General Motors opened a new lithium battery plant in Michigan in January. To the surprise of most, the company hired no laid-off UAW members for its work force, but instead hired non-union labor. Quipped blogger Ed Niedermeyer, “If GM can get away with using non-union workers at a crucial plant that’s supposed to represent the firm’s future, things aren’t looking so good for our friends in organized labor.” Additionally, GM joined with Chrysler and Toyota to outsource Teamster car haulers’ work to non-union trucking firms, replacing the Teamster drivers at Ryder Truck with a non-union company. It will be interesting to see how the weakened UAW will respond.
