As the daughter of a union man, and working at a utility that was partially union (my department was not), I could not agree with you more! The company was goig through one of their 'lay offs' only this one was big, about 30%. A lot of people at corporate and engineering were treated like criminals. Walk into work, be given a box, security standing there while they cleaned out their desk..and excorted to the front door. Amazing, just amazing!
So it came around to the nuclear plants. The 'decision' makeing was all hush hush. Turns out that recent BA's in business were "guiding" the supervision on how to prune the workers and work load. We were told that it will be middle management that will be cut back and not non-management. I laughed when I heard that! There was a guy in Decon, the folks that clean up in radiation areas (tough job) who had worked for the station for about 20 years, and if he had a GED I would be surprised. He had a son who turned out to be brilliant! Imagine, an African-American who had not education has a son who goes to school in a poor=ish rural area, and gets a scholarship to MIT in electrical engineering!! Everyone was so happy for him. But the lay offs were happening. This man was contemplating suicide! Why?? Because he needed that job to help keep his son in school. The scholarship didn't pay for everything. And no, he didn't loose his job. Imagine this! About 80% of the company lost 1/3 of their staff....and it becomes public. The CEOs, first through third managers got raises and bonuses! At the power stations...all upper level plant managers (about 5 at my plant) got brand new Lincoln SUVs! Now for a bit of info: If there is a plant emergency..nuclear emergency..these people are not needed, in fact they are not even allowed past the outer security gate! WHO is the responders who HAVE to be there? Non-management. WE are the ones who keep the plant safe and respond to emergencies. WE were getting layed off. I volunteered to take the severance package and when asked why I wanted to leave my answer was that I can not stand how corporate treats the worker. I can not take the corporate BS and if I stay I will do everything I can to see our department go union. And I will be really angry if you keep me. I hear the auto-conmen, and I hear their whining, I hear the "consessions" they are willing to take...and I hear what the Hill is expecting them to take. And what I hear is that 2 out of 3 "concessions" are aimed at the worker. Yeh, that's a real good deal. Sorry for ranting so long.
Rant on, Sister. That's a great rant, to be honest.
Another thing that is forgotten, is that when the truth was told about American Worker productivity, when the sub-let jobs in the Japanese and other countries was factored in, as it should have been in the first place (!!!) the American autoworker came out on top. The people who want to sway public opinion just never stop, and there is NO GREATER MOTIVATION than the almighty buck, especially, sadly when there are already billionaires involved.
When you consider that many countries want their employment as high as possible, American companies are happy to throw boddies at manufacturing without reguard to safety, decent wages, etc. Nor are they concerned about long term quality. The manufacturing in the U.S. has fewer bodies, high wages, but a heck of a lot of robotics. So that is one reason we have higher "productivity figures" even though we don't seem to have a lot of manufacturing here anymore. The unions can't fight the loss of jobs overseas or automation.
The last job I had was with an international company, Seimenes. There were a lot of people from Asia as well as Europe. ALL thought we Americans were out of our minds! Work 40 hours (or more), so so health care, half hour for lunch, two 10 min breaks, one or two week vacation, no family support/consideration companies. They really thought we were dumb and stupid! THEY had more vacation and two weeks was manditory. They could take off a month if they wanted to...which they did. Our health care was good at first..the same as theirs, but overtime it was diluted. But somehow, the Asians and Euros still kept much of their health care. I could go on and on. Did I resent them? Hell no! A German (with a Japanese sitting right there) explained, that when they take a job with a company, they stay. They don't go from job to job, and the company goes out of their way to keep them employed. Cradle to grave. They want to keep the people they hire! It is a form of loyalty on both sides. AND the company is happy to operate as if they were union. (we were not at that plant) I was out at the Butt Hut after a "Benifits Meeting" which informed us that our benifits will be cut for the next year..again. A Brit was laughing and ranting about how Americans take that cut without a complaint. He said "The Brits have lived through countless monarchs, fought two world wars and many others, just to get us to a point were the country was unionized! We demanded a 35 hur work week, more vacation, more time for our families and we got it! But the Americans are giving it all up." I think some unions are asking way to much. I think the unions should be there to protect the worker, as well as see that they get a decent wage as well as decent benifits. I also think they shoud figure out someway to fight the exporting of jobs. And I would love to see that they demand the CEOs to spend five days a year working on the floor of the plant. OK, gong back to the corner.
Meribeth, I think that we've undergone a very long and subtle brainwashing to get where we are. Americans can't stay focused for long, and forget what monumental struggles there have been in the past to make sure that Labor - which is part of the triad of classic Capitalism that works well - get s fair wage for it's share of the production of wealth. We've just been steamrollered, and in part, that has lead to more and more downward pressure on wages every where else. That's how I see it.
As the daughter of a union man, and working at a utility that was partially union (my department was not), I could not agree with you more!
