Big industry is after any of its employees that work on the factory and who make a comfortable salary.
The only reason that the labor union movement started over 100 years ago was because of corporate greed. This has not and will not change, and at some point when things get bad enough for a large enough portion of our population, the pendulum will swing back toward unions. In the meantime, corporations will continue to try to regain as much they can from labor. GE Transportation is not the first and won’t be the last…
For the gentleman from California, get your facts straight , we are not on strike, you are misinformed.
I am curently at GE Transportation here in Erie, the birth place of the U25B, C30-7, C40-8, ES44AC…etc… . This is where it all started for my employer . This is where these locomotives have been produced for generations , which helped to propell GE to the #1 locomotive builder in the world. Sure its one thing to throw out irrelevant comments or attacks on hard working people like myself. But keep in mind, if our wages are" too high" than why has this company not once faltered on making record profits, and overtake EMD , I’ll tell you why because we produce the best product in the land by the best people union or management . So in ending " Keep it made in Erie" .
For the gentleman from Illinois , and others out there that are misinformed or otherwise unwilling to understand the facts. GE Transportation has for years since overtaking EMD as the #1 locomotive builder in the world , turned hefty profits. As for the comment about ALCO, they did not grasp diesel locomotive technology , rather holding onto steam , until it was too late to change. Thereby closing there own doors
No one should be surprised. After World War II the textile industry in the North was ravaged by companies moving to cheap non-union labor in the South. Now that work has moved to China for even lower wages. Now the South is attracting new automobile plants because their non-union labor is cheaper than traditional union factories in the north. It’s a good deal for people in Alabama who have no skilled jobs at all but nonetheless the total amount of money going to labor is lower. Of course Walmart brags about low prices but they buy so much from the cheapest suppliers, usually in Asia. And they pay their workers less than say Costco to squeeze every cent. But the consumer is interested in only one thing, the lowest cost. The consumer doesn’t care how many people die in a factory fire in Bangladesh.
There was a story on NPR that said Chinese workers were holding an American businessman hostage in his own factory because he was moving jobs from China to India! Don’t look for moral considerations from large firms like GE.
Having said that the unions often are their own worst enemy. If this is a case of work rules then they have destroyed the village to save it. It reminds me of the general chairman of one of the B and M unions who when asked to modify work rules on the Montrealer exclaimed “It’s taken us 100 years to get these rules and I’d rather see the train not run than concede”. Dave Gunn, when president of Amtrak, used to say about the mechanical department workers: It’s not pay that’s the issue, all we need is the ability for a worker to be productive and not restricted by all the craft distinctions which go back to the steam engine.
Somewhat shocking to read the anti-labor sentiments. I wonder if those who wrote them are the same folks who claim that all the jobs in US industry are heading to other nations. They’re not, of course, as many of them are going from union to non-union locations as corporate decisions focus solely on the bottom line of profitability. We should keep in mind that corporations are legal entities which have much of the same rights and most of the same responsibilities a natural persons. Accordingly, corporations shouldn’t be permitted to simply lay off workers and destroy communities in the process. it’s greedy and irresponsible. Yes, I dream of an America in which we look out for one another, not throw one another under the next arriving bus.
Somewhat shocking to read the anti-labor sentiments. I wonder if those who wrote them are the same folks who claim that all the jobs in US industry are heading to other nations. They’re not, of course, as many of them are going from union to non-union locations as corporate decisions focus solely on the bottom line of profitability. We should keep in mind that corporations are legal entities which have much of the same rights and most of the same responsibilities a natural persons. Accordingly, corporations shouldn’t be permitted to simply lay off workers and destroy communities in the process. it’s greedy and irresponsible. Yes, I dream of an America in which we look out for one another, not throw one another under the next arriving bus.
How much “tax incentive” did Rick “…what’s the third one?” Perry give GE to move to Texas? What’s the other side of the Socialist coin, Guse? (Hint: Think Germany in the 1930’s.)
But wait, the drama isn’t over yet. EMD and the UAW are soon to negotiate for the workers at the LaGrange plant. If those workers aren’t worried, they should be!
When these middle class jobs are no longer around (because of the unions, you say) others wages will lower to a point where we can’t live. Long live the CEO’s and shareholders, the rich get richer and the (poor) middle-class step down closer to the poor.
Whats missing here is how many jobs will be added at the GE plant in Fort Worth, Tex., and how many secondary jobs that will create in the community.
At one time GE had a commerical that said, “We bring good things to life”. Today, with the way things are going, we can’t buy those good things. We’re doing a race to the bottom like nobody’s business. All the repukeikins who are turning their states into Right to Work for less states who are turning people into, “Let them eat cake,” people and those who have to eat crumbs! More railroad and transit systems keep turning to other countries for their equipment. What a shame!
Erie, PA has a lot of good things going on. They have a first class little University. They could go high tech. GE shouldn’t worry about the competition. Just do what you always do. Stay ahead. They’ve won over the BNSF with innovation.
It’s not the Union’s fault; even if they would have agreed to cuts in pay, GE would have found another excuse to move jobs from Erie. It is just convenient for management to scapegoat the unions… And blaming Obama; really? Really? Get a life if you think he has that much power and influence. God bless all y’all…
As a Pennsylvania resident I bemoan the loss of all those good paying jobs and what they contributed to the state’s economy.
The Erie plant is considerably more productive per man-hour than the Ft. Worth plant. GE enjoys tremendous revenues and is choosing to use less-skilled, non-union workers in Texas. Time will tell if quality suffers when BNSF, UP, CSX, and NS complain. But few administrative/management heads will roll at that point, albeit any that do will enjoy golden parachutes. JEFF IMMELT’s pay package was $25.8 million or $207/MINUTE or $12,407/HOUR. This is 400x the skilled craftsmen in Erie. Jeff is working 400x harder? Not a chance.
@Matt Simons. The average pay in the US is not $12,000. This is absurdly low and a made up “fact.” A skilled mechanic or electrician earning $64,000 is not overpaid, he is underpaid for the value added. Jeff Immelt earned $25.8 million and your allusion that anyone can be a CEO is wishful thinking at best. This kind of thinking is what allows the GOP to have poor people vote against tax increases under the mistaken belief that some day they will be wealthy.
@Guse: you apparently know nothing about the Brotherhood of Electrical Engineers and even less about socialism. The Erie plant is the most productive in the GE family on a per-worker basis. GE is making money. And unquestionably, Mr. Obama is the root cause of the decision to move to Texas. I picture the GE roundtable discussing it. Amazing your insights.
@Simons: Please read “Wreck of the Penn Central” so you can discover real facts about the management (mismanagement teams) of PRR and NYC. Union contributions were minor by comparison.