I'm gonna throw some food for thought out here. You lived and worked in the heart of union country at a time that unions were strong. Your employer was also located there. Is it possible that he may have found it was necessary to pay very well if he wanted to attract good people and keep them from leaving for union jobs? If so, like it or not, you directly benefitted from the existence of labor unions in your area.
If those union jobs were not around, do you think your employer would have compensated you near as generously? History says the answer is no,
If look back though 20th century history, labor unions, labor laws, safety rules, and environmental laws all came into existence because of consistent patterns of abuse by companies and employers prior to external regulations. The safe and civil workplace we all expect was created through regulation and government intervention, not employer benevolence. FDR and the new deal congress were a huge part of initiating that progress.
I agree but (BIG BUT), unions have outlived their usefulness. They were the motivating vehicle back in the 20's through 50's but today, all they are is a weight on the free enterprise system that causes companies to close their doors.
Again, YRC is a prime example. UPS agreed to the Teamsters demands but raised their package rate to offset it so it now costs you more to ship the same. See, in the end, you, as a consumer pays the freight with no choice. Same with the Post Office. First Class Stamps have increased in cost every year with no increase in services rendered. In fact quality of service has declined of anything.
The part of your comment I bolded is key to the entire 'what is going down' today.
When a company or corporation becomes so entwined with any union, that the union is dictating their very existence, it's time for one of 2 things to happen. Either the company declares bankruptcy and reorganizes as a non union entity or it ceases doing business entirely. Only 2 avenues to take.
I'll let you decide which one Fords will take. I already know but again, I'm not saying anything. Whatever Fords decides, it will be the template for the other domestic automakers as well because Fords has been 'nominated' to lead this.
The real issue is with the T2 and T3 suppliers, most of which are not union and in reality, employ substantially more worker bees than all the automakers combined and it will adversely impact their ability to supply the non union automakers with intrinsic parts as well If you think (wrongly) that Toyota or Nissan or any non union southern RTW state located auto builder builds their sub assemblies and necessary parts in house, your are totally mistaken because all of them source parts and sub assemblies from the same outfits that build for Fords, GM and Stellantis and curtailment of those parts will negatively impact their businesses, some to the point of ceasing doing business entirely and laying off masses of workers that will negatively impact the fragile economy as well.
Like Ronald Regan said... Trickle Down Economy. It's gonna trickle down right to you...and me.
Gonna let it ride for a few days and let the chips fall where they may... or may not.
