One extremely large factor. If the US had been making Civics instead of Pintos, things would have been much different. And management that doesn't care. Well, again, those extra costs are their own damn fault, as is paying for the extra costs by using cheap material instead of accepting a smaller profit. No one forced them to do any of that. The union didn't literally have a gun to their heads. barfo
That's a meaningless statement. And as far as 401k's go, their days are numbered after most of American seniors had their retirement either postponed or cancelled entirely due to their 401k's becoming nearly worthless overnight under Bush/Cheney's "watch". People will not be leaving large sums in them in the future.
Union or not, American autoworkers are currently underpaid compared to Japanese autoworkers, or German autoworkers, or Swedish autoworkers...
Exactly. Many people, those who oppose unions, don't try to "get away with everything". They actually have pride in themselves and their work, and respect and expect the same from their co-workers.
I'm not trying to be snarky, but isn't that covered by my long-term disability insurance? That's a $5 add-on to my health plan?
I've been a union member for 10 years and I still don't understand what they do besides provide representation for all the shitty workers the company suspends/tries to terminate. If you're a hard worker, a company is going to take care of you whether you're in a union or not. All a union does is hold back the good workers by preventing the company from promoting them ahead of less qualified workers who have more time... and keeping the company from rewarding people with raises/bonuses based on their performance. Basically, the union turns everybody into equally shitty workers because they're going to make the same no matter how productive/unproductive they are. But to me, the worst thing about unions is that they make it almost impossible for a struggling company to dig itself out of the gutter. All the rules they have in place regarding lay-offs all but guarantee that the company is going to die completely once they start to fail.
I'm a hard worker that was trying to be taken advantage of by my non-union supervisors. It took 1 grievance and a couple hours worth of time and half pay to straighten that out. Unfair work practice without my union and I would have had to just let it roll. Non-union management will try any way, ethical or not to get the best numbers so they can get their bonuses at the end of the year. Of course there's pro's and con's about a union, but if you do your job competently you should have no worries and the union should have your back. I work at such a big place I could care-less who's lazy and who's not. Overall enough people work their tail off to get out of there the same time every night.
Funny how in this thread the people who always take a Neo-con stance are against unions and those with a liberal mindset are for Unions.
Wow! So my boss's brother who makes over $100/hr at his UAW checking to see is certain bolts & nuts are properly tight on autos is underpaid? Don't tell him that.
That is how it works around here. Split on part lines. You rarely see people thinking for themselves anymore, be it here or anywhere.
Do you like to see blind people with Parkinson's drive race cars? Be careful what you wish for. barfo
What's your take on my opinion, which is: I'm pro union to a large extent. As I see it, the 1st amendment gives people the right to free association, and a union is a sort of free association. I am quite convinced that unions provide a great number of benefits to their members, and your getting assistance during seriously rough times (for anyone) is a perfect example. My gripes with unions are just a few. First, it's not truly a free association. If your workplace is unionized, you should have the option to not participate in the union. Second, unions do socialize a company's profits - which isn't unreasonable as long as it's what the employees want. However, they do not socialize a company's liabilities or losses and that is a huge flaw.
Not sure I understand your point here. If unions socialize profits, don't non-union wages also socialize profits? When times are bad, don't union contracts up for renewal tend to take a hit? Isn't that "socializing" liabilities and losses? barfo
Non-union wages do not socialize profits. There are no contractual obligations to pay non-union employees any certain wage based upon tenure, etc. In no way do union contracts socialize losses.
