In case it wasn't clear, I agree with you. Anything congress does will only be a short term fix if there are no changes in the way business is done... whether it be internal to the companies, or from the UAW.
There is not one post in this thread defending the CEO's. http://tigerforums.com/showthread.php?t=79684 There are people complaining about CEO bonuses and pay in this thread. I seriously doubt that anyone on this site is pro-CEO.
It has to be done by both the Company and the UAW. It is very tell that Toyota and GM sold the same amount of product yet Toyota made a ~$20 Billion profit and GM is ~$40 Billion in the hole. This is a few years old but it shows several reasons why GM is failing. http://www.npr.org/news/specials/gmvstoyota/
The problem is . . . 75% of their labor cost excess is from pensions that were underfunded decades ago when things were rolling for the Big 3. Right now the hourly wages between Detroit and the Japanese are not that far apart. The UAW could concede the entire salary to Japanese levels and the Big 3 would still have higher costs because of the pensions. Their only hope is to make cars so good that people will pay the higher cost to own them. I don't see that happening soon.
But that's the problem, the concessions would have to be the cost of paying retirement benefits. Minus the legacy costs, the current workers wages and benefits are in line with their foreign competition. That's the problem, you can't just cut loose the retirees. It's not like the current union workers are making huge wages.
Aren't many "large union" leaders essentially CEOs? I was a union member and know many more who dislike many of the union bosses as much, if not more, than the management bosses. I don't believe many unions truly represent the average worker or even a majority of the workforce. All too often, they represent the lazy, corrupt, or unprofessional at the expense of the hard-working personnel. Unions can be great when they focus their efforts collectively to secure better benefits due to their volume. They have greater buying power as a unit. When union leaders strive for enough power to make corporate decisions, they've crossed the line. If the CEOs and UAW leaders all resigned...we could probably get this resolved by the end of the year.
The hourly wages are already comparable, but the benefit cost for active employees doubles the cost over the foreigners. Certainly Toyota employees get hospitalization and the like. What benefits has the UAW gained for it's workers that are so costly? It may be the one where they get 95% of their pay if they get laid off. Still, even if they brought benefits in line with Toyota's that wouldn't be enough. The UAW needs to realize that they have to bow out in order to save the business.
