well that was quick.....

[TheSulaco]

What a bunch pompous and elitist drivel! Why should factory workers not be represented and not be able to engage in collective bargaining while pilots have such representation?

You have zero clue about the history of unions and labor movements. If it wasn't for lowly factory workers, railway workers etc., we pilots would not have our unions and elitist associations and you wouldn't be knocking the very foundation on which you stand. REAL unions work in solidarity with other trades and skills.

I do not have a problem with unions, though I have been subject to some union funny business when I worked for Roadway express. This being said my wife word for International in their truck manufacturing division as a Human Resources Generalist. The highest paid factory worker was the janitor who averaged 70K a year. This to me is a little high for a individual who had no high school education or any specialized training.

 

[brokeflyer]

I do not have a problem with unions, though I have been subject to some union funny business when I worked for Roadway express. This being said my wife word for International in their truck manufacturing division as a Human Resources Generalist. The highest paid factory worker was the janitor who averaged 70K a year. This to me is a little high for a individual who had no high school education or any specialized training.

true, but that company then agreed to pay that guy that money?

 

[waka]

I do not have a problem with unions, though I have been subject to some union funny business when I worked for Roadway express. This being said my wife word for International in their truck manufacturing division as a Human Resources Generalist. The highest paid factory worker was the janitor who averaged 70K a year. This to me is a little high for a individual who had no high school education or any specialized training.

If said janitor had been there for say, 25 or 30 years, then I don't see a problem at all with 70k.

 

[G4dude]

true, but that company then agreed to pay that guy that money?

After being coerced by the union, which could shut the company down, exposing them to the cost of the equipment and the building and other overhead expenses. I have a friend who worked as a janitor (floor sweeper) in his younger days, in a union, and the union forced the company to hire SIX when one would have been enough. They stayed all day in the break room, with one guy going out on the floor to sweep at a time. How long can a company compete in the marketplace with stuff like this? Another friend worked in a union, for a railroad company, and every now and then, the union guys would move a rail car to the side and loot it.

 

[fischman]

After being coerced by the union, which could shut the company down, exposing them to the cost of the equipment and the building and other overhead expenses. I have a friend who worked as a janitor (floor sweeper) in his younger days, in a union, and the union forced the company to hire SIX when one would have been enough. They stayed all day in the break room, with one guy going out on the floor to sweep at a time. How long can a company compete in the marketplace with stuff like this? Another friend worked in a union, for a railroad company, and every now and then, the union guys would move a rail car to the side and loot it.

No one ever forces the company to sign the contract. If it isn't a good deal for the company, only a bad manager would agree to it.

 

[pilotyip]

No one ever forces the company to sign the contract. If it isn't a good deal for the company, only a bad manager would agree to it.

Not true, the threat of a work stoppage will often make a company sign a contract they know that is not in their best interest. They hope things will work out.

In 1994 the UAW pushed GM into a deal it knew it could most likely not fulfill. It gave unlimited medical and COLA to retirees. GM knew a lengthy strike might drive them into BK. They had exhausted the equity markets, and borrowing was the only solution. Much like living off your credit cards. So they bet on maybe things would work, but they knew in the end they were in trouble. The power of a potential union strike drove them to make a bad management decision. They were rescued for a number of years by selling high mark-up SUV’s. But they that market collapsed and the end was in sight for GM.

As they lost market share to foreign rivals, Detroit's auto makers and the UAW lost the power to set standards on labor costs. Yet during the prosperous 1990s, they seemed reluctant to accept the fact that their business model -- with its expensive defined-benefit health and pension programs -- was driving the domestic industry toward ruin. The UAW and its biggest employer have effectively conceded that their golden age of dominance is over.

GM executives consistently acknowledged that it couldn't be competitive in North America without a fundamental change in its labor-cost structure.

The UAW got a harsh lesson in the consequences of bankruptcy proceedings when former GM parts unit Delphi Corp. sought Chapter 11 protection in 2005, and pushed through substantial job and wage cuts under a deal subsidized by GM.

GM's obligation to provide health care for 412,356 union members, retirees and surviving spouses lies at the heart of the 1994 agreement. Even after a partial overhaul of retiree health-care benefits in 2005, GM still faced a $51 billion obligation to UAW members. Health-care obligations added more than $1,900 to the cost of every GM vehicle sold in the U.S. in 2006, a heavy burden given that many GM vehicles sold for less than competing Toyota vehicles.

 

[Pervis]

Not true, the threat of a work stoppage will often make a company sign a contract they know that is not in their best interest. They hope things will work out.

Not much of a threat for those of us working under the RLA, regardless of who is in the White House.

 

[pilotyip]

Not much of a threat for those of us working under the RLA, regardless of who is in the White House.

Yea, but you can still go on strike under the RLA, and we are talking about NJ which I don't think is covered by RLA. BTW FDR dealt with one strike threat in Dec 1943, the railroad union was going to shut down the rail system on New Year’s Eve, right during the build up for D-Day. FDR said let'em strike, they will all be drafted into the Army on 1-1-44 and be paid Pvt.’s wages and be forced to operate trains, if they don’t operate the trains, they go to the Pacific or Europe. Guess what, No strike.

 

[brokeflyer]

thats stupid for a company to think they are "forced" to sign a contract. its a negotiation, no wonder management is stupid.

they get a union only if they deserve it.

 

[pilotyip]

thats stupid for a company to think they are "forced" to sign a contract. its a negotiation, no wonder management is stupid.

I am sure you believe that is true. There are other's who believe that is not true. There is long history of companies with great union contracts that are no longer in business or used BK to break the contract to ensure the companies survival. BTW With all your insights into management practices, you should move into management and make the company a better place to work; you owe it to your fellow pilots,