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

[Cougsfan]

Just curious, did the size of your company expand along with such changes, and was it (or did it become) a publicly traded company?

Many criticize relentless pressure for quarterly profits. But if you are a pure investor, buying stock through an exchange, you expect such focus and diligence to make your investment pay off.

It happened when our business was sold from one publicly traded company to another. The original company left us alone because we turned a very reasonable profit year after year. They sold us to a different company when other parts of their business (real estate) went south and they desperately needed cash. The new owners insisted on slowly changing us to their image, a top down company that primarily focused on quarterly profits. Slowly, over the years my company went from being profitable to not being profitable, as fewer and fewer decisions were made at the local level. (Many of those upper level decisions forced on us were literally stupid.) It also slowly evolved from a great place to work to a not very enjoyable place to work.
This maximizing short term returns mindset is a contributing factor to our jobs going overseas.

 

[sea2summit]

Who is doing the fighting?

I think a lot of CEOs/higher level ops guys have direct pressure which trickles down. But to answer the question, any company that’s gone public pretty much commits itself to fighting to be better than the competition in any or key measurable areas.

 

[DieselBound]

I think a lot of CEOs/higher level ops guys have direct pressure which trickles down. But to answer the question, any company that’s gone public pretty much commits itself to fighting to be better than the competition in any or key measurable areas.

Yeah, OK... It's pretty much a guaranteed race to the bottom. It's all like the game of Monopoly where it can only come down to a total concentration of something within one entity/player: it's something like only 6 entities control all of US media (and most are laden with CIA/NSA current or former folks who sit on each others boards):

 

[sea2summit]

Yeah, OK... It's pretty much a guaranteed race to the bottom. It's all like the game of Monopoly where it can only come down to a total concentration of something within one entity/player: it's something like only 6 entities control all of US media (and most are laden with CIA/NSA current or former folks who sit on each others boards):

Found the guy who has actually done some study

At least the former, not sure about the latter.

But, very arguable that the race to the bottom is consumer driven. Yes everyone one posts on the internet they don’t support China…from the isle in harbor freight on their iPhone. End of the day people don’t often spend the extra specifically to support US made products and business. Hence when the unions drive up US wages for no benefit to the consumer they really hurt US based jobs.

 

[MAX-24-Dean]

When I was working in industry I saw a major change happen, starting in the early 1990s. Before that time companies tended to care more about their employees. In fact what I was taught was my job as a manager was to do whatever you can to aid your employees in being successful at their job. Then things started changing. The new business model is that the person at the top is to be viewed as a genius. Each step below him the person is some what less of genius until you get at the bottom rung that is occupied by total idiots. The CEO's job is to return maximum return to the stockholders during the current fiscal period. Long term investments in the company don't usually support that. Keeping employees happy doesn't always support that goal either. It wasn't just my company I saw that happening. I saw it all over. I know their are exceptions, but unfortunately there are not enough of them.

I saw the same change in the early 1990's. Worked in manufacturing with product lines in nuclear, aircraft and helicopter engines. The facilities had a profit sharing plan and it averaged 26% of the gross wages every month for years.
New CEO nicknamed "Neutron Jack" came along and closed all facilities and moved all products to lower paying locations so they could increase dividends to share holders. That actually helped me out in the short term. But the company performed so poorly they recently had to borrow more than 6 billion dollars to keep the pension plan afloat as well as selling off some of their product lines.
Hopefully Deere keeps caring about thier employees a priority. Are Employees the most important asset at a company anymore?

 

[DieselBound]

Found the guy who has actually done some study

At least the former, not sure about the latter.

But, very arguable that the race to the bottom is consumer driven. Yes everyone one posts on the internet they don’t support China…from the isle in harbor freight on their iPhone. End of the day people don’t often spend the extra specifically to support US made products and business. Hence when the unions drive up US wages for no benefit to the consumer they really hurt US based jobs.

It's arguable, as is most anything, but I'd counter that corporations and govt did most of the work to drive production overseas: I won't go into all the details on the overall geopolitical reasoning, but it was pretty much baked into the cake. Consumers are more or less just part of the equation that was destined to produce just what we have: cogs can't be blamed for what the machine outputs, though they play part in it.

Lots of studies are done by institutions fronting for various organizations. I'll once again state it: there was an equation set in place a long time ago that created the outcome that we're experiencing and it wasn't built/created by "consumers."

 

[Solitary Man]

The difference is one of direction. The union actively protects the lazy workers. I never said there were no lazy workers outside of unions. A few may even slip through the cracks due to bad management, but it is not a way of life. In non union shops lazy worker sticking around is an aberration. In union shops, lazy workers are applauded in my experience.

The comments on this site about of the union employees as lazy, worthless, neglectful, lethargic, listless, sluggish, slothful, (there are more synonyms if needed) and the non-union employees as ambitious, diligent, enterprising, zealous, energetic, exuberant, lively, snappy, spirited, vigorous, vivacious and zippy (more if you need) just isn't the case where I work, which is the healthcare industry. We rely on the maintenance employees (union) to keep the equipment working. We rely on the environmental services employees (union) to keep the hospital, procedure and operating rooms clean and sanitized properly (important during pandemics). We rely on the food service workers (union) to provide food for the patients and staff and they perform and important service. We rely on the surgical and procedure room staff (union) to provide materials and supplies for the operating and procedure rooms.

These workers perform these tasks without the "laziness" and "contempt for the employer" as some here suggest. Now, I don't pretend that there are no issues with these workers. I am sure there are and I just don't see them. But let me assure you, I have witnessed behavior amongst the non-union staff that is quite questionable. Yet, these workers continue to have a job.

So, those who want to keep patting themselves on the back as being a gift to the workplace, well keep doing so. At least where I work, the work ethic between the two groups is very similar.

In my experience, the union trashers are the union washouts.

 

[DieselBound]

The difference is one of direction. The union actively protects the lazy workers. I never said there were no lazy workers outside of unions. A few may even slip through the cracks due to bad management, but it is not a way of life. In non union shops lazy worker sticking around is an aberration. In union shops, lazy workers are applauded in my experience.

"THE union," like there's one monolithic one? Further, "not protecting workers" (unless there's a documented judgement, all is but conjecture) is preferred?

The notion of a union is to protect workers from management/owner abuses. So, anti-union means that you're more supportive of lazy managers/owners who deal with problems by shoving people out doors.

Are their crappy workers (union or not)? Does a bear... Are their crappy owners/managers? Which has the greatest affect?

Oh, and isn't this starting to veer into your exclusionary zone of being about "politics?"

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

End of the day people don’t often spend the extra specifically to support US made products and business.

Some do but it comes down to the same thing for every company and consumer who enters the market place and that's the value proposition.

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

Are Employees the most important asset at a company anymore?

That's a good question. Are the customers important assets at a company anymore?