UAW employees; what am I missing?

Vipergrün · 09-28-2008, 04:04 PM

Just watched "Ultimate Factories: Corvette" on the National Geographic Channel.

Ok, so it was kind of cool ad the C6 may be a decent car.

One thing I noticed is that with the exception of manually tightening some bolts here and there, most everything else was done by robots, computers, etc.

Are UAW employees really making 'good' money and getting excellent benefits for twisting a few bolts on the assembly line? I cannot imagine any of the workers I saw would even break a sweat during their shift. Looks like a pretty good gig..

Oh Haha · 09-28-2008, 04:34 PM

Most of the UAW members with decent seniority make about $26-30.00 per hour + benefits.

Throw in some OT and they can easily make upwards of 70,000 peryear.

True story: Just last week I was in a GM Powertrain plant here in Michigan. I went by a cam grinding machine and noticed the operator fast asleep, legs up on a chair. Ok, maybe it's his breaktime.

I came back around that same machine about an hour later and he was still inthe same spot, feet up and snoozing peacefully. This dude looked like he just crawled from a garbage can.

Nothing against one looking relaxed but this guy looked like a bum in an alley.

I simply shook my head and went on my way.

Fritz Peyerl · 09-28-2008, 04:35 PM

That's when you have low IQ and are supported by a union, which can't figure out why car companies go broke. Ont op of it the government is stupid enough to bail those car companies out again and again and the unions keep asking for more and more again and again.

Buckterrier · 04:47 PM

I"ve been to my share of assembly plants. One thing I will say about the folks at Bowling Green is they take pride in building that car. I think you need at least 20 years seniority to even try to get a job there.
I agree with the thing about making that kind of $$ for putting on the same tire 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week. Personally I couldn't take the monotony.
Fritz, I agree with you to a point also. But the Big Three have so much 'legacy'. Don't quote me but it's like $200.00 a car while the imports have like $100.00 a car. So it's not comparing apples to apples. What the hells the matter with bailing out the car companies? It's becoming quite vogue here in the states lately to bail out big business.

Oh Haha · 09-28-2008, 04:44 PM

I had better say this before this thread gets too much further:

My wife's family pretty much all retired from " the shop". I work for a vending company that has GM/Delphi as some of our largest contracts.

What bothers me is that most of the old timers brag about skipping out of work or sleeping and basically just goofing off and knowing that the car company won't do anything about it because of the UAW.

I can tell you that those times are going away. The story I told in my first reply is the first time in a long time that I have seen a person sleeping on the job. The new memebrs are paid lower, more competitive wages, and they do work hard on some jobs.

From what I have heard from some of the management teams I deal with is that they are told that this is a new game and behavior like the old days will not be tolerated.

Around here, new folks coming in to the shops are glad to be making $14.00 per hour.

Christien · Christien's Garage

My wife's dad and brother work in the Ford assembly plant that builds Crown Victorias (cop cars and taxis), and she worked summers there while in university. From her stories, yes, there's a lot of goofing off, watching movies on the job, alcoholism, etc. but they do still do a fair amount of work. The strength of the union isn't so much in the employees having an easy day, it's more the benefits, time off, etc. In 2006 my BIL worked about a total of 160 days, but was paid for the whole year, or close to it. What drives me absolutely nuts is that the plant shuts down for 2 weeks every summer, knowing that the hourly employees will all get unemployment. So basically they're giving them an extra vacation at the taxpayer's expense.

VINMAN · 09-28-2008, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fritz Peyerl

That's when you have low IQ and are supported by a union, which can't figure out why car companies go broke. Ont op of it the government is stupid enough to bail those car companies out again and again and the unions keep asking for more and more again and again.

Id much rather see some CEO that only worked 17 days for a company, get a $20,000,000 payout.

Damn, dumb, stupid, no IQ union workers, lets shoot them all.

HardDrive · 09-28-2008, 06:19 PM

I met a guy who was going to drug rehab for the 4th time, and Ford was paying for it for the 4th time. He told me made a $80K a year with overtime because he operated a forklift, and that was considered a 'skilled' job. That was 15 years ago.

jcommin · jcommin's Garage

These fat lazy workers put their kids thru college, bought homes, cars and probably gave them a better life than most, certainly better than their parents.

Until recently, they had pensions and health care benefits.

The members of the UAW have shrunk; they are a fraction of what they use to be. New hires get half of what of what they made ($12 -$14/hr) with a whole lot of less benefits. Yes they got a job but they won't touch the quality of life the older workers had.

As the auto industry shrinks, there will be less of what is left. Unions got because management agreed and they passed the cost onto you and me. The real culprit is management, stock holders and everyone else that enjoyed the ride. look around, unions are the thing of the past. You can't keep blaming them for the continuing loss of jobs and outsoucing of manufacturing - there just ain't much left.

I appologize for the rant. I'm the son of a blue collar worker and fufilled his dream of having a better life than his. I don't know I can say that for my sons.