This is my latest rant to the Indy Star
If you read it let me know what you think.
Unions, PC and the economy
I was born the 40’s Dad said I was the first of the baby boomer generation and I am not politically correct so this will probably offend some. If so then enjoy your outrage.
Back in the fifties when I was a child I often heard a standard old joke. Why do we have so many hillbillies or N_ _ _ _ _ in Indianapolis? Answer: their car broke down before they reached Detroit. True but crass.
There was without dispute a migration of willing workers from the south to Detroit, to what we call today the Rust Belt. For the most part they got jobs in Auto Factories and Steel Mills and contributed to the greatest boom in US History.
They joined unions and enjoyed a good standard of living, health insurance and vacations bought good homes and cars, boats and campers all was good.
The Unions they joined pressed companies for more and more benefits and higher and higher wages. A union tradesman in the 2000’s could earn over $100,000 per year with benefits.
The agreements between the unions and the manufacturers depended upon future revenues to fund health care benefits just as the government did with social security.
Union workers became lazy and complacent. After all they couldn’t be fired. We have all heard Uncle Ted tell stories of how little work he actually did, how he slept in a hidden corner or how after he reached his daily production quota at 10 AM he was on break until he got of a 3PM.
All of this plus an extremely arrogant attitude taken by manufacturers led to the downfall of the Rust Belt manufacturing juggernaut.
The few manufacturers left in the northern section of the US owe more to Union mandated health and retirement contracts than any other debt source.
So now we have manufacturers moving operations and opening new factories in the south or overseas where unions are not powerful or well respected even by the workers. Will the workers from Detroit and Ann Arbor and Pontiac go south to the jobs? Back where their families came from originally. I doubt it because they might get a job but it would only pay a living wage not $25 or $35 per hour for unskilled labor.
The pendulum has swung full cycle Unions are loosing strength, manufactures are moving south, and Right to Work laws are being passed.
Yes this will result in lower wages for the working class but it is our own fault. We got greedy and lazy. We forgot that we need for the employer to make a profit in order for us to have a job at all.
If you read it let me know what you think.
Unions, PC and the economy
I was born the 40’s Dad said I was the first of the baby boomer generation and I am not politically correct so this will probably offend some. If so then enjoy your outrage.
Back in the fifties when I was a child I often heard a standard old joke. Why do we have so many hillbillies or N_ _ _ _ _ in Indianapolis? Answer: their car broke down before they reached Detroit. True but crass.
There was without dispute a migration of willing workers from the south to Detroit, to what we call today the Rust Belt. For the most part they got jobs in Auto Factories and Steel Mills and contributed to the greatest boom in US History.
They joined unions and enjoyed a good standard of living, health insurance and vacations bought good homes and cars, boats and campers all was good.
The Unions they joined pressed companies for more and more benefits and higher and higher wages. A union tradesman in the 2000’s could earn over $100,000 per year with benefits.
The agreements between the unions and the manufacturers depended upon future revenues to fund health care benefits just as the government did with social security.
Union workers became lazy and complacent. After all they couldn’t be fired. We have all heard Uncle Ted tell stories of how little work he actually did, how he slept in a hidden corner or how after he reached his daily production quota at 10 AM he was on break until he got of a 3PM.
All of this plus an extremely arrogant attitude taken by manufacturers led to the downfall of the Rust Belt manufacturing juggernaut.
The few manufacturers left in the northern section of the US owe more to Union mandated health and retirement contracts than any other debt source.
So now we have manufacturers moving operations and opening new factories in the south or overseas where unions are not powerful or well respected even by the workers. Will the workers from Detroit and Ann Arbor and Pontiac go south to the jobs? Back where their families came from originally. I doubt it because they might get a job but it would only pay a living wage not $25 or $35 per hour for unskilled labor.
The pendulum has swung full cycle Unions are loosing strength, manufactures are moving south, and Right to Work laws are being passed.
Yes this will result in lower wages for the working class but it is our own fault. We got greedy and lazy. We forgot that we need for the employer to make a profit in order for us to have a job at all.
