I think this case is, in fact, a watershed. I think what it does is — in the most dramatic way we’ve seen to date — it introduces the wages of the global economy into...

If GM actually did pursue this route?there would be a really poisoned atmosphere in the United Auto Workers plants where the parts are shipped.

They’ve got tough issues, but nobody wants to put the moneymaking on hold to sort it out.

There’s a real awareness on both sides [of labor’s divide] that it’s not business as usual. There are some really tough challenges out there for unions, but it’s also a moment of real opportunity. There...

There are so many fewer moral barriers to a bankruptcy of this scale.

The pain and surprise may come when Delphi wages are cut and it sets a pattern of pressing down on wages to succeed competitively, … It reverses the success story of the American economy, which...

The notion of a buyout as large as 20,000 workers would go a long way toward settling the Delphi situation.

Whatever the final language, it will be the benchmark of how other negotiations are judged. Since the auto workers won pensions in ’48, a lot of things Detroit has done, for good or for bad,...

You could have the paradox of lifetime job guarantees and far fewer workers.

They are reaching out and offering the workers a service, but they are also laying out the possibility of workers beginning to work together. So as an individual, you don’t have to confront the largest...

This really is a wake up call to Wal-Mart that these class action suits in front of a jury can be costly.

Economic growth in the United States in the 20th century was based on building entrances to the middle class, from Henry Ford in 1913 to strong unions in the ’50s and ’60s.

I suspect they don’t want to strike, but they could be pushed into a corner, and if that’s the case they have considerable leverage,

The hotels are confronting a union that has significantly more leverage and more imagination than in the past. The union is slowly but surely introducing national bargaining in an industry in which the companies used...

Steve Miller has gone from a provocative after-dinner speaker to a negotiator. It’s definitely a U-turn.

There are some very hard choices and no easy answers. This is a long way from over.

The next step will be the permanent replacement of mechanics and cleaners. That is what Northwest will announce sooner rather than later.

The close vote tells us there’s a lot of anger and apprehension out there.

Many companies are looking to roll back benefits, and benefits for retirees are at the top of the list. This decision says that while they may be first on the list, they may not be...

The court cases reflect that the rat has made its claw marks felt.

GM is sending signals about its priorities. The 2007 negotiations are going to be tough.

They’re getting their message across before bargaining begins in earnest. Showing a lot of visibility and political clout means bargaining will be influenced by not just what happens at the table but what happens in...

Fox and Chavez are both serving important domestic political purposes for each other.

It’s highly unpredictable what’s going to happen. What unites everyone that’s going to do something [today] is they are making visible their strong feelings.

You’ve got the pressures of the global economy, fierce competition in deregulated industries like airlines and powerful anti-union employers like Wal-Mart.

The rhetoric is much different this time – this time they’re really out to get each other.

When you have a defined contribution, it puts more of the risk onto the recipient, … If insurance costs go up, that means that your coverage is affected.

What GM gets in changes in the jobs bank is likely going to be based on compromises they are willing to make elsewhere. The fact that they are talking about this so early is unusual...

The CAW, given the context, has done very well. The boat is afloat and upright after going through the rapids. They wanted to protect their members.

For Chavez, Fox is a surrogate of the United States in Latin America. For Fox, coming on against Chavez is low-cost, since he’s in his last year (in office), weakened at home … . Standing...

Labor is in some pretty tough rapids right now.

I think what we are looking at here are exit roads from the middle class.

Losing 30,000 jobs, closing 14 plants, has enormous consequences not just for the union, but for the future of their members. It is a major blow.

He’s taken a windy day and turned it into a hurricane. Labor is influential in Sacramento. On certain bills and issues, they are very influential. But they are one of many groups that can dominate.

It’s going to have significant impact on the companies and on the industry. It is a painful option for the union but it is the best option of those available.

Miller, by taking such a visible and hard line, may have underestimated the UAW. The union would like to see a settlement, but not at the cost of 60 years of gains.

Bankruptcy is allowing airlines to emerge with a clean slate, but it’s bad news for workers. Pensions will be affected, and it will mean lower wages and probably fewer jobs.

Everyone on the picket line who thought they could be out of a job for good will be out of a job for good.

It’s certainly representative of the discontent that’s out there. The retirees are frustrated, but I don’t think it represents a major threat yet.

They have a very determined strategy and they are plunking a lot of resources into this. Northwest is not going to blink at this point.

[Others aren’t so sanguine.] How do U.S. firms compete in the global economy? … If the only way to compete is with $10 wages, we have a problem that is much larger than just Delphi....

There’s a cushion but it doesn’t prevent the fall. It eases the pain but it’s not the same as having the stability of a successful company.

For a plant closing of this magnitude, the overall impact is somewhere between traumatic and devastating.

Both sides have an interest in settling this. Nobody wants a strike.

What’s new about the global economy is First World productivity combined with Third World wages. That can create some real downward pressure on high-wage countries.

Because they (Delphi) have considerable leverage at a moment of bankruptcy is not the same as saying the UAW is out of the game,

The union has very painful choices, but it’s managed to preserve important principles in a very turbulent environment. At the end of the day, UAW retirees will still have paid health benefits. Less than before...

This was difficult for the union to do, but the union is being pragmatic. Its goal is to preserve jobs. It realizes the severity of the situation that GM is in.

The members are angry and fearful. Imagine you work a lifetime, and then you see it go up in smoke.

I suspect they felt that taking a very hard line would send a message to the union. Instead the message that they sent was to dig in your heels.