Detroit, the Auto Industry and Globalization

1
Detroit, the Auto Industry and Globalization

• Industrial Era
• Ford, Chrysler, GM
• Turn of century- boom in auto-production
• Rapid expansion of population, cities and
  infrastructures
• Mass migration from south and abroad

2
The Road to Organized Labor"The UAW would
organize Ford over my dead body." -Henry Ford

• UAW- 1935 Detroit
• Flint sit-down Strike 1936-1937 (GM)?
• Battle of the overpass 1937 (Ford)?
• Sit-down strike, unionization 1937 (Chrysler)?
• 500,000 members
• 1941, Ford workers win right to unionize
• WWII, no UAW no strike' pledge

3

• 1946-1970 1.5 million members
• Negotiated wages far above market rates for
  unskilled workers
• Effects of 73' oil embargo
• Membership is now around half a million
• Decline in wage and benefit concessions, less
  influence of union
• Example average worker costs car companies 70-75
  dollars an hour (2002)?
• Debate Some blame UAW for the loss of jobs in
  the area

4
Detroit Riots"...We must come to see that de
facto segregation in the North is just as
injurious as the actual segregation in the
South."-Martin Luther King Jr., Detroit, 1963

• Detroit Race Riot 1943
• 12th Street Riot 1967
• Issues behind riot discrimination, housing,
  black unemployment rates, white flight, chronic
  police brutality

5
White Flight

• Middle income white families flee to suburbs
  (started in 50's)?
• Issues commuting (traffic, road systems),
  socio-economic segregation, sprawl, urban decay

6
70's and 80's

• Oil embargo (73) Energy crises (79) foreign car
  makers gain market share
• Loss of 300,000 manufacturing jobs
• Competition from foreign car companies

7
1970's Oil Shortage

• Average fuel economy 1973 13.4 Miles a gallon!!!
  (21.5 Km for 3.8 liters!)?
• Gas shortage drastic measures taken by
  government to curb oil usage
• Which car would you rather drive during a time of
  gas shortage?

8
Flint and Lansing- Sister cities

• Many factories of the big three located in these
  nearby cities
• Have experienced similar issues
• Plight of Flint shown in Michael Moore's film
  Roger and Me

9
1990's

• Role of technology in manufacturing, foreign
  producers more efficient
• Wages and benefits still high
• But increasing competition from foreign and
  domestic producers
• Southern US less unionization and hence lower
  wages

10
Current Statistics

• 8.5 unemployment (2007)?
• Severe urban decay, ultra-rich suburbs
• 80 in Detroit city black, majority of suburbs
  white
• Detroit most dangerous US city, Flint is 7th
  (Morgan Quinto press)?

• Houses now selling for less than cars (less than
  10,000 )?
• Winner of most miserable city in US (Forbes
  Misery Measuree), Flint is a close 3rd place
• Reputation Murder capital of the country
  (1980's, FBI crime statistics )?
• Population loss of 1 million since 50's

11
Urban Prairie
12
Urban Prairie
13
Future of Detroit and Auto industry

• Unionized workers unlikely that manufacturing
  jobs will return
• Globalization process will not reverse
• Detroit as the last American city
• Urban revival projects in community