Same place you do Porter. I'm one of the few electrician apprentices left.


As far as reading in between jobs, if you can get the job done correctly and efficiently with time to spare then more power to you. There are some jobs in the truck plant (final assembly) where you don't have time to sneeze before you end up in the hole.

 

If he can read a magazine between trucks then he's not being given enough work.

Like I said: "those who stick up for the slackers are just as guilty. If you ignore a problem, you're part of it."

 

I work in the high-tech industry which is for the most part non-union. And I prefer it that way. When I show up at a customer site to service a piece of equipent I don't need anyone to plug in my test equipment, it's my equipment so it's MY job to plug it in. Also to remove panels etc.

Fortunately I haven't had to go into a union shop but some of my friends at work have (UAW no less) and the horror stories they told, ugh. First question when he arrived on site "You drove an American car here right?"


I don't need the aggravation. When I show up it's because something's broke and the customer is literally losing hundreds of thousands of $ per HOUR. All I want is to get in, fix it and get the heck out. I don't give a rat's sphinxter about some other slob who has the cushy 'plug it in' job. If he wants to make the same money I am for the work I do, DeVry offers a 3 year degree and out of the gate I was making over $15 per hour 12 years ago. And it's only gone up since then with no union interference.

 

Don't EVEN get me started on THEM!

 

My late brother in law was a lifelong UAW member and president of his local for a while. At one time during his career he left the union to take a job in management. He described the group of union workers under him as "like a Polish rocket - won't work and can't be fired". He finally left the job and went back to the union, but he had a different viewpoint.
Dono

 

Plugging an electrical cord into a socket seems to be one of those unique jobs only a union electrician can perform. I think irresponsible management has a big role in our manufacturing decline for conceding such functions when times were fat. Unfortunately, many still live in a 'this quarter' financial mentality.

As far as reading on the job being acceptable 'if you have time', that's probably as good of an example as I've heard as to why we're going down the toilet because of our labor costs in a world market. Encouraging or approval of it just puts that many more nails in the manufacturing coffin.

Ford, GM and Daimler(Chrysler) are doing everything they can, in the face of difficult political oppositon, to source all possible manufacturing off-shore with the new industrial powers. Where you'd probably be fired and blackballed, maybe even sent back to the village you hated if caught reading on the job unless instructed to do so.

I hope, for their sakes, that those people who consider a job their due instead of a privilege have amassed substantial wealth for when those jobs disappear. And they will eventually be gone forever. But instead of blaming it on themselves, they'll probably fall back on the 'cheap foreign labor' rationalization and blame the employers, government, Oprah or some other easy, intangible target.

 

So Ford Mo Co's downward spiral is the UAW's fault. Not bad engineering, cost cutting (gutting), or just plain stupid decisions on managements part. I can't buy that.

 

Just so you know, Oprah is VERY tangable, in fact maybe just a little to tangible.

 

Well, there is one thing our economy can do.. I say we kill the foreign car industry.
And yes, we can do it. America is probably the only country in the world that can control the entire world's economy in all aspects. You got to do the same thing on a world level as, what was pointed out in anohter thread, Wal-mart has done to Mom and Pop shops, cut the prices, take a loss, make the other guys dive out first.

Or, better yet, being that the econmy cannot obviosly support itself, let the government kick in, slightly, Tax, heavily I might add, imported automoblies and automoblie parts. Tax heavily Overseas owned Businesses operating on our soil. Tax them for every Toyota car or truck that rolls off a ship onto American ground, and everyone taht rolls out a plant in America. Tax every Tranny taht was manufactured in Mexico, Ford, Gm, Toyota, whatever, get them to make them here in the good ole U.S. of A.
Boost the American economy. How do you think the Japanese government does it? They tax, ridicuosly heavy, any Amercian or German, or Italian car brought to their country, they will not let Ford manufacture the car itself over there, but they will let a tranny be made over there. why, because it makes Japanese jobs and the money does not go to an American CEO. So Scre Toyota, and Honda, kick out the factorys, and Tax the cars.

I am not for Unions, I am not against unions, I technically work in one. I am in the military. The largest union in the World but I am all for Amercan jobs and The American way of life.!

Jimmy D.

p.s. I will only ever own an American made piece of steal!!

 

One major flaw in that plan is that other countries purchase 50% of our government bonds, Japan being the largest single purchaser. With our current policy of imposing democracy on other countries at the point of a gun, those things do cost a lot of money, the national deficit is projected to increase by a minimum of $700 billion dollars each year and we need to peddle those bonds just to keep the government afloat without our current level of military activity.

The advent of a world market with supply and demand economics has pretty well closed the door on our ever becoming an isolationist nation. We're just going to become poorer as we can't sell our high-priced products.