quantum...I won't lie, I had my differences with the union over the years. But most of those differences were on the local level. Not the international union, which is a much different animal. I think unless a person has actually worked on a GM assembly line, they don't have a clue on what goes on there. Without a union, the management wouldn't do anything if a worker got hurt on the line. They would tell them to continue to work unless you called for your union representative to save your ass from further getting injured. The assembly line is a dangerous place. I've suffered some bad cuts and bruises, along with dislocating my shoulder one time while working on it. You absolutely have to have a union there or you could get killed. If you go to China or Japan or some of the third world countries who don't have unions, I guarantee that you would see a shitload of worker injuries that probably go unreported. I would like to think the U.S. is a little better place to work than than third world countries.
On top of injuries, workers had to deal with the new workers compensation laws that Bush and the republicans tried like hell to pass in the early 2000's. They wanted to make it nearly impossible to draw workman's comp if you got hurt a second time on the job. Which would have been a disaster if you were an assembly line worker for a car company. I've seen a thousand workers go out with carpal tunnel. Get surgery. Come back to work a couple months later, and get it again in the other hand. Or the same hand. And have to go out again. I've still got carpal tunnel myself to this day. And I haven't worked on the line in years. But if you need to know the fundamental difference between republicans and democrats, it's incidents like this. The dems fought for the working man and blocked most of the bad parts of the workman comp laws that the pubs tried to pass in the name of the coorporations. Most people who are blue collar workers understand this. Most white collar workers don't have a clue what goes on in the industrial world.
Talking about places like Detroit and Flint, the reason the white man left that city was because he lost everything when the plants closed down. And there were no jobs there because many places of business were directly tied to the auto industry in that town. And they went out too. I'm talking about eating places, grocery and convienience stores, etc..GM workers had no safety net back then. You could have worked for the company for 29 years. But if they shut the plant down and they weren't able to get that 30th year in to retire, all was lost. And many commited suicide when they felt there was no hope left after dedicating their life to GM. After what happened in Michigan, the international union went back to the table with GM and demanded a safety net for workers when GM decided to close plants. And because of the union and the safety net that guarantreed workers their income, it saved our asses when GM started closing plants right and left before finally filing bankrupcy.
The NAFTA bill played a small part but it makes me sick when the republican idiots say george w bush has no blood on his hands.. thats absolute bullsh*t, bush or any republican would've let the american auto companies die a painful death.. they never would've given bailout money.. GM will have the money paid off this year.. W Bush is the reason this country is in the position it is now.. All these republicans idiots keep saying is Obama is spending to much and he's the reason for our debt, bullsh*t!!! Anybody realize how much this war has costed since 2003 when bush used the bullsh*t excuse "weapons of mass destruction" which might I add WERE NEVER FOUND!! This war is the reason we are in Debt right now and Bush's hand are full of blood forever.. The reason Obama ain't pullin out the troops right now is because we are left to clean up the republicans mess.. We can't just leave cause if we do and something bad happens Obama will get the blame.. Thanks a lot to the republicans for f**king up our country.. And if u think sarah palin could run our country, you need professional help..
WOW you are clueless. The white man left Detroit for the much much safer suburbs not because the jobs left. You don't know what your talking about. Detroit was a shithole long long before anyone knew who GWB was. You liberal union parasites just kill me.
There are laws and things like EEOC OSHA to help with workplace safety. If what you say is true (which it is not) Why don't we hear the horror stories from Toyota, Nissan and the other non union auto plants about people getting killed on the lines. You just keep on spewing your liberal union slogans and the union will continue to die.
Lies lies lies. Why should anything be garunteed to you.
i hope this country has too but the republican party is thick headed. they will never learn and never listen.
All you have to do is turn on the fox news channel and see the bulls**t they spew on a daily basis.. fair and balanced, yeah right.. sean hannity is the worst of them, he treats george w bush like a god.
Another clueless wonder. So the repubs ruined Detroit......LMAO
PLease don't acuse GWB being a conservative. He spent like a liberal you ALL SHOULD HAVE LOVED HIM. You people that bow down infront of Obama like he is different. 2 wars still going on. Gitmo still open. Spending like a crazy man still going on. Thinking government is the answer is just stupid.
BTW Hannity is an opinion show not thier news. If you watch thier news portion of the network there is nothing wrong with it.
When i was younger my dad would tell me stories about how jobs were plentiful in Detroit.. He went to a ford factory to apply for a job and they hired him the same day.. You can't even apply for one of those jobs in Detroit right now because there are none.. All the workers who have been layed off get first dibbs at any job openings that become available
Detroit depends on the american auto industy and if it's booming, Detroit is booming but when gas prices flew the roof, nobody wanted to buy american made cars.. They opted to buy small japanese pieces of sh*t cars because they had good gas mileage..
