What the Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

I can't believe what I read in the Milwaukee Journal today. Apparently, the union workers at Mercury Marine decided it was better for to have no jobs, than for new employees and workers returning from lay-offs to take pay cuts.

Seriously?

Well here's the inside scoop. According to a source of mine who works at the Mercury marine plant, most of the workers are nearing retirement age because the union previously saw to it that workers who were laid off were the younger, newer (and less expensive) employees. So, the average age of the remaining employees is somewhere in the mid 50's. These employees decided that taking pay cuts, and possibly cuts to their pensions would be worse than getting early retirement packages from Mercury. And they're probably right. On the other hand, all of those laid-off employees now have no chance of getting jobs back, and wont get early retirement or severance packages. Let's not forget all of the younger people in the area who were looking forward to someday working for Mercury Marine who will now have to try to find work elsewhere. All of this happening in a community where there are more and more people competing for fewer and fewer manufacturing positions.

Way to go Lodge 1947, you have cut another leg out from the Fond Du Lac community. I hope your retirement in Florida is a bit spoiled when you can't sell your house because all of the younger people in the market are leaving to find work at the plant in Oklahoma where you just sent their jobs.

I'm a bit miffed by this as you may well be able to tell. As I understand it, a union's role is to ensure the beneficial treatment of its current and future members. What kind of future members are you going to have when the plant is closed down? What kind of service are you giving your members that are currently laid off who now have no chance of being re-hired? It's just asinine.

I can only hope that other unions are more responsible to their members and the community at large. Or that some day unions will be as outdated as the work environments they were created to prevent.