2 examples:
1. I went to school in South Carolina. I was appalled at the time with the low wages that were prevalent in the textile mills because the industry had successfully resisted being unionized. Working conditions had improved in the previous decade but there was still a lot of "brown lung" victims. THEY STILL WENT DOWN THE TUBES...just like the steel mills did in their day...just like the auto industry is doing today.

2. Would you deny Alex Rodriquez his $25 million a year. Or would it be better to put it back in the pockets of the team owners? The ability to negotiate that big paycheck was a direct result of the players union efforts decades ago...

I worked as a process/project engineer for GM/Delco for ~13 yrs (‘88~’00) and witnessed my share of UAW (Usually Aren’t Working) union stories. I will admit there are many hard working, caring UAW members, that talked badly about their own union, but the union goons – area rep’s, local committeemen, area committeemen, local presidents, on up the line, are the ones that intimidate the rank & file.

Another factor in all of this is the high number of ‘skilled’ trades unions supporting all of the manufacturing operations. The trade unions do not get along with each other and file as many grievances between each other as they do with management. It’s all about control and power.

A few crazy examples...

Hours Balancing: When OT was scheduled I could not request the more productive workers to be scheduled. The union requirement was that it was only ‘fair’ that the hours were equally given. The employee with the least amount of hours was given the first chance and these were usually the least skilled and unmotivated employees.

Another prime example was something as simple as an ESD work table for electronics assembly. A typical 60in x 30in table one from a wholesaler might cost $220.
We weren’t allowed to purchase one, but we needed to use the ‘skilled’ trades to construct one for use.

Millwright:
> to cut the steel frame pieces
> to weld the steel to make the table frame.

Painter:
> to paint the table frame.

Carpenter:
> to cut the table top to fit the frame
> to cut and attach ESD laminate

Electrician:
> to attach ground wire from table leg to ESD surface

Millwright:
> to move table from shop to end location

To say the least we always had to budget ~$360 to have these made because for some reason we were told these needed to be built on OT. The kicker was the ‘skilled’ trades guys were usually sitting around reading the paper or playing cards while I’m being told that they can’t work on my table until OT was scheduled. And if management didn’t schedule OT my table would have to wait. I could have ordered a table from a wholesaler and had it delivered within 5 days, but I was forced to have the ‘skilled’ trades build one and I needed to wait almost 4 weeks to get it. For a freaking table!!!

I have always been loyal to GM but as long as they succumb to the socialist union pukes that run the UAW, I have a hard time believing they can pull themselves out of the red.

my good ol' boy friends give me grief for not driving an American Truck, But My Tundra was built in Texas I say, where was your Ford Built?

the best thing that can happen is for the Big Three to go belly up.

There were times in our country's history when unions were completely necessary for workers to get their fair share. Most business owners before the 1940's used hard working men and could care less about them. Once the unions helped the workers and also helped raised the standard of living in the country by the 1950's, they found out they enjoyed their new found power. So this has led to unions going too far ... putting businesses out of business that. The car manufacturers are a great example. Most businesses that get hurt by union extortion didn't exist back in those early days of exploited workers. We've all heard those crazy union stories. It's the same way with blacks and civil rights today. Blacks want reparations and affirmative action. It seems to me that mostly whites elected a black president. Any time we seem to accomplish a good cause here in the United States, we over do it and create a bigger problem just for that reason ... we didn't realize we solved it because it got to be big business.

Not to defend unions, I wouldn't dare, but Brazil has one of the strongest unions on the planet. Their current president was a very powerful union leader before being elected and somehow Ford was stil able to build the plant.

I take Issue with Sparrow 28's assement of the Toyota inventing the process. It was an american named Deming who invented Total Quality Management and taught it to the Japanese after WWII. In fact his portrait is on the wall at the world hq of Toyota. Another point inclusive production was invented by Henry Ford. I remeber when I was a kid touring the River Rouge Plant in Dearborn in 71. Back then then brought in the Iron Ore on Ford Ore Carriers, Made the Steel,Bodies, Engines and Drivetrain componets all in the same complex of plants interconnected. So the ford plant in Brazil is nothing new its just with stranglehold the UAW has on ford in combination with management by quarter instead of the longterm goals

Greg S you are missing the point, yes they have been in Brazil and other places for quite some time but they could keep sending more of their business to points south if we don't get the unions under control. And yes, they probably will have to continue to pay some fat butts to sit without a job but it would be worth it to get them out of the way and let the companies run their business instead of being a slave to the unions!!!

Guys, if you watched the video, it told how the average pay in Brazil was $300.00 per month and the auto workers were making 4 times that amount or $1200.00 per month. Could any of you live HERE on $1200.00 per month? The reason Ford and the others are in Brazil is CHEAP LABOR! Oh and BTW, the Brazilian workers DO have a union! WQatch the video again and this time PAY ATTENTION!

I have never seen a union contract that was not agreed to and signed by the company.
If the company have any gonads at contract time they would not have these work rules.

The auotmated factories of the future will have 2 employees.
One will be a dog, and one will be a man.
The man is employed to feed the dog.
And the dog is employed to Bite the man if he tries F with the automated equipment.
also the dog was smart enough not to join a union.

