I'll give you a little background. I grew up in Saginaw, MI which was
a GM town with 5 plants at one time. Many of my family and friends of
the family are union members. My mother is a teacher and a union
member. I have worked as a Teamster at UPS during college and worked
in UAW plants as an engineer after.

I never said UAW workers are lazy or stupid. Some are, but they are a
very small minority. Most UAW workers I have worked with are very hard
working and dedicated to doing their job well. The problem is the
definition of their job. The UAW is a very top down structure and from
your first day on the job you are taught a "work to contract"
mentality. Each person has a very specific job and that is what you do
and you do it well. That is unless your UAW representatives tell you
to slow it down and cause problems around contract negotiation time.
The idea is that if you do anything extra, you are taking someone's
job and they may lose that job next contract if management sees that
someone else could do it. So you don't sweep up around your area at
the end of your shift, that is the janitor's job. You don't restock
your workstation when the line is stopped, that is the material
handler's job. ETC, ETC, ETC Some people will buck this and do what
needs to be done. A lot of them do it because it makes their job
easier and go smoother. However, these people are outsiders in the
union and will never move up the ladder.

My experience as an engineer in a union shop was nothing but
frustration. I wasn't allowed to touch anything or help in any way. My
job is to maximize the efficiency and quality coming off my production
line. If we were having a bad day falling behind I couldn't fill in
and help. I couldn't help the material handlers stock the line, I
couldn't help the shipping guy box his parts, I couldn't help the new
guy with his off-line subassembly. All of these are strictly union
jobs. If a machine goes down and stops the line I couldn't check it
and reset it. That is the job of maintenance so I had to call and wait
for him or her to come and hit the reset button. If I touched a part
or help in any way I've taken work away from a union employee and
would have a grievance filed against me. The person who's job I'd
"taken" would get an hour of double time in compensation. That little
reward of double time makes sure that people are vigilant in reporting
violations in work. I couldn't even go to a station that had work-flow
problems and experiment during breaks or between shifts but instead
had to have a UAW member with me and actually touch the parts and tell
him what to try. I would get no feedback or recommendation on
improvements because that wasn't their job, it was my job as the
engineer to improve workflow.

If you would read my post I also said that the UAW is not the whole
problem but part of it. The work environment is very confrontational
on both sides, not just the union. Management expects everything to be
done perfectly to the contract. After all, if you are going to work to
the contract it needs to be done. You don't get anything that isn't in
the contract and we'll try to get rid of as many workers as possible
at contract time because we won't get another chance for 3-4 years.
Way to much time is spent fighting over what the contract means and
both sides have dedicated personal to do this.

Now in the Japanese owned, non-union, plant I was expected to help
out. After all, it was my my job to ensure maximum efficiency and
quality from my lines. If we were having a bad day I would help the
team leaders and troubleshooters with the line. I would help the
material handlers stock the line. If we were having a really bad day
the engineers, technicians, and team leaders would run the line during
breaks and lunch to get caught up. We also did this around holidays so
the workers could go home a 1/2 hour early. When the line was down,
workers would restock their line, pick up dropped parts, or clean
their area and machines. If the line was down for more than a ~ 15
minutes, they would be assigned off-line tasks or help people on
another line. My first week on the job was spent going down the line
and working each station for at least an hour. This way I got to meet
the employees and get a feel for what they do every day. It also helps
to have hands-on experience with the process when trying to improve
it. Employees were always giving me recommendation on how to improve
workflow because improvements made their job easier.

BTW, my Japanese managers did not treat me or my workers with respect.
They treated us as lazy, stupid, inferior Americans. My company
actually limited their contact with line workers due to moral issues.