Mercury Marine and Unions

Iprof said:
I decided to see if I could find some facts on what this is all about with Mercury and the Union. Here's what I found.

The 850 International Association of Machinist’s union members at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac Wisconsin are resisting employer demands for cuts mid-contract. On Sunday, they overwhelmingly voted to reject wage and benefits concessions. Mercury Marine is threatening to move production to a non-union Oklahoma plant. The company just signed a new four year contract with the union a year ago, but it wants out of the agreement. Mercury Marine wants lower wages for new hires and cuts in pension benefits. Mercury Marine is the largest maker of boat engines in the world.

Seems they have a current contract and Merc wants to re-negotiate it. Any one want to take a wild guess at what these machinist make an hour? No wonder they voted NO.

Ken
Click to expand...

A lot of people have taken cuts. These guys are working in an industry that is barely alive. They might not want to take a cut, but I don't think it's a reasonable position considering the state of the boat building industry. Oh well. If they don't want to work for a few bucks less, there probably are some guys in Oklahoma willing to do the work.
 
Last edited:
Let me see how this works. We are a hard working dedicated group of boat owners. Some blue collar, some white collar, some union and some not. Non the less we have all worked hard to enjoy our favorite past time, boating. Now enter the second coming of the Messiah (obama) and a wave of left wing ultra liberal dems in congress and they have us feeding on each other. Lets end this and get back to boating and making great friends on the water.

Tight lines and fair Sky's
George
 
Bodkin Creek George said:
Let me see how this works. We are a hard working dedicated group of boat owners. Some blue collar, some white collar, some union and some not. Non the less we have all worked hard to enjoy our favorite past time, boating. Now enter the second coming of the Messiah (obama) and a wave of left wing ultra liberal dems in congress and they have us feeding on each other. Lets end this and get back to boating and making great friends on the water.

Tight lines and fair Sky's
George
Click to expand...
Bravo! :smt038

Im with ya....
 
Iprof said:
I decided to see if I could find some facts on what this is all about with Mercury and the Union. Here's what I found.

The 850 International Association of Machinist’s union members at Mercury Marine in Fond du Lac Wisconsin are resisting employer demands for cuts mid-contract. On Sunday, they overwhelmingly voted to reject wage and benefits concessions. Mercury Marine is threatening to move production to a non-union Oklahoma plant. The company just signed a new four year contract with the union a year ago, but it wants out of the agreement. Mercury Marine wants lower wages for new hires and cuts in pension benefits. Mercury Marine is the largest maker of boat engines in the world.

Seems they have a current contract and Merc wants to re-negotiate it. Any one want to take a wild guess at what these machinist make an hour? No wonder they voted NO.

Ken
Click to expand...



And the unions will kill another viable American business.

F'n unions. I hate them, hate them, hate them. They are the only sector of the working population that has absolutely no idea what it takes to run a company. When times are tough, things get scaled back. Everyone I know including myself is taking home a little less money (I have a small portion of my income as a commission/company profits) and yea, it sucks, but to keep any business viable, the bottom line needs to be constantly assessed.

Did I mention I hate unions?
 
Once again, I have to present the other side of the equation. In 2003, our union agreed to take a 34% pay cut and start paying 25% of our medical insurance in order to keep our company out of bankruptcy, which management guaranteed it would do. 12 months later, we took another 14% pay cut in bankruptcy court, lost our pensions, and received work rule changes that significantly degraded our quality of life (lots of the rules are vindictive and have no effect on the efficiency of the operation).

In the same time frame, the top 50 managers, within one year of taking multi-million dollar "retension" bonuses, jumped ship and took multi-million dollar pensions. I agree that blue collar workers straight out of high school that can be replaced following a 6-week training program should not be guaranteed $25/hour plus a great pension plan regardless of productivity.

On the other hand, I have no problem with my union keeping the robber barons in check as we strive to keep our company alive in spite of all of their horrible decisions and thievery. They are temporary workers who come in, make their impacts, then leave with millions of dollars. We are committed to the survival of our great company despite all of their efforts to milk it dry.

That, my friends, is the actual truth in our airline company.
 
Hampton said:
That completely depends on the type and length of career. Bottom line: At twenty years, you get 50% of the average of your last 3 years anual pay. There are different programs. They have been changing over the years. At 30 years, you get 75% of the base pay.

Base pay doesn't include housing, food allowances, bonuses, hazardous duty pay... Most people will get about 35% of their final check after 20 years, give or take. If you did not serve 20 or more years in a full time position, you don't get anything until you turn age 60, then it begins. It is reduced by a percentage comparing the number of days you worked compared to 20 years times 365 = 7305 days. If you worked 3650 days, then you'll get about 25% of your base pay when you turn 60 years old.

http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables.html

Most enlisted troops with 20 years will be an E-7, 8, or maybe 9. Most officers will be O-4, 5, or maybe 6. The W- 's are warrant officers and are not as common.

