Labor vs Management

What's our responsibility to our fellow humans in a profit driven society?

FP’s virtue takeaway: What is our obligation to others? Milton Friedman said it was to maximize profits to shareholders. Jesus of Nazareth said it was to love God and to love one another as ourselves. Governments are tasked with deciding who is right, or at least which side should get formal support, capital or labor. Our laws and policy favor capital. This is a mistake if our goal is to create a just society.

Can we build the kingdom of heaven here on Earth and have iPhones, too? Maybe the labor movement is an attempt to answer that question in the affirmative.

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Payback Time

Since 2008, when the United Auto Workers made concessions to help the Big Three American auto makers weather the financial crisis, autoworkers have seen their average wages fall 19.3% when adjusted for inflation. Since 2013, the Big Three have achieved over $250 billion in profits and handed out $66 billion to their shareholders in stock buy-backs and dividends.

Charts by Adam S. Hersh

Last Thursday at 11:59 PM the UAW initiated a strike against all three major domestic automakers: Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, the company formally known as Chrysler. The focus of the strike is wages and benefits.

“All Animals are Equal, but Some Animals are More Equal than Others.”

Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, recently sounded like Napoleon, the dictatorial pig from George Orwell’s anti-Stalinist political satire Animal Farm, when she tried to explain to a reporter why her $30 million in compensation was no big thing.

“When the company does well, everyone does well.” Mary ‘Napoleon the Pig’ Barra

A central argument for the UAW has been if Detroit’s three automakers raised CEO pay by 40% over the past four years, workers should get similar raises. (Alexander Olson)

The argument is winning with the public, per Gallup. (Lydia Saad)