Here is a man bites dog story. The Caterpillar Company has closed a Canadian plant and has moved back to the United States.
The union in Canada refused to take a 50% pay cut. So, it will now take a 100% pay cut.
This is great for American workers. It is fitting for union members in Canada. “We won’t budge,” they said. “We will stand firm.” They will stand firm, holding their picket signs, permanently.
This is how freedom works. A group of workers in the USA are willing to work for the pay that Canadian union members refused to accept. The union was underbid. The liberty of American workers to underbid Canadian workers is the essence of economic liberty.
This of course is seen as an outage by Canadian workers. “Unfair labor practices” they will scream. “Scabs!” Let them scream. No one in the USA is listening.
Despite the layoffs, picketing has continued into the weekend as the now former employees call for a closure agreement from the company. The head of the Canadian Auto Workers is also calling for a public inquiry.
The collective agreement between EMD – which is owned by Caterpillar through its Progress Rail subsidiary – and the Canadian Auto Workers Local 27 ran out at the end of 2011. Over 450 workers were forced off the job at the beginning of the year after they refused a 50 per cent pay cut.
The company’s position is that labour costs were too high, an explanation that is not sitting well with critics.
The critics thought they had the company by the throat. They didn’t.
But what’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. If a worker in China or Vietnam makes a better offer to an American-owned business, and the business opens a plant in Asia, American workers should not complain. That is the price of freedom. Sometimes you get underbid.
I hope that where ever they land in the USA, will have a Right to Work in that State. Otherwise, the Unions will chase them to China.
Sorry, but comparing American and Canadian workers (union or not) to slaves in Communist China is a piss-poor reason for telling us we "should not complain". Neo-con RINO clap-trap like this smells just as bad as the Liberal flavor.
If the company tries to go to a Right to Work State the unions will do exactly what they did to Boeing – they will fight it until the company changes it's mind and go directly to China.
Unions should be outlawed – they were good for the workers 70 years ago but today all they do is put people OUT of work.
For years the unions and OUR GOVERNMENT have been killing jobs! A NATIONAL RIGHT TO WORK LAW would stop the UNIONS outrageous demands. AS for OUR GOVERNMENT DE-fund EPA would be a good beginning.
This is what happens to linear thinking people. When you think your opponent has no choice that is when you lose. I saw this with Kennecott Copper in Utah. I'm afraid my perception of the union boys is pretty dim. We are all human, but what I saw was a bunch of uneducated men who were overpaid, their wives were demanding unreasonable medical and a lot of them wanted it for valium and other perscription garbage. Kennecott closed the mine and it stayed closed for more than a decade, when it reopened it was state of the art automation. Capital is patient.
How about we shrink the size of the cabinet to: Justice, Treasury, Interior, Defense, State. All the other departments would be rolled into one of the Big 5 and in some case, such as Labor and Education, seriously downsized. We completely eliminate the unconstitutional executive agencies that have powers from all three branches as they defeat the whole point of seperation of powers.
We also make the Federal Reserve part of the Treasury Department and subject to the same rules that apply to every other bank and then we conduct a full audit.
Now that would be a good start.
Sorry Canadian unions have no say here in the US. I do not believe the Unions here should have a leg to stand on because Catapillar is not letting go of any American citizens. We'll have to wait and see how it all goes for them.
Then don't go anywhere near Chicago or you'll be toast!
Boeing won and the new Aircraft Assembly plane will open soon in SC.
Fed Res is an international, private banking cartel. They need to be shut down!
They landed in Victoria, Texas. Huge complex being built.