In other countries, they do work, just not here in a bunch of cases (the auto workers are a worst case).
I'm not trying to justify the adversarial relationship the UAW takes with the big three - but as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango, and for a long time, neither side was willing to change the status quo. Not all unions are the same, many have what could more be described as a partnership.
I don't have much in the way of sympathy with the Big Three however, they rather than really negotiate when times were good, they agreed to absurd contract provisions - a little pain now, can save a whole lot of pain later.
The reason GM as you pointed out had 4.6 pensioners for every worker, is General Motors used to be a much much larger company - in 1970, GM had 395,000 UAW workers, in 1998, 210,000 and in 2007 had around 75,000, today (February of 2015) it has around 50,300. So in, 1998, it was roughly 1/2 its 1970 size, 2007, it was around 1/5th - today its around 1/7th.
1/5th is awful close to the 1:4.6 ratio you pointed out.
As far as the 20 years and you're out provisions? I have a friend who worked for GM for 20 years, he has - bad hearing, bad knees, bad ankles, bad feet - plus 15 years of exposure to chemicals in the paint booth - then another 5 of working in a stamping plant. He earned every dime of his pension, and paid for it with ill health, and a diminished quality of life for his remaining 20-30 years on the planet, because essentially he's a man in his early 40's with a body of someone 15 years his senior.
While I have sympathy for your friend, nobody forced him to stay on.
I have a couple of friends who own air conditioning and heating companies. They do very well now, yet they both started with one beat-up truck crawling in attics by themselves to earn a living. Years later they have employees and do well. They have both gone through surgeries of all kinds due to the punishment they subjected their knees and bodies to during their years crawling in attics doing duct work.
I know graphic artists who have had multiple surgeries on their wrists due to carpal tunnel injuries.
Carpenters who have lost fingers due to unfortunate accidents. And musicians with permanent Tinitus due to playing in loud environments for twenty years.
I spend my days working in front of a computer, probably 80 hours a week. There are consequences to that as well.
I guess the point I am trying to make is that all activities come with consequences. Yet not one of these people were forced to take and keep these jobs. Let's not blame employers for providing work people take freely. I am not justifying negligence in the case of unsafe working conditions. That is a criminal matter.
Why would he leave, yes the work is physically hard, and mentally monotonous, but the reward and pay is great - thats the tradeoff - they go in work their 20 years, and come out beat up and somewhat broken, and get a decent pension out of it.
Would he have stayed on without the great pay, benefits and pension? probably not, not enough financial reward for the work, he's smart enough to do anything he decides he wants to. That on some level is the price of doing business - or was at least for a long time - the UAW gave concessions to save the Big Three in the form of a two tier wage structure, which the big three appear to be willing to gradually eliminate the two tier structure - or at least bring them closer together now that they are financially healthier.
The thing is, I'd bet money though, if if I looked into it, you'd find autoworkers in each company (or anyone doing heavy assembly like that to be similarly well paid, relative to their local wage).
I'm not trying to justify the adversarial relationship the UAW takes with the big three - but as the old saying goes, it takes two to tango, and for a long time, neither side was willing to change the status quo. Not all unions are the same, many have what could more be described as a partnership.
I don't have much in the way of sympathy with the Big Three however, they rather than really negotiate when times were good, they agreed to absurd contract provisions - a little pain now, can save a whole lot of pain later.
The reason GM as you pointed out had 4.6 pensioners for every worker, is General Motors used to be a much much larger company - in 1970, GM had 395,000 UAW workers, in 1998, 210,000 and in 2007 had around 75,000, today (February of 2015) it has around 50,300. So in, 1998, it was roughly 1/2 its 1970 size, 2007, it was around 1/5th - today its around 1/7th.
1/5th is awful close to the 1:4.6 ratio you pointed out.
As far as the 20 years and you're out provisions? I have a friend who worked for GM for 20 years, he has - bad hearing, bad knees, bad ankles, bad feet - plus 15 years of exposure to chemicals in the paint booth - then another 5 of working in a stamping plant. He earned every dime of his pension, and paid for it with ill health, and a diminished quality of life for his remaining 20-30 years on the planet, because essentially he's a man in his early 40's with a body of someone 15 years his senior.