labor/unions rather lose the jobs than cut pay

It’s not just Holden complaining about high labor costs in the car industry. But Labor and the unions won’t listen:

Toyota Australia complained about high labour costs and sagging productivity at an emergency summit of car industry leaders with Prime Minister Julia Gillard but was brushed off by union opposition.

The meeting was convened two weeks ago after Ford decided to stop making cars in Australia from 2016, leaving only General Motors Holden and Toyota.

At the Melbourne summit, chaired by Ms Gillard and Industry Minister Greg Combet, Toyota executive David Buttner raised the problem of high wages and poor labour productivity. One well-placed source suggested Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary David Oliver insisted that productivity and wages would not be covered by the meeting, which was promoted by the government as a way to find solutions to protect the viability of the industry…

The communique following the meeting didn’t mention labour relations or productivity, which experts say is one of the industry’s main problems.

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/theyd_rather_lose_the_jobs_than_cut_the_wages/