Don’t blame unions

THOSE rotten unions ruined the local automotive industry Andrew? (Andrew Clark, Mercury December 24). If you step away and take a holistic view at the demise of the industry, there were several reasons why l believe this occurred.

Yes, Australian automotive workers were paid very well compared to plant workers in, for example, Thailand, where a lot of the popular dual cab Utes are assembled now, but due to the dropping of tariff protections over the years and governments of all persuasions embracing global free trade, Aussie workers have become expensive in a global context. We were never going to be able to compete with workers in low-wage countries, as workers in most western countries have found to be the case. Our current cost of living crisis can be in part attributed to stagnant wages, something ex federal Liberal finance Minister Mathias Cormann once let slip in 2019 was a feature of government policy, to gently apply downward pressure on wages. Perhaps one day Australia will become a low-wage country.

I also believe that Holden and Ford didn’t see the car buying public shift, to embracing SUVs and dual cab utes until it was too late, and were making large sedans like the Commodore, that apart from their devotees, the buyers ignored. It is unfortunate, whoever is to blame, that we no longer have this industrial capability, as with the days of new internal combustion engine powered vehicles numbered, Australia could have been a major player in alternatively powered vehicles. Stuart Cox

Howrah