Posted on 01/31/2009 5:18:27 PM PST by Abathar
You forgot the largest force of all - Competition. A free market is the biggest limiter on profit, there is always someone who is willing to take a piece of what you have for just a little less...
( Most of my job is quoting, times get tough we quote to pay wages and lights until things pick up, its a dog eat dog world out there in the tool and die industry right now.)
“Since you seem to know what the bonus and pay for an Exxon executive is, do you know what the wages of these union workers are?”
No, I don’t know, but I’m quite sure, regardless of the economy, theirs is and always has been, a pittance in comparison.
UNIONS!!!!!! Middle of record cold winter and they strike during this season!!! Union thugs. Hold people hostage. Do it while people are freezing. Stinking unions can rot in hell. I hate unions. NOT the people in them, but the THUGS like Obama who run them. They call the shots. Not the rank and file. I have never been in a union and turned down two jobs because I found out I would be FORCED to join a union and pay dues. I told them, no thanks, no union thugs for me. Gas prices around here jumped 10 cents yesterday afternoon because of this.
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Timing is EVERYTHING, in this case. We are how many days into this presidency? Who went on strike during the campaign or between the election and inauguration? Anyone? So why NOW? Any big labor/union workers cave and take any concessions lately? Is it COLD outside everywhere? Is the center of the country still clawing its way out from under the last big ice storm? What happened to fuel prices just before and right after the election? What is happening to those same prices as we speak? Looking at week three, are the unions and their Red handlers feeling smug or threatened with "their man" sitting in the 0val 0ffice?
IF the union is "for real" about this and does not blink, this could be a real doosey. The Pullman Strike, the Mingo-Logan Mine War, and PATCO all come to mind for both the same and different reasons. Refining is certainly "vital to the national interest." Maybe this is the big test? Maybe this is a manufactured "wag-the-dog" crisis? It certainly presents a lot of PR and face-time opportunities for all players.
Popcorn anyone?
...”No one at my company is getting a pay raise this year”...
No one? You don’t seriously believe that, do you? I don’t know where you work, but even if they ‘tell’ you greedy top execs aren’t getting ‘raises’, dollars to donuts they get it in bonuses and/or stock options. While I disagree with employment ‘at will’, I’m not necessarily a fan of unions either. However I am a fan of doing whatever it takes to protect the middle class.
Don’t worry, I won’t.
Can Exxon and Shell brake the unions. Nucors model is the way to go: 100% nonunion and the organizers are afraid to go near the plants.
Yes, no one. How do I know? I’m the CTO. I’ve worked my way to this position, and it’s not as if I’m a “fat cat” living in my 1800 sq ft home in the suburbs and driving a Ford to work.
The only way to support the middle class is to replace class envy rhetoric with work ethic.
Correct. They will drive up the cost of gas and diesel. Oil is their input stock. Keeping the refineries offline will drive the cost of oil down as they lower the demand.
That stuff tasted like (I imagine) HORSE PISS when newly brewed! God only knows what it tastes like today (not to mention the financial stupidity of opening one of the remaining cans!)
Having met Billy Carter on several occasions, I can assure you that he would not drink it! He might not have been the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree but he had a taste for fine liquor (when he could afford it!)
Just like he is helping Kentucky with the ice storm. Can you say Bambi’s Katrina.
Refining is the least marginal profit center of the Oil Company. Big Oil is getting rid of their refineries.
Oh yeah, I’ve known plenty of people who have lost union jobs.
Crazy, but true, story............
One union contract held that people who were laid off would get 80% of their pay (80% percent!)
This was in the late 70’s, so people at the job site would actually get into fist fights to LOWER their senoirity so they could stay home and collect 80% of their pay, without doing the job with the hazards and sweat and inconveinence they were actually
paid to perform.
80%!
We’ve been told where I work that we have a wage and hiring freeze this year.
Yeah, right......
Yes, it would be the WGA strike.
Tillerson’s pay in 2007 was $1.87 MILLION a year with a $3.36 MILLION bonus and 185,000 shares.Considering the profit the company made, it was money well spent.
They really don’t need to shut down they can just fire a bunch of union people and hire some new people, Texas is a right to work state.Unless they signed away their right to hire non-union workers.
Somehow this doesn’t seem real smart when we have such high unemployment with so many folks looking for work. This may ring the death knell for unions.
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