Muscatine

I could not have said it better myself.

You say that "you heard that a person was making $18.00 an hour pushing a broom.  Bull crap.  If the person pushing that broom was ordered to do so, that is what he'll do; but I guarandamtee you that he has the knowledge of what makes the plant work.

Actually tlou, what i said was the guy working down there, said that a guy pushing a broom...i'm assuming a janitor would be the lowest paid employee making 18.00....under the new contract....and as i have stated all this is being told to me....i DONT have first hand knowledge and continually stated that...

It's a sad state of affairs...but one that's going to happen.  There should not be anger, hatred or frustration @ the workers that were locked out.  They didn't have any choice.  They are angry that they, like my husband, worked hard, gave up family time, sweated in unbearable heat & cold to keep "their company",  THEIR COMPANY... going - and then their company (& the temp services), screwed them... and their beloved families over.

I agree with you, i dont blame the workers at all....i blame the union for this...i feel for the workers.....its not a good time to be locked out....

Hell, folks, by example, HON has never had a union and has used temps for years. People still complain but nothing changes...and look at their floundering with layoffs and closing of other interests/branches.

Unions could not save jobs at Bandag or at Thatchers either. They are not what they used to be in todays/by todays standards.

Whoever posted it here was right...a propestive buyer wants GPC...but will not buy with the union in place. I learned that over a year ago from over-hearing two execs from their Indiana branch who were on a plane seated behind me and were telling another gent what their business had been in Muscatine, as we all flew to Indianapolis from the QCA.

That is exactly what they said. They even said they had a bunch of people they could transfer from Indy due to slow downs there, too.... I have heard comments lately that this is coming true.

I am neutral on the GPC union/worker/company issue. I feel for the workers...but they really are no different than the Bandag and Thatchers people that got hammered the same way. It's a sign of the business times, folks. Sad, but true.

In my own case; I was with a union once. I had a grievance that went to a resolution meeting. The business rep from Cedar Rapids showed, did not have a copy of the written grievance, had not read it, was unprepared, and I plead my own case at the meeting and won the grievance. I quit the union after my win, and filed two more grievances over the years that I also plead and won in front of the same people.

Union members and the BA were pissed at me...but I made the case record so no one else was ever treated like I was. They did not look at it as if I had improved the work place...they only saw with blinders on that I was hindering union membership development.

Unions, with some of the best leaders and management there is, continue losing to corporations and falling apart. As long as it is legal, companies will do what they want. Like someone else posted, though, I am surpised charges have not been filed by the union.

BB.

I agree with what you are saying and also can not figure out why charges were not filed with the NLRB many months ago.

The union I belong to operates a lot different because during any negotiations there are two international representative's sitting at the table. If there are more than one local involved two elected representative's from each local are there.