Obama treated autos worse than Wall Street firms: Workers
Many assembly line autoworkers reacted with skepticism and anger to the Obama administration’s tough tactics.
By Agencies |
DETROIT: Many assembly line autoworkers reacted with skepticism and anger to the Obama administration���s tough tactics, which stoked long-simmering feelings that the people who put the country on wheels get treated differently than the wizards of Wall Street.
���It���s the age-old Wall Street vs. Main Street smackdown again,������ said Brian Fredline, president of UAW Local 602 at a plant near Lansing. ���You have all kinds of funding available to banks that are apparently too big to fail, but they���re also too big to be responsible. But when it comes to auto manufacturing and middleclass jobs and people that don���t matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet ��� higher standards ��� than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it���s unfair,������ Fredline said.
Many workers ��� not generally known for their affection toward executives ��� even sympathised with Rick Wagoner, who was forced to step down as chief executive of General Motors. He was by turns called a ���sacrificial lamb��� , ���scapegoat������ and ���fall guy������ .
���We knew someone was going to have to take the proverbial ���bullet��� , and it would have made it a lot easier to accept that had the CEOs of the banks also been required to give up their jobs,������ said Jim Graham, president of a union local in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM produces the Cobalt and Pontiac G5 fuel-efficient cars.
President Barack Obama gave GM 60 days to produce an acceptable reorganisation plan and Chrysler 30 days to overcome hurdles to a merger with Fiat, the Italian automaker. Many workers say the government hasn���t dictated such terms to insurance giant AIG or the banks in which it���s taken an ownership stake.
���To see the very people that drove this economy into the ground be rewarded through bonuses while receiving tax dollars is just galling,������ said Dan Maloney, a machine repairman at auto supplier Delphi���s plant in Rochester, New York, and a union local president . ���In light of that, the administration is taking it out, I believe, on the automotive sector.������
Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm called Obama���s moves ���a bit of tough love��� , yet recognised a disconnect between the financial and auto industries. ���Yes, I do think that there has been a different look at those who manufacture than those who make money by flipping paper and I���m hopeful that the financial industry gets as tough a scrutiny as the auto industry has,������ she said.
���It���s the age-old Wall Street vs. Main Street smackdown again,������ said Brian Fredline, president of UAW Local 602 at a plant near Lansing. ���You have all kinds of funding available to banks that are apparently too big to fail, but they���re also too big to be responsible. But when it comes to auto manufacturing and middleclass jobs and people that don���t matter on Wall Street, there are certainly different standards that we have to meet ��� higher standards ��� than the financials. That is a double standard that exists and it���s unfair,������ Fredline said.
Many workers ��� not generally known for their affection toward executives ��� even sympathised with Rick Wagoner, who was forced to step down as chief executive of General Motors. He was by turns called a ���sacrificial lamb��� , ���scapegoat������ and ���fall guy������ .
���We knew someone was going to have to take the proverbial ���bullet��� , and it would have made it a lot easier to accept that had the CEOs of the banks also been required to give up their jobs,������ said Jim Graham, president of a union local in Lordstown, Ohio, where GM produces the Cobalt and Pontiac G5 fuel-efficient cars.
President Barack Obama gave GM 60 days to produce an acceptable reorganisation plan and Chrysler 30 days to overcome hurdles to a merger with Fiat, the Italian automaker. Many workers say the government hasn���t dictated such terms to insurance giant AIG or the banks in which it���s taken an ownership stake.
���To see the very people that drove this economy into the ground be rewarded through bonuses while receiving tax dollars is just galling,������ said Dan Maloney, a machine repairman at auto supplier Delphi���s plant in Rochester, New York, and a union local president . ���In light of that, the administration is taking it out, I believe, on the automotive sector.������
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Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm called Obama���s moves ���a bit of tough love��� , yet recognised a disconnect between the financial and auto industries. ���Yes, I do think that there has been a different look at those who manufacture than those who make money by flipping paper and I���m hopeful that the financial industry gets as tough a scrutiny as the auto industry has,������ she said.
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