Amazon workers just voted to join a union

[Rookie]

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[Creedmoor]

Unions suck.

So you couldn't make the cut?
Some thick skin is required to
eventually one getting past being coffee boy.

And what Union & local was this that sucks?

 

[Creedmoor]

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[ghuns]

So you've spent time as a die setter, mold maintenance, mold repair, tool and die in a stamping plant?

I've worked a tool maker since '92, exclusively in non union shops. I've seen quite a few high performing tool makers leave union shops to come work for a non-union shop. Never seen it go the other way.

But I've seen a few average to below average guys make the move to union shops and stay until retirement. I'm glad they found a place that worked out for them.

 

[JettaKnight]

Are you really putting warehouse and delivery workers on par with McD's?

I'm having a hard time guessing which one you think is so superior to the other.

 

[JettaKnight]

it means he edited his post to remove everything. At least in the old system it required at least one character. On the new system there's a fancy delete post button.

 

[JettaKnight]

I've worked a tool maker since '92, exclusively in non union shops. I've seen quite a few high performing tool makers leave union shops to come work for a non-union shop. Never seen it go the other way.

Their skin wasn't thick enough to make it past coffee boy, I guess.

 

[Jaybird1980]

I'm having a hard time guessing which one you think is so superior to the other.

So in the Amazon facilities they don't have truck drivers, forklift operators, electrician/maintenance dept, actual delivery drivers. I guess FedEx, UPS, postal workers etc are just basically burger flippers.

Seems to be a lot of arrogance and self importance these days.

 

[Creedmoor]

I've worked a tool maker since '92, exclusively in non union shops. I've seen quite a few high performing tool makers leave union shops to come work for a non-union shop. Never seen it go the other way.

But I've seen a few average to below average guys make the move to union shops and stay until retirement. I'm glad they found a place that worked out for them.

And i'm glad it worked out for you.
And I hope all the perks you get fullfill your needs.
What i've seen is just the opposite. Men being under paid working as a non union mechanic with crappy benefits given the chance to to sit for the mechanics test affer a year of working as a Union mechanic.
I would believe it depends on the trade one chooses and the size of the company one chooses to work for.
Some benifits are above what smaller businesses can pay.

 

[Creedmoor]

There skin wasn't thick enough to make it past coffee boy, I guess.

Purple not needed, It might not have been.

 

[Creedmoor]

I've worked a tool maker since '92, exclusively in non union shops. I've seen quite a few high performing tool makers leave union shops to come work for a non-union shop. Never seen it go the other way.

But I've seen a few average to below average guys make the move to union shops and stay until retirement. I'm glad they found a place that worked out for them.

Now what made you not go to work for one of the big three and go for the big check each month after 25-35 years?

I ask because I just spoke now, to a recently retired Marion tool and die man with 33 years.
His net penison and SS are just over 5 large after taxes and he has a significant 401.
Not a bad deposit each month.

 

[Creedmoor]

So in the Amazon facilities they don't have truck drivers, forklift operators, electrician/maintenance dept, actual delivery drivers. I guess FedEx, UPS, postal workers etc are just basically burger flippers.

Seems to be a lot of arrogance and self importance these days.

I once told my step father who was a very educated man, that tie chokes the intelligence out of you.
Use purple if necessary.

 

[ghuns]

And i'm glad it worked out for you.
And I hope all the perks you get fullfill your needs.
What i've seen is just the opposite. Men being under paid working as a non union mechanic with crappy benefits given the chance to to sit for the mechanics test affer a year of working as a Union mechanic.
I would believe it depends on the trade one chooses and the size of the company one chooses to work for.
Some benifits are above what smaller businesses can pay.

I've done OK over the years. One of my first jobs out of high school was at a UAW factory. I maybe could have stuck it out until I had enough seniority to 'bump' into the toolroom as an apprentice, but the apprentice at the time was old enough to be my dad, so I bailed out.

Never regretted it.

Whenever I asked I guys coming over from union shops what drove their decision it was always the same answer. High performers got sick of being paid the same as hacks because they had the same amount of seniority.

 

[HoughMade]

...High performers got sick of being paid the same as hacks because they had the same amount of seniority.

