However, although the brief strike didn’t set GM back too far financially, an extended strike, such as the 1970 strike that lasted 67 days, sent the country into a recession. The 1998 strike in Flint, which lasted 54 days, had the potential to cripple the company and cost GM an estimated $3 billion — accounting for a nearly 1 percent drop in the gross national product in the third quarter of that year.

These strikes addressed wages and benefits for skilled workers, but they ultimately cost the company and the nation’s economy billions. The workers got what they wanted in the end, but they severely undercut the company paying them at an eventual disadvantage to themselves.

Promoting health and safety conditions in the workplace, regulating working time, and encouraging paid leave are some of the most important achievements of organized laborers. However, in a country like the U.S. where such benefits are ensured by the government, unions that were once instrumental in creating a fair work environment in the U.S. are now outstaying their welcome.

Late in the 19th century, labor unions became a major force in influencing wages and workers’ rights. They organized common laborers working under capitalists who showed little concern for workers’ rights. The unions fought for the fair pay and treatment of workers in an absence of governmental regulations and gave the power back to the people — if companies wanted skilled laborers, they would have to hire unionized laborers.

By the early 20th century, unionized miners, construction workers, transportation workers, manufacturers and many craft unions managed to raise wages by about 15 percent and reduce the length of the work day, according to a report by economics professor Gerald Friedman of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Labor unions reached their peak numbers from the 1950s to the 1970s — the golden age of unions in the U.S. Wages rose by about 2 percent every year, contracts were renegotiated regularly with non-wage benefits like health care, pensions and paid vacations and union workers earned 20 percent higher wages than similarly skilled nonunion workers, and unionized employers paid about 60 percent more in benefits than nonunionized employers. But such a wage discrepancy was unfair for unionized employers forced to pay more, or for nonunionized workers making less for the same work.

Today, only about 15 percent of skilled workers are union members. Where once unions were necessary societal tools to assure fair treatment and avoid worker exploitation, today they can act as monopolists, improving wages and conditions for their members at the expense of nonunionized workers and the broader economy, according to The World Bank’s 2005 World Development Report.

As unions insist on raising wages for workers, they can undermine the competitiveness of the company. It must either raise prices on its product or pay out of pocket to continually increase worker compensation, which gives nonunionized companies a financial edge. A public company is responsible to its shareholders to maximize profits and minimize costs, which is sometimes difficult with labor union negotiations.

At GM, employees already earn wages well over the minimum wage. Traditionally, UAW workers in Detroit earned up to $75 per hour in wage and benefits packages, according to the Wall Street Journal, and while GM’s new contract reduces the amount new hires can be paid, they will still earn far more than the minimum wage.

Even worse, new companies are unlikely to consider opening plants in highly unionized states like Michigan, a state already suffering from lost jobs and dying industry. Moving toward an economy without unions is the best thing Michigan can do to bring new business into the state and offer fair, affordable wages to all workers.

Liz Kersjes is the State News opinion writer. Reach her at kersjese@msu.edu.