Strike at Deere plants in the US, more supply chain shortage to come

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

Are their crappy owners/managers?

Yes there are and I would argue the penalty to them is lost sales and even ruined businesses if they don't manage everything correctly.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I saw the same change in the early 1990's. Worked in manufacturing with product lines in nuclear, aircraft and helicopter engines. The facilities had a profit sharing plan and it averaged 26% of the gross wages every month for years.
New CEO nicknamed "Neutron Jack" came along and closed all facilities and moved all products to lower paying locations so they could increase dividends to share holders. That actually helped me out in the short term. But the company performed so poorly they recently had to borrow more than 6 billion dollars to keep the pension plan afloat as well as selling off some of their product lines.
Hopefully Deere keeps caring about thier employees a priority. Are Employees the most important asset at a company anymore?

you worked for GE? ol neutron jack had quite the rep. he was the poster boy for staff reductions and closing operations. a harvard mbas dream come true.

there was a GE facility in s. central VA. that happened to be one of my biggest customers. it was #2 in its industry, a long way behind #1, Motorola.

jack had made the comment that if they were not #1 or #2 in a business, he didn't want to be in that business.

My customer was #2 in their industry but jack shut them down anyway.

They said you could see blood run out of the parking lot every friday afternoon.

How's GE doin now jack?

 

[newbury]

<snip>
Hopefully Deere keeps caring about thier employees a priority. Are Employees the most important asset at a company anymore?

But if an MBA comes in and wants to maximize $$ it's difficult to sell off employees.
They can sell equipment, patents, etc. but in the US it's frowned on to sell people.

 

[ruffdog]

Maybe there was a parts shortage that was going to affect assembly anyways so this works in the company's favor. During a strike the workers are off the payroll until the supply chain catches up, then Deere would agree to a contract.

 

[MossRoad]

I read this guy weekly.

In a nutshell, the deere strikers are turning down a 20% pay raise over the next 5 and six years, holding out for more.

Running with the big Deere

In an effort to maintain its enviable, 34-year run of labor peace, Deere & Co. and the United Auto Workers recently announced a deal to boost worker pay — by

www.hometownsource.com

 

[Cahaba Valley Farm]

I read this guy weekly.

In a nutshell, the deere strikers are turning down a 20% pay raise over the next 5 and six years, holding out for more.

Running with the big Deere

In an effort to maintain its enviable, 34-year run of labor peace, Deere & Co. and the United Auto Workers recently announced a deal to boost worker pay — by

www.hometownsource.com

Interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

 

[RickB]

you worked for GE? ol neutron jack had quite the rep. he was the poster boy for staff reductions and closing operations. a harvard mbas dream come true.

there was a GE facility in s. central VA. that happened to be one of my biggest customers. it was #2 in its industry, a long way behind #1, Motorola.

jack had made the comment that if they were not #1 or #2 in a business, he didn't want to be in that business.

My customer was #2 in their industry but jack shut them down anyway.

They said you could see blood run out of the parking lot every friday afternoon.

How's GE doin now jack?

Wrong question. How'd Jack do? A $417M golden parachute probably soothed any regrets.

 

[ultrarunner]

I've worked in union and non-union shops and never had "hostility" toward the employer. If workers don't like the union representation, you vote different people in. The people are the union. Maybe the people you are talking to work in a very bad place and they should quit.

I do like my credit union...

 

[ultrarunner]

My wife is a health care consultant for large corps and unions on their health insurance design and rating. The one group she hates to work with is the teachers union. They want every benefit under the sun, but when she provides the rating for those benefits, they whine and play the broke teacher card. It's like they think things are free...

The best is when she goes to the national meeting to present the benefit options. The teachers union will not let her set anything up, they have to do it. The people that set it up are employed under the national teachers union corporate umbrella. If the conference is three days long, they get paid for 72 hours worth of work, they are on the clock the entire time even when sleeping. All this team of people does is set up the projector and take it down for her. It's a racket.

Dad left high school teaching because he found the union was often at odds with what was best for the students...

One farmer friend said it simply a few years ago... at $10 an hour I have 60 seasonal jobs.

At $16 I have 10 jobs because automation becomes attractive...

 

[Lineman North Florida]

Wrong question. How'd Jack do? A $417M golden parachute probably soothed any regrets.

I noted these unbelievable severance packages in an earlier post, GE had a battery manufacturing plant not far from where I live, it was a large employer in our rural community and many of my classmates went to work there at some really good pay back in the day, several tried to get me to come to work there and I will admit the stories of what all went on there or the lack thereof was appealing but I stuck out working in the heat and climbing them poles and the demand for lineman got better and so did my quality of life, in just a few short years GE closed the battery plant and it put many family's in our rural community in the unemployment line, looking back and listening to my dad to stay the course with a trade was one of the best decisions that I ever made.