Other corporations have done it this way and restructured to better suit the needs of today. The Union members better do some talking fast to their elected members and agree to concessions in the form of one week vacation cuts, and salary cuts also. They better do it fast or they are going to be on unemployment insurance soon and the union heads will be sitting there still collecting their big cheques. What say you?
If a perfect capitalist environment, I'd totally agree with you Katzy. Problem is, the water has been so muddied by legal and illegal immigration, cheaper off-shore labor, stubborn labor unions, and a do-nothing government.
Years ago, companies found out they could outsource jobs cheap and the government let them do it blindly because they're all on the take. This resulted in the remaining US jobs becoming classified as part-time. This further allowed the companies to pay cheaper wages to US workers (non-union), while saving on benefits too, and side-stepping lots of labor laws to protect ALL workers.
So now, we have parents and single parents working 2 jobs just to put food on the table, jobs paying much less than full-time jobs of the past. No more health insurance either. Enter all the legal and illegal immigrants taking cheap labor jobs, why should the companies pay Americans a decent wage when they can pay much cheaper and get slave labor provided by undocumented aliens?
By now you see what I mean by muddy water.
But YES, you are right the labor unions should get to the table simply to avoid lay-offs and other severe consequences. But I'm not sure I can categorically state that the companies should declare bankruptcy and send all those workers to the bread lines. Frankly, I want the company executives to bleed more, A LOT MORE.
Sorry for such a long dissertation, but we don't function in a true capitalist environment any more.
Great question.
