There are only three things in the world that are organized: Sports, religion and labor. As far as I can tell, all three of them are fixed.

The UAW has famously played a major role in the collapse of Detroit's big three auto industry. And their top dog, Ron Gettelfinger, seems to think that President Obama is going to be his ace in the hole:

"There's a lot of provisions in the (bailout) loan guarantees that the companies had to sign," Gettelfinger said. "We don't really have any documents to work from other than their loan agreements, so we're waiting to see until President-elect Obama gets in power, then we'll see how this thing comes out."

Gettelfinger added that "obviously there's going to be a lot of change in Washington. He's sympathetic to the industry, and he also is not anti-union."

Gettlefinger would have you believe that he represents the huddled masses of labor in the auto industry... hard workers who are barely getting by.

Bullshit. The truth is a lot uglier, as it always is:

In May and November 2007, the UAW forked over nearly $53,000 for union staff meetings at the Thousand Hills Golf Resort in Branson, Missouri. In September 2007, the UAW dropped another $5,000 at the Lakes of Taylor Golf Club in Taylor, Michigan and another $9,000 at the Thunderbird Hills Golf Club in Huron, Ohio. Another bill for $5,772 showed up for the Branson, Missouri golf resort. On Oct. 26, 2007, the union spent $5,000 on another “golf outing” in Detroit. In May and June 2007, UAW bosses spent nearly $11,000 on a golf tournament and related expenses at the Hawthorne Hill Country Club in Lima, Ohio. And in April 2007, the UAW spent $12,000 for a charity golf sponsorship in Dearborn. In August 2007, the UAW paid nearly $10,000 to its for-profit Black Lake golf course operator, UBG, for something itemized as “Golf 2007 Summer School.” UBG had nearly $4.4 million worth of outstanding loans from the union. Another for-profit entity that runs the education center, UBE, had nearly $20 million in outstanding loans from the union.

But what about the average UAW worker ... those guys are the real victims, here, right?

Well, no. Everybody has a finger in the pie:

Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne, signs in, and then starts working -- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony, but the pay is good: more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.

"We just go in and play crossword puzzles, watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper," he says. "Otherwise, I've just sat."

Pool is one of more than 12,000 American autoworkers who, instead of installing windshields or bending sheet metal, spend their days counting the hours in a jobs bank set up by Detroit automakers and Delphi Corp. as part of an extraordinary job security agreement with the United Auto Workers union...

General Motors Corp. has roughly 5,000 workers in its jobs bank. Delphi has about 4,000 in its version of the same program. Some 2,100 workers are in DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group's job security program. Ford had 1,275 in its jobs bank as of Sept. 25 (2005).

Nice work if you can get it.

Remember that when you hear anyone say how important it is that we bail out the US auto industry. Every single person advancing that position ... Gettelfinger, Obama, George W. Bush, the bosses in Detroit, each of 'em ... is completely full of shit. The US auto industry has been trying to kill itself off for years. Don't throw any more tax money in the hole. Let it die.

No industry that's this inept in all facets, from the CEOs down to labor, deserves to stay lazy and happy on the public dole.

Labels: News, Politics