Union Workers Strike At Illinois Caterpillar Plant (Joliet, Il)

AP ^ | Tue, 05/01/2012 - 9:46am

[robowombat]

JOLIET, Ill. (AP)

[dfwgator]

If there are capable people who are willing to work at the rate the company pays, then it’s not unreasonable.

[Elle Bee]

Didn't obama show up here to give a speech about how the stimulus was creating new jobs just days before Caterpillar laid off a couple of hundred workers?

.

[Java4Jay]

Until you’ve lived on both sides of the fence, you can’t understand each side’s issues.

[Java4Jay]

That’s called ‘a race to the bottom’ which eliminates the middle class

[dfwgator]

If somebody can just walk in from the street and do the job, how much should they be paid?

[rottndog]

Paying $25/hr with 20 years seniority is not out of line. To propose paying these same workers half wages doesn’t cut it.

Do you support paying someone $25 an hour for a job that's only worth $13 an hour? Economics does come into play here. Someone making $25 an hour needs to provide much more than that in economic productivity for the company, or the wage is not justified.

I don't care how long someone has been on the job...they are only worth what they can produce for the company. That's not being cold hearted...it's being realistic and honest. What good is making a high wage when the company ultimately fails because labor costs are too high relative to what the free market can sustain?

This is the fundamental flaw with labor unions...people should all be paid the same, regardless of what each individual produces. It will ALWAYS fail, the same way socialist economics ALWAYS fails.

[Repeat Offender]

The many views posted here is why the GOP can’t get any ‘blue collar’ support and gives rise to the ‘occupy movement’. When I saw the mentality to promote slave wages it made me look to the DFL for help but I can’t go there, it’s too far left. There must be a strong middle class if sustained economic stability is ever to return to this country. Paying $25/hr with 20 years seniority is not out of line. To propose paying these same workers half wages doesn’t cut it. Greed is what destroyed capitalism and until the common working man is shown respect it will continue its downward spiral.

Question 1: Economically speaking, which states are doing better Right-to-work or non-right-to-work?

Question 2: If non-union employers are so terrible, then why do they still have employees?

Question 3: Where is it deemed you have a God given right to an employer provided pension and you are not responsible to plan for your own future?

Question 4: If year after year new employees are added to the retiree pool and are drawing a pension, how can a company be expected to maintain profitability even in a down economy? (in other words how can they be expected to expand in order to pay all workers and retirees: see GM and what remains of United Steel)

Question 5: You mention "greed" as what is destroying capitalism, yet use the "working man's" need for a larger paycheck because the company is more profitable and was able to pay the CEO more as justification. Do you see the irony?

Question 6: How wise is it to walk off of a job in a down economy with actual unemployment over 16% nationwide?

Question 7: Given your statement - Greed is what destroyed capitalism and until the common working man is shown respect it will continue its downward spiral. How is 0bama working out for you? Need I remind you "Teamsters for 0bama," "SEIU for 0bama," and "United Steel for 0bama."

Question 8: How are things in the trucking, steel, and service industries?

Question 9: As far as greed is concerned how do you explain the UAW being paid off through the bailouts of GM and Daimler-Chrysler, while the bondholders (that actually invested in and financed those copanies) were left SOL?

Question 10: Detroit is/was arguably one of the most unionized cities in America, how are things there? I hear that everything is so peaches and cream, you can buy houses buy-one-get-one-free for about the cost of a second-hand VCR.

Extra Credit: What is conservative about using thug tactics to bully employers into unprofitable wage relationships and in effect artificially increasing final product prices (hindering the company's standing against copetitors); versus allowing the free market to decide?

[CA Conservative]

All we want is a fair agreement at a time when Caterpillar is making record profits.

Based on this comment, I assume you are one of the union workers. SO I further assume that you are prepared to suffer the potential consequences of the strike (loss of pay, possible loss of your job entirely, Caterpillar moving operations to another state) without further complaint if your side loses in this gamble you are taking?

[bikerman]

Fire the bastards, there are 1600 waiting to fill their jobs who will work without the damn unions.

[novemberslady]

Bkmk and Bttt

[kearnyirish2]

“Do you support paying someone $25 an hour for a job that’s only worth $13 an hour?”

If the $25/hour worker has 20 years’ experience, I don’t know that it is $13/hour work anymore. I don’t know what to think about these situations, because just as the company may decide it is more profitable to re-locate to a right-to-work state (or Red China), workers can often deduce they are better off on public assistance than with a paycheck. I’m not advocating this, but $13/hour in NJ would be nothing for a 40 year-old worker; they would struggle for the rest of their lives for some basic necessities that would be given to them for free or at a discount (legitimately) if they weren’t working at all.

I’m the last one to support unions, but have often said that we’re being reduced to the status of Red Chinese peasants. $25/hour for a 40 year-old worker (with 20 years on the job) is difficult enough; $13 per hour is just ridiculous. Anyone who really believes the free market will work this out should keep in mind that while it “working it out” Americans have basically stopped breeding and their scabs are being imported by the millions - the free market at work.

There does have to be a balance; we can’t compete with Asians who will never own a home or automobile, have more than one child, or have the right to vote.

[BfloGuy]

I side with the ‘Strikers’

When you work for a private company, you come to agreement on wages with your employer or you quit and offer your services elsewhere.

Labor unionism is a government-supported violation of private property rights and a relic of Marxism. How anyone on a conservative board can support them is beyond me. They should be illegal.

[kearnyirish2]

“That’s called ‘a race to the bottom’ which eliminates the middle class”

You’re absolutely right, and this has brought about demographic changes that occur while our middle class disappears which are irreversible. While many people think the free market will solve the wage question, workers earning basic sustenance don’t breed; many people are unhappy with the resulting importation of millions of replacement workers without considering why they are being brought in.

People can argue until they’re blue in the face about what is a fair wage, but within a few generations (not nearly as far out as predicted) the descendants of the original European settlers will be extinct. No violence or race wars; they’ll just “free market” themselves out of families.

[BornToBeAmerican]

CAT have a huge presence here in TEXAS. Massive plants are being constructed and non union. The little union boys had better grow up, the party is about over

[phoneman08]

Bet everyone in Texas is so excited a $13.00 an hour employer is coming to town. Not even enough to pay the utilities on a double wide.

[Java4Jay]

These folks are building heavy equipment; you want some dufus on the floor at $12.50 an hour?

[EVO X]

Nowhere in original article or links in the article is there any mention about working for $13 per hour. Skilled machinists and electricians wouldn't be working for that.

What I find interesting is that if the articles are accurate, Cat thinks the the economy is going to suck for the next 6 years since they aren't offering any pay raises.

[kearnyirish2]

I was referring to the information in comment # 27.

In any case, no pay raises while prices rise equals pay cuts. If somebody worked for the equivalent of 100 gallons of gasoline (or 50 pounds of beef, or 20 cartons of cigarettes) per week, is now working for 75% of that, they’ve taken a pay cut.

[Java4Jay]

I’m not pro-union, this is not a union issue to me, its about paying an honest wage for honest work, wages for building heavy equipment is worth more than $12.50 /hr. Remember when in Japan the highest paid in the company was making 20 times more than the lowest wage. Everyone worked together for the good of the company as it should be. But when greed overcomes, there is no unity, only slaves and fat cats. Yes unions and the Democratic left killed Detroit. You see, you can’t have one extreme or the other, there must be balance.

[Java4Jay]

I was a union member once and have no dog in this show but I have lived their life and totally understand where they are coming from.