Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackCrayon
I agree that we need to start manufactoring things again and unions are a lot of bloat but in my opinion, necessary to some extent. Should people take pay cuts and lose their benefits to bring jobs back here? I don't think they should have to. Look at the clothing industry..in 1995 50% of clothes sold in America were made in America. In 2008 its now 5%. A HUGE drop in just 15 years. Even if people took pay cuts and lost their benefits they still couldnt compete with foreign labor.
|
I adore the topic of Unions and I have to say I agree that;
1) they are necessary
2) they are bloated
But Union leaders and rank and file are definitely not stupid, some are while others like the local representing Ford Motor understood that the company they were completely Dependant on was facing failure. That Union made concessions to management in order to for Ford to regain its balance, Ford upper management took pay cuts and gave up 'bonuses' and golden parachutes and it worked. The company, while certainly not the auto manufacturers golden boy has done very well all things considered. It is a healthy company that is looking to innovate. This is the way I think American companies need to move forward. Management and the work force need to work together in a sincere effort to make their companies profitable. But that profit needs to benefit everyone in the company. The days of the view from management that "you are benefitting by having a job asshole now shut up and get back on the line" should be over, it does not work out well like that.
Example. I worked for HAM (Honda of America Manufacturing in both their East Liberty and Marysville plants in Ohio. Their pay was the equivilant of a UAW rate in their plants because right down the road in Springfield is 3 UAW plants (International). I was fortunate to be employed by HAM first and International later... I kept this job until I got into adult. Honda treated their people like shit. They gave the usual corporate lip service to how much they cared about their associates, they explained the insane work pase by calling us 'industrial athletes' For the first 6 months of working there I was in really good shape and I had to get a automatic transmission car because it was so difficult to lift my leg to press down on the clutch. Let me tell you that is tired and sore right there
International had an us versus them attitude the while time I was there. Management would fuck you over in a heartbeat and vice versa. There were times when sitting was the norm. I worked in an area called the buck, we created the cab of the truck, I mean a floorpan rolled into the buck and a couple minutes later out rolled a shell of a cab ready for the rest of the line to start adding shit. Sometimes we would finish fast as fuck, by lunch we would have our 53 units and we were done. Everyone else would sit down and talk while the rest of the line caught up. 53 units in a shift...that was it. We could not build any more as we were not allowed. I would clock out and go home, pissed my wife off but the others sat. That is a good example of Unions limiting workforce. But at the same time Unions have fought hard to get every little thing they get.
Lives have been lost and a lot of blood spilled. I think Unions and companies need to adapt and be flexible. But corporations have to keep in mind that if their workforce is motivated and producing for them that they need to take care of that work force. American workers may be 'fat, lazy and illiterate' (no I dont believe that) but when an American worker is appreciated and treated well by a company, they are a force to be reckoned with and extremely productive
spaz