Quote:
Originally Posted by packinDSS
Labor Unions ruined US manufacturing............They are out of control. $$$$ to make something that anyone off the street with some guidance can do............or for that matter someone from another country off the street....F the UNIONS they have gone to far!!!!
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Yes, because bringing us things like the 'weekend' was so aweful.
And because we should be paying people sustenance pay, so unless you're management you should barely survive - nice outlook.
Things cost $ to manufacture in the U.S.A. because EVERYTHING costs more $ in a developed nation. Unionized labor is hardly a bunch of wealthy people. They're simply making a livable wage.
Hell, big 3 were complaining about labor costs, when *10%* of their vehicle's cost was labor. You could have people working for FREE, and you'd still pay 90% of what you were paying for a car.
You want people here to work for $15 dollars a day like they can overseas? Is that the kind of salary you want people to compete with?
Maybe if things cost like they do in the ass-end-of-nowhere, you could get by on $15 a day. But here? You would have to shack up 6 families to a house to survive on that kind of money. Oh wait, that's what the poorest illegal immigrants do... You want that kind of lifestyle to be the norm in the U.S.A.?
Too few people realize the power they have. This is why I've learned to be much more aggressive with what salary I look for. There's no shame in asking for a lot more income when you know that *you* make things happen, and the people 'in charge' *depend on you* to pay their bills.
I look at it like this :
- If things go poorly - management asks you to sacrifice or just dumps you on the street. Lower profits hit the work force immediately. Management stays safe.
- If things go well - management buys their kids new BMW's and goes on a trip to Cancun.
- No one will divide up unexpected profits among the work force. That would be too balanced of an approach.
- Never sacrifice yourself for the company, because the company will throw you under the wheels the first chance it gets.
If management in the U.S.A legally could do it, it would pay people $15 a day. If not less. It's their interest to maximize profits and bonuses, and they have no shame making sure the worker gets as little as possible.
It should be the workers interest to maximize their salary, and they shouldn't feel a bit of shame for trying.
Hence why I appreciate labor - they keep management in check.
Corporations lobby government to allow for smaller incomes, labor unions lobby government to keep incomes livable.
Either way 'the man' gets paid, but at least in the end you have a decent society.
One lifetime ago people had :
- no time off
- 7 day work week
- 16 hour work days
- paid just enough to make rent and buy food, nothing more.
That's what life is like without organized labor.
Back then most of any city population was working like animals. Without organized labor, odds are that most people here would have been born into that lifestyle.
You should thank 'Labor' for saving people from that sad lifestyle, for exploding the middle class, and for creating a recreational and consumer goods market... without which I seriously doubt that today you'd have a personal computer to even be on here to post your views.
The U.S.A. has a larger manufacturing GDP than any other nation on the planet.
2007 GDP from *manufacturing*
U.S.A. : 1.8 trillion USD
China : 1.1 trillion USD
Japan : 0.9 trillion USD
Germany : 0.6 trillion USD
What we don't manufacture much of is consumer goods - I.E. the crap you buy for kicks. Odds and ends at Wal-Mart.
When it comes to industrial manufacturing, the U.S.A. leads the planet.
2007 USA manufacturing breakdown :
production machinery and equipment : 31.4%
industrial supplies : 27.5%
non-auto consumer goods : 12.7%
motor vehicles and parts : 10.5%
aircraft and parts : 7.6%
Only 12% of what we make is something that you might typically buy on an average day.
Hence why to the average-Joe it looks like the U.S.A. doesn't manufacture anything... But it's quite the opposite.
Now if by 'Labor Unions ruined US manufacturing', you mean 'Labor Unions ruined US [consumer goods] manufacturing', then you must really be a fan of sweat-shops.
I personally would rather blame globalization for simply moving those jobs to places where salaries are so low that you can't compete in any reasonable way (short of entirely robotic factories).
Which doesn't bother me... I'd rather pay $1.50 for a pack of 3 t-shirts, instead of $5 each.
-scheherazade