list your pay DROT. What are you doing for a living now? and What do you think about this terrible mess with the auto industry?



I'll go first....2400-3-B....Union Boilermaker apprentice......I think it sucks, I remember back in like 98,99,00 when we were working scheduled 10 hour shifts with mandatory every other 8 hour saturdays, thats over a thousand trucks a day, 750 or so on saturday..they were all sold ladies and gents,I worked in paint so we tagged breaks and almost always had to pull more than ran off the end of chassis.. there was no one shift, on a week off a week, we were ROLLING !! And there is no one to thank but the strong economy and the general public ...The Bush admin has ruined the economy and the auto industry as we knew it...it will never be the same.We can only hope that Obamalama ding dong will pull off the same magic slick ***** Clinton did....to all the people bashing the UAW , keep it up and your favorite auto maker will be Mexico's next great export....i.e Dodge ram . Im not trying to start a civil war , I have just read a bunch of comments on this site from supposed ford lovers who don't respect the people who built their beloved F 150's, we were over paid and underworked........pffft.......lets see you put on 500 tie rods in 10 hours, or deck 500 fuel cells or IP's ..........you don't have a clue. anyway wishing you and yours a merry christmas....

 

While I cant speak for all union jobs, I do know a UAW who was at a GM plant sweeping floors for $75k a year. That salary doesnt match industry average, in fact it doubles it.

Wish I had a nice little group to double my salary. Hell, I already work 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, and I am not hourly on top of that.

:rolls:

 

If your such a good painter, go work with those guys at Orange County Choppers. The Unions are what's killing the big 3, not Bush. I wouldn't care if all US autos are outsourced to other countries.

 

I have a job, a well paying union job...who the hell wants to paint cars when I can make twice what a 20 year body shop painter makes as a 2nd year apprentice?....and you only get what you pay for.....another one with no first hand knowledge speaking only on propaganda

 

Completely not true. It's a combination of things, but mainly mismanagement by key upper management of the automakers, and for the same management offering ridiculous contracts to the unions.

How many of you would not sign a contract where you made out like a bandit?

 

Keep in mind folks, Stealth is in a union IIRC...

 

NOT the UAW.

 

I like how it's Bush's fault the auto industry is in trouble. How come Bush didn't bankrupt Honda, Toyota or Nissan? Did he just not have enough time or what?

Basically the OP is mad because the UAW workers are no longer getting rediculous compensation... you know like they were "back in the day" before Bush ruined everything for them.

 

Everyone is having a tough time these days, that's why the OP will find it hard to get many people to back him up.

The views of the US auto industry and Unions in general are low right now. Most people have stereotyped them into something they may or may not be, I personally don't know.

What I do think is the US auto industry (Ford, GM, Chrysler) are badly run deep to the core, and no matter what is done, they will not survive unless their whole corporate culture is changed.

Besides money just to keep them running, something needs to be done in how they do business or they will just fail a few months later after burning billions in cash.

Porsche many years ago was facing going under or getting bought up. They were so inefficient and bad management, they almost went under.

What saved them? They hired a bunch of ex-Toyota efficient experts who came in and changed everything they did. From management to process, and it not only save Porsche, but helped them thrive today. This may be a good idea for the Big 2.5

 

This problem is not one group, or the other group's fault. Cars were selling well , and all were making money. Then one day the financial powers that be, had everyone investing in energy. While everyone that invest in the market, started jumping on the bandwagon driving the cost artificially high, for an all ready overinflated economy. When "We The People" spent all of our money on energy, autos quit selling.

Sure there is fat in the industry. That is the Capitalistic way. We all want what others have, or more than they don't have. If you look at history, the Labor Unions improved life for people that were not even members. During the Industrial Revolution, working conditions were deplorable. Unions and the people that were strong enough to bond together, stopped the abuse of the average worker. The Unions were very much needed. If I remember correctly, {just as an example} one of the first things a group of workers got fixed, was the lack of lighting in factories. Unions have to prove their worth to their members, so they do go a little to far.

When our industrial base is gone, we will be at the mercy of the rest of the World. Then we will have to move or become an agrarian society again. The very people overseas that are building the product we buy, will one day Unionize also. That is because they will have the security to do so.

When our industrial base is gone, we'll be at the mercy of any country that wants to take us over, because we wouldn't have a way to build weapons to fight them.

The problem is not with any one group, it is a combination of several different problems. Greed is the biggest problem, and that is the way People are designed.

 

Everybody brings up valid points, almost everybody.......Maybe I was mis-understood....let me just say this.....Blame the likes of Jaques Nasser and his successors and cohorts for business decisions, leave the hourly guy out of it.....I didn't wear a suit, play golf 3 times a week, have a driver or collect million-plus dollar bonus checks. The Japanese have a totally different business philosophy than the Americans, from what I understand, Toyota pays their employees very well, there aren't incidents of horrible working conditions, health and safety violations and such, hence no need for a third party yet. But it's comming. Corporate America is greedy as a whole and OUR government has the same mindset. And thanks for hi-jacking the hell out of my thread...this was intended for actual in-process participants to make themselves heard, if I found this mess, I doubt I would sound off.......appreciate it guys........

 

Can you explain why you deserve twice as much pay as someone with 20 years experience when you're only a 2nd year apprentice?

As someone who has no experience working with, or for, unions, maybe I'm missing something obvious.

- NCSU

 

totally different trades. union workers make at least 15% more than non union workers....do I deserve it? hell yeah and so do you.....take an electrician for example.....the union scale for a journeyman electrician is around 27 an hour, someone please correct me if Im wrong, a non union journeyman would play hell trying to break 22 an hour. if you were doing your job for 20 and could get a 5 dollar an hour raise by taking a union job, would you? dayum right you would!

 

You make it sound like management offered these ridiculous contracts, and forced the UAW to sign them. The reality is the opposite. What real choice does the UAW give the automakers when negotiating their contracts?

Here's something for you to think about. It costs GM ~$3000 more to build each vehicle in their UAW plants than it does Toyota in their non-UAW plant. This year GM will build ~3 million vehicles. That's $9 billion right there.

 

This is exactly why our county is so f'ed up right now. Sorry to say built.