I have no first hand knowledge how it works there , but it sounds as though supervision may have gained some latitude in assigning jobs based on “operational needs” since the whole 2020 short-staffing experience happened. My friend is also a devout Christian guy, and the supervisor is not a fan of Jesus at all, but knew enough Bible to take some advantage of my friend.
The end of the story is what was i thought related to this thread. Instead of just separating these guys with reassignments, they sweetened the pot so my friend would agree to stay home and get paid probably 10 more years of pension than he would have had if given a little more time for rehab.
His elbow is doing great after a summer off. And instead of paying just him, GM is now paying both him and a replacement that will probably end up at the same wage tier. Some of you will view this as his union pension plan costing you money on new truck. Some may say I’m full of ****. And i see this an example of a supervisor that literally just cost GM hundreds of thousands of dollars over the next ten years because his own personal issues.
I’ve seen enough of corporate and government entities to know there’s plenty of bloat and waste at levels above the hourly people. If the top is truly leading by example and caring about doing things right it will translate all the way down to the bottom. That’s the general way I’ve seen things work in homes, sports, business, etc…..
No matter how we feel about it, these people and companies are coming out of an era where both sides thought the labor and pension costs were acceptable and manageable. These patterns were set and bargains were made. Right now the union is saying one side of the bargain is taking the hit when things get tight, and the other side of the table is reaping the rewards when money is flowing freely. And what they are saying is probably true.
History will tell us if these these companies will ever be able to pivot back into making vehicles more affordable for the masses again, and whether or not they can simplify and scale back on more things than just labor cost to make that happen. Right now it appears they are more committed to chasing pie in the sky mandates and high per vehicle margins than future volume and market share.