road workers' labor stoppage

Just remember you get what you pay for......... no love here for them scabs, if they were that great at what they do they wouldn’t have to leave their home state to make non union wages.
 
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dline said:
so the whole get what you pay for, did that happen with car industry? with the lower wages???
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Paying all these people/companies good money for decades, and roads fall apart a short time later and everyone goes "oops, oh well. We will just have to redo them again." We havent been getting what we've paying for this whole time. We wont be any worse this way. The only thing I read was they were holding up the contract from a pay dispute. They were offered in think 15% raises over 5 or 7 years. So a guaranteed 2-3% increase each year no matter what, and they said it was not enough. Around my shop people who stand around and do minimal work bitch about not getting raises. People like me that show up early and work all day dont have to ask. Raises just appear in my check annually. If everyone at my shop all got the a raise, or the same raise every year I'd be pissed and my attitude would turn to shit. I'd either quit or turn into one of them and stop working since we would all be treated and compensated the same.
 
mikesfastss said:
Just remember you get what you pay for......... no love here for them scabs, if they were that great at what they do they wouldn’t have to leave their home state to make non union wages.
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Ive done nothing but make more and more money after leaving the UAW. The entire time i worked for GM I have met maybe 3 actual skilled tradesmen. And they were NOT taught by gm/uaw. They had 10-20yrs in elsewhere like GE or general dynamics. They stood out from everyone else becasue their work ethic, attitude, and obvious skill set. Inhave zero love for union/uaw. We have guys come in once in a while to weld or fit who are experts "I know what I'm doing I've been doing it my whole life." "I was trained and learned the right way. From journeyman union worker." These 2 sentences have never made us laugh so hard. We know what to expect from their tests before they even take them. Then absolute saddest part is they truly believe they are top level at their trade and really know what they are doing. They were taught wrong, coddled, and praised for doing a bad job their entire career so its ingrained in them that what they are doing is good and correct. They cant find employment outside the UAW. This isnt ment to be an attack on you personally. I'm just mad everytime I think of working for the UAW for years.
 
mikesfastss said:
Just remember you get what you pay for......... no love here for them scabs, if they were that great at what they do they wouldn’t have to leave their home state to make non union wages.
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How are these guys scabs? I thought the union was locked out? They seem like they want to go back to work but the intermediary won't let them. I thought the problem was with that middleman who was supposed to make it easier for the contractors. I don't understand why the union guys can't go back - does the intermediary own all the equipment or something? Why aren't the unions just talking to the contractors?

This whole thing is a broken mess, that's for sure.

-Geoff
 
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dline said:
so the whole get what you pay for, did that happen with car industry? with the lower wages???
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we aren’t taking about the auto industry, we are talking about heavy equipment operators who were trained to operate said equipment in a safe and proper manner and who work about 7 months out of the year due to the weather, they get no vacation time, they get no extra unemployment when there off for the winter months, do you think the companies they work for are gonna drop there prices if the employees take a pay cut? I didn’t think so. Has the auto industry dropped their prices since hiring tier two employees? If it worked out so great for the auto industry why did they agree to get rid of the tier system? Why do they have such a huge problem keeping new hire employees that leave to work at Costco for more money?
 
Sure glad I don't have to deal with the mound rd and van dyke rd route to work anymore, with this work stoppage.....sorry for those still heading to tech center and arsenal
 
Geoff, they are gonna man the jobs with non union employees from all over the country and are gonna pay them much less then the union employees all while keeping the negotiating stalled so the company can make more profits, remember guys it takes two to negotiate not just one.
 
camaromann said:
Ive done nothing but make more and more money after leaving the UAW. The entire time i worked for GM I have met maybe 3 actual skilled tradesmen. And they were NOT taught by gm/uaw. They had 10-20yrs in elsewhere like GE or general dynamics. They stood out from everyone else becasue their work ethic, attitude, and obvious skill set. Inhave zero love for union/uaw. We have guys come in once in a while to weld or fit who are experts "I know what I'm doing I've been doing it my whole life." "I was trained and learned the right way. From journeyman union worker." These 2 sentences have never made us laugh so hard. We know what to expect from their tests before they even take them. Then absolute saddest part is they truly believe they are top level at their trade and really know what they are doing. They were taught wrong, coddled, and praised for doing a bad job their entire career so its ingrained in them that what they are doing is good and correct. They cant find employment outside the UAW. This isnt ment to be an attack on you personally. I'm just mad everytime I think of working for the UAW for years.
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i completely understand what your saying, I came from the building trades ( a millwright from local 1102) and after some years I went in house at a gm plant and I will say it’s a night and day difference. In the building trades we were trained to get in and get it done and move on. Not so much in the Uaw. I don’t think union jobs are for everyone by any means, what irritates me is buys think because we’re union employees were not allowed to ask for a raise or better benefits etc.
 