E-7 with 20 4000/mo. E-8 with 20 4500/mo.
O-4 with 20 6700/mo. O-5 with 20 7700/mo.

Assuming that the person served in that pay grade for the last 3 years, then take 1/2 of that to determine the retirement pay. It's not bad at all.
Click to expand...

Now a days it is a little better, but my figure was my dad's retirement and he retired in 1977. He was promised free health care for him and his wife and now they have to pay for that too. (differant thread).
 
Bodkin Creek George said:
Let me see how this works. We are a hard working dedicated group of boat owners. Some blue collar, some white collar, some union and some not. Non the less we have all worked hard to enjoy our favorite past time, boating. Now enter the second coming of the Messiah (obama) and a wave of left wing ultra liberal dems in congress and they have us feeding on each other. Lets end this and get back to boating and making great friends on the water.

Tight lines and fair Sky's
George
Click to expand...


Great Post George!

I am with you Mogut!!!!!!

It will be a tough 4 years for us boaters. Do you think they will make pleasure boating illegal?
 
AKBASSKING said:
Retire Guard/Reserve? Me too.
Click to expand...

14.5 Active Duty AF
6 Years Traditional Guard (Earned 300 AD days)
3 Years Traditional Guard on Man-Days doing AEF rotations locally (Earned 3 years AD)
1 Year Active Guard, 1 Year to go
Active Duty Retirement with about 22 years credit, 25 years total
 
Hampton said:
14.5 Active Duty AF
6 Years Traditional Guard (Earned 300 AD days)
3 Years Traditional Guard on Man-Days doing AEF rotations locally (Earned 3 years AD)
1 Year Active Guard, 1 Year to go
Active Duty Retirement with about 22 years credit, 25 years total
Click to expand...


John,

Thank you for serving..............

Me: 24 years, 10.5 active 14 as a full time technician......

Back to your regularly scheduled program....
 
Dave S said:
BACK ON THE REGULARLY SCHEDULED SUBJECT :wow::wow:

The Union agreed to accept the original contract proposed by Mercury. Mercury accepted the Union vote and for now the jobs stay in Wisconsin.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/bo...chinists-reach-pact-2009-09-06?siteid=yahoomy
Click to expand...

There was changes to the wording that the union had requested not the wording they wanted but it did clarify one sticking point. Merc also agreed to close the OK plant and move the work to this plant.
Merc got money from local gov, state gov and cheaper labour when they recall the laid off workers to work on the product from the OK plant..... wonder if it was planed all along by Merc, they sure did OK as did the union.

Ken
 
Surprised there were not more comments on Corporate America greed. Pushing for lower wages, Outsourcing middle class jobs to third world countries, etc. CEO's are out for a quick buck. Then heck with the Company and America.
My ex wife worked for Disney Studios. Her and 3000 other employees were let go by the CEO claiming Disney was not making money. The CEO was making 50 mil a yr, and his upper management buddies were making a few hundred thou ea.
She got picked up at Paramount Studios. Her job is going to be outsourced to India the end of this year. The Motion Picture Industry made a billion bucks the first quarter. Yet Producers and CEO's claim there is no money. :huh:
Ive worked TV shows where the Producer is so tight. Craft service. (caterer) Was cutting donuts into fourths for the crew. Yes my Union job I get free food :grin:

Corporate America is much more evil then some hard azz union officials, Who don't always know or do whats best for there members. There more concerned with there 100k+ salaries anyway.
If I work 60,000 hrs and/or 30 yrs. I get a full pension.:wow: Good thing the Union got me fair hourly wages and overtime pay.
The Union members have taken a lot of cuts the last 13 yrs ive been in. Yet the industry has made more money then ever.
50% of feature films is done out of the US now. Thats a Major hit on the economy. The 3 month writers strike in 08 cost the Calif economy 30 Mil. Greedy politicians will not give the greedy producers a Tax break for filming in the US.
Unions want to keep middle class America alive. Hard to do when the Blue collar jobs are going overseas where people work for pennys an hr.
Back to the org post.
Cool, The Merc workers still have a good paying job. No security to go out and buy a nice boat though.
 
Four Suns said:
And you wonder why they are shipping your job over seas?
Click to expand...
Not really,
With Upper Management and CEO's having no business ethics anymore. Usually spoiled rich kids taking over there daddy's positions. The men that founded this country.
All this new breed thinks of, Is how to cheat, steel, rob, and cut corners to make an extra buck. With there sole motivation being. My boats bigger then yours mentality.
Its not even worth buying a action/adventure DVD anymore.
Its cheaper for these azz clowns to use digital technology for stunts and equipment, Then to hire stuntmen and film real ships,aircraft, etc for there feature films.
No need to hire overpaid actors soon. Everything will be animated. Very funny how these rich people are the most miserable people on the planet :smt038
No wonder they have angry, wife's. :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,247
Messages
1,429,246
Members
61,127
Latest member
Ants84245srv
Back
Top