They want a union-free atmosphere where they can change things at a whim. That shows you what they consider the union, an outside source. Some members considered this a surrender, pure and simple. Managers at the DNA and elsewhere say the changes they want are inevitable, results of competition and technology. That mystical force called the market has spoken.
Many government officials seem to agree.
President Clinton told a Detroit audience on a 1993 visit that they should expect to hold eight different jobs in their lifetimes. The problem that results when every firm jumps on the leanness treadmill is that no one is taking care of the casualties. Of course, these days government has renounced that particular burden. By and large, companies are becoming lean without much organized resistance from employees, even in unionized companies. The leadership of the United Auto Workers, for example, decided early on to cooperate with the automakers' plans to downsize and to get more work out of those workers who remain.