Summit maybe not such a great company.
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I disagree and agree with this ^. I disagree with the bolded section. Companies moving their production to another country without the environmental or working standards that we enforce is unethical and definitely going to be cheaper than we can produce anything. Many of us, me included at times, can complain about our standards, especially environmental standards, but if you were to watch a neighborhood of kids contract Luekemia from living within the same watershed as a 50 year old industrial landfill, then you might feel differently.
I definitely agree with you that there are some unions that are the cause of production relocation. I don't believe I can characterize all unions and corporations that move their production as the root cause. Each case/situation needs to be looked at individually.
There are good and bad in everything and unions are no different. I am lucky to belong to one of the best unions in history. The National Association Of Letter Carriers. This was the union that went out on strike in 1970 against the Federal Government at great peril. At that time Letter Carriers made so little that those working in NYC qualified for welfare. All the other Govt. agencies benefited from that strike because working for the US Govt. sucks. But anyone who thinks that they can't be sent back to the 1800's slave wages working conditions had better watch their asses. Why do you think that big money is constantly bad-mouthing unions? Because when enough ignorant sheeple have left the unions then there will be nothing stopping the utter ruination of the working middle class. You can see it now. CEO's that make 1000 times what their workers make. Out of control health care costs dumped on the workers. Defined benefit retirement plans scuttled for 401k nonsense. Healthy factories shuttered so the work can be sent overseas and the profits go to the corporations. You end up paying the same as if it was made here. If anyone doesn't think that the 1%ers don't consider you expendable slime then you are living in a fantasy. Lastly, what is the traditional business model we consider normal? Management runs the show and is paid better for making the important decisions. The workers do the hard work and belong to a union so they can have decent wages and benefits. When both sides play fair it works great. Did you know that in the Post Office management has a union? So do Postmasters. Know why? To protect themselves from each other. Because they eat their young. And when they negotiate their contracts they want what the crafts get. Because they would not get it otherwise.
I wasn't implying that unions are the only reason that manufacturing is moved out of state or off-shore. It is certainly one of many contributing factors. Typically non-union states/countries will also have more relaxed environmental laws......lower taxes....etc.
Ok, materialized out of thin air, then. I did say it was the simplified version. Now it's simplified to nothing.
Wall Street (leeches that they are) did provide the money to build the factories. Unions (mobsters that they are) did provide the living standards that enabled workers to buy the products that they made in the factories. But of course (because they are leeches and mobsters) it couldn't possibly work very well for very long. The whole system was designed to fail. But of course I have no idea how to do things differently, which is why I give the devils their due. Communism failed because it relied on improving human nature. Capitalism keeps trying to fail because it relies on exploiting the worst side of human nature. I mean, what could go wrong?
Just my $0.02 worth. Definitely not my $2,000,000,000 worth.
I'd stayed out of this one so far, but, I'll toss a personal anecdote out there.
What is the role of a company? To produce revenue in its chosen field, and/or complete it's mission statement. That's all.
In a previous life I was in management. It was right to work. There was an employee that was hired to do a particular job. There wasnt a need or capacity for them to do a different job. After a year or so, they came in saying they wanted to do something different, brought a doctor's note saying their skin condition should preclude them from doing what they were hired for. There were no needs in the company for anything that would accommodate it.
Do you think they were kept on payroll to sit in a chair all day and do nothing? Or do you think they were let go?
In the OP situation, there was (I am sure) much more to the story than we hear. Companies, at least successful ones that stick around, are not in the habit of randomly letting go competent employees that time and money was invested in training.
I'd venture to guess that if someone was let go, it's because either they couldn't do the job required of them, or, at some point did/said something that left the company or a person in it waiting for an excuse to can them.
What is the role of a company? To produce revenue in its chosen field, and/or complete it's mission statement. That's all.
In a previous life I was in management. It was right to work. There was an employee that was hired to do a particular job. There wasnt a need or capacity for them to do a different job. After a year or so, they came in saying they wanted to do something different, brought a doctor's note saying their skin condition should preclude them from doing what they were hired for. There were no needs in the company for anything that would accommodate it.
Do you think they were kept on payroll to sit in a chair all day and do nothing? Or do you think they were let go?
In the OP situation, there was (I am sure) much more to the story than we hear. Companies, at least successful ones that stick around, are not in the habit of randomly letting go competent employees that time and money was invested in training.
I'd venture to guess that if someone was let go, it's because either they couldn't do the job required of them, or, at some point did/said something that left the company or a person in it waiting for an excuse to can them.
talking unions is paramount to talking politics, I find unions/politicians useless and corrupt but many will disagree with me and to carry on the discussion is pointless....☕
I work in a unique situation. I am military working shoulder to shoulder with unionized civilians in Safety. There are immense similarities in the vast majority of general military and civilian duties in garrison as it relates to occupational safety. However the second the military steps into the field for training or into operations the gloves come of. Yes, we have to do it as safely as possible without impacting the output (an efficient killing machine) - but the inherent risks to personal safety will always remain. Negligence or ignorance is never tolerated as it effects capacity and capability of the military, errodes trust and morale. And I believe that is the difference - regular people don't trust each other and operate on their own agendas (profit or personal gain). As such, they need to organize.
When pure-civilians look at the military they are baffled at the risks we take and accept; and want to apply their policies. We always say no - because it will not work.
At the end of the day it comes back to trust.
When pure-civilians look at the military they are baffled at the risks we take and accept; and want to apply their policies. We always say no - because it will not work.
At the end of the day it comes back to trust.
Unions materized due to the corruption of management in many compaines. Many factories used to pay workers in credits that were only good at the company store with highly inflated prices. Another common tactic was forced breaks, where after so many hours of work, acworker was barred to work further until he went to town and spent a certain amout of money. The idea was to wipe out the workers' savings so they can't quit and find better work.
Most people in high ranking positions are not nice people. Most of them brown nosed, back stabbed, and stepped on people on their way up the corporate ladder. Nice guys finish last in the climb up the pyramid. It should be no surprise that most of the high rankers are unethical POS who have no concern over the well being of others. In fact, white collar crime is much more common place than blue collar crime in the US. IE, you are more likely to be a victim of a faulty product or financial fraud than to be mugged.
Last time I went to a company stockholder meeting that I own stock in. There was a vote to refuse to do business with factories that use child labor. The executives shot it down so quick and voted to continue to use child labor factories.
Most people in high ranking positions are not nice people. Most of them brown nosed, back stabbed, and stepped on people on their way up the corporate ladder. Nice guys finish last in the climb up the pyramid. It should be no surprise that most of the high rankers are unethical POS who have no concern over the well being of others. In fact, white collar crime is much more common place than blue collar crime in the US. IE, you are more likely to be a victim of a faulty product or financial fraud than to be mugged.
Last time I went to a company stockholder meeting that I own stock in. There was a vote to refuse to do business with factories that use child labor. The executives shot it down so quick and voted to continue to use child labor factories.
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