GE plants and hourly workers before tier wages and after tier wages changed for the worse. It decreases worker and management morale, lowers plant production as workers do not work as well together, and destroyed the strength of the union for each plant. Prior to tier wages the workers all felt everyone worked with equality. After tier wages, all felt inequality in the atmosphere whether they were on the high tier or low. The Company pushed these wage agreements in each plant and they not only hurt all workers in each plant but the company as a whole.
13 replies (most recent on top)
id–ts sticking up for the t rate d rate pay. id–ts saying t rate complaining about t rates pay. They say it’s emotional! Ha ha ha! I say keep drinking that kool aid from the company and the union. March is coming very soon. Layoffs Could be sooner
The guys that whine about today's 'machinist' are funny. You act like nobody knows anything, except yourself. Is it our fault that technology has advanced? Sorry I wasn't on the Landis WW2 grinder today getting filthy. You guys sound mad that machining passed ya by. Oh well, you're probably 'going to retire next contract!'. Yeah why bother learning something new..honestly if I went to a shop and saw anything manual ID probably leave. Tells me the money just isn't there. Still cool to gather around the ol' Bridgeport and talk some sh!t though. Tell us again how you witnessed the stocks 3 way split..
If you don't like it, go find work elsewhere. I did not like GE but they gave me experience, I found work elsewhere. I am happy now and no 2 tier. The reality is most of 273 would like to b–ch about it,but very few take action. Take action!
@2gpf+17DGazTf-
And how many t rates will come and go because of the BS? The games? The lies? The smoke and mirrors? It’s not worth working for a temp position!
@2jbg+17DGazTf, but none of this will move T-Rates to D-rate pay, so it's just emotional.
Once folks are gone performing the same work as, even if your pay doesn't increase you'll
feel better?
Bottom line, GE could post 20 T-Rate openings tomorrow and they'd get 200+ applicants. The
"market" always speaks relative to supply, demand and value of labor.
It is a great idea because the T-Rates have the least amount to lose. It's the D-Rates that have all the comforts in the world to lose. The power is starting to change hand more and more everyday! We're getting tired of being nice, just to be treated like garbage by the D-Rates. We're carrying the water and all they do is drink it.
@2mpr+17DGazTf, great idea! Strike so as to motivate GE to relocate work out Schenectady.
The wage difference just divided the union and caused chaos. The company played the union like a fiddle and it’s worse now. They offer the biggest pile of garbage for contacts and the lower tier guys eat it up afraid of hitting the streets. The lower wage employees do not know what a strike is and do not have the guts to walk....
You are right about the machinists of old compared to today. They were the brains and movements of the modern day CNC. Over the last 20 years a production machinist has become nothing more than a glorified button pusher. I put material in, I touch tool, I push green button. That's basically it. When something goes wrong, they don't even know how it happened because they are so far removed from the procedures. Then they waste days trying to figure out how to fix it. They probably can't even spell CNC!!
@1fnj+17DGazTf, the reason they stay, $ 25/hr. at GE is higher than what Wal-Mart, Starbucks, etc. is paying. The economy has changed it's not our dad's economy anymore.
Best example is a production machinist. 20+ years ago they'd need to how to ID material type and grade, measure it for hardest, pick the right machining tool and speed, machine and mic it as to critical dimensions. Now a days a "Machinist" finds a predetermined labeled blank and bit and puts it in a machine that lets software run its course. The old machinists provided multiple value added steps, pay of $ 40/hr would be unquestioned. Today absent the value added steps the job is probably worth $ 20/hr.
Translate this example to millions of jobs and you can see how the economy has changed and will continue to change. Employers aren't being mean, they are being "real" relative to the true market value of jobs that have had value added steps removed via automation.
A D rate who was hired in 2010 didn't earn sh–! They didn't work for a damn thing. They are the equivalent of a grown adult still living in their parent's basement and telling everybody they have a nice house. They are enjoying the reward of other's hard work and sacrifice. So unless you have 30 plus years with GE already, I don't want to hear a damn thing out of your mouth about how you "earned" what you have. The T rates have little to nothing to keep them dedicated to GE, especially in the long run. What do they have to loose? A pension?? What about the great healthcare coverage that you keep into your retirement years? I know I know! The pride of working at the most technologically advanced employer in the world!! All they have to look forward to is a paycheck that probably makes them feel cheap at the end of the week. If everyone of them went out of their way to move as slowly as possibly and do everything just good enough to barely get by, it wouldn't surprise me. They have no reason to be invested in GE's long term success. What are they really going to get out of it?? They will never be treated any differently no matter what they do.
@1uhz+17DGazTf, here is the cold hard fact about D-Rates. The measure of a person's value is their value in the open. Putting craft (Maintenance) workers aside, tell me how many D-Rates can go job hunting outside of GE and earn upwards of $ 40 an hour and a pension.
The union and D-Rates will say, "they earned it". If it can be taken away (witness IUE-CWA contracts in Louisville (Haier) and Waterford (Momentive) and look at what's been stripped out of those Agreements. Your value is what you can get on the open market. Period.
I surmise that D-Rates are the problem.
You think? Well the company does not care! You agreed to it when you took the job and the union let the company walk all over the t rates with no back bone. The company treated d rates better than the t rates shortly after post 2011. Managers talked down to t rates but kissed the d rates back side. Fast forward now the managers walk all over the union. We can not stand for one topic, T’s want more wages D’Sand t’s want better healthcare. T’s want a pension like the D’s. For 7 years or so the t rates were paying the same dues as a d but only getting half the perks. Now to fix that the T’s pay a couple bucks less and the d’s pay couple bucks more in dues. Still equality is broken, unity is broken and sweetheart deals are flying around like hot cakes. That is why so many good t rate employees have left they saw the un repairable union. Those who left are the smart ones now they don’t have to worry about their job day in and day out anymore. More layoffs to come it is just a matter of time. That my friends is the new GE so enjoy it while it’s still here and no one cares about your no pension, lower wages now. The union is completely divided like the companies plan. T rates are the problem in this mess