Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
VW was cursed with the UAW building Rabbits in the Westmoreland, PA plant in the late 70s and early 80s. The quality of the cars was abysmal. They finally moved the plant for United States bound Rabbits to Mexico. Quality was better, but nothing to write home about.
I am proud of the VW workers for staying non union. Workers that excel can improve themselves, and workers who do shoddy work can actually be reprimanded or fired.
I was a union worker for twelve long, miserable years. I was stuck making the same money as the people who did poor work. I finally quit the union and went into management, excelled, and went up the ladder both in jobs, and pay. Unions promote greed, corruption, and apathy. The Detroit vehicles bear this out.
Most unions how outlived most of their positive usefulness - not all - some. Some industries still suck in dealing with their employees. When management is doing their jobs, there is little need to unionize.
The inherent imbalance in bargaining power between a corporation and an individual worker is reason enough for unions.
Have you noticed that real wages have been going down for a couple decades? Middle class people can no longer afford to live a decent life in America. The free market should sort that out right? Only if workers have collective bargaining. Otherwise an individual worker who can be replaced has zero power.
The inherent imbalance in bargaining power between a corporation and an individual worker is reason enough for unions.
Have you noticed that real wages have been going down for a couple decades? Middle class people can no longer afford to live a decent life in America. The free market should sort that out right? Only if workers have collective bargaining. Otherwise an individual worker who can be replaced has zero power.
Being in a union doesn't guarantee that workers will benefit from collective bargaining. Just look at Hostess. Management told them they would all be out of a job if they didn't accept some serious cutbacks in pay... so they agreed to it. Then just a year later, management wanted to cut their wages even more, and the union said hell no... Management voted themselves large pay raises and bonuses, then promptly laid everyone off and declared bankruptcy.
One of the articles in one of the Tennessee papers around the time of the election stated that those VW workers earn $27.00/hour including benefits.
With a very respectable salary like that in a state with no income tax as well with a very pro-business orientation, what could a union do other than create discord as they did with GM time and time again?
One of the articles in one of the Tennessee papers around the time of the election stated that those VW workers earn $27.00/hour including benefits.
With a very respectable salary like that in a state with no income tax as well with a very pro-business orientation, what could a union do other than create discord as they did with GM time and time again?
Being in a union doesn't guarantee that workers will benefit from collective bargaining. Just look at Hostess. Management told them they would all be out of a job if they didn't accept some serious cutbacks in pay... so they agreed to it. Then just a year later, management wanted to cut their wages even more, and the union said hell no... Management voted themselves large pay raises and bonuses, then promptly laid everyone off and declared bankruptcy.
You can't always get what you want in a negotiation but obviously a union gives workers much more bargaining power
The problem is when the union in question has one or more of poor leadership, poor investing, bad luck, corruption, etc. and that pension plan you thought was there for you your whole life isn't. The only way to be sure your future is safe is to manage it yourself.
Regarding unions in general, one of my best friends is an iron worker, and for his case, I can clearly see the benefits from a work safety perspective and ensuring the work gets done with a consistent quality since he works on high rise projects and nuke plants. In other cases, I've had very poor experiences; a while back I was doing trade shows for work and made the mistake of doing one in Chicago. I needed to ship the components for my trade show booth to the show and I required A/C power. By the time all was said and done, just for my one single pallet of material to make it from the loading dock to the show floor and be powered up, it involved four different unions (loading dock, elevator, electrical, whatever one moves pallets around the show floor) and $900 in total expense. Somehow I managed to ship 500 pounds of gear across the country for $100 but to move the gear another 100 yards and plug an extension cord in, it was $900.
I was at a boat show in Detroit a few years back and saw one of the boat reps get an earful from some union clown for plugging an electrical cord into the outlet.
The inherent imbalance in bargaining power between a corporation and an individual worker is reason enough for unions.
Have you noticed that real wages have been going down for a couple decades? Middle class people can no longer afford to live a decent life in America. The free market should sort that out right? Only if workers have collective bargaining. Otherwise an individual worker who can be replaced has zero power.
Real wages have not been going down. Taxes on the middle class have been increasing, thus your take home pay is getting smaller.
You can't always get what you want in a negotiation but obviously a union gives workers much more bargaining power
The current UAW starting pay in Detroit is about $15.50 per hour. I can negotiate much better pay than that.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
