It should be noted that Germany's wage/GDP growth has been quite stagnant since the 1970s as well. Its auto industry has been successful, but that can be attributed to numerous other factors, like its effective education system, which puts a much heavier emphasis on vocational training, its engineering culture, and government policy focused on promoting auto manufacturing, all of which can counter-act the negative effects of its unions.

Also, German unions are less antagonistic to management than American unions. The UAW took over the Big Three in the 50s and 60s, and they immediately went from extremely successful, to getting to the brink of bankruptcy.