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Started By
Message
re: Right To Work at the Chattanooga VW Plant
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:39 am to WhiskeyPapa
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:39 am to WhiskeyPapa
"Activists in other plants have proven you can win gains through workplace action, even with only minority membership. Workers who make diesel engines for Cummins in North Carolina, for instance, have a longstanding worker committee affiliated with United Electrical Workers Local 150.
Though they don’t have union recognition or a contract, their latest win is a 75- to 80-cent raise across the board for the plant’s thousand employees. The win came after hundreds signed petitions to top management and wore protest stickers when the CEO visited the plant.
But there’s no talk of that kind of shop floor mobilizing in Local 42. Instead, besides signing up new members, UAW says it will do community service activities and work with the employer to offer job training.
Byron Spencer, a pro-union worker on the door line, said he’s suggested mobilizing in the plant on such issues as retaliation against workers injured on the job. But he’s gotten shot down by UAW organizers."
LINK
Though they don’t have union recognition or a contract, their latest win is a 75- to 80-cent raise across the board for the plant’s thousand employees. The win came after hundreds signed petitions to top management and wore protest stickers when the CEO visited the plant.
But there’s no talk of that kind of shop floor mobilizing in Local 42. Instead, besides signing up new members, UAW says it will do community service activities and work with the employer to offer job training.
Byron Spencer, a pro-union worker on the door line, said he’s suggested mobilizing in the plant on such issues as retaliation against workers injured on the job. But he’s gotten shot down by UAW organizers."
LINK
2
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:41 am to The Maj
quote:
LMAO... "workers pushed to their emotional and physical breaking points..." Guess 8 to 10 hours is a real kicker...
The policy is a constant rotating swing shift changing every couple of weeks.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:41 am to WhiskeyPapa
I am not anti-union....but the UAW is a cancer.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:41 am to FooManChoo
My main problem with all of this is that the "temp workers" thing seems heavily abused by auto manufacturers. At the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa and other feeder plants that provide parts to Mercedes, it seems they are filled with "temps" who work there 40 hours a week for, as the article said, years in some cases.
I just feel like those people deserve benefits of some kind.
Super capitalist response on here will be: well, if they deserve the full time benefits they will get them, or should should make a personal decision to leave and find another job.
But what's wrong with the group of workers at large deciding they want change and fighting for it? To me, unionization can be a part of the free market in that sense.
I just feel like those people deserve benefits of some kind.
Super capitalist response on here will be: well, if they deserve the full time benefits they will get them, or should should make a personal decision to leave and find another job.
But what's wrong with the group of workers at large deciding they want change and fighting for it? To me, unionization can be a part of the free market in that sense.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:43 am to WhiskeyPapa
They are free to find other jobs if they believe working conditions would be better somewhere else.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:43 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:
The policy is a constant rotating swing shift changing every couple of weeks.
So was my 6 years in the NAVY.
Worked 16 hours a day 6 days a week and 8 hours on Sunday for 1/3th the pay these guys get.
I guess we should have unionized too.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:45 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:
Spring Hill is more like 3 hours from Chattanooga. That plant came into being back in the 80's.
And it is a union plant that somehow exists in this "right to work" culture.
Face it. The UAW does not provide enough value to the labor at VW's plant for them to vote in favor of organizing.
Perhaps they saw what happened to VW's unionized New Stanton plant in the 1980s and they do not want to give the company a reason to shut down.
This post was edited on 1/3/17 at 10:51 am
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:46 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:
The policy is a constant rotating swing shift changing every couple of weeks.
Oh my goodness... 8 to 10 hours a day AND a rotating shift... Those poor people, bless their hearts...
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:48 am to member12
Unions..like government... turn most everything the get involved with to shite. They're basically rooted in a Ponzi type methodology. The seem to work for a while, until they kill the industry they're involved with.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:48 am to member12
quote:
They keep voting to not unionize....so apparently they are not dissatisfied with the conditions, pay scale, and hours.
"Chattanooga seemed the logical choice all along. But in the tense lead-up to the union election, Senator Corker threatened that if workers voted the union in, the SUV would go to Mexico instead."
LINK
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:49 am to WhiskeyPapa
Seeing as how this is an industry I know a little about, I can promise you that this
Is bullshite. VW has competent productivity, training, and ID pros and consultants at that plant- I've worked with a few of them. They know full-well that green employees make mistakes and decrease productivity. Their goal is to reduce turnover, because training and development is a sunk cost, and training new staff is very expensive. The numbers always support keeping current, competent staff happy. You want to spook off crap hires, and keep decent staff.
This is called an apprenticeship model, and it's extremely common in manual labor jobs. You can't realistically simulate putting a car together, and an apprentice is never considered a full team member with the same productivity metrics as a competent staff member. Only when an apprentice is deemed "competent" are they able to work on their own. The team leaders and designated trainers are paid at a different rate scale than your line workers.
