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Economic conservatives have always hated unions - either because unions interfere with the god-like operation of the free market, or because they cut into the bottom line. Of course they're going to try to put the blame on the unions.

However, I think the union-haters may be partly right. While unions are great for protecting worker's interests, unfortunately they also create a great deal of rigidity. The fact is that the money to pay these workers doesn't rain down like manna from heaven. It comes from consumers. When you have a bunch of workers and give them good wages during the economic good times, when there is a lot of consumer demand for your product, everything works well enough. But when consumer demand goes slack, you have to cut your costs. Profits in the car industry weren't so great that they could take the cut instead. And while the figure of $70/hour may have been misleading, it does tell you something important : basically for every productive worker the company pays, it has to pay the same amount to a non-productive worker. That's like tieing anchors around both your feet. The auto industry cannot cut it costs, when it desperately needs to.

Sure, the management of these companies is not free from blame. They probably could have prepared for this crisis better. But they could not be expected to predict the current economic crisis and the credit crunch, which prevents them from just borrowing to tide them over bad times. So yes, a significant portion of the blame should fall on the unions. They're pretty much the reason why the auto companies had to go to the government to beg for help, and why taxpayers will probably end up footing the bill. Essentially, all of us have to pay for the privilege of a few to keep their jobs.

To sum up, while unions do good things to protect workers and help make decent jobs possible, they need to recognize that the capitalist system is dynamic, and the ability to fire workers or cut their pay if necessary is a requirement for the smooth running of that system. Liberals are right to question the motives of conservatives whose first response is to blame the unions. However, they should not unthinkingly react with the opposite conclusion, that unions are innocent. Lets consider the facts, okay?

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