"The Olin Corp. said Wednesday that it will put its money where its mouth is — in Mississippi.
A day after union workers rejected for a second time a contract that might have saved their jobs, the Metro East company told them it was moving about 1,000 ammunition production jobs from Metro East to Oxford, Miss.
As members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 9 left the East Alton catering hall where the ballots were tallied Tuesday night, more than a few of the employees ventured that Olin was bluffing.
The company, they maintained, had no intention of following through on its threat to move their jobs. On Wednesday, Olin called their bluff by announcing that it would build a 500,000-square-foot facility when it moves its ammunitions operations.
According to an Olin news release, Mississippi provided 'significant incentives" to entice the manufacturer to expand production near a current Olin plant.
Joseph Rupp, the chairman, president and CEO of Clayton-based Olin, pointed the finger at the workers' failure to accept a contract that guaranteed seven years of job security in exchange for reductions in vacation time, an elimination of a matching company contribution to retirement plans and other incentives."
STL Today
St. Louis is part of the old rust belt. At one time we had all kinds of high paying manufacturing jobs. We made cars, shoes, chemicals, steel and all sorts of other things. We were headquarters for many Fortune 500 companies. There was the Chrysler, Ford and Chevy plants. This is where the Corvette was built. We were second only to Detroit in auto production.
Well, the times have changed. Yet the unions act as though it's still the '50's and the good times are still rolling along. They demand and demand, even though the unemployment rate is near the levels of the '30's and the future keeps looking worse and worse.
They sell their members a bill of goods and after the jobs leave what does the union do? Nothin'. But the bosses, the guys that convinced their members that there is strength in numbers and if we just hold together we'll get more, well, they still have their jobs, anyway.
At least Olin kept the jobs here in America, I'll give them credit for that. And now, because of the union mentality, more guys are on the streets competing for fewer and fewer jobs. I'd venture to say that none of the guys that lose their job at Olin will ever find a job with comparable wages and benefits to replace them.
It ain't the '50's any more.
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I just retired from Caterpillar Inc. after working there for 35 years. The UAW, our union, messed up things for us in the 80's by demanding that we go out on a strike that lasted a 1 1/2 years that destroyed families, marriages, friendships, and damaged the local economy for years. The union leadership could have made a few compromises that would have benifited everyone in the long run, but no, they had to 'show' the company' we were tough guys. Guess what? The company was even tougher! Now, 20 years after the strike, Cat is moving a lot of the jobs to China, and the south. The problem with many of the unions is not that they're stuck in the 50's, they're stuck in socialism. The UAW, and other unions have been promoting socialist crap like universal health care for years. They have also promoted the Democratic party for years, even though it has become the death culture party. If the unions wish to become relevant again, socialism needs to be thrown out, and realistic teachings about economics and real social justice brought in. Otherwise, the future of the working class will be a very dark one.
ReplyDeleteYou're right on, Scott. I've been in construction all my life, sometimes union, mostly not. The unions can be a force for good but they seldom are. Because of their communist ties.
ReplyDeleteA union, properly organized, would work to benefit both the workers and the companies. After all, if the company can't make a profit how can there be jobs? Capitalism has to benefit everyone or it is evil. Communism is just evil.
I really feel bad for these guys at Olin. They listened to and believed the garbage the union told them and now they'll pay the price. The vast majority have lost a job that will never be replaced. They've gone from a decent wage and benefits to minimum wage slavery, probably for the rest of their lives, especially the guys over 40.
But the union doesn't care. They'll walk away from these guys and focus on demonizing Olin for making a rational business decision. I don't know the details of the contract Olin offered but I'll bet, considering the economic reality we face, it was probably pretty good.
The days of plenty of good, high paying jobs are over, and probably for a long, long time. The sooner all of us come to grips with this and stop acting like nothing's changed, the sooner we can start to turn the corner.
But I'm not holding my breath.