Quote:
Originally Posted by sperry
The real problems with the union labor is not providing fair (or some would argue, over fair) wages for line workers. The problem is that the Big 3 are still paying massive pensions for line workers that haven't built a car since 1975.
When an engineer retires, he's pretty much off the books. When a union worker retires, he's basically making a wage for the rest of his life due to the great negotiation skills of the union reps back in the day. For every guy building a car today that's making more than an engineer, there's also another guy that used to put the hubcaps on Gremlins that's still getting paid as well.
|
I should note also that I got the same pension as the production people. I am fully vested and even though I haven't worked for Michelin in 8 years they owe me $750/month when I retire. Not much by then, but still something. Companies (and governments too) that give pensions are supposed to manage the pension funds in such a way that they remain solvent despite things like an increase in life expectancy (predictable - it's been on the rise for 100's of years). Maybe easier said than done.
Also don't take me as a super pro-union guy. I am trained in "union busting" and have some experience in it while supervising 40 maintenance guys during a mildly-nasty union organizing campaign. The unionizing failed because the company was generally good to the people and they realized they could be worse off by unionizing. Would the workers be as well off without the threat of a union hanging over the company's head? I dunno. Unions gave all of us anti-child-labor laws, the 40-hour workweek, overtime pay, etc. and they have their place still even today. But the UAW is prolly one of the worst I guess, and they will need to give concessions to the automakers to pull out this mess. Like they said in FMJ, "Basically it's a big shit sandwich, and we're all gonna hafta take a bite".