The Devil is in the Math

Pro-labor site In These Times has posted a piece claiming an employer's lockout is costing the company more than giving into the union's contract demands. The first question is "why is that news?" One would assume the disrupted continuation of work would be more expensive. Upon closer analysis, however, the math is skewed. The poster includes the total cost of replacement labor in the computation. Since the locked out employees are not paid for being locked out, the labor cost figure does not belong in the calculation. The proper analysis would subtract the normal labor costs from the actual labor costs to ascertain the increase caused by the lockout.

Mott's strike ends

After 114 days the strike by workers against Mott's will end next week as workers return to work on day 120. The latest proposal does not contain wage cuts, but there are no wage increases during the three years of the contract. Pensions are retained for current workers, but new hires may not participate in the pension plan, although new hires will receive  higher 401(k) contributions. The returning employees will also receive a $1,000 signing bonus.

Day 100

Today marks day 100 of the Mott's strike. The pro-union writer, Michael Winship, does a pretty good job of outlining the economics of this strike pitting a corporate giant in Plano, Texas against the workers of a facility born in western New York that dates back to 1842. Our previous posts are here, here, here, here and here.