Why did they deserve more? Because the Union says so? So higher education is now grounds for discrimination I assume if you were to hire a worker with experience over one without that also be a form of discrimination? Thats what college is, it is experience in your field so you are properly equipted to do your job.

 

This was great!

 

No, there isn't much skill required for service work. I do about four or five oil changes a month, on the one Saturday a month I work. I spend the rest of my time mostly as an electrical/driveability guy. My nose is usually buried in an EVTM or PC/ED, my eyes glued to an IDS, five days a week.

The lion's share of oil changes at the place I work at are done by the quick lane crew, some who are still in or just graduated from high school, with little to no experience and they're paid accordingly - about $7.50/hour, maybe a little more if they show potential to become technicians later on. I'm paid a little over three times that.

The quickie lube guys know that if they want to make more money, they need to learn and train, honing their skills and proving their worth to the company. There be no union muscle negotiating what they make - it's just them, just us, just me, they're/we're/I'm directly responsible for what they're paid. If my productivity is high, if my FIRTFT numbers are high, and if I'm gaining more certifications, then I'm worth more to the company and I'm paid accordingly. If I start slacking off, then my future here may be questioned, and rightfully so.

I made it to where I am on my own merits, not by riding the coat tails of a union straight to the bank.

 

One needs to look at the situation more closely as it effects us all. GM starts cutting salaries and benefits then other companies start to do the same. Employees make less money plus have to pay out the nose for health care. The situation needs to be fought on all fronts. Companies are sending work overseas to make it cheaper then turn around and sell it here will no regard to what is being done to the economy. Does not matter the price of the product if people here can not afford to buy it. If you were the one will you livelyhood under attack I believe you would see things differently. As usual companies look to cutting back at the sake of employees who do the work and do not distribute the loss of profit throughout the organization. I work for a municipal government and have witnessed this type of budget balancing first hand. Its not a good feeling when someone is trying to take your retirement money. If the UAW goes down then others will follow.

 

Unions are not always good things. They are not always bad.


Can't we just all get along?





I do not work under a union. Every time we get a new pay package, management games the hell out of it (to increase their bonuses) by keeping payroll down. When they've played it out, they instate a new pay schedule and start over again. I tremble to think of what they would try to get by with if the threat of unionization weren't out there.

 

Quintin is 100% correct.

I went through the 3 or 4 day training course to be hired at a Toyota assembly plant. Everything has a very specific manifest on how the assemblies go together and the workers are not to deviate from that at all. It is all plug and chug on the assembly line. This is not to say that there are not other positions that require more skill but just not on their assembly line.

 

Look, take a labor history class.
Unions fought for a just and fair work place. They fought for 8 hr days,weekends off or at overtime pay, they fought for benefits, these things that labor unions won for union workers benefit each and every one of you.

Dezervit:: The toyota plant in Ca (The only one I refered too.) is owned by GM, Toyota owns the tooling. The hourly employees are union, and I'm sure their salary counterparts get a benefit package comparable to the unions.

Yes, unions keep myself and a few members here with a very nice wage, but they also benefit the non-union worker as well.
Companies that are non-union offer benefit packages that compare and sometimes even exceed union benefit packages. Thats great.
I want to bring workers wages up outside the union shops, I try to organize shops year round. How else to you keep a company from off loading work?


For example Alan Mullaly, got what? 28 million dollars to go to Ford from Boeing prior to his first day work!! He is salary, and you call myself and my union brothers and sisters greedy? I will recieve 80 bucks a month per year served when I retire.
Alan? will recieve his annual salary+ stock options and whatever else he and his (key word) NEGOTIATORS worked up as a salary\retirement package.

I'll stick with the organized labor movement thank you, It has paid to be union in the past and it will pay off in the future.

Quintin, you sound like a hard working guy, I believe everyone here is.
But you didn't get your benefits where you work by yourself. Union People who came before you fought during the labor movement for employers to treat their employees with some dignity. You work for them they should offer some sort of benefit package, a trade so to speak for your hard work.

Simply put, do any of you think you could negotiate a contract for yourself?
I would be willing to bet the farm that the 10 people you work with could negotiate a better contract as a group, than you could as a individual.
Power in numbers.

Some ?'s How many of you get benefits? Overtime for anytime worked after 8 hrs? Weekend pay at time and a half and double time? Health benefits? Dental, optical and the like? How about Retirement? 401K?
Unions fought for ALL workers, not just union members. Companies realized they had to offer people comparative wages and benefit packages in the wake of union contracts.

Take a labor history class, you would be amazed at the things employers did to employees prior to the labor movement.
You will be equally amazed at how unions have helped EVERY worker.
To anyone interested.
"Blood in the water" is a book on the history of the labor movement in the U.S.A. Shoot me off a pm I'll get send you a copy.

 

I love this country! So many bad opinions. Freedom is good.

 

You said it yourself, if you want to learn about the GOOD we have gained from UNIONS take a HISTORY CLASS. Unions had their time and place in a changing industrializing world. The USA has long-since been industrialized, laws and standards to protect workers have been enacted. ALL UNIONS do now is INFLATE costs and wages above market value. PERIOD.

 

You're WRONG! just like the REST of those who THINK that. (I know, looks pretty stupid.)

 

I can think of a few hundred thousand workers in Mexico that have directly benefited from the UAW.

Theres a bunch in Korea and Canada. Soon there will be a bunch in China.

All praising the UAWU for helping them get jobs.


Not just any job, but American jobs.


Flap your gums about the Union all you want. When your plant closes and your unemployed, then tell me how great it is.

 

It is pretty hard pressed to find a job in Indiana that is paying as good and also has good benefits without a college education. Most jobs around here that are $12 and up with good benefits is a keeper! I also forgot to mention that I have a few friends that work there and with a few years of experience they do start to get up to about $20/hr. I was going to work there when I could not find a job several years ago but I just could not stand the monotony of place bolt A on to stud B everyday all day. Some people love that kind of job, just not for me.

It's kind of aggravating that when I would walk into Allison Transmissions and see a bunch of guys pushing a button on a machine then wait and take a gear off and stack it. Then complain that their damn near $30/hr is not good enough. I'm the type of person that thinks that you should have to work your *** off to make that kind of money.

To end this I'm not saying that all automotive workers have easy jobs and are lazy because they're NOT. There several positions that require hard work and DO deserve the high pay. But on the flip side there are a lot that do not deserve what they are getting paid.

 

There is no such thing as a bad opinion, just different opinions.

 

You sure you want to stick with that statement?

 

this thread is starting to remind me of: which oil is the best dino or synthetic opinions are like a-holes everyones got one