I gave up on US business a long time ago

I was laid-off May 5th 1975, UAW local 32 Cleveland, Ohio


Am I chronic unemployed ??


Cookieland is only 30 miles from me.

Sorry to hear that any AMERICAN has lost or will be out of a job.



59

 

TRW like the pistons?

 

dezeldog I agree with you completely. I am in a union and have been for 31 years. we have not had a contract for 5 years 50% of the people are gone. I do believe the union will be busted and our jobs will be "outsourced". The company is making it even tough to come to work. GPS on all the vehicles to track every move, video cameras every where too. The CEO is very proud of his acheivments as he make 6.5 million per year. I can only hope to get a pension as he is wantsd to play with that now. In Canada thing are just a few years behind the US. What about our kids getting good jobs???

 

Mexstan, that is the plant that makes the airbag itself, we assemble the parts sent. I'm not a union fan by any means. We fought hard at this plant to keep the union out. I really don't think it would have made a difference one way or the other. I'm an electrican/maintance, everyone is talking about going back to school on the goverment program but these programs are vocational/technical schools which is where I got my associates degree in electronics. The sad part is when these people get out of school where are you going to put your education to work at????? The factories are not here. I understand labor is cheaper down south but when you look at a pie graph of the cost of your product labor is a very small part of the pie, so I wonder what other reasons a company has to go south of the border??

I think this is Bill Clinton's immigration policy, send the good jobs to Mexico and they won't want to come up here!

I really hate to lose my job but I hate it more for the ladies that are in there 50's. A man can do something even digging ditchs to make a living but these ladies are getting close to retirement and will have trouble finding jobs. I just really feel for alot of the people I work with.
Thanks

 

Yes pistons, seatbelts, steering gears......etc.

 

Mexstan, I understand about the bottom line but you have to understand why we are not happy about our politicians making it easier and more profitable as much as inviting to take our jobs out of the country. I know the import tax on steel didn't work out to good but something is going to have to happen if we are to keep the life we enjoy as Americans. Our elected officials are giving our country away based on their greed. You can't blame the companies for trying to make more money but you can blame our goverment for not keeping a level playing field for its people.

I'm sorry for ranting I'll quit now.

 

Barry Smith you said that you fought hard to keep the union out of you're plant. Well if you have paid vacations, paid holidays, a safe work environment, overtime and holiday pay, some sort of health care and a pension then you can thank the unions for that as they were the ones that fought for all of the above. O'le Regan got the ball rolling with the firing of the air traffic controllers and it has snowballed from there. The unions have done a lot of good for the working man in this country over the years. If you don't trust them maybe you should listen to the president/ceo of you're company he'll always give you the "Best Deal".
As for the politicians allowing this mass exodus of American companies overseas it seems to me that they are trying to eliminate the middle class in this country or at least have greater controll of it thus the labor busting tactics. Back in the 60s and 70s the unions had too much controll today all the lobbyist and special interested groups have taken over but that isn't a good thing for the working man. At least with a union I had a say in my wages and benefits pkg. That is why the companys don't want the unions, controll over you're money and benefits. Who better to look after you're money than you??? Don't tell me what I need, I'll tell you what I need to have to make a decent living for me and my family.
The ulitmate responsibilty belongs to all who have sought a CHEAPER product and did not "Buy American' another good UNION phrase but because it was supported by the unions some chose to ignore it and they are the ones paying the price today.

 

dezeldog, Is these the same unions that have engrained the work ethic into people that when their jobs are on the line 75% of the company will call out throught Christmas holiday. The same unions that have forced companies to give away Plasma T.V.'s just to get the workers to come in on Super Bowl Sunday. This is a company where the employees make $30hr. And that is not the topped out. This is a company that is in bankruptcy for the second time in three years. It is US airways. United airways mechanics were here theother day comlpaining about a $15hr pay cut since 9-11. They still make more than twice what most mechanics make at our company (non-union).

This is what you call a fair wage. I agree that our employees are under paid but not by over $18hr. Unions take away the advantage of working harder. It makes a situation where "they can't fire me" or "I destroyed a $250,000 part, who care its not coming out of my check". There is a place and time for unions, but that has not protected the pensions of people and United or U.S. All of them were counting on the company and now it is gone.