I was in a law firm that had this problem. Union or not, wherever there is an entrenched power structure that protects position rather than production, it's time to move on.

I'm neither pro, nor anti-union. There are pros and cons and they work for a lot of people, no so much for others. Unions are certainly not a panacea for all that ills the "working man".

 

[wtburnette]

I understand hiring a manager because they are good at managing people, that makes sense. My problem is them not being required to learn the system and procedures that are used. How can you manage time frames, scheduling and material/equipment rental when you have no idea about the process? We are required to learn the system and we are tested and have to prove our proficiency, if we fail we are written up and have to redo training. If you fail a second time you're removed from that position and sent back to previous qualified position. It doesn't make sense not to have supervision be trained and understand the process. At our location the supervisors are allowed to take the training courses with us and in all my years I've only seen one supervisor go through the training.

My major complaint is that the supervision is not required to be trained in the hold card system, but yet allowed to apply for holds on a system they weren't trained or qualified on. Then the supervisor will bring a work order and say all holds are in all you have to do is go do the work. No chance in hell someone should trust that, and then the supervisor will get pissed when people go and verify the right holds were actually installed, because we are just "stalling". No it's because I don't want to be killed/injured because of your incompetence.

I can agree with that. Note that I said a good manager would be open to learning the job, at least from the employees. In the case of your position it sounds like the manager needs to understand the system and train on it to be worthwhile. Odd that the company doesn't seem to understand that.

So in the Amazon facilities they don't have truck drivers, forklift operators, electrician/maintenance dept, actual delivery drivers. I guess FedEx, UPS, postal workers etc are just basically burger flippers.

Seems to be a lot of arrogance and self importance these days.

Your average unskilled warehouse worker is what I think of. Picking and packing merchandise, making boxes, loading a pallet, things like that is what I refer to as comparable to a worker at a fast food restaurant. Of course things change once you have an actual skill. Difference in my mind between skilled and unskilled.

 

[yeahbaby]

Right now GM Indiana is hiring for a few skilled trade journeymanships, right out of HS a kid can start at $26.00 an hour.
Vertually no one applys.

That is dam good money. What a shame folks are not applying.

 

[bwframe]

That is dam good money. What a shame folks are not applying.

Something must be wrong if people aren't applying?

Drug testing? Attendance requirements? Negative work environment?


.

 

[actaeon277]

Something must be wrong, if people aren't applying?

Drug testing? Attendance requirements? Negative work environment?


.

I don't know about other jobs, but at the steel mill...
Tell someone the mill is hiring, and the mere thought of dirt and danger causes most of them to run away.
Those that apply, MANY will fail the drug test.
Then, we get a class of 20 new hires in a safety indoctrination class (which we didn't have when I hired), and many will fail a drug test. For some reason they thought there wouldn't be anymore.
Then, many more leave because of all the warnings that end with.. HERE IS A REAL LIFE EXAMPLE of someone dying from this, so don't do it.
Then, after the class, they go into the field to either be trained on operating a machine, or an apprenticeship.
And many more will quit within a couple days of being in the field.

Finally, after 30 days (around), we'll be lucky to have between 2 and 5 of the initial 20.

 

[JettaKnight]

I once told my step father who was a very educated man, that tie chokes the intelligence out of you.
Use purple if necessary.

Do bow ties count?

 

[Jaybird1980]

I can agree with that. Note that I said a good manager would be open to learning the job, at least from the employees. In the case of your position it sounds like the manager needs to understand the system and train on it to be worthwhile. Odd that the company doesn't seem to understand that.



Your average unskilled warehouse worker is what I think of. Picking and packing merchandise, making boxes, loading a pallet, things like that is what I refer to as comparable to a worker at a fast food restaurant. Of course things change once you have an actual skill. Difference in my mind between skilled and unskilled.

The company is heavily bloated with management, and they are not willing to pay for good management. They would apparently rather have a revolving door of fresh people. It works out I guess there is always someone to blame things on and it isn't really a loss when they go. Keeps the dirt off of upper managements hands that way, even though they are the ones creating the mess.

Sure warehousing has different positions of skilled labor, but I sure would rather loose McDonald's before I lost all the delivery and warehouse workers. That alone tells me which one is more important.