Started out in the union at the company I worked for and through 36 years, was lucky (or unlucky?) enough to get 10 steps higher before retiring. Our company had approximately 21,000 employees and was about 85% unionized. Seen so much good and bad stuff happen over the years that I could write a book (although few would want to read it). I worked with a few union leaders that had their act together and had some sense of reason and encouraged their membership to do their jobs well. The ones I disliked were the ones that protected terrible employees and ones that fought for things that added so much inefficiency to our business, that it was difficult to be competitive and make money. Our business was not one that was subsidized by the government. If your EBITDA was tanking, it was on you. It's easy to look at what some CEO makes in salary and bonuses and say you should be rewarded in lock step (%). What most people don't realize is that publicly held companies dance to a different tune than privately held companies due to their responsibility to return value to their shareholders and also that your cost of labor is a crucial part of that equation. I always wanted my employees to make good money and be able to take good care of their families. It benefits you and the company to retain good talent and workers for many reasons including lower turnover and having the experience necessary to beat your competition. There are a lot of good thoughtful posts on both sides of this issue and it all comes down to perspective and the experiences we have/had over the years. I've known 7 CEO's and worked directly with 3 and they have an unbelievable amount of responsibility and most earned the right to get where they were. I worried less about their compensation than I did about the direction they were taking the company long term. I've seen good ones, one great one, and a couple of terrible ones. The best ones can position a company for long term growth and you can love or hate them, but they can make a tremendous impact through setting high standards, innovation and staying competitive. The company I worked for went through 2 reorganization bankruptcies and ultimately a chapter 7, locking the doors. The brands we had were nationally recognized and were split up and sold to 2 companies (non-union). They changed the business model to warehouse delivery vs DSD and re-invented the brands through additional innovation and a streamlined approach to market. Prior to chapter 7, the union leaders would not budge on anything and ultimately cost over 20,000 employees their jobs with most not finding anything that paid as well after because they didn't have the educational background or were above the age when employers want to hire you. Age discrimination is a real thing. Our CEO (not a great one) went on to be a CEO of another company. One of our top brands was just flipped to another company for 12 times what they originally paid for it. My point: Good brands usually live on. Bad decisions have consequences. Assuming that both sides of the big 3 come to an agreement, it will be interesting to see where these companies end up long term. If EV's take much longer to penetrate the U.S. market than expected (which I believe will be the case), then they will be backed into a corner concerning profitability based on vehicle price, lack of ICE vehicles, possible loss of government subsidies, etc. It takes time to see the overall damage. I have a GMC, the HC and an SUV that are all over 5 years old and have no plans to run out and buy new ones. Good luck to all!
4 day workweek but get paid for 5 in what world do they live in ? Sounds like they would be happier living in a communist society but then they would just find something else to bitch about.
