Thread by @Noahpinion

1/Today's @bopinion post is about the UAW strike at GM.

I'm happy to see unions striking more. Hopefully this is the start of a union renaissance.

But the UAW strike itself may backfire for workers.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

2/Strong unions helped build the American middle class of the mid 20th century.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

3/In fact, our whole idea of manufacturing jobs as "good jobs" probably comes from the fact that they were heavily unionized.

fivethirtyeight.com/features/ameri…

4/A labor union comeback -- especially SECTORAL unions -- is exactly what we need to transform local service jobs into "good jobs".

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

5/And there is no more potent or powerful symbol of union power than the UAW striking against GM.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuther%2…

6/BUT...BUT...it's not 1950 anymore. And the auto industry may be uniquely unsuited to the kind of union revival we need in America.

7/Globalization has created a very different environment for car manufacturers.

8/GM and Ford are no longer big fish in a small pond.

9/GM and Ford are thus facing an internationally competitive market that they didn't face in 1950. And that means the "Treaty of Detroit" may simply no longer be viable.

economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview…

10/"OK," you might say. "Fine. We protect our markets with tariffs, and then we won't have to deal with international competition. MAGA!!"

Well, no. In 1950, the U.S. WAS the auto market. Now most of the market is outside our borders.

finance.yahoo.com/news/gm-sold-m…

11/Global competition isn't "GM competing with Toyota to sell cars in Pennsylvania." That's 1979 you're thinking of, not 2019.

Today, global competition means "GM competing with Toyota to sell cars in Shenzhen."

And in Shenzhen, the U.S. has no power to put tariffs on Toyota.

12/Thus, the UAW strike, and other similar action, could simply end up making U.S. car companies uncompetitive in key markets, forcing them to shutter plants, lay off workers, etc.

13/Does this mean unions are useless or bad for auto manufacturers?

NO!!!

It just means that the tactics that worked in 1950 need to be updated.

The UAW should adopt the more pragmatic, far-sighted, cooperative approach of German manufacturing unions!

hbr.org/2017/03/the-re…

14/This sort of far-sighted, pragmatic approach is all the more important because of climate change.

GM makes internal combustion cars. It is going to have to switch to making electric cars, very quick.

It needs labor's help to do this. Confrontation will hamstring it.

15/It's in the vast domestic service sector where a confrontational attitude and big dramatic strikes, make more sense.

ktla.com/2019/09/16/mor…

16/Labor unions are very important for America's future. But the new labor movement won't look just like the one in 1950. It can't.

(end)

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…