In December 2010, 1200 unionized auto workers lost their jobs when a Huntsville plant owned by the tire and car part manufacturer Continental AG stopped production. According to the company, the plant’s closing was due to rising costs, saying that it was “unsuccessful in reducing these costs through labor negotiations” with the UAW. More than 10,000 hard working Alabamians are employed by such international automakers as Honda, Toyota and Hyundai, and despite the UAW saber-rattling, one must suspect they are wary of the union that has left Michigan much like Sherman left the South on his march to Atlanta. Up in Wisconsin, employees of Kohler, the largest employer in Sheboygan county, defied UAW leaders and ratified a five-year contract that includes a five-year wage freeze, higher health care premiums, the creation of a two-tiered wage and benefit system, and also allows for the limited use of temporary workers. Although the workers had authorized a strike vote earlier, and the UAW officials declared the contract “unreasonable, unwarranted and overly severe,” the rank and file of UAW Local 833 are aware of the realities of their position. The employees are already among the highest paid in the nation relative to other manufacturing workers, and the economy is still tight. “If we go on strike there’s a ton of people out there who are ready to take our jobs, and there’s no reason for Kohler to have to stay here,” said Paul Schoening, 56, who works in the pottery division. The vote was 62% in favor of the contract, and 38% opposed.
