labor relations

posts about #laborrelations more →
The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
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eastofwest
06/14/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
I agree that the barbecue is a stupid idea. I think they're trying to rally Boston to the cause -- to put some human faces on the problem and to get people to consider what it will really mean for the city when, say, there aren't any more I-team reporters tracking the likes of Sal DiMasi.

But they can't seem to come up with a strategy to get the message out. Maybe because they're in panic mode. Maybe because all the city's other news outlets can't risk implying that the Globe is actually *important* to anyone, and so turn their coverage into a schadenfreude fest.

So how else to convince the public? Enter the lame-ass PR campaign.

BUT...on to you, Foster:

"As opposed to, you know, getting with the times (pun unintended). Or creating some kind of strategy that would make their jobs less a relic of the past and more a profitable, necessary enterprise. Or at least a manageable one."

First of all, please put "pun intended," "no pun intended," and "pun unintended" on your DO NOT USE list.

Second, what does this even mean?

Why don't you come up with a suggestion for how to save the news industry. Or find someone who can...by, I dunno, reporting. Because otherwise, you're contributing nothing to the discussion that hasn't already been said. Do you think it just occurred to these people that their business model doesn't work? Or that they're in this position merely as a result of their hubris?

I do not work at the Globe, but I work for another news organization. And from what my friends at the paper tell me, the people who voted against the proposal (stupidly, in my opinion), were trying to register a protest against the bonehead management team, which has dragged its feet on every innovation in the past twenty years and refused to accept its fair share of the cuts.

I'm not pro-union in this particular situation. But Christ, Foster...how about contributing something other than an extended "nyah-nyah."
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Foster Kamer
06/15/09

@eastofwest: I'm too busy to get to this, and I still have shit to say on this, but I just wanted to note, for anybody who's watching: this is what a good comment looks like. Well done.
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Foster Kamer
06/15/09

@Foster Kamer: But I'll use whatever outdated cliches I want, KTHX.
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Phyllis Nefler
06/15/09

@Foster Kamer: Are you still too busy to get to this? Bated breath and all that.
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VoxPopuli
06/14/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
Oh, and can we all at least agree that this yellow nail polish trend has got to go? It's bad enough to look like you've colored your nails with a highlighter, but the above photo looks like they got the hot dog mustard all over the hands.

The jaundice look isn't hot, ladies.
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CaptainFantastic
06/15/09

@VoxPopuli: It's a trend outside of 13-year-old girls?
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VoxPopuli
06/14/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
I'm for taking a pay cut if it saves my job, but I can't imagine trying to live on 3/4 of what I live on now. It's probably still better than unemployment or trying to find a new job in a dying industry.
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Foster Kamer
06/14/09

@VoxPopuli: Right, neither could I (and I've got two jobs!). But why not spend time figuring out how to increase revenue before management turns all journalism into a big game of advertorial and SEO magic?
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eastofwest
06/14/09

@Foster Kamer: So your suggestion is that all the investigative journalists, food writers, film critics, metro reporters, and op-ed columnists at the Globe should just hunker down and "figure out" a solution to a problem that a bunch of MBA types haven't been able to crack for the past ten years?

Here's my solution: Take my wayback machine to the invention of the Internet; tell everyone to never give away content away for free because it sets a bad fucking precedent. Also, visit Craig Newmark's in childhood; convince him his ideas are lame and will never amount to anything. Also, brainwash ad industry into forgetting the whole "click-through" idea.
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Foster Kamer
06/14/09

@eastofwest: First of all, they've been dealing with this for the last ten years? Not true! The offensive stance has been that nothing will ever replace straight-up, degree-backed journalism, especially not no internet "bloggers." Which I agree to, to a certain extent. But the business models that these people were employed under - with the exception of the New York Times, which actually tried really, really hard over the last two years - pretty much ground themselves to a halt. This is what we call a market adjustment: these businesses being stubbornly late to the game are going to get screwed. My suggestion is that instead of going down with the band playing, they should figure out how to fight for their jobs and their business, which right now, they see as mutually exclusive things (and you can forget that attempt regarding partial union ownership of the paper: if anybody knows how to waste a buck through bureaucracy, it's a talky newspaper union).
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Winterstoblame
06/14/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
why is this blog so obsessed with the downfall of traditional media?

rejected much?
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Foster Kamer
06/14/09

@Winterstoblame:Us, or them?
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Richard Lawson
06/14/09

@Winterstoblame: Hahaha. That "rejected much?" meme is so clever and has never been said before! Good work.

Also, seeing as that comment can never be topped, I figure I'll just go ahead and say goodbye to you now.
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Ssscorpion
06/14/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
I can't believe those last two paragraphs appeared on Gawker. Where is the usual semi-insane liberal yammering that causes me to dismiss Gawker's positions without a second thought?

Are you trying to get off the same path the Boston Globe is on?
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braak: You are, as usual, completely correct.
06/14/09

@Ssscorpion: Really? Weird. Every liberal I've ever met feels that way about labor unions.
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CaptainFantastic
06/13/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
The penultimate paragraph is not what I expect to see on Gawker. Bravo.
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katekate is squared
06/13/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
So are they making whole hot dogs and then cutting just under 1/4 of them off and throwing that 1/4 away? This is so stupid my brain can't even process it.
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Pope John Peeps II
06/13/09

In reply to The Boston Globe BBQ: 23% Less Hot Dog, 23% More Idiocy
Bluegrass music? Really?
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britneyspearstears
06/03/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
@PontiusPirate: I agree. If my interpretation of your comment is correct: that unions are basically obsolete with the enforcement of reasonable labor/safe-working-conditions legislation.

