The idea of a strategic retreat is an essential element of good conflict planning. Faced with an opponent that cannot be defeated or a situation in which victory would be pyrrhic, a strategic retreat allows you to withdraw from the field of conflict rather than risk losing everything. A strategic retreat differs from a defeat because it is a planned, orderly, withdrawal from direct conflict that plants the seeds of future action even as it gives ground to the opponent. The UAW could have exercised a strategic retreat in its conflict with GM and the other auto companies. Instead its strike and contact agreement were just another skirmish in a decade long rout.
September’s strike was hardly an epic battle. One writer likened it to two invalids flailing away at each other with crutches. Another, echoing a widely held sentiment in the press, wrote that the strike was “a fake”, called by the union to show a skeptical membership that it did everything in its power to get a decent contract. In fact, after Wednesday’s 6 hour Chrysler strike, the New York Times wrote from Detroit, “ A new expression is making the rounds here in the nation’s automotive capital: “Hollywood strike,” as in, “just for show.”
The UAW is clearly in a fix. It is up against the epochal forces which are reshaping the auto industry and the global economy, forces which are gradually gutting union power and eroding work standards everywhere. Now, after decades of defeats, it seems the UAW has chosen to circle the wagons to protect its graying—and rapidly shrinking—membership as they hold on for dear life trying to make it to retirement. And the end is in sight for many: the average age of GM’s existing workforce is 50 years old, and 63.4% are eligible to retire in 5 years. In the process, the UAW has abandoned a significant portion of its existing membership—those employed in “non-core” jobs—and any newcomers to the industry, should there be any.
It is a cautionary tale which should give pause to those who think that building union membership and increasing union density will lead to a revival of the labor movement. Union density in the auto industry is over 50%--unimaginable in any other sector of the economy. Even in the lagging parts industry density is far higher than in the most of the private sector economy. In a world of globalized production national union membership and density does not necessarily translate into union power.
Is the situation hopeless? Not at all. The UAW and other similarly situated unions need to exercise a strategic retreat to regroup. We offer some suggestions about what that might look below. But first a look at the current settlement and some historical background.
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