In the late 'Sixties I was an apprentice in a machine shop, non-union.
I was at the $3.55/hour level.
One of the old hands was advising me not to ask for a raise, ever.
The story was that if anyone went up the stairs to the foreman's office
and asked for a raise, even a nickel, the entire shop would be laid off
for the rest of the week.
He told me how they voted the Amalgamated in when they were in Brooklyn. The
vote
was on a Friday, and everybody was excited about the wage increase, the
benefits.
Saturday, the shop owner moved the entire shop out, lock, stock and barrel.
The following
Monday, employees found the doors locked and not even a light bulb visible
through the
windows. Where they moved the shop to Carmel, New York was where I was
employed.
Needless to say, no union shop.
However, the bennies for an aspiring amp builder were there. The older guys
found
that I had some radio skills and was heading for the U.S. Navy, so they took
me under their wing
and set me up in the toolroom. There was some crew, let me tell you. The
head toolmaker, the
meanest father-raper-lookin' dude of all, told me to cut off my long hair
and be prepared to
learn. He had one of the first numerical Bridgeports that displayed to 12
decimal places.
He also had a thick steel 12" ruler in his pocket that he would crack over
my knuckles when
he saw me about to do something foolish.
I can't thank these older guys for showing me the ropes enough. That's what
apprenticeship
is about, and that's what the unions should be about. Later on, I went into
Local 3 when
getting picked up by Ma Bell, and started a whole other apprenticeship that
lasted another
four years. That system has been in place for many, many years, and the
requirement was
to perform Craft that would never need fixing. I went on to show my
apprentices the way,
all until Judge Green wiped out Ma Bell.
For our children, a pathway that doesn't mean college, for not all of them
are
scholastically inclined, would well include an apprenticeship in a trade,
and that's
possibly where the unions still contribute. We can't all be I-T managers,
physicians and
attorneys.
Hal
W4HBM
_____
From: ham_amplifiers@... [mailto:ham_amplifiers@...]
On Behalf Of FRANCIS CARCIA
Sent: Tuesday, January 02, 2007 9:08 AM
To: ham_amplifiers@...
Subject: Re: [ham_amplifiers] Re: AL80-A
Don't worry Will the greedy yuppies will wake up someday.....hopefully not
too late to save this country from the low life trying to destroy it
craxd <craxd@...> wrote:
MFJ's grid dip meter is made in China or somewhere in Asia. That same
meter has been branded by several companies including Leader in which
I have both it and the MFJ.
For the ones questioning the unions, if it wasn't for them, the non-
union folks wouldn't have the minimum wage or other wages they have
now, nor any saftey standards and health benefits. It was the unions
of this country that fought for every workplace right we have, and
put a stop to child labor. For the ones that are lucky enough, and
smart enough to be in a union, you get way more benefits such as a
pension and medical benefits, along with not being able to be fired
at the drop of a hat, for the piddly amount of dues one pays. I was
proud to be a member, and a union steward of the United Steel Workers
of America. My father retired under the United Mine Workers of
America, and retired with a pension and other benefits like lifetime
healthcare. I also worked my ass off in two non-union machine shops
at a whopping $7.00 an hour. One hired me for a government contract,
and as soon as they were caught up in about 1-1/2 months, layed me
off and several others with no notice, which by the way, in a union
shop they are required to give. Neither had any retirement or medical
benefits. One was actually a large shop making pump parts.
The problem is that the younger generation never had to fight for,
and spill their blood on the picket lines for all these rights they
now enjoy due to the union presence.
Sincerely,
Will
--- In ham_amplifiers@ <mailto:ham_amplifiers%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com, PA3DUV <pa3duv@...> wrote:
Isn't Ameritron (MFJ) offshoring manufacturing to China, or only to
Mexico?
I noticed that Icom partly produces in China, their simple stuff
like speakers and microphones carry the "proudly made in the PRC"
label.
Cheers, Dick
PA3DUV
----- Original Message -----
From: FRANCIS CARCIA
To: ham_amplifiers@ <mailto:ham_amplifiers%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 01, 2007 6:12 PM
Subject: Re: [ham_amplifiers] Re: AL80-A
Jim,
Us nuts love company. Happy New Year. BTW my Dad saw saw this
when we felt sorry for Japan after WW2 and Ike sent jobs there.
We will wake up when the greedy yuppies are the last to tax.
Don't give a crap about the next guy he is just stupid and
lazy.........
pentalab <jim.thomson@...> wrote:
--- In ham_amplifiers@ <mailto:ham_amplifiers%40yahoogroups.com>
yahoogroups.com, <w5uc@> wrote:
Francis, we aren't gonna agree here. I'm retired so I don't
have
to sweat the issue of 8 bucks/hour. I'm retired and modestly
comfortable. However, I made it on my on without someone
looking
over my shoulder. My feeling has always been that Unions are
for
people who can't cut it on their own. I never needed someone
else
to fight my battles for me. GL, 73
### Oh give us all a break ! With homes around here
skyrocketing
in price [>400 K $ ] the joke is.. most peoples homes are
making
more money per year than the owners. You can't survive on
$8.00.