mikesfastss said:
Geoff, they are gonna man the jobs with non union employees from all over the country and are gonna pay them much less then the union employees all while keeping the negotiating stalled so the company can make more profits, remember guys it takes two to negotiate not just one.
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They have to pay "Prevailing Wage", it is the law in Michigan. The narrative that they are going to pay less is just wrong. As far as I read, the union was fine working without a contract, but they got locked out. I fail to see who the bad guy is here, other than the system.

There is some funny business going on here that nobody is talking about. Why isn't the union negotiating with the contractors directly if that is what they wanted? What is stopping them?

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
They have to pay "Prevailing Wage", it is the law in Michigan. The narrative that they are going to pay less is just wrong. As far as I read, the union was fine working without a contract, but they got locked out. I fail to see who the bad guy is here, other than the system.

There is some funny business going on here that nobody is talking about. Why isn't the union negotiating with the contractors directly if that is what they wanted? What is stopping them?

-Geoff
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the government pays prevailing wage to the contractors, the contractors don’t pay that to the employees, I know a guy who works for a door company that services selfridge and they get fucked every time unfortunately. I’ll be honest I’m not 100% on what the whole situation is as far as the negotiations go. Either way it’s fucked up for the public and the workers.
 
WhiteHawk said:
The narrative that they are going to pay less is just wrong. As far as I read, the union was fine working without a contract, but they got locked out. I fail to see who the bad guy is here, other than the system.

There is some funny business going on here that nobody is talking about. Why isn't the union negotiating with the contractors directly if that is what they wanted? What is stopping them?

-Geoff
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I heard something on the radio this morning it has to do with insurance. Insurance company will not issue a policy without the contractor having a labor contract.
Myself I have have no idea what the hold up is. Driving through this every morning & evening is driving me crazy. I see a road rage / crazy driving fucker on almost every mile road every time I am on the road. Not one road I take is free of construction or totally falling apart.
Michigan is near the top in spending for road repair.
Friend off mine in Alaska posts pictures all the time on FB.... their roads are incredible (good) condition.
So sick of this...
 
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The whole purpose of MITA is so that they can have one rate for all the contractors when they bid public jobs. Every contractor is supposed to use the same labor rate, leveling the playfield and removing a big opportunity for kickbacks and corruption. Instead the union wants to negotiate each job individually? Fuck them. It sounds like it is being run by the mob again.

-Geoff
 
WhiteHawk said:
The whole purpose of MITA is so that they can have one rate for all the contractors when they bid public jobs. Every contractor is supposed to use the same labor rate, leveling the playfield and removing a big opportunity for kickbacks and corruption. Instead the union wants to negotiate each job individually? Fuck them. It sounds like it is being run by the mob again.

-Geoff[/QUOTE
I don’t see a need for mita, the union always negotiated with all the contractors at once in the past, the company pays the employees a set hourly package that includes everything including insurance. I don’t see how the union could be taking advantage of that? It seems to me that mita would be costing the contractors more money for there services. I know first hand the o.e union has different pay scales for different classifications but that should be reflected in there package price.
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WhiteHawk said:
There is some funny business going on here that nobody is talking about. Why isn't the union negotiating with the contractors directly if that is what they wanted? What is stopping them?

-Geoff
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Um, the upcoming election maybe? The Dems can blame this whole situation on the Republicans? Unions support Dems, so dunno. Another chance for the angry lady to say "fix the dxxx roads". Just a thought.
 
mikesfastss said:
[
I don’t see a need for mita, the union always negotiated with all the contractors at once in the past, the company pays the employees a set hourly package that includes everything including insurance. I don’t see how the union could be taking advantage of that? It seems to me that mita would be costing the contractors more money for there services. I know first hand the o.e union has different pay scales for different classifications but that should be reflected in there package price.
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See a need for it or not, the union is the one shutting the site down. They want to change the status quo. Guess who suffers? I do. Traffic is a nightmare around 696 and it costs me an hour a day. Fuck them. I hope the scabs put them all on the street.

-Geoff
 
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