Ironworking is a tough trade and when I say they are a breed of their own that’s no lie. They get up early, travel many miles, they’re tough and dedicated. They look death in the eye every single day with beams dangling over their head or releasing their harness to make that impossible connection. It’s a brotherhood like no other, they have each others backs and when jobs are scarce they do what they can to help their fellow brother.

To all the Ironworkers and their family our hearts are with you. I know the feeling of watching your husband leave every morning wondering if the job will be safe. Will he come home in one piece or come home at all? That’s the life of a Ironworkers wife.

Dedicated to Every Hard Working Ironworker out there…

Early dawn starts the day
Miles to go he’s on his way
Callused hands connecting beams
Spudding holes, fulfilling dreams
Welding, bolting, sweating blood
He belongs to a brotherhood
Only the best
Will pass the test
Walking where others will not go
Fear is one thing he will never show
Like an eagle perched high on a tree
He climbs the column and dreams to be free
Free of the worries and stress of his life
Waiting to retire with his wife
He loves his trade
And softly I prayed…

Lord,
Keep him safe on the beam up high
God Bless the Ironworkers in the sky.

I miss you honey…Please be safe!

Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931 to 2005

According to the Center for Automotive Research if the Big 3 go under the country will lose another 3 million jobs. Image the economic impact on our financial system if that happens. In a direct quote:

“Our model estimates that a complete shutdown of Detroit Three U.S. production would
have a major impact on the U.S. economy in terms of lost wages, reductions in social security receipts, personal income taxes paid, and an increase in transfer payments,” said Sean McAlinden, CAR chief economist and the study’s leader. “The government stands to lose on the level of $60 billion in the first year alone, and the three year total is well over $156 billion.”

After reading that it seems $25 million is just a drop in the hat.

The crisis that the auto industry faces is in part their own, but it also has to do with the economic recession that the country is facing. Standard math car sales are down over 40% – that’s a lot of revenue to lose. I do agree with many of the critics, the Big 3 MUST cut unneeded expenses. That does not mean employee wages, they have already been cut by 50% for new employees. That means sell the luxury jets and stop giving bonuses, especially to top execs who already make much more than the middle class American. Eliminate concept automobiles until the economy picks up and profits are there again.

The people of Michigan are glued to the news wondering if they will still have a job at the end of the year. GM alone will be out of money come the end of December and they have already extended the normal holiday shut down for many. With an unemployment rate of 9.3%, we are already struggling to survive in this state residents just can’t afford the collapse of the auto industry.

In favor of the Big 3 – they already have a new labor contract with the UAW that will come into effect in 2010, eliminating legacy benefits that are not needed. They also have new more fuel efficient or hybrid cars that will be hitting the market in 2010, in hopes to increase automobile sales.

In favor of Congress – The Big 3 MUST stop the ridiculous spending. They have to cut unnecessary expenses in order to stay on budget – just like the American families have had too.

Download the Report from The Center for Automotive Research

Every parent that works knows that child care costs are just a part of life. Our sister has been going to school full time from home and was laid off from her job in the fall. She decided to try to open a Child Care business in her home so that she could continue going to school and spend more time with our darling niece.

She has had a difficult time with a mother that brings her precious little girl and school age son to her house for child care. This woman for whatever reason is not paying our sister, she even had help from the state in the beginning. This woman actually had the audacity to cash one of the child care checks the state sent her for our sister and keep the money! Yes, she cashed the check, failed to tell our sister and kept the money! The next week she failed to pay again. When our sister said that she must pay every week, the woman complained that the price was too high, but continued to bring the kids. Last week after writing a check for her child care costs, she called our sister and told her not to deposit the check because it was no good. Then on Monday morning her check from the previous week was returned to the bank unpaid.

Now that the money she owes for child care is piling up, I suggested to our sister to put her foot down. I understand that this woman has bills to pay, but so does our sister who is now working literally for free. A document was typed up stating the exact amounts that were owed and also stated that this woman must pay in cash from that point forward. She freaked, this woman was actually upset and asked our sister how she could do this to her.

Are you kidding me? Our sister cares for these children like they are her own and she has even bought them clothes to keep at her house, since the mother never brings any. After receiving the document and throwing a fit the woman never brought the kids back, telling our sister she found someone to watch them for free. I would have to say she has had free child care for over a month since she has paid with bad checks. She promises to pay when she gets her stimulus check….but we’ll see.

I understand that everyone is having a difficult time financially, especially in the area where we live, but paying for child care is just a part of life if you need to work.

Remember that person that is caring for your children during the day has bills to pay too.

“We have the flexibility to source all of our business to other locations around the world, and we have the right to do so.”

