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After the layoffs, what’s next for Erie
Unions have gone by way of the stage coach When will workers wise up and de-certify them before its too late
Look for GE to continue cutbacks in Erie every time they can find an excuse, the main one being to blame the union members that built the company. They want be satisfied until they move all production to Texas. It’s corporate GREED plain and simple. GE has always made a good profit in Erie but that’s not enough, it’s never enough. They, the corporate bosses, want be satisfied until they are paying Walmart wages and benefits to non union workers. It’s an assault on the hard working middle class.
If I was one of those young workers I would ask to take a transfer to Texas. Lower wage maybe (maybe not due they started at lower wage when hired) but Texas has lower taxes, no income tax, and no union dues. It would probably even out and the young worker still has a decent job.
There have been problems with unions for a long time, Mr. Thompson. They still have not found Jimmy Hoffa.
The more senior union workers make about 50% more than the median wage (which includes the effect of the higher union wage scale) in Erie according to the article. No wonder GE wants out of the clutches of the union. That differential is too large.
Don’t blame the unions.This is corporate America running wild,brother.What can you expect from a company that doesn’t pay their fair share of taxes.
Obama’s Great Recession continues. It never ended, unlike the deadbeat socialist media spin.
As for Erie, those union workers were dumb enough to believe the socialist union doublespeak. “If you keep asking for more and doing less, you will have a job for life.” Now they are receiving the only logical outcome. GE is in business to turn a profit for the shareholders when building locomotives. No profit? Then why bother building locomotives? Might as well close the doors like Alco and others. Instead the non-union willing to work for reasonable wages and do a good job workers in Texas get the work.
GETS union workers are making almost $20,000/year more than their local average, meanwhile some poverty stricken employees are struggling to make $20,000/year. Is their something wrong with that picture when the unions aren’t willing to budge just as little as the corporations?
Not only are the unions doing to GE what they did to the PC, but also GM, Ford, Chrysler… Their time is over.
The unions are doing to GE what they did to Penn Central.
Erie Zoo listed at goodsearch.com .
OK. So how much is the CEO making? Don’t blame unions for trying to make a better life for their members. The companies that are trying to rid themselves of unions only want to make more for their top dogs and stockholders. Maybe going to Texas they can hire some illegals at minimum wage and not worry about insurance or safety. Union and proud of it.
When all of the good middle class jobs are gone and the ones that are left are pausing minimum wage, the money that these workers spend to drive our economy will be gone. The very rich will have gotten much richer, but with no spending from the middle class the economy will collapse. Myou can’t expect the economy to grow when the vast majority can barely make ends meet. Lets see how many engines GE sells when there are no goods to move due to no demand.
You don’t need unions if you have a good employer.
Education, more than unions, are the key to maintaining the middle class. Education improves productivity and raises standards of living.
Unions need to focus on organizing jobs that can’t move away, such as retail, and organizing in low wage countries. If they only fight to maintain uncompetitive (above average) manufacturing wages, the work will move.
If unions time is over say good bye to the middle class. Welcome to a 2 class society rich and poor.
The unions didn’t bankrupt PC or GM. Bad management did that. Management has ultimate responsibility as they sign union contracts. No management sign-off, no contract.
GE is doing what all stateless multinational corporations do – slash and burn, short term mentality driven by quarterly results. GE pays virtually no federal income tax – what do YOU pay??? In the 1980s GE gutted their power systems division and shut down world-class R&D. Today the US does not manufacture its own power transformers, we buy them from China and Europe.
GE, more than anything else, is a finance company. During the 2008 financial melt-down they converted themselves into a bank to borrow money from the federal reserve at 0%.
Unions are what created the middle class. Busting unions has been what has destroyed the middle class. Read your history.
Everyone is moving to Texas…
Obviously it the union’s fault because it did not instantly agree with GE that the pay and benefits of its members be reduced to Walmart levels. Seriously, folks, the race to the bottom in terms of paying a decent wage (except, of course, for top management) is ruining this once-great country!