Posted on 11/05/2010 7:37:52 AM PDT by Arcy
A day after union workers rejected for a second time a contract that might have saved their jobs, the Metro East company told them it was moving about 1,000 ammunition production jobs from Metro East to Oxford, Miss.
As members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 9 left the East Alton catering hall where the ballots were tallied Tuesday night, more than a few of the employees ventured that Olin was bluffing.
The company, they maintained, had no intention of following through on its threat to move their jobs. On Wednesday, Olin called their bluff by announcing that it would build a 500,000-square-foot facility when it moves its ammunitions operations.
According to an Olin news release, Mississippi provided "'significant incentives" to entice the manufacturer to expand production near a current Olin plant.
[Workers were offered] a contract that guaranteed seven years of job security in exchange for reductions in vacation time, an elimination of a matching company contribution to retirement plans and other incentives.
Barham [a union worker at the plant] fears the 593-470 vote that split the ranks of the Machinists will carry over to the workplace for the remaining days of ammunition production in East Alton.
"It's going to be a tense situation because everybody is going to be pointing fingers at everybody else," he predicted. "Some people are going to say, 'You cost me my job.' And other people are going to say, 'You didn't stick by your guns.' It is not going to be pretty."
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The article states that the only way the company could remain competitive in Illinois was to offset the anti-competitiveness of the state through cuts in their workers pay and benefits.
And that is basically the reaping of the whirlwind for all the years of stupidity that the Illinois voter has inflicted upon themselves.
With all of Harry Reid’s so-called clout, why didn’t those jobs come to Nevada, huh Harry?
And that is basically the reaping of the whirlwind for all the years of stupidity that the Illinois voter has inflicted upon themselves.
I’m no labor lawyer, but if what you suggest is done, the present union could sue for major damages and the NLRB, who is fully owned and operated by the unions, but is staffed and funded by the Federal government, as an “Arbiter over labor disputes”, would come down very hard on the company. In essence it is illegal to do what you say. It was tried in the coal fields in southern West Virginia. The result was a war between coal operators and unionizers and eventually the U.S. Army. Socialism won out, and unions have become malignant bullies ever since.
Socialism is a cancer that must be removed, even if it takes off a limb. Unions are a polyp of socialism located in the colon.
How long before rumors start that Olin's ammo is defective? Better they shut down now, take the hit, and get that MS plant up and running ASAP. Probably cheaper than an ad campaign saying "Really, folks, our ammo WON'T blow up your gun!"
LOL, and in an ammunition plant...
These union people are stupid. Companies aren’t bluffing anymore. They need to stay in business, and won’t let the unions kill them like they did the steel and coal industry. To many other states want these corporations to re-locate, and are providing whatever incentives are necessary to make it happen.
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