Strike at Deere plants in the US, more supply chain shortage to come

[riptides]

Pensions? In this day and age. LOL.

Had three at one time in my working career. All bought out or defunct.

That's reality in the private sector.

 

[ruffdog]

Interesting. If capitalists do not who does? China?

You don't think capitalism is alive and well in China? You haven't been paying attention to their housing market structure and collapse of lately. Do a search on Evergrande as they are the first domino to fall and are now going into default. Their country is in peril from the speculative housing market controlled by corporations.

 

[sea2summit]

You don't think capitalism is alive and well in China? You haven't been paying attention to their housing market structure and collapse of lately. Do a search on Evergrande as they are the first domino to fall and are now going into default. Their country is in peril from the speculative housing market controlled by corporations.

Ummmm, what part of a free market do they have?

Back to the point, if capitalism doesn't care about employees (which China is not) who does? Capitalism requires employers to consider (care for) their employee

 

[ruffdog]

Oh...okay..

 

[bigtiller]

You are describing union corruption. I have witnessed this first hand. My father was a union man for 40 years.

He was a skilled hard worker and competent, but the local business agent didn't like him. I never learned why.

As he would get near the top of the board, waiting to be sent out on a job, some shuffling invariably went on. The BA's son (or friends) would always somehow luck out and get sent to a 1+ year job; my Dad would often get sent out on a job that lasted 1 day. After 1 day of work he went back to the bottom of the board to sit it out-- sometimes that wait stretched for months.

To provide for our family, he often had to pull a travel card and go work out of town where work was aplenty. Leaving our family behind-- sometimes for months.

When he retired, the union disallowed work he had accrued while using a travel card. Since he had traveled often needing to find work, it cut 9 years of service off his retirement pension.

If alive today, my Dad would defend the union. But as part of the family often left behind, I'm more than skeptical about their value. I've seen the seedy underbellly first hand.

Oddly enough, when I threw a retirement party for my Dad, the BA showed up and was all smiles ...

My dad had a cousin just like that. He belonged to the Labor union for most of his working life but he didn't like to do the grunt work. New guys have to prove them selves before an easier job is offered. He was the last to get a job and the first to get sent back to the hall. When he retired at 65, he hadn't acquired enough service time (10 years) to get vested.

 

[sea2summit]

Oh...okay..

Go try to get a job there, let us know how it works out.

 

[bigtiller]

you mention union halls. funny, i was thinking about union halls yesterday and wonder if they still work that way.

growing up in blue collar milwaukee, seemed like everyone was in the union and i would hear the adult men talking about going to union hall to see if they were working that day....or not.

seems like a strange way to do business. i'm pretty sure the long shore men in portland oregon still go to union hall to see where they are going to work today.

neighbor lady was a long shore men and a binge drinker. she told me she only had to work 1 day in 30 to keep her seniority.

around portland, that was considered skilled work. i'm told it paid well.

That's how "closed shops" operate. Around here it is mainly the commercial buildings and private industry work that closed shops bid on. They build factories, sky scrapers, hydro dams, the big stuff. Seldom ever residential property.

Deere has an "open shop" where the company hires their workforce.

 

[PuffyC]

Capitalists will never think that common workers should have a say in anything pertaining to their job.

If you're saying the common workers don't get to dictate the terms of their employment that's true, but if you're saying "capitalists" don't think workers should have a say that's patently false. I'm pretty sure my current employer is a capitalist and we are constantly asked to provide feedback about all aspects of the business, and the company genuinely tries to address them the best they're able within the constraints of running that business. Maybe I'm special but that's pretty much been every employer I've ever had.

It sounds like you may be a union member because every one I've talked to has this very adversarial relationship with their employer, almost to the point of being hostile. They think the company is evil and only out to screw them over. Maybe that's because that's what the union leaders tell them? I don't know, but if you think that way about the company you work for you really should go somewhere else. There are far too many quality employers who treat their employees with respect without the need for a union to get sucked into all that negativity and drama.

 

[TCowner]

At the end of the day its still a simple matter of working people trying to get ahead and hope to pass on to their children a better life. The factory worker, whether union or not, hopes to be a little better off this year than last. These workers are our family members and friends and yet this website contributors bash them as if they are dregs on society. Tractorbynet members should support the union workers who are trying to take care of their financial well-being. Workers who make a good salary depend less on public services. We all patronize the Walmarts of the world to save 20 cents on a box of Cheerios yet these low wage workers qualify for all the programs that taxpayers pay for. You saved the 20 cents on your cereal but your taxes go up to pay for helping these workers. Perhaps one of the richest families in American (the Waltons) could pay their workers a decent wage so that they don't need the public help.

Union workers trying to get a little more financial security seems like a good thing to me. We all like it when we get a wage increase but we hate it when someone else gets it. We don't like it when someone else gets a little bump in pay as the price I pay for the goods or services will go up. If I get a bump well that is okay.

Its like the old saying, the definition of recession is when my neighbor loses his job. The definition of a depression is when I lose my job.

 

[sea2summit]

At the end of the day its still a simple matter of working people trying to get ahead and hope to pass on to their children a better life. The factory worker, whether union or not, hopes to be a little better off this year than last. These workers are our family members and friends and yet this website contributors bash them as if they are dregs on society. Tractorbynet members should support the union workers who are trying to take care of their financial well-being. Workers who make a good salary depend less on public services. We all patronize the Walmarts of the world to save 20 cents on a box of Cheerios yet these low wage workers qualify for all the programs that taxpayers pay for. You saved the 20 cents on your cereal but your taxes go up to pay for helping these workers. Perhaps one of the richest families in American (the Waltons) could pay their workers a decent wage so that they don't need the public help.

Union workers trying to get a little more financial security seems like a good thing to me. We all like it when we get a wage increase but we hate it when someone else gets it. We don't like it when someone else gets a little bump in pay as the price I pay for the goods or services will go up. If I get a bump well that is okay.

Its like the old saying, the definition of recession is when my neighbor loses his job. The definition of a depression is when I lose my job.

Hope in one hand s**t in the other, which one fills up faster? Hope is not a method, hard work with a defined goal will give amazing results every time in this nation...for now.

It's like a campaign slogan from a while back, worst one ever for America because it's the idea that someone else (union, government, whatever) is going to fix your problems. They aren't and in most cases even if they fix yours they've made it worse for countless others. Don't "hope", get out there and find your goal then get after it.