Just Simply Holly

It’s no secret that I’m a news addict, I read, watch and listen to the news as often as I can. And I enjoy all aspects of the news, whether it’s local, state wide, or national. I think paying attention to the news is one of the few important things that I do in life.

I just watched a story on Good Morning America about the closing of the last Maytag Plant in Newton, Iowa. The plant in Newton has employed the towns residents for many generations and the town feels the closing of the plant to be similar to the death of a close family member because of how large of a part the plant has played in Newton.

But what disturbs me the most is this clip that I found in an online article at the Charlotte Observer:

The machines once made by Maytag will be redesigned to fit on a Whirlpool chassis and built by workers in Mexico and a nonunion factory in Clyde, Ohio, where they earn significantly less than the union represented workers in Newton.

They also said during the news story on Good Morning America that new jobs have been created in Newton, but that they pay less and don’t offer the benefits that the jobs at the Maytag plant did. I find all of this disturbing. I understand that businesses have to make cuts and changes in order to make money, and I also understand that sometimes people will lose their jobs due to these cuts and changes. But why has our country allowed things to get to the point that good jobs are being cut and companies are allowed to give these same jobs to people paying them a much lower wage and/or even sending the jobs to other countries? YES, I know about NAFTA, but do I know all details about it, no. But it just makes me sick!

My own husband has recently ran into an interesting situation at the factory where his company has been contracted to do work. My husbands company is not a union company, but the factory where he has been working is a UAW union factory. As early as last week while he was working there things were fine and dandy, he interacted with the factory employees on a constant basis and was treated with kindness and fairness by them. Now this week, things are different. The factories UAW employees are currently bargaining their new contract, and because of this my husband and his co-workers have been treated as if they are the scum of the earth. Rather than the banter and camaraderie that they had with the factory employees, they are now being told “You can’t use our break rooms, you can’t use our vending machines, you can’t use our bathrooms, while you’re in the plant you must lock your cell phones in your vehicles, etc.”. The factory has gone to the point of having port-a-potties installed at the extreme edge of the property for my husband and his co-workers to use, and rather than doing the work that they were contracted to do they are being sent outside to do things like scrapping broken machinery and other jobs that have nothing to do with the type of work that they actually do.

It just irritates the crap out of me that stuff like this happens. People wonder why employers don’t want unions coming into their companies? This is exactly why! No, I’m not completely against unions, but I’m also not completely for them. I have had 2 jobs in my lifetime that have required me to join unions, and in both cases it was a complete and total JOKE! The only thing that happened for me was that I paid money that I worked hard for into a union that did nothing to protect me, but rather protected the employees that had been at the company longer than I did. I received not a single benefit from giving away money that I worked for. I also have an older brother who has been a union member for 25+ years. His take on unions is that they are a joke! He’s seen the union fight to help very crappy employees keep their jobs and turn around and do almost nothing to help a quality worker keep theirs.

Anyway, I don’t even know what my point is any longer. I’m ticked off and fed up! If unions continue to push and push and push for more and more and more, the companies whose employees the unions represent will continue to close up shop and start over elsewhere, whether it’s in a US location, or a foreign one. And the people that end up paying are the people who have spent years paying into these unions, who have allowed these unions to keep pushing and asking for more, as well as the towns and communities that these businesses are in. It has to stop somewhere and it has to stop SOON! The cost of living keeps going up and up but employers that will pay a living wage keep going down and down because they keep being forced out of business by unions who are greedy! People need to step back and take a look at what they have and be thankful for it. If you keep asking for more, you’ll ultimately end up with NOTHING!