How can a company called “American” Axle threaten to take all of their business outside America? That is just wrong! Mr. Dauch whines about not being able to compete in a market where companies like Delphi have been able to cut wages in half. For one, Delphi was in bankruptcy trying to hang onto their company, and for two Delphi has had to hire back some of their “old” workforce at the “old” wage because they are having issues with their new lower wage “unskilled” workforce.

American Axle had a gross profit of $278 Million in 2007 according to the annual report for investors on their website. Ok, $278 Million sounds a far cry from bankruptcy and if Mr. Dauch is so concerned why not give up some of his $1.47 Million salary or his $7.7 Million in stock options? On top of all that American Axle has illegally terminated disability payments and health care for injured workers, as well as compensation, including health care for laid off workers.

The UAW workers face much criticism when it comes to their salaries for manufacturing jobs. For a better understanding, in an excellent article on Dollars & Sense Sue Helper, who is an economist and was an expert witness in the Dana and Delphi bankruptcy proceedings this summer, has this to say:

“People who don’t work in manufacturing may think of manufacturing work as pushing a button every 20 seconds on some machine. You push the same button every 20 seconds for 20 years and it never changes, so there is not much discretion or skill required. A number of things follow from that picture of manufacturing work. One, maybe people who do it should not get paid very much. And two, why should we try to keep these jobs—who cares if China does them instead?
I think that picture does not have to be true, and in fact is not true in much of U.S. manufacturing today, especially in the auto industry. And there are a number of policies that could incorporate workers’ knowledge and skill into the production process further. All of the automakers have adopted in some form or another the Toyota “just-in-time” production system: assembly plants keep little or no inventory of parts on hand, and the lead time to make parts is very small. That means that if a line gets shut down, say, at a supplier, then that’s going to shut down the line at an assembly plant, and can cost that assembly plant up to thousands of dollars in lost profits for every minute the line is not working. That’s a lot of pressure on a worker. On top of that, the quality requirements are quite high. In part because of this problem with the line possibly being shut down, just-in-time increases the stress and the skill requirements for workers.”

Sue sums it up perfectly and we definatley agree with her. Ask your self this….Would you want an unskilled worker making the parts for your car? Would you take more pride in your work if you made $28 or $14 an hour?

The latest blow from American Axle was over the weekend when they placed employment ads to replace the striking workers. The ad said

“Employment offered to applicants responding to this advertisement will be to fill anticipated attrition replacement openings after negotiations or in place of employees involved in this strike.”

I’d have to say this company is pretty cocky to think that someone in Michigan would cross a picket line and take a striking workers job. IT WON’T HAPPEN!

The UAW Local 235 retaliated on Monday morning when regular laid off workers were to report back to work. They walked 60 of those workers to the entrance of the plant, the workers checked in for work and then…declared that they were on strike! GOOD FOR THEM, United We Stand!

Those 60 workers traded a $360 unemployment check for a $200 strike pay check. Would you do that for your fellow co-workers?

A Texas woman faced extreme humiliation when trying to board a plane. As she went through the metal detectors the alarm sounded due to her nipple piercing and she was asked to step aside for further review with a wand. Mandi Hamlin explained that she was wearing nipple rings that were making the alarm sound. The TSA officers informed her that she would have to remove the piercing, which can be very painful, in order to board the plane. She says that she could hear the snickering from the male agents as she was removing the piercing one of which she need to use pliers for.

I just don’t understand why The TSA would disgrace this woman like that. A simple solution would have been for her to expose the rings to a female officer, use the wand, pat her down and allow her to board the plane. What is wrong with these people, did they think she was going to hurt someone with a nipple ring?

Urinal Bags Don’t Sit Well With Union

Communications Workers of America Union Officials in Colorado say that the telecommunications company Qwest, tried to get their male technicians to use disposable urinal bags to cut down on bathroom time. A manager at Quest actually handed out 25 bags to some male technician and they were told not to spend time looking for a bathroom when in the field. The union has stepped in, but has not filed a grievance yet.

A local union administrative director said that while the union deals with a

“a lot of silliness in corporate America, this one takes the cake.”

Completely inhumane and ridiculous!

My husband thinks this is a touchy subject and that I will receive a lot of flack for saying what I am about to, but it’s my opinion. I will only be speaking as to the Ironworker part of this issue because that is the trade that Chad has been in for 12 years.

Why has it come in our society that we must “baby” everyone and “sugar coat” everything. This is a tough cruel world you should be prepared or it will eat you alive.

When my husband first started working for the union, he like many of the new guys had no clue as to what he was doing. The on the job training is so crucial in his line of work, and safety is a major issue. I remember the countless nights of dinner table conversation that included all the “hell” he had endured during his long day at work. If he was doing something wrong, he was yelled at, he was “punked” out many times, and always had the worse part of any job. Chad knew that this was a union tradition that had been passed down by his forefathers to make certain Apprentices learned the ropes. Yes there were days when he thought he had had enough, but he stuck it out trying to excel everyday so that he could earn his right of being a great Ironworker.