I think there are betters ways to save money than in wages. Mainly because of the quality of people you can retain, but the two I have mentioned already have not improved attitudes by throwing loads of beneifits at employees.

Randy

 

I saw on the news last night that congress voted to pass CAFTA.

Is the problem the lifetime polititians?
I bet it is the personal investments the polititians make. Then they vote to pad their pockets.

Central america??? Give me a break. With more US money, they will only become a new war zone.

 

Unions = Everyone wants to complain about the politicians when in fact there are other choices out there besides the 2 parties that do nothing for us. And no I don't vote Libertarian I vote Constitution Party. Being on the other side of table I know for a fact that unions are just as much to blame for destroying manufacturing in the US as the greedy CEOs are. Unions protect the lame, the lazy, and the worthless.

 

The causes are myriad and go back a LONG way; I will add a note about unions, though - I worked in an industry where the engineers (like myself) were NOT union, but the manufacturing / support employees were. Guess what? The guy emptying my garbage made more that I did.

Hey, if you think NAFTA is sweet, you'll just LOVE CAFTA! I'm glad someone else has heard about it....

- check out the info on it at: http://www.eagleforum.org

 

dezeldog, a union wouldn't have made the company stay here. You're right about alot of the beneits e haare because of the union. Unions time have come and gone. A company has to be flexable and the union is not flexable.
CAFTA isn'tgreat! since NAFTA has worked out so well lets find another place where 12 year olds can work in sweet shops!
MColeman, your right about the other parties but you have to look at things the way they are. If you were able to elect a Libertarian or some other party they could get nothing passed they would just be taking up space.
You know looking back the reason everyone thinks the Clinton years were great is because you had one party for president and another in congress and they didn't pass anything. I really believe when the goverment can't pass laws we are better off.

 

If I was 12 I would Love working in a Sweet Shop Berry

 

The ones that are up there now are just taking up space. On top of taking away more and more of our freedoms while they grow their government towards socialism. And pass crap like this that gets us closer and closer to a one world order society with a world court. One day everyone is going to wake up and wonder why they didn't try to stop when it was small.
Remember what some of our forefathers said. ( Those that would give up liberty and freedom for security, deserve neither.) I guess they wanted cafta to finish sending the jobs overseas that Nafta didn't get removed. I still remember the warnings that ole big ears gave everyone about nafta. He was right. Big ears being Ross Perot.

 

There is some merit in what ya'll have said about unions. I agree about the flexability or should I say the lack of it. I don't know where you come with the fact that unions protect the "LAZEY, LAME and WORTHLESS. I worked in a union environment for 40 yrs and never came across that type of individual. Our philosophy was "a fair days work for a fair days pay". There is no room for that type of person in the skilled trades industry.
Rauschbo, you make a good point for the union. You're company set the wage scale for the non union employes and the union set the other scale---- now where would have prefered to work. I am not saying that the garbarge man deserved more than you however he had the benefit of a 'collective bargaining aggrement' and you didn't. That's my point exactly. Major corporations pay their workers exactly what they have to and no more while the exec. TAKE their pay. The more they save the more they get for themselves. How can you justify paying a retired ford exec. 3.5 mil a year?? That makes no sense to me and he probably was one of the ones saying that the unions were making too much.
Newriver, my son worked for United as a pilot for three years prior to 911. After 911 the pilots at United gave back 30% and his job still went away along with almost 3000 other pilots. Now here comes the real question, how many of the upper management people have lost their jobs??? Less than 1% if you can believe that, and they will ride that dead horse right to the end. That is always a tactic of big business to blame the unions for everything while they have the ability to help themselves to the cookie jar. You know, kinda like the fox guarding the hen house. If the workers got plasma TVs for working on Super Bowl Sunday then you can bet that the execs. all got new cars for telling them they had to work.
The job situation in this country will never change unless Our government steps in and stops the flow of jobs out of the country. Think of all the money corporations save themselves by going to Mexico or any other third world country. Have you as a consumer seen any of that money in the form of lower prices for that same product. I don't think so. That is called Corporate Greed. The Gov't needs to step in and level the playing field through some sort of import Tariffs or tax. They how have no problem taxing its citizens.
THATS MY STORY AND IM STINKING TO IT