Will UAW Strike?

[Snobdds]

In college I viewed fraternities as, having to pay to have friends.

Closed shop unions are similar, having to pay to have work.

It's no wonder these closed shop unions have been declining since the early 90's. In my area, non union electrician make more than union electricians.


A buddy worked in LV as a union plumber. He grew up with a dad as a non union plumber and knew more about plumbing by the age of 15 than most seasoned plumbers. He got in trouble on day when he went to grab some more pipe on the ground for a hotel they were building. The union guys lost their minds that a journey man plumber would even think of doing such a task. He was told an appetence was suppose to do it, even if it meant waiting for 3 hours to get the pipe. Stupidity knows no bounds...

 

[ultrarunner]

My union Tool and Die never had more than 30 on the floor and I’m not able to relate to some of the things I hear in what must be larger organizations.

Many of the tool makers learned their trade in Germany or Switzerland but our very best lathe man was Japanese…

If you were not cutting it you were gone and the interesting thing to me is quite a few new hires quit… they came from other organizations and had issue with being under the owners eye/scrutiny.

As the big guys like FMC and HP were closing California manufacturing we had a pool looking for work…

 

[5030]

not much use for labor union where the only thing that matters is seniority.

and protecting the marginal and weal worker bees. Don't forget that aspect, ever.

 

[5030]

Nothing much on the Michigan front to report except that Fords is getting closer every day to a mass lockout. I'm 100% for that because the rest will follow suit and that will be the end of the UAW. Fain and the rest of the union fat cats will actually have to get a real job... Not that anyone would hire them except maybe to clean toilets and urinals. No constructive bargaining or talks with anyone presently... and all the while the UAW strike fund depletes.

None of the area (Greater Detroit) newspapers are talking about it. I believe they are all scared poopless about what is going to go down.

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Why the UAW Strike Is About to Get a Lot Worse - AAH 665

This is an hour discussion from this afternoon about strike issues.

 

[Hay Dude]

In college I viewed fraternities as, having to pay to have friends.

Closed shop unions are similar, having to pay to have work.

It's no wonder these closed shop unions have been declining since the early 90's. In my area, non union electrician make more than union electricians.


A buddy worked in LV as a union plumber. He grew up with a dad as a non union plumber and knew more about plumbing by the age of 15 than most seasoned plumbers. He got in trouble on day when he went to grab some more pipe on the ground for a hotel they were building. The union guys lost their minds that a journey man plumber would even think of doing such a task. He was told an appetence was suppose to do it, even if it meant waiting for 3 hours to get the pipe. Stupidity knows no bounds...

One of the guys that works for me used to be a union carpenter. Damn good guy and very picky about doing a good job. They were building a very expensive wing on a Catholic Church. He was told to caulk nailing flange of windows, plus, level, square and nail flanges and nothing else.

He noticed the windows looked a bit off in the rough openings and decided to add a few trim screws to help make the windows look perfect. His union supervisor took him off the job and put him on another job 50 miles from home doing some lousy task.

Union thinking seems to run opposite of non-union thinking.
I get the unions founding principals-to stop management abuse, but it’s gotten ridiculous

 

[5030]

Considering the sheer number of intertwined industries, a prolonged strike will probably devastate the general economy, especially here in Michigan and probably Ohio as well.

 

[5030]

Just in, the UAW will strike ALL distribution centers that supply replacement parts for car dealers and repair shops.

They will not target Fords at all. Just Stellantis and GM.

That tells me Fords is bargaining in good faith and the others aren't.

 

[milkman636]

……….Union thinking seems to run opposite of non-union thinking.
I get the unions founding principals-to stop management abuse, but it’s gotten ridiculous

Unfortunately there are still management abuses in the 2020s. A good friend of mine in his early 50’s just had an unfortunate experience with his supervision. He worked on a body line building Cadillac and Buick sedans at a plant 20 minutes from his house. Since he was one of the physically smallest guys on the line, he would get jobs that required climbing in and out of the body and fastening things in some awkward positions, which he did for over 20 years. It was all fine until he developed tendinitis in his elbow from doing the same jobs 500 times a night for years. He ended up having a long, on-going struggle to get assigned to other positions on the body line. He would get moved for short stints after seeing the plant medical staff, but would always get stuck back on a job that caused him pain because he was quick and proficient. His restrictions would get ignored by the supervision in charge of the line and he would have to get the union involved. This went on repeatedly, even after surgery on his elbow. They would stick him back where his restrictions said not to. The body line shift supervisor, the plant manager’s son-in-law, got to make the call. The eventual solution higher GM management had to make the disagreement go away was to offer him medical retirement, and give him a check and benefits every month for not working, even though he is otherwise perfectly healthy.

So now GM pays him and provides him with benefits to stay home, and they pay someone else to replace him on the assembly line and do a job that he would still like to be doing. He’s young, with one kid in high school and two in college, not ready for retirement or a reduction in income. He probably would have worked another 8-10 years. He’s pursuing a plumbing license now because plumbing is something that he’s always enjoyed. He’s not a lazy guy.

There’s a strong tendency to malign the hourly workers, but there is a lot of cronyism and bad decision making in the corporate side of the business that’s still reinforces the need for a union. If my friend’s story happened in a non-union shop he would have simply been let go, after almost 30 years, and left to collect the 20 weeks of unemployment Michigan offers for his services. He’s much better off right now because of the union. And I’m sure there are many more stories like his.

 

[Snobdds]

Unfortunately there are still management abuses in the 2020s. A good friend of mine in his early 50’s just had an unfortunate experience with his supervision. He worked on a body line building Cadillac and Buick sedans at a plant 20 minutes from his house. Since he was one of the physically smallest guys on the line, he would get jobs that required climbing in and out of the body and fastening things in some awkward positions, which he did for over 20 years. It was all fine until he developed tendinitis in his elbow from doing the same jobs 500 times a night for years. He ended up having a long, on-going struggle to get assigned to other positions on the body line. He would get moved for short stints after seeing the plant medical staff, but would always get stuck back on a job that caused him pain because he was quick and proficient. His restrictions would get ignored by the supervision in charge of the line and he would have to get the union involved. This went on repeatedly, even after surgery on his elbow. They would stick him back where his restrictions said not to. The body line shift supervisor, the plant manager’s son-in-law, got to make the call. The eventual solution higher GM management had to make the disagreement go away was to offer him medical retirement, and give him a check and benefits every month for not working, even though he is otherwise perfectly healthy.

So now GM pays him and provides him with benefits to stay home, and they pay someone else to replace him on the assembly line and do a job that he would still like to be doing. He’s young, with one kid in high school and two in college, not ready for retirement or a reduction in income. He probably would have worked another 8-10 years. He’s pursuing a plumbing license now because plumbing is something that he’s always enjoyed. He’s not a lazy guy.

There’s a strong tendency to malign the hourly workers, but there is a lot of cronyism and bad decision making in the corporate side of the business that’s still reinforces the need for a union. If my friend’s story happened in a non-union shop he would have simply been let go, after almost 30 years, and left to collect the 20 weeks of unemployment Michigan offers for his services. He’s much better off right now because of the union. And I’m sure there are many more stories like his.

I thought Unions sole purpose was to protect the worker and encourage safe working conditions?

You couldn't have wrote a better argument for unions failing on their missions.