Heck u can't survive on double that these days. Now u need both
spouses working a 40 hr week to gets by... and both making huge
bux. Ever worked for a non union jerk run outfit ? Those co's
appear to charge the same for the end product... screw all
their
employeee's with crummy wages and no benefits.... then pocket
the
difference.
---- FRANCIS CARCIA <carcia@> wrote:
Maybe you will get a chance to work for the that great
company
in the future. I hear $8 an hour buys a lot of amplifiers. Bet
you
would love to join a union if you were making that big $8. I
hear
cutting grass is a good business to get into. How about
flipping
burgers?
I drive buy this little machine shop that went out of
business
a while ago. We use to use them for rush jobs and they were
cheap.
Now we have to go far away and wait weeks
explain how smart that was.
### It wasn't.. it was a dumb move on their part.. that
benefits
nobody.
"Mike(W5UC) & Kathy(K5MWH)" <w5uc@> wrote:
Exactly correct. Unions have destroyed more US
businesses than we can count by demanding more wages and
benefits
than the employer could stand, all with no regard for anyone
but
themselves. That's why I shop at Wal-Mart and admire them for
standing up to Union pressure.
### That's almost laughable. By shopping at Walmart [btw IS the
world's biggest jerk run non union outfit on the planet bar
none],
you are just screwing urself in the long run. My daughter
worked
there for a few months.... she was glad to get the hell out.
If the Wal-Mart business model had been discovered sooner
and
applied by more American businesses, there would be a lot more
of
them still in operation. The basic strategy followed by the
major
manufacturing companies was "Give the unions whatever they want
no
matter how unreasonable it may be and keep the lines running.
We
will just pass the additional cost along to the buyers."
One day some one came along who could make and sell it for
less
money.
### Yes... and the way they do it.. is to buy bulk.. off
shore...
then if that isn't bad enough... then screw their employees
over...
and pocket the difference. "out sourcing" is nothing more
than "contracting out". Just saw a documentary whereby the IRS
was
sending 500,000 tax returns to India.. to be processed. It
worked
so good that the following year they electronically shipped
millions
of em over. Then it went on to say that 22 state gov'ts now
ship
loads of stuff to India to be proccessed.. all sorts of
standard
gov't forms. They said within 5 yrs ALL US tax returns will be
processed overseas.
## I predicted this years ago... and was dead on. This high
speed
electronic transfer of data... for fed/state paper work...
including everything from tax returns to mortgages...to motor
vehicle registration etc, etc.... amounts to the mother of one
big
world wide .. 'electronic sweat shop'... with no end in site.
## The latest is getting MRI's.. and CT's done in NA... then
shipped overseas... where some underpaid Dr. will analyze it
for
u....dirt cheap.. then forward his finding's back.
## all as Walmart has done is jumped the gun. Now that nobody
else
can compete... they just follow suit... and buy off shore as
well.
### CNN reported last year that the fed trade and commerce
wasn't
even keeping records of job losses to overseas. Now they are
talking about making it a mandatory requirement. And these same
jerk run outfits and co's want tax breaks, tax incentives,
special
treatment etc.
## saw another CBC documentary where they took hidden camera's
into
guadamala and costa rica... where expensive ladies clothes were
made.... then shipped to 5th ave stores in NYC. The reporters
had
done some dumpster diving just outside the factory's... and
found
the paper work... depicting the exact break down cost to make
each
ladies blouse..... worked out to 2 cents a minute for labour...
and
they gave em 11 minutes to make each one ! The shipping cost
were
far more than the labour cost. And these items sold for as much
as $180.00 US funds at Sach's on 5th ave.
## The living conditions of these worker's was 3 steps below
deplorable. Unless you are willing to work for the same $1.20
per
hour.... and the gov't allows co's to "outsource" overseas....
the
union issue isn't even relevent here. Don't want to work for
slave
labour rates?? Fine.. we'll just..."out source" ur
manufacturing
job then.
### The same documentry depicted typ wage in China at 17
cents...
per day ! Hundreds of workers were brought in from the country
side... and had been working for several months.. and still
hadn't
been paid. With a Communist gov't running the show... and a
load of
serious fire power to back em up... stuff like unions and human
rights just went out the window. Of course the smart guys in
Hong
Kong showed em exactly how to do it too..since they are all in
the
same bed together. I'm half expecting Hsu to come and blast us
all. Perhaps he can tell us who he voted for in the last
election
LOL.
### I'll go out on a limb and say.... in 10 years... u are
finished...toast. The middle class will be completely gone....
and
there won't be enough of the upper class to pay for all this
mess.
## someday... somebody will have to tune in.. and just say...
if it
ain't made here... u can't sell it here. Notice NO TV's have
been
made in Japan since 1987. Once India seems to expensive...
China
will be the next place to "do business". Once China is deemed
too
expensive... the workload will just pass on to the next 3rd
world
country... and the cycle keeps on going.
### Wanna work for Bill Gates ?? He pays a whopping $5 grand
per
year....... in India. Of course you have to be fully trained..
and
have all the appropriate University degree's. If you don't like
it
after a while.... you can always just cross the street... and
process Income tax returns..for the IRS. And people wonder why
the
crime and divorce rates keep going up.
Later... and told ya so.
Jim VE7RF