ReplyDeleteThe company was goig through one of their 'lay offs' only this one was big, about 30%. A lot of people at corporate and engineering were treated like criminals. Walk into work, be given a box, security standing there while they cleaned out their desk..and excorted to the front door. Amazing, just amazing!
So it came around to the nuclear plants. The 'decision' makeing was all hush hush. Turns out that recent BA's in business were "guiding" the supervision on how to prune the workers and work load. We were told that it will be middle management that will be cut back and not non-management. I laughed when I heard that!
There was a guy in Decon, the folks that clean up in radiation areas (tough job) who had worked for the station for about 20 years, and if he had a GED I would be surprised. He had a son who turned out to be brilliant! Imagine, an African-American who had not education has a son who goes to school in a poor=ish rural area, and gets a scholarship to MIT in electrical engineering!! Everyone was so happy for him. But the lay offs were happening. This man was contemplating suicide! Why?? Because he needed that job to help keep his son in school. The scholarship didn't pay for everything. And no, he didn't loose his job.
Imagine this! About 80% of the company lost 1/3 of their staff....and it becomes public. The CEOs, first through third managers got raises and bonuses! At the power stations...all upper level plant managers (about 5 at my plant) got brand new Lincoln SUVs! Now for a bit of info: If there is a plant emergency..nuclear emergency..these people are not needed, in fact they are not even allowed past the outer security gate! WHO is the responders who HAVE to be there? Non-management. WE are the ones who keep the plant safe and respond to emergencies. WE were getting layed off. I volunteered to take the severance package and when asked why I wanted to leave my answer was that I can not stand how corporate treats the worker. I can not take the corporate BS and if I stay I will do everything I can to see our department go union. And I will be really angry if you keep me.
I hear the auto-conmen, and I hear their whining, I hear the "consessions" they are willing to take...and I hear what the Hill is expecting them to take. And what I hear is that 2 out of 3 "concessions" are aimed at the worker. Yeh, that's a real good deal.
Sorry for ranting so long.
Meribeth
Rant on, Sister. That's a great rant, to be honest.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that is forgotten, is that when the truth was told about American Worker productivity, when the sub-let jobs in the Japanese and other countries was factored in, as it should have been in the first place (!!!) the American autoworker came out on top. The people who want to sway public opinion just never stop, and there is NO GREATER MOTIVATION than the almighty buck, especially, sadly when there are already billionaires involved.
When you consider that many countries want their employment as high as possible, American companies are happy to throw boddies at manufacturing without reguard to safety, decent wages, etc. Nor are they concerned about long term quality. The manufacturing in the U.S. has fewer bodies, high wages, but a heck of a lot of robotics. So that is one reason we have higher "productivity figures" even though we don't seem to have a lot of manufacturing here anymore. The unions can't fight the loss of jobs overseas or automation.
ReplyDeleteThe last job I had was with an international company, Seimenes. There were a lot of people from Asia as well as Europe. ALL thought we Americans were out of our minds! Work 40 hours (or more), so so health care, half hour for lunch, two 10 min breaks, one or two week vacation, no family support/consideration companies. They really thought we were dumb and stupid!
THEY had more vacation and two weeks was manditory. They could take off a month if they wanted to...which they did. Our health care was good at first..the same as theirs, but overtime it was diluted. But somehow, the Asians and Euros still kept much of their health care. I could go on and on. Did I resent them? Hell no! A German (with a Japanese sitting right there) explained, that when they take a job with a company, they stay. They don't go from job to job, and the company goes out of their way to keep them employed. Cradle to grave. They want to keep the people they hire! It is a form of loyalty on both sides. AND the company is happy to operate as if they were union. (we were not at that plant)
I was out at the Butt Hut after a "Benifits Meeting" which informed us that our benifits will be cut for the next year..again. A Brit was laughing and ranting about how Americans take that cut without a complaint. He said "The Brits have lived through countless monarchs, fought two world wars and many others, just to get us to a point were the country was unionized! We demanded a 35 hur work week, more vacation, more time for our families and we got it! But the Americans are giving it all up."
I think some unions are asking way to much. I think the unions should be there to protect the worker, as well as see that they get a decent wage as well as decent benifits. I also think they shoud figure out someway to fight the exporting of jobs. And I would love to see that they demand the CEOs to spend five days a year working on the floor of the plant.
OK, gong back to the corner.
Meribeth
Meribeth, I think that we've undergone a very long and subtle brainwashing to get where we are. Americans can't stay focused for long, and forget what monumental struggles there have been in the past to make sure that Labor - which is part of the triad of classic Capitalism that works well - get s fair wage for it's share of the production of wealth. We've just been steamrollered, and in part, that has lead to more and more downward pressure on wages every where else. That's how I see it.
ReplyDelete