Well i was not going to comment any further on the GM issue , BUT theirs a few things that need to be said about unions ! First , has the UAW made mistakes ? Absolutely ! But their was a time when they were doing a lot of good for the workers , and yes i know corruption has always plagued the organization . But what large organization has not had these issues , look no further than the obama white house [ FBI, CIA , JUSTUSE DEPT ] Anyway like it or not if it were not for union,s in this country and canada ! Kids would still be working 16 hr days ! It wasn,t until 1819 that [factory act,s ] were passed to limit children to 12 hr days . No breaks and standing lunch ! It is well documented that right here in good ole USA 750,000 children under 15 were working 1870-1890 . And well into the 1900,s . It was organized labor that petitioned and pressured congress to finally pass the 1938 fair labor standards . And they only done so after realizing that a movement was upon them ! people were tired of being treated like a bunch of pack mules , and fair compensation was about to be forced on the greedy company,s . The argument goes on as to who really created the 5 day work week [ THE UNION , OR HENRY FORD ] i say this because ford was looking for ways to lure workers to his plant and one of his ideas was to offer a 5 day work week , i believe that was in the late 20,s . It was not for the benefit of the worker ! But nearly every labor law that has ever been passed has came off the back of a worker , and in the early days it was almost always a union worker . Every safety rule , every guard on a machine , every safety procedure for a job , ear plugs , safety glass,s , seat belts on equipment , all came from a tragedy of a worker somewhere ! THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO SAFETY RULES IN PLACE BEFORE ORGANIZED LABOR ! PERIOD ! Workers were always looked at as being expendable !
