wf3h wrote:
On Sep 27, 11:17 pm, Bama Brian wrote:
wf3h wrote:

There are NO unionized semiconductor plants in Silicon Valley. Or
elsewhere, for that matter, AFAIK.
gee. it's too bad you don't know the industry. ever hear of IBM?
oh. you haven't. but you're an authority on the industry
And you're a damned fool. Never insult a man unless you're sure you
will survive the insult. It's why manners were invented.

I've heard of IBM. I used to work for NEC in the Silicon Valley wafer
fab facility and backend manufacturing. Also worked for National
Semiconductor,

yes, i've been there. i installed some of the wet cleaning benches
used for cleaning devices.


Signetics/Phillips

was also at philips in san antonio...

, Fujitsu, and a few others. They
helped me retire early. Just for brags, here are a few jobs I worked at
various companies: engineer, engineering manager, field applications
engineer, field applications manager, development tools manager,
business planning manager, director of marketing.

In fact, I could say you're not even qualified to evaluate my resume.

again, you know zip about the industry, it seems

It is you who knows zip about the industry, Mr. "Service Engineer". I'd
put you on a par with the "Sanitation Engineers" who used to sweep the
floors. Or those so-called "Programming Engineers."

Now let's look at a partial list of who actually had unionized
semiconductor plants in Silicon Valley:
Intel - No.
National Semiconductor - No.
NEC - No. (second plant was in Roseville, CA)
Hitachi - No.
Fujitsu - No. (plant was in OR)
Cypress - No.
AMD - No.
Micron - No. (actually in Boise, ID)

In fact, the unions never got so much as a toehold in Silicon Valley.

exactly my point. those who claim unions destroyed these companies are
wrong. even you admit that by pointing out the companies that have
closed...NONE of which were unionized

Your original point was that unions were significant in keeping the
semiconductor companies alive. But from Silicon Valley perspective,
unions were nothing but a money sinkhole, sucking up money that could
better be used on R&D, capital equipment, or even salaries.


As to their two chip plants, only the one in Fishkill has been renovated
to be commercially viable. The other stays alive doing God knows what.
Certainly they won't tell me, and I'm not inclined to do a white paper
for you for free.

don't flatter yourself

I didn't have to. My pay check did. Besides, you're not competent to
evaluate the P&L of a wafer fab.


Most, if not all, semi plants today survive by manufacturing for others
as well as the parent company. Look up Globalfoundries and Taiwan
Semiconductor for examples.

charter was j ust purchased last week. yes, i'm familiar with the
foundries. you seem surprised by teh economics of the industry...NONE
of which is union related.

Globalfoundries is the name of a company; foundries is a generic term
for semiconductor fabrication plants. Do try to keep up.


i used to work for TI...they laid off their harvard/caltech/mit
researchers and outsourced R and D to TSMC...

But you weren't at that level, were you?


oh. you don't know that 'cuz you still think everything's OK with the
industry...
agreed. and since there were no unionized plants there, ever, and
there are few plants there today, unions had zip to do with the death
of the industry in the US
Ask IBM why it could not sustain profitability with its major product
lines, and why it had to close plants world-wide.

But the industry is not dead; even if the plants are mostly all offshore
today

it's certainly dead in the US.

Er, no. Not as much manufacturing as I'd like to see - but nowhere near
dead.

--
Cheers,
Bama Brian
Libertarian
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana