Re: Big Three changes need to start at the top
I normally try to stay out of such heated deals as they tend to go south in a hurry. But, alas, I'm in fact a Union Worker at DMAX Ltd. that makes engines for GM. I make a little over $18 an hour after 8 years. I worked 66 hours a week in various capacities for over 6 years and it was hardly about entitlement. It was about hard work and long hours. As I gained seniority and was viewed as having potential I was selected for Team Leader and that brought even longer hours and more responsibility for a whole extra .75 an hour. Our company grew in leaps and bounds by the efforts of persons like myself. There are roughly 200 of the "old school" "life-time deal" types in my plant. And the simple truth is that there are less and less.
Now what the critics on here don't understand is that since 95 the deals have gotten less and less sweet. The worker of today is living in the new reality, we're day workers. Generous Motors is gone. And we don't complain. You guys really need to get away from the stereotypes. First of all, many persons, like myself, have either college degrees or some college. We're not, as I like to put it, "Monkeys with a Wrench." Most of our local Union Leaders are also availing themselves of College Tutition Reimbursment programs the company makes available. And they are sent to college courses to learn their trade as a Labor Rep. My company doesn't hire anyone who doesn't have at least a High School Diploma or GED.
Why is this relevant? Because the prevailing stereotype is that we are dumb, fat and lazy. Most of us feel blessed to have these type of jobs. Our shop really isn't the old nepotistic union shop of days gone by. And while we have our problems with the International Union at times, widespread corruption is another grossly exaggerated stereotype, normally perpetuated by persons who heard stories from others and never worked a day in their life in said factories. Is it the best job? Could we do more with our lives? That's open to conjecture. But here's the rub... I'm proud of being a factory worker and find my experience to have been deeply meaningful. So please don't demean me or some of my fellow union brothers and sisters.
Now you want to know what's really wrong? Legacy costs are crippling. We have a smaller work force that is trying to prop up the larger number of retirees that have lifetime benefits. We have health care costs that have skyrocketed from the time those contracts were made in good faith by BOTH parties. The UAW is in the process of trying to modify these crippling situations in conjunction with the Big Three. We have poor management that has hidden the profit train for too long building SUV's until the market collapsed underneath them. They sold forever and all three built them like they were going out of style with no thought for the future. Now this is what burns my britches. I don't design, market or sell anything. I just build it and try to do it well. Rick and the other two make the Big Boy decisions and I might add get paid quite handsomely for their troubles. And then they get paid when they blow it, too. But then I read how it's our fault. Please! All I'm hearing is Eliteism and Social Darwinism. And persons spewing tired stereotypes.
Now whether you agree or not with the bailout, cool. But this is the truth. We outsource more and more work everyday in the name of profit. We deal in intangibles as our new frontier of job creation. Service sector jobs. Or Information Tech or even something as hot as the Nursing field is right now. We have Wright State that pumps out Doctors at a ridiculous rate. Who do you think uses all of those things? The very working class that is quickly becoming expendable. I'll be the first to agree that in my situations a lot of very critical, long overdue decisions have to made rightly and quickly. But the importance of action being taken to help stop the failure of the single largest remaining manufacturing sector we have left domestically is not to be taken lightly. And not to be fodder for armchair QB's who really, in truth, pay a miniscule amount of money per person.
I'm not really trying to sound "preachy" or like a jerk. And I'd like to send out some Fraternal Love to Dave374. Ironic,huh?
But at the end of the day, I'd just ask that some guys on here would keep from bashing the Union Worker in generalities and tired sterotypes. I'm one and I can assure you I work for my money and am proud of what I do to support my family. You might not think highly of my line of worker and my union, but I'll leave you with this. Be it reporter, steelworker, factory worker or Pro Athlete, Unions have done more good than not. Just like the crooks that hung out in the big finanical houses, we have our own bad apples too. There are lazy persons in everywhere from the Assembly Line to the Boardroom. Eventually they don't make it. And here's my proof. My company has fired both Union and Management who broke the rules. We have made over a Million Duramax engines in 8 years. So obviously we weren't all sitting around doing nothing for all that time.
Could better decisions have been made and a better, more efficient (profitable) processes and habits been adopted by both parties? You bet'cha. But please don't cast stones blindly at persons that you only know in movies and stereotypes. The fact is my employer is seeking help.Hopefully, from my perspective, it'll come. And hopefully it won't just be wasted, but the start of a new age where the Company and Union together can forge out a smart plan to help American workers reclaim the legacy of when they helped build the Middle Class. If they can't get it done, it'll be a sad day for America. Sad truth is America is really losing it's edge as an innovator and creator. Hopefully the Big Three will get that spirit back after this wake up call and invent the future of transportation when their bruised egos heal. Not Japan, China or India.....
P.S. Dave374, I liked everything you said. It was almost "God-like."
That was a joke. BTW, no hard feelings about the other stuff. It's water under the bridge with me. But I'll have to correct you about one thing. I didn't get beat up much.
I normally try to stay out of such heated deals as they tend to go south in a hurry. But, alas, I'm in fact a Union Worker at DMAX Ltd. that makes engines for GM. I make a little over $18 an hour after 8 years. I worked 66 hours a week in various capacities for over 6 years and it was hardly about entitlement. It was about hard work and long hours. As I gained seniority and was viewed as having potential I was selected for Team Leader and that brought even longer hours and more responsibility for a whole extra .75 an hour. Our company grew in leaps and bounds by the efforts of persons like myself. There are roughly 200 of the "old school" "life-time deal" types in my plant. And the simple truth is that there are less and less.
