The previously described “Way Forward,” is a good thing. By offering all of its employees buyouts, Ford is giving them maximum control over their respective futures. If they want the money and certainty, they can have it, then the choices are theirs to make. If they prefer the high union wages despite the uncertainty and constant stress, the risk is theirs to bear. At the conclusion of an earlier post, I posed the following question: “Who stands in the way of giving the UAW members what they want?” And the answer: The UAW. I’ll give you a minute to let it sink in: The United Auto Workers’ union is wants to “fight” Ford’s buyout offer, dissatisfied with the offer, not because it’s too small, but as a matter of principle ideology.

“A local UAW president said he and his southeast Michigan peers oppose efforts by Ford Motor Co. to eliminate thousands of jobs with buyouts, unless the automaker pledges to replace many of those workers — even at lower wages”

Who’d have thunk that the bureaucrats and thugs (because that’s what they really are) would act like anything other than bureaucrats and thugs? We know thugs seek to use their power over others, and bureaucrats strive evermore towards expansion of their roles. A massive buyout, such as that offered by Ford, would obviously cull the Union herd, vastly reducing its size and scope. This is what the Union stewards and presidents are afraid of, despite their scathing rhetoric. One Union president goes as far as calling his constituents who accept the offer “sellouts,”

“I don’t call them buyouts — I call them sellouts,” said Mario Guerreso, president of UAW Local 245, which represents more than 2,500 Ford workers at various facilities in Dearborn, such as the research and engineering center.

“We are fast approaching extinction. … When you accept those buyouts, those jobs are gone.”

Ummm, isn’t that generally the idea? Ford isn’t giving you thousands of dollars and a job – it’s offering you thousands of dollars or a job. A job which may or may not be there tomorrow, next week, or next year.

But furthermore, assuming the jobs are gone forever, as M. Guerreso suggests, the Unions still operate on a closed shop basis here in Michigan. Consequently, the buyout should have no dilutive effect on the UAW’s ability to coerce bargain.

Workers who are eager to retire early or move on to careers less turbulent than those in the domestic auto industry say they are upset with their union leaders for taking this stance.

After news broke Monday that Ford was considering company-wide buyouts, several workers called the Free Press to complain that that some union leaders were blocking the process.

Union leaders have an obligation to act according to the desires of the constituents, to represent them honestly. This is, in fact, what they’re paid to do.

So I’ll ask M. Guerreso, who’s selling out whom?