Eisboch wrote:

"HK" wrote in message
news


Well, I suppose I am "socialistic" enough to value labor at least as
much as capital. Drastically cutting the pay of factory workers and
eliminating their health care and retirement benefits is not
acceptable. Might as well do away with safety regulations while we are
at it, right? I mean anything that helps the rich get richer at the
expense of the working middle class...why that's the new American way.


Look. I respect anyone willing to work. I value training, education
and a willingness to acquire valuable skills. In the trades, licensed
electricians, plumbers, etc., union or not, deserve whatever they can
command in terms of pay or benefits.

The UAW isn't exactly the same, IMO. Most members are high school
grads at best with no specific trades or training before becoming an
autoworker at GM, Chrysler or Ford. (Please correct me if I am
wrong.) Nothing wrong with that, but how they can expect wages and
benefits that are well above the norm for the level of skill, training
and qualifications required to do their job is something I cannot
understand. It has nothing to do with rich versus poor. It has
everything to do with being compensated commensurate with one's
qualifications.

If you and I were looking for a job as a journalist or copy writer for a
newspaper or magazine, who is better qualified for a higher paying job?

Eisboch



There are many high-skilled jobs at the auto plants. Surely, a lot of
workers come into the factories with few skills, but that doesn't mean
they are untrainable and are without the ability to improve themselves.
The unskilled workers start at jobs that don't require a lot of
abilities, and they are paid less.

More and more employers are going the "contract worker" route so they
can entirely avoid any sort of fringe benefits. That works well in a
crappy economy where easily exploited workers are in good supply.

I don't resent auto workers making a lower middle class income. I do
resent corporate suits earning 400 times a middle class income while he
takes his company down the toilet.