Chad did eventually earn that right of Journeyman status and we truly believe that he learned many valuable lessons by being “punked” as an apprentice. There are many guys in his union called “slugs”, guys that put as little effort forth as possible or are just there for a paycheck. In my opinion using this hard method on the Apprentices teaches them to work hard, respect their forefathers and take extreme pride in their work. If they are there to just collect a paycheck it puts other Ironworkers lives at risk, because they do not care enough to pay attention.

This tradition passed down by generations is no different than the U.S. Military sending you to boot camp. When you arrive you have no clue what you’re getting into, they ride you hard and demean you when you make a mistake, in hopes that you will not make that mistake again. When you exit boot camp you are considered a good tough military soldier. So why would we not do the same in certain workplace conditions, where other people’s lives are at risk daily?

Chad has been training Apprentices on the job for a few years now and he uses the same “hazing” training methods. The guys that he has trained know that he is doing it to make them better Ironworkers and they also know that one day they will be able to help an Apprentice succeed too. These Apprentices, like Chad many years ago work harder and pay more attention to avoid the “hazing”. Is that such a Bad thing?

Stop Whining and Take Pride In Your Job!

An article on our local news station is warning that “sales” men are trying to scam elderly people into buying products at ridiculously high prices, products that they could purchase much cheaper at the local store. The part of this scam that truly boils me over is the way the scammers get the phone numbers for these “prospective” clients. They are placing “raffle” boxes at local businesses, usually raffling off a “free” meal. When you fill out the entry form, you include your name, phone number and AGE. These “sales” men then find the elderly people (which are on a fixed budget) and call them to say “you won a free meal”. When these people arrive at the restaurant they are greeted by a salesman that pitches products to them at astronomical prices. Products like fire extinguishers and smoke detectors, stating that their old ones are not working or inefficient.

The Local Authorities in ARGENTINE TOWNSHIP, Mich do not know who these “sales” men are, so BEWARE! If it is happening in communities here chances are it is happening where you live too. Please warn the people that you know and alert authorities to anything even smelling like a scam.

People like this are dirt, the dregs of the earth, instead of going out and making an honest living, they would rather ruin someone’s entire life to get ahead. Keep you eyes open and help catch a scammer.

We will be hearing that every two weeks from now until ……WHO KNOWS! For the last two years Chad has been able to avoid that dreaded phone call to Marvin on Wednesday mornings to collect his unemployment check, but this year he was not able to weather the storm. This time of year is always the hardest for the Construction Trades in Michigan. The layoffs start coming and you just hope that the company you work for has enough to keep you going until the summer boom hits.

It is almost embarrassing to live in a state where day after day hordes of people are losing their jobs. Our Governor has no words of relief for her Michigan residents. In fact by moving up the primary election, she pretty much screwed us all. The only extra attention that Michigan is receiving is whether or not “our” votes will be counted…..Well at this point WHO CARES!!!! Michigan residents need some serious help here, help with our economy for our struggling families. The people of Michigan would vote for Joe Blow right now if he would help us get back on our feet.

Chad & I are the lucky ones, because he has been able to avoid Marvin up until now. We know that Chad will be back to work even if it takes a couple months, he still has a job. (Thanks to IronWorkers Local 25!) Other families around our state are not as lucky, their jobs are actually gone for good. People that have made it their life to work hard in our factories, are being set aside like last years garbage, forced into “other” areas of employment. With one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and Detroit holding the highest number of foreclosures, things look bleaker for Michigan residents everyday.

Meanwhile we will try to survive on a MARVIN check for now which is only a ¼ of Chad’s regular pay. The short term future reads: eat a lot of Ramen Noodles, and pray the kids don’t have any unexpected expenses….like getting sick.

Beautiful Morning – From High in the Sky

Friend #1 is almost out of unemployment and is complaining that he does not know what he is going to do. Well stop sitting around waiting for a job to land in your lap and go find one. Reading the local newspaper once a day does not count as job hunting.

Friend #2 was “let go” from his job in the fall, he does not have any steady income. He was able to sell things around his house to keep him going for a couple months, but then nothing. He just keeps complaining that there is no work. This Friend has had one small side job that lasted a month or so, but will not take a job an hour away due to the high gas prices. If you are turning down work than don’t complain.

There may not be a vast amount of good jobs out there at the moment, but all the local fast food restaurants are hiring. Yeah it would suck to flip burgers to get by, but at least it’s something. It would be equal to what Friend #1’s unemployment is and Friend #2 has no income so it has to be better.

We agree that something has to be done about the lack of decent jobs in this country, but any job is better than no job. Life will only give back what you put in, so GET A JOB!