Let me throw this in if I may.
Tonight we went out to dinner with some friends. One of the guys there is originally from Detroit, born and raised. He's my age (50+).
We started discussing the automotive situation.
It seems he worked on the assembly line when he was 19. He was non-union because he was temporary (89 days-had to be there 90 days to join the union).
He made $19.00/hour back then! Here's what he did:
Stand on line.
place metal blank on press
step down on pedal.
remove formed sheet from mold and place back on line.
His union counterparts were making considerably more even back then.
He has friends today that are retired in thier early 50's after only 20-25 years on the job, making more in retirement and bene's than most do working.
BTW, most of the people in the factories at that time had little to no education, few were high school grads and no one other than management and the union leaders, had any sort of college.
This was NOT skilled labor. Obviously not since many of those functions have now been repalced by machines.
He now works full time as a teacher in the Hillsborough County Public Schools, and works part time as a counselor at the Childrens Home to make ends meet. His wife is also a teacher.
The benes are ok, but the pay sucks and they found two (2) firearms on kids in school today!
These are the things that gripe my ass!
Make sense to you?