Union officials say paychecks are a big reason why Illinois is losing jobs to right-to-work states. When Caterpillar shifted production from its Mossville plant to a Texas facility three years ago, Mossville employees were making an average of $17 an hour. Starting pay at the Texas plant was about $10 an hour, said UAW Local 974 President Dave Chapman.
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Marty Helfers, executive director of the West Central Illinois Building and Trades Council in Peoria, said however calculations are made, workers don’t seem to be at the top of the list.
Human resources used to be valued, Helfters says. Yes, until the unions over-inflated their value, and companies realized they could get quality labor for less money elsewhere and still operate inside the US.
I'm curious as to how they see illegal immigrants and wage depression fitting into all of this. You cannot continue to allow people who will work for far fewer wages than American citizens who, by fiat, must be paid a minimum wage, and expect that employers will continue to hire American citizens. When will the tipping point be reached?
Chapman still believes union states can compete with right-to-work states.
He can believe that all he wants but the numbers show very different reality. This is interesting to watch as we might in fact be watchinga resurgence of the south economically, which had languished as an economic backwater since the civil war. It may not be outside the realm of possibility that economic and cultural centers of the US shift towards the south and midwest. I know there are a few eccentric billion/millionaires who took katatrina as an opportunity to try and make New Orleans into the next Hollywood and are building studio warehouses all over the city.
Union officials say paychecks are a big reason why Illinois is losing jobs to right-to-work states. When Caterpillar shifted production from its Mossville plant to a Texas facility three years ago, Mossville employees were making an average of $17 an hour. Starting pay at the Texas plant was about $10 an hour, said UAW Local 974 President Dave Chapman.
ReplyDelete[...]
Marty Helfers, executive director of the West Central Illinois Building and Trades Council in Peoria, said however calculations are made, workers don’t seem to be at the top of the list.
Human resources used to be valued, Helfters says. Yes, until the unions over-inflated their value, and companies realized they could get quality labor for less money elsewhere and still operate inside the US.
I'm curious as to how they see illegal immigrants and wage depression fitting into all of this. You cannot continue to allow people who will work for far fewer wages than American citizens who, by fiat, must be paid a minimum wage, and expect that employers will continue to hire American citizens. When will the tipping point be reached?
Chapman still believes union states can compete with right-to-work states.
ReplyDeleteHe can believe that all he wants but the numbers show very different reality. This is interesting to watch as we might in fact be watchinga resurgence of the south economically, which had languished as an economic backwater since the civil war. It may not be outside the realm of possibility that economic and cultural centers of the US shift towards the south and midwest. I know there are a few eccentric billion/millionaires who took katatrina as an opportunity to try and make New Orleans into the next Hollywood and are building studio warehouses all over the city.