Chrysler strikers speak: "It's time workers unite on a global basis, the same way the companies do"

Unions have outlived their usefulness?

Walkout at Chrysler raises questions about tactic's value

The brief Chrysler walkout left analysts scratching their heads.

"Why send everyone out if you're that close to an agreement? If you're that close, you can just make a phone call and tell everyone to hold on," said Global Insight analyst Aaron Bragman. "This is a mystery for us to figure out."

Adding to the mystery, Bragman said, was word that the two sides reached a deal within two hours after the strike began.

I think this is finally working its way up the food chain, and those top 1% earners on Wall Street we heard about today will begin to understand what it's like when when their industry moves offshore and leaves them behind. I have written about this in several posts, including one today about the rich getting richer. If you are interested, you can find it at my blog, polecolaw, at blogspot. I also address this issue in UAW/GM, and I agree that labor has taken too much of the blame. Where is trade policy enforcement? How do you compete in a labor market when your competitor has no standards? Granted, there are global economic forces at work and we all like those cheap products, but the political machine has some dirt on its hands in my opinion. For labor, we are working backward, and fast. All of this shows up in the 2005 income data released today.