Labor & Employment Law

Corker Tells Whopper: ?I Saved the Auto Industry?

By Mike Hall

Some lies are just tiny fibs, reshading the truth just a little bit, something all us?except for the purest of heart?have done.  Then there is the whopper, the bald-faced lie that completely blots out the truth. Just like what Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said the other day.

Thanks to the 2009 federal loan agreement to help GM and Chrysler stay afloat, both companies have dug themselves out of deep financial holes and are restoring jobs.

Last week at a ceremony at GM?s Spring Hill, Tenn., plant to celebrate the rehiring of 483 workers to build a line of fuel-efficient EcoTec engines, Corker, who ranted and railed against the government help to save the auto industry, took credit for the government help to save the auto industry. Here is what he said. Really.

At the end of the day we all have to feel good about what we did, I contributed to strengthening the auto industry in this country.

Politicians do have a vastly different truth formula than the rest of us use, but even so, Corker?s claim to saving the auto industry is as a far from the truth as Saskatchewan is from Rio De Janeiro in miles (6,285) and culture (use your imagination).

Corker?s self-serving auto salvation claims didn?t go over well with the UAW members in the audience who, reports Jalopnik?s Justin Hyde, let loose with a round of boos. They surely remembered Corker was one of the loudest voices in the fight against saving GM and Chrysler and used the Senate debate as a platform to push his union-busting, wage cutting schemes.

Many of the UAW members a the Spring Hill event also took part last February in  delivering more than 1,400 Valentines Day cards and other letters to Corker?s office taking him to task for his anti-union, wage cut stands.

Next time the workers get raise, don?t be surprised if Corker takes credit for that too–as long as it’s an election year.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 20, 2010 (boomark / email).