2.7 overfilled with oil, what damage would be caused

No different than claims that private industry is always better than
government work. Enron is a good example unless you have forgotten. A
union can be good, a union can be bad. Same thing with private industry and
government regulation.

 

Surely. The claim I am refuting is that unionization always means things
get better for the worker. That's just not so.

 

Complete, absolute, utter, mis-informed, uneducated, BULLSHIT!

We have guys making less than $10K/year in Dearborn, MI. They share
apartments, cars, telephones, EVERYTHING in order to be able to withstand
the cost of living.

You obviously have no idea what you're talking about.

--Geoff

 

They are not highly skilled technical people are they? That is what we are
talking about and the people from India in this country that I know who are
highly skilled are making comparable wages to American workers with the same
skills. They are usually technically better than the American worker and
work harder but their communication skills are poorer.

 

Never said it was always better to be unionized. I said:

"One word..... unionize. The dealer cannot move its service dept to India.
You guys are in a great bargaining position if you used it."

A union would put them in a great bargaining position but there are no
guarantees in life except death.

 

It's not the first time, Geoff. Art likes to make assertions with no basis
in fact. When challenged on them, he backpedals and states he was only
expressing an opinion, or changes the premise of his statement and claims
that's what he said in the first place.

I guess he's always been this way; it's just we didn't really notice it
before with the bigtime trolls (the alleged Emory professor, for instance,
and the alleged 4th-grade teacher) making the noise they used to make. I
suppose it's a little like finding and fixing noises in automobiles: You
find the big ones and fix 'em, and all of a sudden you hear the small ones
you didn't hear before.

-Stern

 

Why is it unlikely? have you heard about what's happening in the
nursing profession?

I didn't mention "periodic evaluations."

That certainly has not been my experience.

Warranty costs are not tied to mechanics pay. Mechanics pay is
but a minor percentage of shop labor charges charged back to the
OEM.

I take it that you're referring to the manufacturing level. How
is it that this is seen as a positive on that end of he industry
but not out in the service department?

I'm neither pro nor anti union. I've been a member of the
International Machinists and Aerospace Workers union and the Oil,
Chemical and Atomic Workers union. The IAMAW didn't do jack for
my wife who's also a member, the OCAW protected fleet mechanics
who couldn't manage an oil change in under three hours.
The only thing I was sure of when working in a union shop was how
broke I was going to be each week on payday. I've always been
able to do better for myself doing my own negotiating and being
able to excel where I could. Doing that in a union shop reaped
the scorn of the other workers who were either too lazy or too
stupid to keep up.

 

You seem to blame the union but it is people who are screwing up and not the
union per se. I could just as well conclude that corporations and private
companies are as a whole corrupt by pointing to Enron, Worldcom and tyco but
that would not be fair, would it?

A mechanic who wants to work on cars and not manage other mechanics has no
other way of gaining negotiating power except by finding other good
mechanics and forming a union. What they do with that power is up to them.

 

Perhaps, but it's the union that protects the fuckups' jobs and forces
everyone else to work down to the fuckups' level of incompetence.

 

You betcha it's the people who are screwing up, but after that
happens, the union steps in and saves their asses instead of
allowing the natural process take over.

Doesn't matter if it's fair or not considering that it has
absolutely no relevance to the concept that one -can- negotiate
more money from an employer once they make themselves more
valuable by gaining a higher skill level.

Absolutely untrue.
The mechanic can gain negotiating power by obtaining more
education. Advanced skills are in high demand. Once you've
developed those needed skills, you can pretty much command what
ever you want.
Then there's -my- personal favorite which I've used successfully
a number of times, I load up all my tools and as I'm driving out,
the dealership owner sends the service manager out to lay down in
front of my truck....

 

Exactly.

My first night working in the fleet at Wisconsin Gas Co.
I had finished my first job, an "A" inspection on a 1/2 ton Dodge
van. An "A" inspection is a glorified lube, oil change and
filter, check the lights and fluid levels, air up the tires,
check for and fix anything obvious that was broken.
It took me about an hour, mainly because I was still figuring out
where supplies and other sundries were kept. As I was
approaching the foremans office with the work ticket looking to
get my next assignment, the two other guys on that shift headed
me off, they asked me what I thought I was doing...
I replied; Uh.. I believe it's called an "A" inspection.
They replied; no, you don't understand, an "A" inspection takes
at least three hours, if you get done sooner than that, take it
out and drive it around, park over in the park and read a
newspaper or stop and get a coffee and doughnut, but DO NOT turn
that work ticket in for another one before at least three hours.

I had this strange feeling that I wasn't going to fit in...

 

<GULLIBLE>
Really?
</GULLIBLE>

--Geoff