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Highlands Today

Precarious Situation

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Dick Ford

Published: November 24, 2008

The main topic today is the "bailout" of the "Big 3" auto manufacturers. This is a very serious security situation. Our enemies are patiently watching for a weakness so they can strike us; without the auto companies, who will make our weaponry like they did in World War II?

In the past, the auto workers union was shrewd enough to play on the greed of the companies to get all kinds of "goodies."

This has resulted in a wage rate, not counting the "fringe" benefits, that is almost double that of the foreign auto manufacturers operating in the country. By threatening one company with a strike, it would capitulate, as the other two would be producing. The "Big 3," instead of resisting the union with "a strike against one is a strike against all," lost the battle, and today the union is the albatross around their necks, resulting in them being non-competitive in their industry.

Recently, I watched the speakers of the House and Senate, Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Reid, repeatedly demand "honesty" and "accountability" from auto company management. I thought, "You are really hypocrites as you are not honest and accountable to your constituents."

According to the economics department of the University of Michigan-Flint, it costs over $73 an hour to employ a union auto worker of the "Big 3."

Is it fair to ask the taxpaying worker making $25.50 an hour to save the job of the worker making $73 an hour?

Dick Ford
Sebring

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