MovieChat Forums > Detropia (2012) Discussion > UAW Local 22 - Greedy?

UAW Local 22 - Greedy?

posted 11 years ago by TheBeardedWonder
9 replies | jump to latest

Now hear me out, I know the thread title will not be popular amongst the (few) people on these boards, but I felt I had to say something. I'm the last guy to say 'they should make less' towards the working man, but the meeting where they were offended by their pay going down to $11-$18 per hour kind of had us scratching our heads.

I make $8 per hour, $7 after taxes. Also I live in California, not Michigan. The Bay Area CA to be exact (even more expensive than the average in CA). So my question becomes, how do they feel entitled to whine about $11-$18 when I make less, and live somewhere that everything costs more in? Gas, groceries, utilities, etc, ALL cost more out here. My girlfriend makes about $9 per hour after taxes, where's the documentary about us? It just made the whole doc less powerful when they're making more than us already.

The point is, I don't remember the last time I had money to drop at a bar, yet the day of the union meeting where they shoot down $11-$18/hr guess where they are? Hhhmmm, maybe they're not as broke as they think & should be thankful for the $11/hr...

"My first name is Mister, my middle name is the period between, and my last name is T." - Mr. T

[–] robatmuskoka 11 years ago

they are idiots.....

[–] Schrute2112 11 years ago

You should be mad that you are making so little. You work just as hard as some of the ceo's who make 1000x what you do. Your focus should be on your low salary and your ire should be with the greed of the 1% who want more more more in bonuses at the expense of the worker. Getting angry with a working person is what the uber rich want. You shouldn't want 3rd world status. All ground lost by workers and unions is another step towards slavery or servitude.

When did so many in this country decide to crusade against their own best interests?

[–] snowleopard 7 years ago

I wondered the same thing. Would the OP be happy if every worker made $7 an hour, and the difference in money all went to already wealthy CEOs, boards of directors, shareholders, senior executives, etc. Some of these people do have great business acumen, but are they worth 1000x you? Some of the people in this class don't even work, period.

What if a worker in, say, Mississippi posted saying they made less than you, and your $7 was being greedy?

[–] Mr Blue-4 11 years ago

I'm sorry you don't get what's going on in that scene at all.

1. You make too little. Your girlfriend makes too little. You don't need your own documentary to know that.

The mindset isn't "if I make this little, then it's okay if you do too." It's "we're ALL being UNDERPAID."

2. They belong to a union. They pay union dues. Part of all that is for better working conditions, wages, and benefits than non-union (which I presume that you and your girlfriend are).

3. They were not offered a "serious" contract. It wasn't a serious offer. It was basically the company telling them they weren't interested in keeping that plant in Detroit....unless they would exploit themselves to Third World wages and conditions. So it wasn't even worth their time to pretend that it WAS serious by going through a vote on it.

This was obvious to me. I guess you needed someone on camera to spell that out for you.

[–] horrorfanaticgirl 11 years ago

Greed and Unions killed Detroit.

[–] LnineB 11 years ago

The unions are part of the problems but so is private greed. American cities decline because people can profit from it. You can never have that level of decline without a lot of people benefiting from that decline. The salary has nothing to do with it. I don't know what you do for a living but automobile factory employees work extremely hard. It's not an easy job at all. You should be asking yourself why are you only making $9 dollars an hour.

[–] dreamcop25 11 years ago

I live in Charlotte NC and make 11.25/hr as a Material Handler and that's a lot where I live. The average for most warehouse/DC jobs is about 8.50-10/hr,

The UAW is greedy as heck. General Mechanics down by me don't make 20+/hr, closer to 16/hr. this is all after taxes. So I can't feel bad in all honesty for these workers. The wages are good that were offered and if you say cost of living. Hate to tell you NC has one of the highest cost of livings these days and were still surviving (better than Detroit it seems, NC one of the top 5 highest taxes for states) So I can't feel bad for these Union guys.

But then again I see Charlotte becoming Detroit in about 45 years, with the banks already leaving, the Textiles and warehouses almost gone, Just a matter of time.

[–] qtrixie 11 years ago

I agree, you make a tiny wage and should be working on that yourself. Corporations are very easily convincing poor people that all people should be poor like them. Maybe you are 18 years old and just starting out.

For those of you who "hate" unions: Remember it was the unions who got safety in the workplace, 40 hour work week, medical benefits, vacation, retirement etc.

In the Detroit area, the unions and companies work very well together. The UAW has bailed out Chrysler twice and other companies.

The reason for Detroit failing is that the bedroom communities have destroyed the city. You lose 700,000 people and the city will suffer. Loss of residents, along with, companies moving north across 8 Mile Road has devastated the city. The bedroom communities surrounding Detroit offer up 0 taxes for a company to move in. They know the workers will move with the company and the city will get the home owners taxes to make up for the loss of the corporation tax.

Crime: What they don't tell you is that a You see a caddy or other expensive, new cars drive into the city looking for drugs...........

I live in a bedroom community just north of Detroit.

[–] TheBeardedWonder 11 years ago

Agreed about big companies, bottom line is king so customer service goes down to save a few bucks. I'm now making double what I used to btw. The $8/hr job was just a filler until I could find one that used my B.A. college degree. I still haven't found one to use my M.A. towards, it's an impacted field unfortunately. But like I said, living in the bay area is a bit different due to lack of well paying jobs (that are unrelated to tech anyway), juxtaposed to the high living costs that those same high paying tech jobs have caused.

I'm torn on unions as well. I know the good they've done before (as you mentioned, workers rights and he 40 hour work week), but I also know they can be extortion artists using the populace as bargaining chips. Using an example here in the bay, the BART workers want more money, so they strike, even though they make WAY more than any other transportation agency in the entire state. They play the overtime game where person A calls in sick so person B (their friend) gets overtime to cover for him. Then person B calls in sick, and then person A gets to cover for them. And so on and so on. To the point many of them make as much, or MORE in overtime than in regular pay. It's a joke, and they make the working man who rides BART to his job be in the middle of it all.

So anyway, just an update, and some new thoughts to ponder. I look forward to seeing what you think about all that qtrixie. Thanks to everyone for their input!

"What? Do you wanna just sit around and be wrong?" - Liz Lemon