It all comes down to this.

So by now a lot of you have probably picked up on my disdain for the current state of the American automobile industry. While honing my skills of internet nerdery today, I happened upon a Time Magazine gallery of shots of UAW workers at GM plants in the USA. It really drove home a story I read a few years back.

It was an article in Fast Company on how Jon Bon Jovi (yes, that one) bought a lackluster arena football team and, against all odds, turned it around to be extremely profitable and entertaining. I read that the first thing he did was make sure all of the teams got nice uniforms for on and off the field, and how that was a first step towards unifying the team. By doing this small thing, they felt they were part of something, and as a result had more self respect for themselves and saw themselves as a team, rather than just people getting paid to do a job. Following me?

So back to the Time gallery. After seeing what a random sampling of UAW workers looked like, I decided to give Google Images a little project to see what their competitors in other countries as well as over here look like.

Here is Toyota's factory in Japan. Universal color scheme. Hardhats required. Some shit is going down and they are ready for it.


Here is a middle aged fraulein getting her shine on in a Mercedes Benz factory in Germany. Clean sweatshirt and white gloves.

Side note: LOOK AT THAT HARDWOOD FLOOR.


Here is the assembly line at BMW in Dingolfing, Germany. Company issued pants and tops, look how clean that floor is. Everyone is working to get it done.

And then, you have this treasure, 14 years with the UAW. People that make sandwiches at Subway have better personal appearances.

I am hoping that she is just swinging through this GM plant to use the bathroom, not install a transmission or tighten the engine mounts. But, I think I might be let down on that one. 8 Mile represent.

Don't even get me started.