Most of you have no idea how right on JLGatsby is. I have worked for <insert one of the old big 3 here> for the past 6 years in Manufacturing, including production supervision.
First off I will point out a few things that many of you will be shocked to hear.
Every single day at every UAW plant, there is about a 20-25% absenteeism rate. What exactly does that mean? Well simply each plant must carry a workforce 20-25% larger than they are required to run. This also translates into the first hour of production being VERY low while each line supervisor figures out who is missing for the day and calls for one of the people in the ?reserve? pool. Now to the crazy part, sure they do not get paid when they skip work, however their benefits are not cut, so right off the bat the entire company is paying for 25% more cost of health care, life insurance, and all other benefits the company offers. Now, say one day you only get 15% of the people in the plant not showing up for work (in a large plant with 2000 workers, you can have 300-500 people skip work in one day) you are carrying around 150 extra people that are sitting around doing nothing. What does this translate into? People getting paid $28 dollars an hour with benefits to mop a clean floor, or cut the grass outside, or simply take a nap.
Punish these people you say? Sure! However, the UAW contract states that if they bring in proof that they were late or weren?t able to show up for due to a dr. appointment, then they can?t get into trouble. And with how good the health insurance is, it doesn?t cost a dime to get a doctors note that says you had a cough. Any number of excuses can be used here. Besides, even if they are too lazy to get an excuse, nothing can happen to the worker until they are written up 7 times. Oh, and you better not dare write anyone up, because they will make your line run slower when they show up for work next time and you will not make the production numbers you need.
Did I say I was a Production Supervisor? I meant I was a Manufacturing Advisor because if I ever said I was a supervisor, the UAW would have me thrown out of the plant for stepping over my line of duty because no one supervises the UAW, we can only suggest what we think would be the best option. If they don?t agree, then they don?t do it.
I have been flat out told to my face the following words from the people I was the ?supervisor? for: ?I?m not doing a f**ing thing you say, you are too young. Get me the committeeman.?
That is just the hourly line workers, the skilled *laugh* trades are even more ridiculous. There is a skilled trades person for each type of job. If you have a mechanical failure and the guy starts fixing it and an electrical connection is in his way, he will refuse to unplug it even if it is just a simple connector. The reason is if an electrician finds out he unplugged it, he will get written up for taking someone else?s job. So the line sits down, idling up to 70-100 workers for 15-45 minutes at $28 an hour while we wait for an electrician to show up and unplug a connector that takes less than 2 seconds.
Now say a Plant goes from 2 shifts down to 1 shift because no one is buying the cars. Each one of those people on the 2nd shift now get paid 90% of their salary as long as they show up in the morning. From that point a few may be asked to grab a mob bucket and clean while the rest browse the computer in the learning center.
Believe me when I say the UAW is a disease. What I have said above isn?t even the ½ of it.
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