"Carl Byrns" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 14:08:22 GMT, "Ed Huntress"
wrote:

"Carl Byrns" wrote in message


Wages have declined because they were too high!
Ed, I worked in an all-union car parts factory for 18 months. The
waste of time and talent was incredible- a janitor makes as much as a
skilled machinist, despite the fact the janitor contributes absolutely
f*cking nothing to the output of the factory.
Only a $50 dollar an hour electrician can screw in a light bulb- if
anyone else does, the union will file a grievance, may stop work in
the plant for a day.

I would be curious as to what year this happened. I started working in car
plants around 1986 or so, as a construction worker for contractors doing
work in the various plants, not as a plant employee. So I've had a chance to
observe the UAW in action quite a bit and in the time since the mid 80's
I've never been in a plant (not only UAW car plants but also tire/rubber,
food, paper, chemical, powerhouses, ect.) where plant employees had to get
an electrician to do a light bulb or plug in a welding machine or that type
of thing. I have heard a lot of stories of the days when those things were
done, from old timers. Universally, in my experience, the old timers speak
of those days as a bad thing. Most in plant unions these days allow for wide
latitude in doing small tasks outside ones trade.
I'm not exonerating the UAW as I've witnessed many things in their world
that I couldn't condone or tolerate. I do put them a (large) step (or three)
ahead of the teachers union or the public employees unions.
And I put them many, many steps behind the building trades unions which have
for the most part had big changes in leadership and outlook in the last 5
to 10 years. Long gone is the attitude that it is the worker vs. the
contractor, the building trades hand is constantly hammered with the fact
that he must be better trained and produce more than his lower paid non
union counterpart for the contractors to survive and thrive. A few years ago
this was a minority stance, now it is recognized as the only stance that
will allow them to survive. Some building trade unions came to this before
others, and some are just now realizing it, but it is about universal now.
Anyway, what year did you work in the plant, and which one was it?

JTMcC.