Ed Huntress wrote:

"Jim Chandler" wrote in message
newsryUi.2503$eD3.566@trnddc03...

snip

The unions just killed another one today. In Newton, Iowa (I think) the
Maytag plant that had been there forever and was the heart of the town,
colsed and moved to a non-union place in Ohio. The plant, according to
the news, employed one in four residents of the small town. Now they have
to scramble to find other employment.


How long do you think it will be before it moves to China? A lot of plants
have sort of hop-scotched to lower-wage areas in the US and then threw in
the towel completely, leaving the country for cheaper operating costs and
wages.

We could solve this problem easily. All we have to do is to eliminate the
minimum wage, outlaw unions, and then tell people they can accept $0.80/hour
(a sort of median wage in China) or suck wind. That's something like the way
things operated here before 1910 or so.

--
Ed Huntress



I made no statement one way or the other. I merely reported what I saw.
The company closed the plant and moved to escape the union. Though it
was not said in that manner, that is what was implied. U.S. companies
cannot continue to pay exhorbitant wages and benefits to people whose
skill is mediocre at best and remain competitive. It is a natural law
of economics. You have to keep your costs down to keep your prices
down. Overly high wages for basically unskilled labor and all the other
"benefits" of employment cost money (believe it or not) and have to be
recovered somehow. That somehow is in the price of the unit. If the
price is too high, the product will not sell and there will be no jobs,
wages or "benefits" for the union workers, or anyone else for that
matter. The unions did a good thing at one time but are now obsolete
and an anchor on American industry, like it or not.

Jim Chandler