Quote in the News: How are you going to get those robots to pay your union dues?

[Charles C Doyle]

The anecdote seems to be based on the purported saying of Henry Ford Sr. that he wanted to pay his workers enough so that they could buy the cars they made.

--Charlie

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> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------=
------
>
> Newspaper: Washington Post
> Article title: Free money might be the best way to end poverty
> Author: Rutger Bregman,
> Date: December 29 2013

>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Legend has it that while Henry Ford II was giving a tour around a new,
> highly automated factory to union leader Walter Reuther in the 1960s,
> Ford joked: =93Walter, how are you going to get those robots to pay your
> union dues?=94
>
> Reuther is said to have replied: =93Henry, how are you going to get them
> to buy your cars?=94
> [End excerpt]
>
> This anecdote was explored on the Quote Investigator website.
> Additional citations welcome:
> http://quoteinvestigator.com/2011/11/16/robots-buy-cars/
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Walter Reuther did claim that a comparable dialog actually occurred in
> the early 1950s. However, he did not claim he was speaking with Henry
> Ford II. Instead, his conversation partner was described using a
> phrase such as =93one of the management people=94 or =93a company officia=
l=94.
>
> The earliest evidence QI has located appeared in conjunction with a
> conference about automation held by the UAW-CIO union in November
> 1954.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson

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