supporting unions in general, and the UAW in this case, is the first step to creating a better work experience in the U.S. in general, and at my work in particular. But what do I know, right?

As my frustration and confusion started growing from one negative response to the next, I decided to start asking something else. I asked, “if I told you that the UAW was going to set up in our company and your benefits would become totally paid for, you would start receiving twice your current pay, and you would no longer be forced to work overtime, would you quit?” Not surprisingly, every answer I received was ‘no.’

There’s a strange dynamic between the people I work with and the union. Maybe their jealous. Maybe their tired of being told that this is the way things are so they no longer think about the potential for positive change. Maybe they keep holding on to the thought that one day, hopefully not too long from now, they’ll be promoted to management positions themselves or one of their side projects will blossom into a thriving business. Maybe they identify with the owners and management to the point where they feel that everyone has the same interests and concerns. I don’t know what it is, but it’s definitely something.

I suppose the next question I’ll ask is, “how would you feel if you were a UAW member hearing the kind of responses that were made above?