The Truth About
Modern Unions
During the last
elections the Democratic Presidential Candidate received hundreds of millions
of dollars from the Five Major Banks, AIG, Fannie May, Freddie Mac and the
Major Unions across the nations, most especially Auto, Teachers and Government
Unions. Consequently, this Democratic
controlled government owes a debt to these government controlled and favored
financial institutions and unions. As
you can see they are using billions of our tax dollars to pump up the financial
institutions. Now they are about to pass
a bill that will force all businesses to go union without a democratic vote.
Already it is tax
payers who are supporting the most extreme unions in
Now the government
wants tax payers to pay the retirements and salaries of the Auto Unions, who
are directly responsible for the coming bankruptcy of these companies. The average income in the
Nevertheless, the
government now wants these $28.00 per hour people, to
subsidize the auto workers who make $140.00 per hour. But that is not the worst outrage. The way these union workers work is the most offensive.
A supplier for the
Big 3 Auto Makers received a letter from the President of GM North America,
requesting support for the bail out
program. His response is well written, and has to make you
proud of a guy who tells it like it
is.
Dear Employees
& Suppliers,
Congress and the current
Administration will soon determine whether to provide immediate
support to the domestic auto industry
to help it through one of the most difficult economic times
in our nation's history. Your
elected officials must hear from all of us now on why this support is
critical to our continuing the
progress we began prior to the global financial crisis.
As an employee or supplier, you have a
lot at stake and continue to be one of our most effective
and passionate voices. I know GM can count on you to
have your voice heard.
Thank you for your urgent action and
ongoing support.
Troy Clarke
President,
General Motors North America
Response from Knox
Machinery Company:
Gregory Knox, Pres.
Knox Machinery Company
Gentlemen:
In response to your request to contact
legislators and ask for a bailout for the Big Three automakers please consider
the following, and please pass my thoughts on to Troy Clarke, President of
General Motors North America.
Politicians and Management of the Big
3 are both infected with the same entitlement
mentality that has spread like cancerous germs in UAW halls for the last
countless decades, and whose plague is now sweeping this nation, awaiting our
new "messiah," Pres-elect Obama, to wave his magic wand and make all
our problems go away, while at the same time allowing our once great nation to
keep "living the dream." Believe me folks, The
dream is over!
This dream where we can ignore the
consumer for years while management myopically focuses on its personal rewards
packages at the same time that our factories have been filled with the worlds
most overpaid, arrogant, ignorant and
laziest entitlement minded "laborers" without paying the price for
these atrocities. This dream where you still think the masses will
line up to buy our products for ever and ever.
Don't even think about telling me I'm
wrong. Don't accuse me of not knowing of what I speak. I have
called on Ford, GM, Chrysler, TRW, Delphi, Kelsey Hayes, American Axle, and
countless other automotive OEM's throughout the
Troy Clarke, President of General Motors North America, states: "There is widespread sentiment throughout this country, and our government, and especially via the news media, that the current crisis is completely the result of bad management which it certainly is not."
You're right Mr.
Clarke, it's not JUST management. How
about the electricians who walk around the plants like lords in feudal times,
making people wait on them for countless hours while they drag ass so they can
come in on the weekend and make double and triple time for a job they easily
could have done within their normal 40 hour work week. How
about the line workers who threaten newbies with all
kinds of scare tactics for putting out too many parts on a shift and for being
too productive.
(We certainly must not expose those lazy
bums who have been getting overpaid for decades for their horrific
underproduction, must we?!?)
Do you folks really not know about
this stuff?!? How about this great sentiment abridged from Mr. Clarke's
sad plea: "over the last few years we have closed the quality and
efficiency gaps with our competitors." What the hell has
We are living through the inevitable
outcome of the actions of the
I attended an economic summit last
week where brilliant economist, Alan Beaulieu, from the Institute of Trend
Research, surprised the crowd when he said he would not have given the banks a
penny of "bailout money."
"Yes, he said, this would cause
short term problems," but despite what people like politicians and
corporate magnates would have us believe, the sun would in fact rise the next
day and the following very important thing would happen. Where there had been greedy and sloppy
banks, new efficient ones would pop up. That is how a free market
system works. It does work if we would only let it work."
But for some nondescript reason we are
now deciding that the rest of the world is right and that capitalism doesn't
work - that we need the government to step in and "save us".
Save us my ass, Hell - we're nationalizing and unfortunately too many of
our once fine nation's citizens don't even have a clue that this is what is
really happening.
But, they sure can tell you the stats
on their favorite sports teams. Yeah - THAT'S really important, isn't it.
Does it ever occur to ANYONE that the
"competition" has been producing vehicles, EXTREMELY PROFITABLY, for
decades in this country? How can that be??? Let's see.
Fuel
efficient. Listening to customers. Investing in
the proper tooling and automation for the long haul.
Not being too complacent or arrogant
to listen to Dr. W. Edwards Deming
four decades ago when he taught that by adopting appropriate principles of
management, organizations could increase quality and simultaneously reduce
costs. Ever increased productivity through quality and
intelligent planning. Treating vendors like strategic partners,
rather than like "the enemy." Efficient front
and back offices. Non union environment.
Again, I could go on and on, but I
really wouldn't be telling anyone anything they really don't already know down
deep in their hearts.
I have six children, so I am not
unfamiliar with the concept of wanting someone to bail you out of a mess that
you have gotten yourself into - my children do this on a weekly, if not daily
basis, as I did when I was their age. I do for them what my parents did
for me (one of their greatest gifts, by the way) - I make them stand on
their own two feet and accept the consequences of their actions and work
through it. Radical concept, huh.
Am I there for them in the wings? Of course - but
only until such time as they need to be fully on their own as adults.
I don't want to oversimplify a complex
situation, but there certainly are unmistakable parallels here between the
proper role of parenting and government.
Bad news people - it's
coming whether we like it or not. The newly elected Messiah really doesn't have
a magic wand big enough to "make it all go away." I laughed as
I heard Obama "reeling it back in" almost immediately after the final
vote count was tallied. "We really might not do it in a year or in
four." Where the Hell was that kind of talk when he was RUNNING for
office.
Stop trying to put off the inevitable folks. That house in
Let the market correct itself folks -
it will. Yes it will be painful, but it's gonna'
be painful either way, and the bright side of my proposal is that on the other
side of it all, is a nation that appreciates what it has and doesn't live
beyond its means and gets back to basics and redevelops the patriotic work
ethic that made it the greatest nation in the history of the world and probably
turns back to God.
Sorry - don't cut my head off, I'm
just the messenger sharing with you the "bad news". I hope you
take it to heart.
Gregory J. Knox, President
Knox Machinery, Inc.
Amen