Labor unions have grown into a huge cancer upon the American industrial base. The Ford Plant near my home was shut down last year during their restructure. Shortly before the shutdown announcement, I was able to tour the plant while doing some training there. I came upon a worker whose job it was to remove door skins from a wheeled car and place them onto a conveyor chain. That's it... a robot could easily have accomodated this job. The worker's hourly wage - $28.75. The worker was also enrolled in a company paid GED program...

So a non-high school graduate is making over $60k yearly to do a job that is neither dangerous nor complicated.

And we wonder why American cars and trucks cost so much.

Burn down the unions, it's the only thing that will save American industry.

I worked in a UAW represented factory for over 20 years. The union definitely gets in the way of productivity and the implementation of new processes. I saw first hand how the union takes an innovative technique and “unionizes” it into an unworkable joke. I have also witnessed people continually abusing drugs and alcohol, usually a small group of the same people. If management actually did try to get rid of them, the union would find a way to get them back in, plus give them back pay and full seniority. Those of us on the line that didn’t need the union’s protection were looked upon as bad by the union. Unions today only exist to coddle bad workers and get in the way of how a company runs its operations. In my 20 years as a UAW member, I never needed the union's help in anything I couldn’t take care of myself. I showed up for work and did my best and followed the rules, for this I was considered a “Suck Ass”. Maybe if the unions would let the big 3 hire more suck asses, they wouldn’t be in the world of hurt they are in now. Oh, I forgot, a plant full of suck asses wouldn’t need a union!

My father worked for General Motors, actually Delco Electronics which is now Delphi. I saw first hand the arrogance of union employees and the leadership. My father was management in their engineering department, and not union. His team was held accountable for results and innovation. We saw people use drugs on the line, on the line, and get reinstated by the union. I saw strikes bring the city to a crawl that had nothing to do with working conditions. If someone wants to get paid more for doing the same job they are dillusional. Educate yourself, train yourself, move up or into a different job that pays more for the experience and ability of the worker. I also have past family members that were union employees in the can/steel industry. I've never heard more whining in my life about how they don't get their fair share. Bullshit. They get paid for what they do. A company is under no obligation to an employee to continually increase their wage, yet everyone thinks it should work that way. Also, if our tax system is so bad, why are major foreign manufacturers opening plants inside the U.S.? Why are they more profitable than American companies? If you can't figure it out, you have no business being in the discussions. Just collect your paycheck and go buy a 12 pack.

Neal,

Are you aware of Chancellor Rhee taking on the teacher's union in DC. Conservatives need to support this effort.

By Bill Turque
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 16, 2008; Page C01

Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee are discussing a dramatic expansion of their effort to remove ineffective teachers by restoring the District's power to create nonunionized charter schools and seeking federal legislation declaring the school system in a "state of emergency," a move that would eliminate the need to bargain with the Washington Teachers' Union.

Bill you got it right but........with the oncoming unfettered amnesty program, universal health care, third term abortion on-demand and slave reparations looming on the horizon in the next 2 years, this will be a sentinel Third World Country!

Show me a union that has done good for the economy and opportunity and i will show you a hundred that have destroyed them both. They talk freedom, flags and all, but live like fascist. I have a couple union members in my immediate family and i would NEVER hire them. they are "entitled" to everything under the sun and the laziest bunch of my family.

Let's see, unions promote bureaucracy by adding artificial rules interfering with getting things done, bureaucracy stifles innovation. 'Nuff said? 'Nuff said!

Neal,
What a minute! Now you’re falling for the propaganda.

Ford, like GM has had a presents in South America for the last 75 years or so. Brazil has always had a protectionist market; the tariffs were/are so high imports are very costly. Ford, like GM, like VW and other companies built plants down there to sell in the market and it has worked out for them very well.

It gets frustrating for a number of us who know what’s going on daily, not listening to the ‘experts’ or the media. I don’t like the UAW at all, I seen the inner workings of a few locals and have too many family members in the UAW but they are 15% of the real problem and the idea that they were the reason for the problems is just wrong.

The real problem is simple; the American auto manufactures have no product that the American consumer wants to buy. It has little to do with the actual cost of the workers and the cost of the anything else for that matter. The UAW does not prevent them from designing a car for the market that people want to buy, the management does. One thing that no one really understands is that if they get this money, there is nothing to retool to, they don’t have a product in the pipeline to retool for that will sell.

There are a number of things they can do first before asking for a dime of tax money but arrogance rules at the top.

The unions are responsible for results of their decisions. They forced the manufacturers to bend to union rules and they got what they wanted. We do not buy the UAW when we buy a car, we buy a product. When the product is too expensive and does not meet the quality we expect, then the purchaser goes to where he can get value for his dollar. Unions need to evaluate the dogs and fleas rule. When the dog dies, so do the fleas.

Wow,and this plant is in one of the so called banana republic?. Maybe we are becoming a banana republic, thanks to your Democrat party, and the union that
help them get elected.

This video should be shown at the upcoming Senate hearings. Then the UAW should be grilled as to why they oppose this type of plant. Of course, we already know their answer.

I remember seeing on the History channel, or something similar, that Ford used to actually do everything in-house beginning with raw iron ore. Then the Unions killed this one-stop assembly process with the advent of the union. It only took 100 years for Ford to figure out how to do this assembly process again.

i feel like every time i hear another story about unions, i can't hate them anymore. but then i hear another story that makes me hate them even more.