Well, another factor that comes into play is how rank and file workers view the economic downturn and what they have to do to adjust for it.
These downturns negatively affect the middle class and poor a whole lot more than the very rich management types who have deep reserves to stave off the effects of an extended loss in wages and benefits.
Let's use a middle class auto worker as an example.
He/she makes 50k/yr, has a 1k monthly mortgage, a child in college, one in middle school and the other in high school. He/she pays 15k/yr for college tuition, 1.2k/mo for an auto loan along with stashing some $$ for the other kid's college funds, and then there's living expenses, retirement fund, etc. In other words, he/she's living right on the edge of their capabilities to finance their lifestyle, typical of most Americans.
Along comes the economic downturn. This auto worker now faces an abrupt loss of income that will force him to pull their child out of college, lose their not yet paid for car, and is threatened with losing the house he/she has been paying a mortgage on for 14 years.
Multiply that by the thousands of other auto workers that are in the same predicament.
I'd assume their main concern is to lessen the impact of the loss in wages and benefits as much as possible for as long as possible. How do they do that? Where else but at the bargaining table? They have no other recourse but to try to minimize the financial inpact on themselves while still trying to keep job security.
Ergo, hard fought over concessions are made with the thought in mind that both Management and rank and file should suffer equally.
That is the REALITY of a negotiating session where concessions are the main topic of discussion.
It's ridiculously and patently FALSE to accuse any union member of attempting to commit occupational suicide by "forcing their Company into the ground", as both Union members and Management have a very real and serious reason to keep their Company afloat: Noone wants to lose their jobs.
The nuts and bolts of negotiating concessions is found in the area of how to lessen the impact of those types of necessary cuts as much as possible, as a lot of workers are staring at financial ruin and the destrcution of their family unit, and a lot of Managers are looking at a shrinking job market where managers can be had for a dime a dozen.
Everyone invloved knows that cuts are inevitable. They're all at the bargaining table negotiating where the cuts should occur, and for how long. Conflicts of interest are unavoidable, but all parties are primarily concerned with the survival of their Company.
Outside interests also have a major impact on how negotiations are handled. There are agenda's and ulterior motives galore when a crisis occurs. The sharks homing in and the vultures flying overhead all want to profit from it.
Union busting comes to the forefront whenever a crisis such as the one we're now faced wtih occurs. Takeovers that couldn't occur in good times are now possible. Stronger competitors now leverage themselves into play in the hopes of destroying their competiton. The big fish swim in hoping to gobble up the little ones.
All of this goes on while at the Auto Plant desperate folks are strategizing over desperate measures to keep things going and become a stronger competitor as an end result.
Not an easy thing to do, and hardly ever considered when making flippant judgements from behind a keyboard.
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