I have heard/witnessed some of the most ridiculous examples of labor union rules in my time, but this one was so asinine that I had to share it. This was told to me by a friend who is a Materials Manager at a global automotive supplier. At this one automotive supplier plant in the USA, every night after the last production shift is over the lights in the plant are turned off. There are 2 employees (non-union) that come in every morning at 4:00am to count parts on the shop floor. This has to be completed before production begins at 7:00am. When these employees arrive at 4:00am the plant is dark. Incredibly, these 2 non-union employees are NOT allowed to “flip a switch†and turn on the lights because that is the job of a union employee who arrives later in the morning. Instead, they must wear one of those “miner†type helmets that have the flashlight attached at the front so they can see what they’re doing. The union is afraid that if these 2 employees turn on the light themselves that it might cost that union guy his job. Freakin unbelievable.
Unions could serve such an important role if they didn't demand rules like this that defy common sense. It is asinine rules like this that give unions a bad name and have basically broken the back of the American auto industry because these types of rules helped contribute to the American auto industry's inability to compete on a global stage.
I like the fact that unions help with job protection but this one is such a kick in the head. This is one of many rules that gives unions a bad name, a head banging moment against a wall. Truly if they were concerned about the their members and those helping their members. Wouldnt they insure these guys proper job safety. In the long run, what happens if they miss a few parts and an accident occurs. Duh......................So the guy on the low end of the totem pole gets fired. A Union member is hurt, insurance issues etc. I would think the Union would stick their necks out a little bit here atm.
There are just so many cases of these types of obstacles But the plant is at the mercy of the union. If the Union gets ticked-off then they just go into a "slow-down" mode on the line and then the sh*t hits the fan. There was another case at a different plant (same union) where a young and inexperienced I.T. manager took a digital picture of a union girl found sleeping in an empty parts bin in the plant. This young manager thought it funny to post the picture on the plant's webpage. In fact, it was hilarious. Unfortunately, when the Union discovered the online picture all hell broke loose. It ended up with a union slowdown on the line to "teach the managers a lesson". Scary, huh?
unions and corporations are the same things except the unions products are its labor and there a good and bad unions and corporations
And hence the American auto industry is dying while foreign companies are building new auto plants all over America. Why should Joe American consumer buy a more expensive and less reliable car built by a unionized factory just to protect the job of some union bloke who is making two or three times what Joe consumer is making? I'm all for fair wages and good benefits, but business should also be allowed to adapt and run as efficiently as possible. Protecting jobs just for the sake of protecting jobs even when it hurts the overall efficiency of a business to the point it can not be competitive is extremely short sighted in my humble opinion. Unions could serve such an important function in society if they wouldn't lose site of the big picture and didn't mistake their own self interests for the greater long term interests of their members (e.g. having viable and competitive companies to work for in the future).
I recall a case reported in the news a few years ago about a union employee being fired for falsifying their time card. Basically they did not report to work on a regular schedule (something like one or two days a week) and their buddy(s) just clocked them in/out. Of course, the Union went berzerk over this and in the end, the guy got his job back. In my own line of work (vehicle assembly plant end-of-line testing), I have experienced a problem with our system in the plant that required the computer to be rebooted every 6-to-8 hours while we were trying to track down the problem. The Union got all up in arms over the fact that the computers were being "switched off and switched on" without a licensed union electrician being present. In the end, our company (a big 3 american automotive OEM) resorted to hiring Kelly Temps to just sit there and read a book and then cycle the power as needed (sidestepping a Union requirement...though I don't know quite how). As I recall, the Union fought over the Kelly temps and finally got them thrown out of the plant. My point being...if this amount of ingenuity, effort and cost (everyone's time involved) were applied to MAKING BETTER VEHICLES, rather than engaging in this rediculous dance, the "Big 3" might not be in the position they currently find themselves right now. To be fair, Unions came into existence for a reason. I, for one, would not trust a large corporation any farther than I could throw its world headquarters. However, you would think that for the sake of mutual self-interest such waste just would not happen. Ah well, such is the world we live in...