There was a very interesting article in the Sunday Detroit News by Nolan Finley, a conservative columnist. The title of his column was THE REASON WHY WE’RE POORER and it explored reasons why the state of Michigan
Basically, he blames our current poor economic condition on us. Detroit was the Motor City Michigan
The middle class created by those union jobs had Michigan
So here we are now and today’s headline was “Tug-of-war within the UAW” 9/8/2010.
The auto companies, especially bailed-out GM, know that things have to change if they are to remain viable in the global marketplace. The UAW leadership knows that changes have to be made in how labor is paid but not the rank-and-file; they want their fat paychecks back or they will close the auto companies down. Do you think that is a stupid attitude to have? Do you think people should be thankful for having a job at all? Nope!
A GM plant in Indianapolis
GM announced that they will build new models at the Orion, Michigan
Workers are saying that the lower wages are too low to raise a family. Well I will have to disagree with that statement. My father, who was unskilled and uneducated and did not work for an auto company, managed to raise us quite well thank you; we did not want for anything but, of course, we did not want much either.
I guess it all comes down to degrees. Yes, fat paychecks mean you can but more stuff and lower pay checks mean you buy less stuff, but you can survive and make it work – if you had to!
Here in Michigan
It appears that an auto industry vs. union labor Armageddon will have to take place and the sooner the better. The auto companies will have to take a stand or disappear at least from here, because the global marketplace will just crush uncompetitive companies.
I see the UAW leadership caving to member demands even though they know better. I also see the auto companies opening up their jobs to non-union contract workers willing to work for the lower wages and believe me, there are a lot of those who would gladly work for those lower wages; they would be happy just to have a job!
Michigan’s future will brighten if we bring in industry that requires educated, skilled workers that earn high salaries but to do that, we need to educate our population and that is not an easy task as you look at the utter mess that is Detroit’s Public School system.
Parents need to urge, no, demand their kids get a higher education or learn a skilled trade. Cost too much? I managed on the GI Bill and my brother took out loans and now is paying for his own Master’s Degree.
Where there’s a will, there is a way…
What would you say is a living wage?
ReplyDeleteIf your hourly wage is $12 how many medical tests can you afford when you're sick?
Should there be a middle class or just the "haves" and "have nots"?
If everyone goes to college who collects the garbage?
If everyone has a BA does that devalue your education?
You do know that call centers in India are staffed by college graduates.
A living wage is a wage you can live on. If you can't live the way you want to on the wages you make then you have some choices to make. Get a second job, have your wife work, find a better paying job, downsize your living expectations...
ReplyDeleteI realize it is hard to break away from the largess of the past but reality dictates the present wage situation. If you want the employer to pay you what you think is a living wage,then you are in a tail wagging the dog situation or you miss having the union gun to point at the employer's head or you want a Communist system for this country.
Medical tests should be covered by a health insurance plan that every one here will have in the near future but that is a different issue.
There always will be a middle class. That middle class is divided into lower and upper middle class. Here in Michigan, where the auto based middle class contributed so greatly to the state's past prosperity, the jobs and wages that created that middle class are no longer available or are disappearing thus change is inevitable.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be someone to pick up the garbage as well as other jobs of this type but they should not expect to make a wage comprable to that of teachers, etc. Not everybody is college material or just don't want to go to college. In that case they should make the most of their skills to find gainful employment remembering that they are not entitled to gaineful employment by the state or whomever; they have to go get it.
ReplyDeleteNot everyone will have a college degree or should even attempt to get a college degree. They may be more suited to a skilled trade or to just plain manual labor; that is how our society is structured. All I was saying is that auto jobs of the past are not sustainable in the new labor's future.
ReplyDeleteYes, college grads in India staff call centers. Have you looked around in Michigan and noticed all the Indians in professional jobs like physician, engineer, etc. What are they doing differently from us here in Michigan?
What are they doing differently in India? Well, they have their problems too:
ReplyDelete- 13 million working children, many of whose lives were scripted the moment they were born.
- 268 million illiterate people in India, unable to read, write or make a reasoned decision.
- 32 million children began school in 2004 but less than half will finish the compulsory 8 years of education.
- Women receive on average only 1.8 years of schooling in India.