Tough to argue with this Detroit Free Press headline.

detroit-free-press-headline

Tough to argue with this Detroit Free Press headline. Would you expect anything less from UAW thugs?

editor:

View Comments (15)

  • Can anybody name one thing or action that any union has ever done that helped a business be more competitive or more profitable?

    • Yes, as a matter of fact, I can. My union, International Union of Operating Engineers, runs an Apprentice program, along with Journeyman continuing training, that is absolutely top notch. We pay for out of our union dues.

      We get hands on experience from some of the best instructors available, men with actual experience in the field, not from some college degree. Nobody graduates the Apprentice Program without a Class A CDL, with ALL endorsements, a certificate in Hazardous Waste Operations, various other certificates that are now required to operate equipment in the field, and LOTS of on the job experience.

      The apprentice starts out at half the pay of a journeyman, and moves up the pay scale according to his hours on the job, along with completing training at different levels.

      When a signatory contractor calls the hiring hall and requests an operator for his, (often multi-million dollar), piece of machinery, he knows that the next morning, a qualified operator will show up, ready to go to work. If the operator isn't qualified, or doesn't want to work hard, he or she will be sent back to the hall, and another one sent out. An operator that is sent back as unqualified three times will have that piece of equipment removed from their card in the hall permanently.

      In heavy engineering contracting, equipment costs are such a large percentage of the cost of doing the job, that putting unqualified operators on a machines is very counterproductive. Yes, the union operator costs more, but the cost of doing the job two or more times, instead of getting it right the first time, negates any saving.

  • My Dad is retired from Navistar, formerly International Harvester, and gets the bi-monthly UAW magazine "SOLIDARITY". The cover of their September-October magazine reads as follows:"AMERICA's
    NOT
    BROKE
    The problem with the U.S. economy
    isn't out-of-control spending -
    it's an unfair tax system"

    So don't cut spending, just keep taxing the rich. They'll never learn. They probably have no problem with $16 muffins. Dad defends unions but he votes Republican.

    • Private unions are ok. It's when they are public or when private ones get preferential treatment from government that they overstep their bounds.

      • I think it depends on the Union - now around these parts I know a lot of boys from the Local 392 which is a pipe fitters union. They are all good men and real good with their hands-the way they talk, if you don't pull your weight, your out.

        When I started teachin I was given the option to opt out of the teachers union they had goin there, which I did-- not for any other reason than I had babies and I needed the cash at the time.

        I remember once when we hit some hard times, my wife took a part time at one of them Krogers stores. They made everybody join the Union and her first two weeks she worked 32 hours and her first paycheck was for $12.15 after payin taxes and the initial union dues and fees. She worked there almost a year and and payed her dues every two weeks and I don't recall that Union ever doin anything that benefited her.

        • Years ago I had the same experience with that wonderful gang of thugs known as the Teamsters, I had to PAY 300 BUCKS TO JOIN, before I could work for the company..how nice..Legalized extortion...and for me they did ZERO, NOTHING, NADA, ZIP!

    • The initial premise of unionizing was good, in so far as it protected laborers from abusive work loads and unfair treatment. Unfortunately it rapidly turned into a perfect example of the old saw; Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Related Post
  1. DALLAS POLICE SHOOTING: ‘ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE ASSAULT VEHICLE AND TROOP TRANSPORT’
  2. Kim Jong-un was a child prodigy
  3. Top GOP Leader Promises Total Amnesty In 2015