speech topic

[Hanr3]

[QUOTE=fishinRod;934272]

So yea, blame the unions for doing the decent thing and trying to keep a decent wage for thier workers in an environment wrought full of corporate creed. QUOTE]


decent wages?.......$65 an hour and all the bennies is a lot more than a decent wage, especially for an assembly line worker making a $50,000 product that isnt worth a crap.

You make it sound like the assemble line worker is a third class citizen. One who doesn't deserve to make a decent living. Someone who doesn't deserve to send their kids to college, who doesn't deserve to put food on thier table, or take vacations and go places, or someone who doesn't deserve to be a part of the American dream. Someone who shouldn't even own a home. That assemble line worker has just as much right to earn a decent income as the next guy/gal.

Regardless of how "you" slice it, they are a functioning member of society. They have a job, pay taxes, spend thier money on products they wish to buy, and they have dreams. Someone has to assemble those products, and that someone should get the respect they deserve and they should make a decent living while doing it. Who are you to say what they should make per hour? What makes you better than them?

Is it the workers problem the product isnt worth a crap? NO!

I have worked in manufacturing for 30 years. Less than 10% of employees dont give a crap about thier job, and those 10% dont last long. Who has the best ideas to improve the product? The answer is always the worker, Joe assemble line worker. TQM (total quality management) is a management philosphy built around the concept that your hourly workers can and will provide the best ideas to improve your production efficiencies, and product quality. Take a college level businees class, they will be full of real company examples. Teh next step is ISO. It ensure management provides the resources, training, skills, tools, equipment, etc to produce the best possible product. It also ensures that when there is a problem management must find the solution to fix that problem so it doesnt happen again.

So, what is a decent wage according to you? What should that assemble line worker be making per hour? $8 per hour? $10? $20? $30? $90?
What makes you think thier skills are any less important then the next guy?


I'll tell you another thing.
Every company has a set pay scale for each position within that company. Your wage is base on experience level in that job. Manageres have some flexibility, however they have restrictions as well. This came about becuase of unions. Companies that dont want unions implement most of the same policies as unions. The major difference being non-union workers dont have a say in what those pay scales are. If its a decent company they will evaluate those pay ranges compared to the rest of the industry and your local community and make adjustments accordingly. Thsu keeping employees happy and th unoins out. So yes, the unions do help even non-union shops.

Unions brought about breaks, lunch breaks, standard working hours, improved working conditions, pay scales, vacations, sick pay, holiday pay, child labor laws, and the list goes on and on. Mr Ford didn't provide any of those benefits for his employees. In fact Mr. Ford didn't offer the customer a chose in color. Every car was black. To say there is no place for unions anymore is rediculous. To this day they still set the standard companies have to meet, both union and non-unoin companies.

think of it this way. Every dollar the union wins for its employees forces the rest of the companies to increase thier payrolls to keep thier employees happy. It cost 1 1/2 times your annual salary to replace you. Losing employees is very expensive to companies. Keeping employees is more cost effetive.

[popperonahead]

unions will go the way of the dodo and the wooly mammoth as we move toward a more global economy.

[fishingpox]

yessir i think you arte right

unions will go the way of the dodo and the wooly mammoth as we move toward a more global economy.

[Grumpa]

I pity this country if the unions slide away, who would you rather build your cars or trucks? a well paid union employee who makes a good living and can afford to buya new vehicle occasionally or someone who makes 8 dollars an hour and could not care less about the product they produce? when you flip the switch to turn on your lights or are goin down the road at 70 MPH who do you want to do the electrical or build the tires? I believe we are all created equal and the person who serves my meal at a restaurant or does the cashierng at the local grocery store deserves the same respect in life as he who builds remote boats and flaunts his superior intelligence.:rolleyes: I know that I will never have all the finest things in life, but due to a strong union and many years of working I have a little cabin on a small lake to enjoy and sleep well at night knowing that I have earned all that I have and have not stepped on or belittled anyone along the way. Maybe it is my weak mind that causes me to care about others and not just myself.

[popperonahead]

those unions must be really good at indoctrination.

just because a union member is making 60.00 an hour on an assembly line doesn't mean they care one bit more than a person making 15.00 an hour doing the same work.

i'd rather not have to pay 50,000 for a pickup truck so a bunch of union members can make that 60.00 an hour. shoe on the other foot, of course i'd rather make 60 than 15 an hour.

simple economics folks. most americans buy the cheapest thing available to them that will get the job done. do it cheap, do it reasonably fast, sell a ton and make a fortune. works for mcdonalds. works for walmart.

i don't get why union members cannot understand that they are driving their own bread and butter cart into the hog trough.

[wvsportsman]

i don't get why union members cannot understand that they are driving their own bread and butter cart into the hog trough.

And I don't get why Union bashers can't understand why, if not for unions we would all still be working 16 hrs a day 7 days a week in a sweatshop or a hole in the ground for pennies or for script that we would have to to spend at a company store and only the company is getting richer!

[popperonahead]

i don't get why union members cannot understand that they are driving their own bread and butter cart into the hog trough.

And I don't get why Union bashers can't understand why, if not for unions we would all still be working 16 hrs a day 7 days a week in a sweatshop or a hole in the ground for pennies or for script that we would have to to spend at a company store and only the company is getting richer!

i understand the need for unions......in the 1920's. they are a relic, a dinosaur, an unnecessary appendage much like a tonsil or an appendix.

[deathb4disco]

i understand the need for unions......in the 1920's. they are a relic, a dinosaur, an unnecessary appendage much like a tonsil or an appendix.

I tend to agree with popper on this, but here is my main beef with the unions: they are 100% behind every left wing idea that comes down the pipe. Take a look at this page from the Teamsters' site (and check out the links over on the right):

Teamsters GLBT Caucus

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Awhile back, I posted a link about the unions trying to overturn California's ban on gay marriage. What does gay marriage have to do with factory workers' pay and working conditions?????

Another beef ... they give 90% of their money to left wing Democrats that I wouldn't vote for for dog catcher. They give the other 10% to left wing Republicans that I wouldn't vote for for dog catcher.

BTW, my parents were both members of the teacher's union (NEA), and my grandfather was a member of the United Mine Workers.

[Hanr3]

I agree with deathb4disco on the democratic blind faith following. Back in the day the democrats represented the common working man and thier interests. Not true anymore, and I'll skip teh whole political discussion.

As for the price of the product being driven up by the cost of wages. Nope, the price of hte product has no relation to wages. The price is based strickly on what the market will bear. In other words what people are willing to pay. If your willing to pay $50k they will charge $50k. Its that simple. Its a third year college business course about pricing strategy. google pricing strategy.

Image of product quality is also a factor in what price to charge for a product. Since were are talking vehicles. Would you pay $50k for a Chevy Cobalt? Why not? It has all the technology research and skilled labor put into it as the Tahoe. Regardless of configuration (shape, stlye, features) they are the same. There is very little difference in the cost of materials between teh Tahoe and Cobalt. Yet the Cobalt sells for half the price of the Tahoe. Both pass safety testing, have an engine, transmission, tires, body/frame, lights, electrical wire, etc. Tehy both get you from point A to point B. And they both have the same union wages.

[popperonahead]

i wouldn't buy a cobalt cause it is made by gubment motors. i might consider a ford cause they aren't sucking at the gubment tit, yet. toyota, honda, and hyundai from here on out boys.