@EVERYONE: Of course, this certainly doesn't help: [www.pbs.org]

Basically: Both sides share responsibility, or lack thereof.

Sí, se puede?
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garbanzo314
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
I'm not a fan of unions because they extort companies to play ball with them. I'd rather that unions be positioned vendors: if they offer good quality product at a fair price and exhibit flexibility, they win the business. If not, their customers (companies) go elsewhere. This way, unions have clout, but not absolutely so. The problem is that the UAW-automaker relationship has been asymmetrical, in that unions could be horrible providers of labor, but the automakers had no ability to switch labor providers.

It's not about the little man versus the big corporation. Unions distort what should be a normal "reward for performance and risk for nonperformance" dynamic that everyone else outside of the union faces on a daily basis. If there is no downside to union workers, what incentive do they have to be productive, create quality work product, etc.? Judging from what I've seen of union shops, the answer is none. Most do their eight and hit the gate.
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skahammer
06/02/09

@garbanzo314: I'm not a fan of unions because they extort companies to play ball with them

Then you must really hate executives. Which I think is taking things a bit too far.
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BookishLookish
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
Mmmm...wide-track cars....
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shostakobitch
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
the more people argue over general motors' failures, the more depressing the whole thing is. i've had several gm cars that i have loved and i'm only 26 years old. please make the system work, the feeling of driving something well-made by workers who can support their families is infinitely superior to bloviating pedants and their reasons for this or that.
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Go Like Hell Machine
06/02/09

@shostakobitch: I have to ask the question; if you are only 26 years old, why have you had "several" cars? I'm 28 and I've had a few. The reason I've had a few (as opposed to, say, one or two) is because they broke down and died, and I had to replace them.
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shostakobitch
06/02/09

I've had 4 GM cars, none of them "died" and I switched up for reasons too boring and expository to go into here:

-1986 GMC Suburban

-1967 Chevy pickup

-1979 Corvette

-1999 Pontiac Grand Am

I currently drive a Ford. I drive a ton, at least 30K miles a year, and have few complaints.
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PontiusPirate
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
It's a fact that if your competitors have significantly lower OpEx (labor costs being a huge piece of that), then your days are numbered (unless you can get those costs down). Union's inherently block you from lowering your labor costs.

Micky Kaus is not far off - or is Gawker suddenly a Labor Relations thinktank?
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allyzay
06/02/09

@PontiusPirate: yes, fair enough point, but it's not exactly the only fucking reason gm is failing like a mofo, now is it?
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pacific_reporter
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
Pareene, verily you are a master of twisting other people's arguments to make them sound as crazy as you'd like. Kaus's argument in his latest piece never appears to be that unions are totally to blame. He readily acknowledges that the domestic car companies are turning out junk. His argument is that (1) GM will not be successful long term without reduced labor costs (in addition to appealing product); and (2) that the administration is asking people who don't earn anywhere near $28/hr. (the taxpayers who will ultimately pay for the auto bailout) to shoulder the cost so that those people who do earn $28 won't have to accept paycuts. Disagree you may, but Kaus's argument is not absurd.
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Pareene
06/02/09

@pacific_reporter: my point was basically that mr mickey kaus blames unions for everything wrong and bad, in the world. and that in this case, as in most cases, that is a ridiculous oversimplification, and the motives of anyone who'd indulge in that oversimplification OVER AND OVER AGAIN are pretty suspect.
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Preopsician
06/02/09

In reply to Labor Relations Expert Mickey Kaus on GM
Well, the days of $28/hour unskilled jobs are over. Liberals love unions, just hate the cars they make. Or they don't like them when the economics get rough (see NY Times Company) Big 3 had to overstaff by approximately 20% because of absenteesm. To just defend the UAW out of some romantic leftism is nonsensical.
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City_Dater
06/02/09

@Preopsician:

The highly adversarial relationship between workers and management is older than all of us and unfortunately has helped lead to the current crappy outcome. It isn't by any means the sole reason for the collapse of the Big Three.
And writing off the UAW as indefensible in all its demands and its members as "unskilled" is absolutely ignorant.
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Cicada
06/02/09

@Preopsician: How about defending the UAW out of economic pragmatism? It is actually a good thing to have a way for "unskilled" workers to make a middle class wage. Middle class people buy things like cars and houses, which drives the economy.
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If_I_Had_a_Poodle
06/02/09

@Preopsician: there's a very simple way for management to defeat unions: offer good wages and good benefits

unions exist because management isn't smart enough to work with labor instead of against labor

duh
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allyzay
06/02/09

@Preopsician: can we stop pretending that gm's cars are made by hand by a bunch of "unskilled" "uneducated" manual workers anymore? there is a thing, you might've heard of it, called computers and robotics now a days, and they are good for things besides pornography and robot dogs -- weird, right!!!

quite frankly the "unskilled" "uneducated" manual workers were putting out a better product.
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