Why isnt MY company in the news! Eagle Picher makes batteries for missiles and yet they are screwing their union employees. I only make 14.13 per hour. They wont settle a contract and are trying to kick us out the door although it's been a union shop for 40 yrs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

Contact your local paper and ask them for coverage. But, they have motives to not get involved in the local businesses as well.

St. Louis is big on unions.

Another thing with car companies. The taxes and other restrictions our govt. places on American made products/companies is astounding. When China (or Japan, in this case) can make it at half the cost and ship it over for the other half, while Americans, who on top of 100% cost have to pay union wages, keep union benefits, pay taxes higher than the import taxes on goods, workman's comp, unemployment, etc.. no wonder they're going under. They can't make a "cool" car b/c research and development has to suffer, and that furthers the problem with lower sales.. It's a downward spiral that big govt. just doesn't realize is happening...

I'm a member of a union as well (IATSE, or "International Association of Theatrical and Stage Engineers"), and the members almost perpetually get shafted with each bargaining agreement. We get absolutely NONE of the benefits that those in the UAW get. Our last three bargaining agreements have resulted in a great many items being either reduced or taken away all together (the latest being that of "guaranteed hours" which went *poof*).

To add insult to injury, our union dues went up significantly (to $782 a year) as did the Taft-Hartley initiation fee new members pay to get into the union ($6200... all up front and in cash).

Most insufferable of all is the fact the work just isn't out there. The dolts at the Local maintain a callboard which we have to call in for in order to get work, which is fine except for one thing- you get very little in the way of work. For example- I get about one call a year from my Local's callboard, whether I take the job or not. Since I can't survive on one measly call a year, I go out and strike up my own work, either for someone else or on my own. Of course the callboard can't have that, as "union rules" dictate that THEY have to be the ones to dictate who does and doesn't get work.

And yes- we get screwed by the studios on a daily basis, who seem to think that only THEY are allowed to rake in mega-profits from movie ticket sales, DVD purchases, merchandising, etc.

Bill Clinton's signing of NAFTA didn't help either, as it sent what little work we DID get off to points unknown, and all under the guise of "globalization".

So you've got a three-pronged problem here- an inept and corrupt-as-sin union that refuses to work for its members, studios who are too greedy for their own good, and a government that has sought to help those greedy studios and producers. That's a recipe for some bad crap to go on.

omg.. my house insurance is $700 a year.. I can't imagine..

Wow. Unions are so eeeeevvvviiiiiilllll.

Funny how the same people that will ***** about a Union being so awful, will ALSO sit back and ***** about how awfule Wal Mart is.

People fail to realize that there is a middle class in this country ONLY because of the unions.

Without unions, there would be only upper class, and lower class.

Now, I am not the biggest defender of unions. Mainly because the one that I am forced to belong to has a seniority system that has screwed me out of a couple of advancement/higher pay opportunities.

my mom's a part of Kaiser Steelworkers union becuase she works for Kaiser hospital. the Union can be amazingly good.. but it can be a trap too.

you have to really weigh the options before joining. you have to know what they stand for and what all is entaled in the package.

mom's union is nothing like that hardcore.. but she has been with them for almost 25 years and now has free healthcare for life regardless of the situation and her pension is hardcore.

but if she looses her job.. who knows.

I think that people sometimes forget that unions helped make the middle class. When I was young, those unions helped people to quit renting and buy homes for their families.

Unions r also keeping the middle class from going NOWHERE

How is that? The people I know are doing quite well.

AUTO Makers r doing well?

Hmmmm...let's see here.

U.S. auto makers have to compete with Japan and other countries in the auto business.

Japan, for one, puts HUGE taxes on any cars that get imported to their country. Japan also tweaks their monetary system so that the Yen stays at a certain level.

The U.S. does neither of those thing.

That means that Japan can build the cars, send them over here, and undercut the price of an American car.

And Americans, with the " cheaper is better " mentality ate it up. Bought lots and lots of those foreign cars.

Then again, the " bigger is better " mentality also sold a whole lot of SUVs for the American companies.

Now, however, people are suddenly pissing and moaning that " American made cars are too big. They should have been making smaller, more fuel efficient cars already ".

Problem with that line of thought??? If the people BUYING the vehicles really WANTED the smaller, more fuel efficient vehicles, they wouldn't have been buying those big gas guzzling SUVs.

Wanna know why the U.S. auto industry is in trouble??? Because they gave the American people what they wanted. Until sudden;y, the American people didn't want that anymore.

I thought you meant all unions. I didn't know that you meant one - auto makers.

Thats just one Example.

A big part of the problem with the automakers is that they've either automated or off-shored a great majority of their workforce to points unknown. As a result, the UAW has to fight for incredibly high wages so that the workers who HAVEN'T been out-sourced can pay for the wages for the retirees and their benefits.

All three auto manufacturers now have factories in Mexico, specifically in Saltillo and Hermosillo, and a growning number of vehicles are being made in those factories, while fewer are being made in America. And it's all because the "Big 3" and their bottom-lines.

In fact, GM's testing facility (which used to be in Flynt, Michigan) is in Hermosillo now at present and has been for the last couple of years.



What gets me is that Harley-Davidson has recently asked for bailout protection, which is laughable at best to me. HD has traditionally had a rather arrogant, "you're lucky for buying our product" bravado about themselves when it comes to motorcycle sales, thinking that they're pretty much impervious to changes in economic climate. And -for a while- they might have, being as how they charged as much as they did for their cycles.

And now -with their sales hitting a slump that hasn't happened to them in a number of decades- they want a bailout? I'd say let them go under, personally- the company's failure simply wouldn't impact the economy nearly as much as that of the Big 3 theoretically would.

I don't blame them really. Go where you can survive. Unions are constantly whining for handouts and restrictions that are unreasonable. A guy cuts his finger off and gets unbelievable compensation. What ever happened to the old days, where you worked a dangerous job, tried to stay safe, and took the hits like a man? Unions may have made the middle class in the north, but they'll also be the ones to bleed the companies dry and force them out of existence, leaving middle class folks jobless.

But it will be a part of history, and perhaps one we'll listen to this time, I don't know. Throughout history, when people start imposing on free enterprise, governments have been thrown, poverty has thrived, and people have consistently moved west to try to change things. Now we find ourselves with the absolute west of west closing back in with the cry for an end to free enterprise as well. It can only go so long before the loss of blood leaves us lifeless.

NAFTA ------- The biggest **** up ever

Don't get me wrong I really don't like unions anymore at one time they hada purpose and that was to protect workers and get them certain rights. But of the last decade or so they have become greedy ( GM /UAW) case in point with the benefits they get if laid off? lets be real.. That money as well as the bail out money can and should of been better spent. I have read most of the comments and I have heard the pros and cons of uniouns.. Some where companies don't give a hoot about their employees and some that did right by them.. I just think the unions time has come they need to go back to basics and be for the people and their rights. Not about the greed they created. And for those companies that unions don't or can't get contracts? I have seen 7 major companies leave this area. and recently American Standard make 1 offer take it or leave it and cut benefits and wagwes.. then they began to ship jobs out of the plant to Mexico.. so those people in fear of their jobs went back to work with a reduced contract.. striking didn't help the matter it made it worse. = lost jobs now.

and note ... companies have the upper hand now.. union or not they know that with this economy that there are people who will work andtake your job.. unions just don't seem to get that yet. why? companies are looking for concessions and no one wants to give up what they have worked so hard to get... underlying problem ... is that we americans have lived our lives beyond our means way to lomng and priced ourselves out of work.. go figure how this happened?