The writer doesn't know anything about the subject matter.
quote:
All the pressure to boost production means safety and training get short shrift.
Is bullshite. VW has competent productivity, training, and ID pros and consultants at that plant- I've worked with a few of them. They know full-well that green employees make mistakes and decrease productivity. Their goal is to reduce turnover, because training and development is a sunk cost, and training new staff is very expensive. The numbers always support keeping current, competent staff happy. You want to spook off crap hires, and keep decent staff.
quote:
Much of the onsite training falls informally to team leaders or other assembly line workers—already overburdened by their own workloads.
This is called an apprenticeship model, and it's extremely common in manual labor jobs. You can't realistically simulate putting a car together, and an apprentice is never considered a full team member with the same productivity metrics as a competent staff member. Only when an apprentice is deemed "competent" are they able to work on their own. The team leaders and designated trainers are paid at a different rate scale than your line workers.
The writer doesn't know anything about the subject matter.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:49 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:
The policy is a constant rotating swing shift changing every couple of weeks.
Just like the schedule of most plant workers in Texas and La.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:50 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:.
The policy is a constant rotating swing shift changing every couple of weeks
As is nearly every unionized plant or factory in America, defiantly a yogagirl/heather comment.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:53 am to BugAC
I wanted to reply to the OP but I don't think I can expound upon anything you wrote. Great post
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:53 am to Loserman
FYI Volkswagen corporate wanted the workers to unionize. It actually prefers all its plants to unionize in order to supply happier and more productive workers.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:54 am to WhiskeyPapa
quote:
Chattanooga seemed the logical choice all along. But in the tense lead-up to the union election, Senator Corker threatened that if workers voted the union in, the SUV would go to Mexico instead
Yes, the UAW was too stupid to grease the republican politicians in Tennessee like they do the Democrats. That does not change the fact that the UAW does represent workers in Tennessee and repeatedly fail to sell themselves to the community and the workers at VW's plant.
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:55 am to WhiskeyPapa
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:56 am to VOLhalla
quote:
FYI Volkswagen corporate wanted the workers to unionize
They wanted a German-style works council.
They did not want the cancer that is the UAW any more than any other automaker does. The UAW deepens the divide between labor and management everywhere they operate.
This post was edited on 1/3/17 at 10:58 am
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:57 am to VOLhalla
quote:
FYI Volkswagen corporate wanted the workers to unionize. It actually prefers all its plants to unionize in order to supply happier and more productive workers.
Yup. Unions do work.
"The UAW and the company even agreed that, if the union won the February election, its collective bargaining agreements forever after would include the works council system. Under U.S. labor law, you can’t have a works council without a union. Pressure from the German union IG Metall has been a big factor in pushing German-owned VW to accept both in Chattanooga."
LINK
This post was edited on 1/3/17 at 10:58 am
Posted on 1/3/17 at 10:58 am to bodask42
quote:I don't have a problem with this. Temps are people too, and they are working just as hard (if not harder in some cases) as they FTEs because they want the benefits that the FTEs get. I used to be one, so I know what it's like. It sucks but it's part of life. You "deserve" what the company says you do. If you aren't getting compensated as you expect, you need to confront your employer or find another job that will compensate you "fairly". The employer owns the job and they dictate the compensation, so I have a hard time feeling bad for people who are willing to continue to be underpaid based on their own estimations of their value.
My main problem with all of this is that the "temp workers" thing seems heavily abused by auto manufacturers. At the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa and other feeder plants that provide parts to Mercedes, it seems they are filled with "temps" who work there 40 hours a week for, as the article said, years in some cases.
I just feel like those people deserve benefits of some kind.
quote:That's correct. Like I said, the jobs belong to the employer, not the employee, and the employer sets the rules. If the job doesn't pay enough for the labor required, no one would take it and the employer would be forced to improve the compensation. Since people are still willing to do the job as-is, there is no incentive to up the ante. Competition is the best way to improve workplace conditions and compensation, not holding the company hostage through unionization.
Super capitalist response on here will be: well, if they deserve the full time benefits they will get them, or should should make a personal decision to leave and find another job.
quote:Unionization can and does often times become terroristic in practice. They essentially bully the owners of the company (who own the jobs) into doing whatever the union wants or face potentially catastrophic impact to business, depending on the size of the company and their ability to recover from a strike.
But what's wrong with the group of workers at large deciding they want change and fighting for it? To me, unionization can be a part of the free market in that sense.
Some businesses simply can't afford to unionize. With businesses cutting costs to compete, many of them can't afford to pay better without laying off more people (which unions obviously don't want and would strike over). A union that forces higher wages may spell destruction for the company in the long run, requiring things like bailouts from the government or facing bankruptcy.
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