Now what the critics on here don't understand is that since 95 the deals have gotten less and less sweet. The worker of today is living in the new reality, we're day workers. Generous Motors is gone. And we don't complain. You guys really need to get away from the stereotypes. First of all, many persons, like myself, have either college degrees or some college. We're not, as I like to put it, "Monkeys with a Wrench." Most of our local Union Leaders are also availing themselves of College Tutition Reimbursment programs the company makes available. And they are sent to college courses to learn their trade as a Labor Rep. My company doesn't hire anyone who doesn't have at least a High School Diploma or GED.
Why is this relevant? Because the prevailing stereotype is that we are dumb, fat and lazy. Most of us feel blessed to have these type of jobs. Our shop really isn't the old nepotistic union shop of days gone by. And while we have our problems with the International Union at times, widespread corruption is another grossly exaggerated stereotype, normally perpetuated by persons who heard stories from others and never worked a day in their life in said factories. Is it the best job? Could we do more with our lives? That's open to conjecture. But here's the rub... I'm proud of being a factory worker and find my experience to have been deeply meaningful. So please don't demean me or some of my fellow union brothers and sisters.
Now you want to know what's really wrong? Legacy costs are crippling. We have a smaller work force that is trying to prop up the larger number of retirees that have lifetime benefits. We have health care costs that have skyrocketed from the time those contracts were made in good faith by BOTH parties. The UAW is in the process of trying to modify these crippling situations in conjunction with the Big Three. We have poor management that has hidden the profit train for too long building SUV's until the market collapsed underneath them. They sold forever and all three built them like they were going out of style with no thought for the future. Now this is what burns my britches. I don't design, market or sell anything. I just build it and try to do it well. Rick and the other two make the Big Boy decisions and I might add get paid quite handsomely for their troubles. And then they get paid when they blow it, too. But then I read how it's our fault. Please! All I'm hearing is Eliteism and Social Darwinism. And persons spewing tired stereotypes.
Now whether you agree or not with the bailout, cool. But this is the truth. We outsource more and more work everyday in the name of profit. We deal in intangibles as our new frontier of job creation. Service sector jobs. Or Information Tech or even something as hot as the Nursing field is right now. We have Wright State that pumps out Doctors at a ridiculous rate. Who do you think uses all of those things? The very working class that is quickly becoming expendable. I'll be the first to agree that in my situations a lot of very critical, long overdue decisions have to made rightly and quickly. But the importance of action being taken to help stop the failure of the single largest remaining manufacturing sector we have left domestically is not to be taken lightly. And not to be fodder for armchair QB's who really, in truth, pay a miniscule amount of money per person.
I'm not really trying to sound "preachy" or like a jerk. And I'd like to send out some Fraternal Love to Dave374. Ironic,huh?
But at the end of the day, I'd just ask that some guys on here would keep from bashing the Union Worker in generalities and tired sterotypes. I'm one and I can assure you I work for my money and am proud of what I do to support my family. You might not think highly of my line of worker and my union, but I'll leave you with this. Be it reporter, steelworker, factory worker or Pro Athlete, Unions have done more good than not. Just like the crooks that hung out in the big finanical houses, we have our own bad apples too. There are lazy persons in everywhere from the Assembly Line to the Boardroom. Eventually they don't make it. And here's my proof. My company has fired both Union and Management who broke the rules. We have made over a Million Duramax engines in 8 years. So obviously we weren't all sitting around doing nothing for all that time. Could better decisions have been made and a better, more efficient (profitable) processes and habits been adopted by both parties? You bet'cha. But please don't cast stones blindly at persons that you only know in movies and stereotypes. The fact is my employer is seeking help.Hopefully, from my perspective, it'll come. And hopefully it won't just be wasted, but the start of a new age where the Company and Union together can forge out a smart plan to help American workers reclaim the legacy of when they helped build the Middle Class. If they can't get it done, it'll be a sad day for America. Sad truth is America is really losing it's edge as an innovator and creator. Hopefully the Big Three will get that spirit back after this wake up call and invent the future of transportation when their bruised egos heal. Not Japan, China or India.....
P.S. Dave374, I liked everything you said. It was almost "God-like."
That was a joke. BTW, no hard feelings about the other stuff. It's water under the bridge with me. But I'll have to correct you about one thing. I didn't get beat up much.
that continually and REPEATEDLY said that "nothing is wrong"...."you're trying to reign in the subprime lending because of XXXX(can't bring it up on O.S.) everytime someone in Congress tried to put forth that we needed more regulation in the lending markets?
) and that was a big contributor....but so has the ONE WAY "free trade".
Thomas Edison and Henry Ford would be so proud! 
Capitalism isn't what we do here. Trust me, look it up. We practice the PT Barnum philosophy. But like I said earlier, The Moneyloving types are about to have a rude awakening. Problem is more and more folk everyday, including Union and non-Union both, are getting the feeling that they've been used to fund huge CEO salaries and bad investments by those who sold themselves as trustworthy and wise. All they did was make a lot of folk believe in stuff that was fantasy. And "don't look at the man behind the curtain" ain't gonna cut it anymore. That why CEO's are getting bashed so hard on the Hill. It's popular and plays real well in Peoria. That's gonna be the new reality. So bash the Union folks all you want. We'll be here when all of the fake wealth is gone ( I mean Market-corrected) and when we're ready to make something that's real. We'll do what our forefathers did, we'll roll up our sleeves and build it. Not strain our brains and believe that somehow that makes us worth planeloads of money. The overly arrogant and prideful will always come to their fall. 
Not sure if you're kidding....doesn't really matter.
Read up on the history of Unions in America, not just listen to the Propoganda of the Business Class.... But we'll see if the Employee Free Choice Act gets passed. Then we'll see how people really feel about Unions. I have a feeling our numbers will swell again. Now I just pray that we don't screw it up again.
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