The UAW and the North-South divide

Washington Post:

People in this small town surrounding one of Nissan's busiest U.S. car plants have followed the news of the auto bailout with particular interest.

Namely, they wonder, what about us?

Nissan is a Japanese automaker, but the Altimas, Maximas and Pathfinders that roll out of the factory are built by locals who are "Americans too," they like to point out. And just like the other automakers, Nissan is inflicting some of the economic pain on its employees, cutting shifts and pay.

For some, the most galling aspect of the bailout is that federal money could go to union workers and retirees -- people, mostly in the North, who at least historically have enjoyed higher pay and better benefits than Southern auto workers.

"Over here, we're taking days off without pay to keep the company going, but the unions for the Big Three aren't willing to do that," said Kathy Ward, 54, who has worked 27 years at the sprawling plant here. This year her pay has been cut $5,000 because of days off. "Everyone has to give a little in times like these."

The bailout efforts for Detroit's Big Three are laying bare long-held resentments between union and non-union workers, echoing North-South divisions as old as the Civil War.

The negotiations brought out some sharp contrasts. Some Southern Republican senators, led by Bob Corker of this state, pushed to cut the wages and benefits that Detroit's Big Three pay to a level consistent with what foreign automakers pay to nonunion workers at plants throughout the South, such as the Nissan plant here.

Ward's husband, Frank, who retired a few years ago from the Nissan plant, approves.

Corker "hit the nail on the head," he said. "It seems like the United Auto Workers would rather have people lose their jobs than give up a few dollars in hourly pay."

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There is a unionized GM plant just down the road, but these workers steadfastly refuse to join with them and if the GM plant workers made the same wages as the non union workers down the road, why be a member of the union? That is really what the union is worried about and not the bogus suggestion that they were the only ones required to sacrifice. At a minimum they know that even with card check they would have no chance of strong arming the nonunion workers into paying dues for getting what they already have.