I wanted to share what it's like to cover the contract talks between the automakers and the United Auto Workers union. The contract was set to expire midnight Friday and if a new agreement wasn't met, or extended, it meant a strike at General Motors Corp. I cover automakers and suppliers for Bloomberg News and I spent the evening at a UAW Local hall, eating pizza and eavesdropping on conversations the president had with negotiators in Detroit. The deadline passed without an agreement and the two sides agreed to extend the contract hour by hour. Hour by hour ticked away and it was 4 a.m. when they ``took a break.'' I trundled home to crash for four hours. And the talks began again in Detroit and so did the reporting. All told, our reporting team worked until 3 a.m. every night or later, only breaking bits and pieces. Why. Why. Why invest so much energy to be the first, by seconds, to report that a deal has been done? Believe it or not, in the real-time news world, people pay attention to who has it first, even if by a minute or second. Adding to the urgency is subplot of the future of American iconic companies, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. And that of the middle class, which effectively was created in this country by unions whose members are disappearing in an inverse relationship to Chinese imports. It's great to cover this story, no matter the grueling hours, because the outcome is historic, no matter what happens.
-Mike Ramsey
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2 comments:
Mike - Really great insight. Ironically enough, I was talking last week with a PR representative (and Bobcat alum) about his involvement in those same talks. It seems as if it is a long and arduous process for all involved.
Yeah. It's pretty arduous. Things have kind of settled into an informationless grind now. Hopefully the talks will be wrapped up soon.
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