People out there need to wise up and quit buying foreign cars..
Detroit depends on the american auto industy and if it's booming, Detroit is booming but when gas prices flew the roof, nobody wanted to buy american made cars.. They opted to buy small japanese pieces of sh*t cars because they had good gas mileage..
People out there need to wise up and quit buying foreign cars..
Two wars that bush started.. After the wars are over trillions will have been spent on it which has contributed to the high debt our government now faces.. The war will be over in iraq soon thanks to Obama.. afghanistan will be over shortly there after.. if it were up to republicans we would be there forever..
It's pretty obvious where you stand judging by your avatar.. Buddy...People get hurt all of the time on the line. Even at Toyota. But don't expect to see it on your front page news. We had one person get killed where I worked, and it barely made page 7 in the local paper. You obviously have never dirtied your hands if you don't think this doesn't go on everywhere. The bad part about Toyota is whenever a worker gets hurt, they do their best not to report it to OSHA for fear of tarnishing their so-called clean image. When you come back off injury they move you to different places in the plant where jobs are even worse because seniority and your old job means nothing in a non-union shop. They also dangle your employment in front of you if you get hurt too much on the job. People are always working scared in a non-union shop for fear of losing their jobs. And they don''t have any kind of safety net in non-union plants. You get fired, your gone. No pension. No nothing. The Saturn Plant in the U.S. is also non-union because the workers believed the false hope the company gave them of the so-called team concept that never worked anywhere it's been tried. And now they are begging to form a union because of the worker nightmares they are going through. So don't even attempt to tell me how much you think you know about the auto industry. I can already tell you don't know squat. I've worked for GM in all capacities for many years. Including quality control inspector. And I know how these cars are built inside and out, and what a company will let go out the door in the name of quantity over quality. Now that Toyota is the big kid on the block, they are going through the same things GM did. And their quality is starting to get hurt. Stop believing what you read on the net from republican websites and take it from a person who has been there. Auto plants are very unsafe enviornments. I would like to put you on an assmebly line for a day and let you find out. It's hard work. And UAW workers earn every cent of their wages, along with dealing with injuries.
I do not know much about unions assembly lines or car companies. I do know about hard work, government regulations, and failures. I owned and operated a commercial fishing vessel for almost 20 years. There was no safety net, no unions, no retirement, no OSHA and I would wager as dangerous as any factory work. I took the biggest the baddest and the toughest with me. Most couldn't finish a trip(too hard). I never worried about getting laid off or someone taking my job. Most didn't want it and few could do it. I produced fish year in and year out. Government regulations came in and decimated the industry. I sold the boat and started a lawn service. I am almost 50 and have more work than I can handle.
My world it's called supply and demand. I deliver a quality service that someone needs at a reasonable price. I don't need a union or a government or any other institution to take care of me. I just do it better faster longer and harder than most. NO EXCUSES thats whats wrong with America. Sorry I just see it differently. I am responsible for my families well being, and for that I am awfully thankful
what the heck does him having what looks to be a vending machine as his avatar have to do with anything? hehehe...
anyways i watched the show and that town was going downhill a lot longer than 10 years...they have been killing each other for the better part of 40 years and stealing and robbing have always been rampant...
just more people complaining about the government...have all the good people left get out and put a fence around the rest and give them about a week to kill off each other...
anyways i watched the show and that town was going downhill a lot longer than 10 years...they have been killing each other for the better part of 40 years and stealing and robbing have always been rampant...
just more people complaining about the government...have all the good people left get out and put a fence around the rest and give them about a week to kill off each other...
My Sooner Brother-
I'm more on your side in this argument than I am The Right Side's, but there are a lot of factual errors in your arguments and you're making it too easy for him.
The Spring Hill plant started off non-union and then later the UAW came in. Also, Saturn workers are not begging to form a union because there are no Saturn workers anymore as the product line has been discontinued.
And Japan is not a 3rd world country.
DEAC...All of this Saturn union business was happening when I was still working. I haven't worked in a few years. So I no longer have the desire to keep up with the auto industry..The reason i knew about the problems the workers had with management there was because a couple of my buddies tranferred to that plant from OKC. In retrospect not a good move. But they never had anything good to say to me when it came to the day to day business of their non-union shop. When I left GM there were rumors that the Saturn plant was in trouble. I'm glad the UAW later came in. I hope they were there long enough to have won the workers some kind of compensation or possible reloacation after they closed...Excuse the grammatical error I made earlier. I meant China, Japan and SOME third world countries. Although when it comes to the treatment of their workers, China and Japan might as well be third world countries.
