Forum: General F-35 Forum

$3,000 signing bonus, $800/year for living expenses, 3% raise/year for 3 years. and all I have to give up is new hires don't get pensions (like every other non-Union/Government job) and have a higher deductible on my HMO.

Sign me up! (Ok, I actually like where I live and my job, but still it doesn't sound like LM is gutting them or trying to stick it to them).

I bet there are a lot of people in Wichita, KS who would gladly take the deal with Boeing pulling the KC-46a work out of there.

Sufa Viper

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It would kill the union. Why would new members sign up when the old members sold out their benefits?

New members do not have a choice. If you work in a union shop then you are part of the union and pay the same dues as everyone else.

I thought Texas was Right to Work?

And this will likely not be the last strike during F-35's production span. It should simply be a natural part of any calculation and estimate being made today. Write it off to the cost of doing business throughout the decade. Call it a day.

Quote:

I thought Texas was Right to Work?

It is.

my bad

on the ROW issue.

Even without the traditional pension, that deal is better than a vast majority of the people in the US are getting. They should be happy with that.

Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face Sad

geogen wrote:

And this will likely not be the last strike during F-35's production span. It should simply be a natural part of any calculation and estimate being made today. Write it off to the cost of doing business throughout the decade. Call it a day.

Or, maybe the price will go down after LM fires them all and hires non-union labor.

Texas is a right to work state, but unions are free try to negotiate a "union shop" contract. They were successful many years ago in the case of LM, GD, and Convair. Why does the LM union strike in the face of such good benefits and salary? Because the union leaders stir up anti-company feelings as much as they can to make their own jobs more secure. They don't have the members' best interest at heart, just their own. Most union members are gullible enough to buy into it, evidently.

I worked through many strikes there over the years as a salaried employee, and the thuggish behavior of normally civil union workers was hard to understand. Picket line threats, intimidation, baseball bats, broken windshields, combat uniforms, etc., directed at non-striking workers was a regular occurrence.

"Combat uniforms"?

A couple of shots of the LM plant "picket lines"...just a handful of folks at every gate on Wednesday... BUT...it looks like LockMart is keeping an eye on them...notice the guard shacks on stilts? Those are new, there is one at ever gate and more....each with 3-4 people in them with binoculars and cameras. History taught them something?

A very insightful post johnwill... thanks for the perspective and lesson, as always.

Last edited by cutlassracer on Apr 28, 2012 - 06:57 AM; edited 1 time in total

The real rah rah union guys with the union t-shirt, union bumper sticker, and union hat always seem to be the ones holding down the furniture in the break room all day reading through the CBA to find a new, more creative way to screw off. Got real tired of picking up thier slack. Just my experience at various places, not here.

All part of the attempt at intimidation of non-striking workers. They'll go down to military surplus stores and get camo shirts and pants, heavy boots, etc to wear while on the picket line. Not all of them do that.

The intimidation takes place at shift change time. I'm guessing Ztex's photos were taken at some other time. Also my description is based on my experience some years ago. Things may be different now.

Ztex, those observation posts, cameras, and lights go up for every strike, and have for at least the past thirty years. They come down as soon as the strike is settled.

count_to_10 wrote:

geogen wrote:

And this will likely not be the last strike during F-35's production span. It should simply be a natural part of any calculation and estimate being made today. Write it off to the cost of doing business throughout the decade. Call it a day.

Or, maybe the price will go down after LM fires them all and hires non-union labor.

http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... tagon.html

I am afraid the price of F-35 knows only one direction..The North.

Forum: General F-35 Forum

LM union votes to strike, could affect F-35 production