Union Votes Down Ford Concessions -- Good move UAW, real good move.

A 10-28-09 post was entitled "Not good, not good at all: Union Votes Go Against Cuts at Ford (no good deed -- Ford's not having to file bankruptcy -- goes unpunished by the union)."

The Wall Street Journal reports that Ford's rank-and-file union members have rejected a concessions agreement, leaving the auto maker at risk to higher costs compared with competitors Chrysler and GM.

The Journal reports that Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley who specializes in labor issues, said of the election:

"I think Ford is smart enough not to retaliate and move work away from plants. However, I suspect it will lightly influence Ford's investment decisions in the future."

Don't count on it sir, don't count on it at all. Ford will not spell it out for the UAW, but the union will be shown that it has made its bed, and now it will have to lie in it. The probable result: fewer jobs in America and production shifting elsewhere.

UPDATED: As noted in The New York Times:

The deal’s failure means Ford retains the right to contract some work to other companies or to plants in other countries with lower labor costs.