Donald Trump is no hero of the working class. And the GM strikers know it

[turbinetree]

Robert Reich
The walkout at General Motors is a predictable and powerful result of the president’s own kind of capitalism


Donald Trump pretends to be a tribune of the working class, standing up for American jobs. Last week nearly 50,000 General Motors workers went on strike to get what they see as their fair share of its profits and stop further layoffs. Trump’s response? A shrug.

In 2009, when GM was on the brink of collapse, the United Auto Workers (UAW) agreed to let the company hire new workers at about half the prevailing hourly wage and with skimpier retirement benefits, hire temp workers at even lower rates, and outsource more jobs abroad. American taxpayers also forked over $10bn to save the company.

When GM went public again in 2010, it boasted to Wall Street that 43% of its cars were made outside the US in places where labor cost less than $15 an hour, while in America it could now pay “lower-tiered” wages and benefits for new employees.

The corporation came roaring back. Over the last three years it’s made $35bn in North America.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/sep/22/donald-trump-general-motors-strike

Trump walking a picket line............................

He walks up to a golf ball so that he can cheat at that game................and still be traitor.................

[gordianot]

1. Most Narcissist know they are inferior and do not measure up.

Donald Trump knows he is a loser, his strongest motivation is to cover that up and convince you he is actually superior. Example: His skin does not look white because of the light bulbs that make him look orange. Never mind the tanning dye and possibly his bloated liver on Statin drugs.

[paleotn]

2. The operative word here is pretends....

And anyone with three neurons rattling around in their heads knew that in 2016. So, his supporters then and now are either incredibly stupid and / or just perfectly OK with all his racist shit. I could see 40% of our populace being either Idiocracy level moronic or just racist scum bags, with plenty of overlap. It's not outside the realm of possibilities.

[Indykatie]

3. The Autos Were Not The First to Implement These 2 Tier Wage Structures for Hourly Workers

You can trace the decline of the middle class to the wage and benefit concessions that Unions first began to approve in the late 90s and early 2000s. Contracts were loaded for Senior workers in exchange for huge concessions on Junior and future hires. Since Senior hires were still the majority their votes alone were sufficient. Senior hires kept their retiree medical plans, high wages and defined pension plans. The Junior and future hires got 2nd tier base wages, no retiree medical and no defined pension plan. I work in the benefit space at a large global MFG company and saw these changes and their impact up close. The possibility of moving work to Mexico and China was a very potent threat.