Buffalo News (New York), October 8, 2007, Monday

Copyright 2007 Buffalo News
Buffalo News (New York)

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News

October 8, 2007, Monday

SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL NEWS

HEADLINE: Union-bashing in a union town: In brief UAW strike, calls for solidarity ring hollow as some in job force voice no love lost for organized labor

BYLINE: Fred O. Williams, The Buffalo News, N.Y.

BODY:
Oct. 8--As members of an exclusive group with high pay and benefits, they have a lofty sense of entitlement. Corporate executives?
Actually, the description was aimed at blue-collar autoworkers, the vanguard of the working class.
"I have no sympathy for these overpaid, underworked slackers," one local factory worker named Jim wrote on a Buffalo News Web log. "I have no pension; I'm not guaranteed lifetime health care."

The two-day strike last month at General Motors Corp. drew an outpouring of support for the United Auto Workers. But it also drew a barrage of criticism, exposing a rift in the Buffalo Niagara community and among the ranks of working people.

"No one on this plan[e]t can get a UAW job, unless you have a family member working already," another anonymous Web writer said.

Whether it has any basis, the anonymous griping is widespread enough to show a broad vein of resentment against the UAW -- surprising in a union stronghold like Buffalo.
The barbs were thrown on the day that the UAW walked out of GM plants around the country, including the 1,500-job Town of Tonawanda Engine Plant.

Union members locally are set to vote today on the tentative agreement that ended the strike. The four-year deal sets wages at $28 an hour and includes $13,056 in additional pay and benefits, the UAW estimates.
Of 30 blog posts about the strike on The News Web site, 12 were critical of the UAW. About the same number defended the union, and the rest were neutral. The autoworkers union holds a place in history as advancing the rights of U.S. factory workers in general. Auto strikes in the 1930s demonstrated the power of group action and put other employers on notice.

But during the two-day GM strike last month, critics in the region lambasted the autoworkers for boosting pay to unsustainable levels, driving jobs out of the country, increasing the cost of cars and hoarding jobs for relatives through a referral system for new employees.
Unionized jobs drop

Such a barrage might not be a surprise in other places, but it arose in a city with a strong blue-collar heritage and, with the inclusion of public employees, one of the highest levels of union membership in the country. With its history of such industrial employers as Bethlehem Steel, Trico and General Motors, Buffalo has a base of working-class traditions that respect unions.

That may be changing as union ranks thin and industry departs, leaving most workers worse off than unionized counterparts. Since 2000, the level of union membership in the region has fallen from more than 30 percent to 26 percent. Jobs in manufacturing, a union stronghold, plunged 21 percent during the same period, leaving 62,300 last year. The largely non-union service sector, with 463,000 jobs, accounts for the bulk of the employment in the area.

A regional UAW official said he understands the resentment but disagrees with it.
"We've been fortunate enough to negotiate good pay and benefits for many years, which has helped communities across the U.S. -- including this one," said Kevin Donovan, assistant director for UAW Region 9. The pay flows back into the economy, supporting the tax base and businesses, he said.
Workers who resent the pension and health care benefits of the autoworkers should have similar compensation of their own, he said.

"Those in lower wage brackets, working people who can't get health care, . . . I empathize with them, I feel everybody should have a these things," he said. The UAW is pushing for broader health coverage nationally.
Union supporters on the Internet echoed the point in stronger language.
"Instead of criticizing your fellow American worker, you should be finding out what you can do to support him, to support yourself," one wrote.

Autoworker wages have long topped the scale for factory work nationwide, and Western New York is no different. The median income for all production workers in the region is $28,210 a year, or an hourly rate of about $13.50, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than half the rate at GM.
Whether the pay gap is good or bad depends on your point of view. While critics call the UAW "greedy," union hard-liners are railing at their leadership for rolling back previous gains.

The contract on which UAW members are voting today is being called a serious effort to stop the erosion of auto industry jobs in the United States. It shifts GM's burden of retiree health care to a fund managed by the union. In return, GM guarantees work at U.S. plants.

The UAW built up pay and benefits during the decades when the Big Three reaped high profits and faced little threat of foreign competition, said Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations in Buffalo.

"A lot of it stems from jealousy," he said of UAW critics. Even other unions can't hope to match the autoworker package that includes pension and health care after 30 years on the job.
But Wheaton doesn't buy the argument that high UAW wages pushed car makers to move production overseas. Wages would have to fall more than 90 percent to be competitive with those in China, he said.

More pay for others

On the other hand, the chance of being organized by the UAW spurs other manufacturers here to pay more than they would otherwise. "Transplant" automaker Toyota, for example, pays about $25 an hour at its U.S. plants.

"There's no way Toyota would pay anywhere near that if they didn't have the threat of being organized," Wheaton said.

For Buffalo factory workers earning a fraction of UAW pay, that's not much comfort. Jim, 45, said he earns $12.50 an hour as a machinist at a small company. He pays $23 a week from his pay for health care and dental. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job.

"It's very galling to me to see these people strike for the kind of wages they make," he said.
As a former manager at GM in Tonawanda, Gordon Marinoff of Amherst has another perspective. He managed the former Chevrolet foundry, a part of the plant complex that was later torn down. He blames both management and union for inflexible practices that caused the company to shrink jobs while rivals gained market share.

"I believe in unions, but not the way they operate today," he said. "The golden goose is just about finished."

fwilliams@buffnews.com
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