Is the Tacoma union made?

The cost of doing business does not include paying employees more than they deserve because a union is demanding additional compensation and threatening to strike. This is exactly why US manufacturing has been and continues to be outsourced.

As others have already said, there was a time in America when unions were absolutely necessary to provide safe and reasonable working conditions. That time is long gone.

 

Pretty awesome right? There isn't a non-unionized employee in my industry that makes what I make. At the same time, people who sit behind desks all day and say "work faster guys" or "you're not good enough" (management, no matter what the industry), do not deserve what they are paid.

So when I look at it like that, I deserve every penny.

 

They pay people of the same classification equally. Yes, regardless of performance, this can be an issue if you get a few strong workers and a weak one or two.

 

Having asked, I guess I should say too...

I am now & have always been in a non-union job.

I am also the guy who understands my working conditions & compensation package is largely a result of unions.

The industry (& skill/craft) I work in is highly unionized but, the work group at the company I work for currently isn't (and I doubt the will be during my career). Our single largest competitors equivalent work group is unionized (the company I work for always stays with them on wage).

I formerly worked at another, similar company where I represented the company side during the grievance process.

Oh and I moved back to hourly by choice.

 

I hope to retire at my current union job (24 yrs to go....). I am NOT over paid, am waaay over qualified, and always do the best job I can. After 10 years as a fabricator, I decided I will never bust my back so someone else's kid can go to university. MOST employers think of workers as a piece of equipment, a liability when it breaks and never producing enough. Safety rules are in place so companies dont have to pay fines, its not to protect workers. Humans are greedy by nature and most will exploit what ever they can to get ahead. Unions have their place IMO

 

LOL, I thought the same way. However believe it or not there are some companies that still run their plants like the 1950's. As for compensation, with some job classifications it is too much for what the job requires. Then other job classifications are paid lower.

 

I also find the union bashing amusing that always comes from the white collar/desk jockey crowd - at my company there is just a mind boggling amount of creation and enforcement of bs to justify ridiculous white collar salaries - I can't even imagine how bad places like GM used to be. Talk about overpaid, people with their silly little college degrees "managing" people who work at a job they don't know the first thing about.

And god forbid people who do actual physical work for a living be able to live a decent life. I mean take a UPS driver for example....they're Teamsters. Who works harder - the UPS driver or the desk jockey? Those guys deserve every penny they get.

Noone ever died or broke bones sitting behind a desk all day.

 

I've been in that exact situation many times - and I just plug it in anyway. When the union guy shows up eventually, I don't know who plugged that in... I thought it was one of your guys...

We also payed union fees to move our crates. 1 hour minimum to move a crate to our booth (100 yards with a forklift taking 10 minutes tops.) then another hour to move it out - repeat both at the end of the show. By the time you're done, you've got $800 in fees to move crates for a total of maybe 40 minutes worth of forklift time.

 

SOME of the people who sit behind desks all day and grinding their pencils finding ways to make the company millions in profits. I know a few personally lol .

 

Yes it most certainly does include paying employees what they deserve. What you think they deserve, what the worker thinks they deserve, and the company thinks they deserve are three different things. If the company agrees to a contract then that is the company agreeing to what that company thinks the workers deserve. If not, there is no contract. If the contract expires, then that does not automatically mean there is a strike. IDK why so many people think that it does. If the company can find workers to do the job they need done at the price they are willing to pay, then the threat of a strike means nothing. Hire the people that are willing to work for peanut part time benefits. Funny how that works... when a company realizes they need the workers more than they need the managers but arent willing to pay for it.

 

I get your point, but it isn't really about how hard you work, it is more about how difficult it is to replace you. The market usually determines what you get paid unless it is set by a union. most companies will pay the least amount they can to attract the necessary candidate. That is, unless it is a family member.

Example: there are many migrant farm workers in my area that work their asses off from dawn until dusk in shitty conditions and brutal heat. These people work harder than anyone I know, yet they get payed little - because there is a long line of people willing to do that same work for a low price. Supply and demand.

The UPS driver is also not the best example, yes, they work hard, but they get payed well for what they do - it is relatively easy to find someone that will do that job. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence or talent to drive a truck, unload boxes and get a signature.

White collar jobs (and the jobs that pay well) are usually payed in proportion to the difficulty in attracting people talented or qualified enough to do the job. Brain power costs much more than back power. Everybody on the shop floor thinks they can be a manager, but have no idea what is really involved. It is a LOT easier to find people to do basic labor than it is to find someone that has enough intelligence to lead a team and a department effectively.

 

Thats the word that I like the most. I babysit construction workers as an oversight engineer (some days). I love doing private jobs where they are non-union workers. Those guys bust their ass like they want a paycheck, not like they deserve a paycheck. The union guys work hard too, I don't want to make it seem like they don't, but the amount of things that are expected is ridiculous.

To see a guy reading a magazine in an excavator because there is nothing to dig at the moment blows my mind. There are three guys in a cesspool type hole trying to repair a broken sewer main, asking for someone to hand them a shovel, and the equipment operator sits there smoking a cigarette waiting for something else to dig....that is MY experience with union work. It bothers to the ends of the Earth.

 

On point.

 

That's also a Federal law, and one of its results was that when Karl Malone took some of his earth-moving crews down to New Orleans after Katrina to help clean things up for free (I'm guessing Malone was paying the crews out of his own pocket or else they had volunteered willingly, but there would have been no charge to those receiving the services or to FEMA), he was told by FEMA to go home since he wasn't certified to be paying the "predominant wage" for the area (with the Feds, it costs $30-60k just to get through the filings and paperwork required for the certification process).

 

Ok BS Aside.. probably over 50% of the stuff you own in your house was not made in America and prolly not union. so why would you care if union or not??

not trying to be rude or sound condescending but its true

 

Listen I understand the concept of being profitable however not at the expense of its customers and workforce. Sacrificing quality(cheap labor),outsourcing call centers to India, using cheaper materials all make the company more profit but does it benefit the customer who pays the bill? When the customer stops paying the bill and stocks tank blame the over priced workforce not the ceo and board making horrible business decisions and leading the company into the ground seems logical...

Without a union the wages and benefits wouldn't be what they are today. My Union negotiated contract actual raises wages and benefits for the non Union guys.... It's a shame there's an attack on organized labor. to generalize all unions are bad and there workers are over paid and lazy is absurd...

 

Why are we even having this clearly political discussion in the 3rd gen TRUCK forum?

The OP's answer has been answered. The Tacoma is US/Mexico made, non-union.

 

Wide definition of political IMO. Either way, to this point, the conversation has been civil.


Que more volunteer mods....

 

The discussion has been largely economic, not political.

 

Still relates to thread topic and the forum which is not restricted to TRUCKS.