They’re going to try to make an argument that simply cutting wages, slashing benefits, etc., is not the only way to go. Whether the bankruptcy judge buys that remains an open question.

This is the first pitch in the game of hard ball and I think the union is both angered and not by any means intimidated.

What we’re looking at in Seattle is a debate over the rules of the game and how the environment and labor will be treated — whether they will be debated elsewhere or whether they will...

Historically, GM has been the most tone-deaf of the auto companies when it comes to labor issues. But York is speaking plainly and directly about critical issues between GM and the UAW.

There’s no other way to diplomatically frame it – there’s an empty chair there.

It certainly has escalated,

Caterpillar is a powerful symbol of this process. It dominates its field. It is one of America’s largest exporters, and it is very profitable. If there ever was a company that could bring back the...

Delphi has essentially said: ‘We need competitive wages.’ Those wages currently are being set in China, not Flint, (Michigan).

Miller has clearly chosen bankruptcy over collective bargaining to restructure the company. Delphi is using a bankruptcy judge to begin moving in the direction of Chinese wages and benefits.

It may be

The global economy has become a blast furnace that seeks to eliminate many of the gains that steelworkers have won over the years.

The union was caught in a global hurricane, and they managed to come out of it with minimal structural damage. They preserved key principles; they gave up some money.

The corporation knows the sensitivity of these kinds of issues, they have a lot of experience with what will provoke a local strike. What I suspect they (the GM management) didn’t anticipate is that it...

These are very important findings that come at a critical moment in the immigration debate. What the study indicates is that if we view the contribution of immigrants to the total economy there may be...

If you cut wages by two-thirds, that creates a class of people that can’t afford to go to Wal-Marts. If other industries do this, America will have a far smaller middle class, and the whole...

Health benefits have been at the top of the list for what unions have sought to hang on to. This reflects how serious union leaders feel this is.

This could be the biggest buyout in memory and a turning point in the history of the industry.

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.