Cobo Fire update: Audi vs Union

Oh kids, I couldn't make this shizz up if I tried.

A little birdie told me the following...

When Audi's light set went up in flames causing the Great Detroit Fire of 2010, Audi staff on hand acted quickly to grab keys and move vehicles out of the way so A) fire personnel could easily extinguish the fire and B) the cars wouldn't be totally ruined.

Guess who got all up in arms about that?

The union.

Yup. Strict rules on who can do what in auto show land, in union cities at least. Never mind that it was a dire emergency situation.

Never mind that it took one booth literally 28 hours to get their brochures restocked according to union rules during busy show days when consumers were thirsty for info.

If Audi had waited around for a union guy to get there, the cars would have been completely destroyed and Richard Simmons would be wearing long pants sweatin' to the oldies with Satan.

Another display waited around for eight hours for a union electrician to show up, and all that needed to be done was have three wires unplugged from the wall. Yes, that is in fact a job a four-year-old can do.

I don't know what the repercussions were to Audi, if there were any fines levied, etc.  But frankly, this kind of thing does nothing but give European manufacturers more reason to stay away from NAIAS. (And the Chicago show, and NY...)