[onewhippedpuppy]

Jeff, as an engineer at an aircraft company I largely agree. However, I doubt the minimum is under $10/hr. I read the union contract at my company prior to the IAM striking for 4-weeks, their minimum pay was over $10/hr.

There are a great many talented machinists and aircraft assemblers. There are also a good number of lazy, worthless ones that could be easily replaced. The union does serve to protect (coddle) these worthless workers, and actively works to project an attitude of entitlement upon the workforce. Do you think a workforce that believes that they are ALWAYS entitled to more works harder?

The behavior before and during the strike at my company was eye-opening to say the least. I would compare them to children, but I don't believe my 4 year old would act as immature as many strikers did. The workforce is so brainwashed that they don't realize that their other option for work is Wal-Mart. They don't understand that their extortion tactics are simply driving their jobs elsewhere. They simply follow the union leadership like sheep. I don't get their benefits. I don't get a guaranteed 12% raise over 3 years. They don't have $40k in student loans to pay off. It will make me very sad if their jobs go elsewhere, but I won't blame the company. Fair went out the window a long time ago.