Corporate Piracy Runs Amok

[dweller]

by Marie Cocco

Washington — Time was that when a big company demanded pay cuts of 60 percent from more than 30,000 workers in 13 states,
announced numerous plant closings, and put employees on notice that pensions and health benefits were about to be slashed,
some sort of political outcry would erupt.

That time has passed.

If there is official outrage over the bankruptcy strategy of Delphi Corp., the largest American auto-parts manufacturer, it is
imperceptible. Yes, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, whose state would bear the heaviest burden, has said her piece. Yes, the
business press has reported on the bankruptcy — laying out the usual story of an old-line manufacturer finding it so much cheaper
to produce its wares overseas that it now has no choice but to force down wages here at home.

A few have seen fit to mention the exquisitely embroidered golden parachutes the company seeks to provide for 21 top executives
who might, after all, downsize themselves out of their own jobs and so deserve a soft landing. Still, the commentary congeals
predictably around the idea that this is all the fault of the United Auto Workers, a union that's been wildly successful at winning pay
packages that allow its members to live a middle-class life.

"Unsustainable entitlement," one commentator called the UAW contracts. "Welfare," said another, as if heading for a factory before
dawn to strap on safety goggles is the moral equivalent of a day spent dawdling in front of the TV.

Published on Wednesday, October 19, 2005 by the Boulder Daily Camera (Colorado)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1019-21.htm

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