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To: LTK007 who wrote (4708)	10/3/2002 9:13:44 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57110

I got paid 2.75 an hour. If the danger, brutality and skill level didn't warrant $2.75/hour, you were always welcome to find another job. But, you obviously needed the $2.75/hour and you priced your time accordingly. If a competing company decided that they wanted to get the best lidsmen for the job, they could raise their offering wages to $3.25 and attract the best and get a competitive advantage. And then Alan Wood would say "whoa! they took all of our best lidsmen and now we are stuck with these slackers who aren't as productive. And though their wages are cheaper, their productivity rate is nowhere near as good, so our costs are actually higher...we're going to offer $3.50/hour and get the good guys back or attract other more qualified people into the field". The fact that a job is hi-tech or that the workers are highly trained is meaningless to me. I believe in the free market and the right to work. Unions go counter to both of these ideals.

To: LTK007 who wrote (4708)	10/3/2002 9:22:29 PM
From: Libbyt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 57110

It is all hi-tech, these fellows are highly trained; no way you have people walk in from the street to replace these people. When then President Regan fired all air traffic controllers I'm sure the same arguments were made. IMO this is primarily an issue of one group of individuals having an effect on our entire economy. The "chain reaction" to our economy from this one action is hard to measure in lost productivity, and loss of jobs. The average person who is attempting to earn a living in today's economy I would think would have very little sympathy for those involved with this strike. The timing for this strike, and the timing as far as our national security and economic interests couldn't be worse.

To: LTK007 who wrote (4708)	10/3/2002 9:30:54 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 57110

Another observation is that union workers have this pathetic victim personality thing going. "Unfair Wages", "Unfair Working Conditions"...blah blah blah whine whine whine....if it is unfair, find another freakin job that has better wages or better working conditions and quit yer freakin complaining. Tell me why I shouldn't be able to go into that steel lidsman job that you had and say "I'll do that for 2.50/hour? Why do you, a union or anyone else have the right to tell me I can't compete for a job based on pay scale?

To: LTK007 who wrote (4708)	10/4/2002 12:07:58 AM
From: stormrider1	Respond to of 57110

I worked at a class 7 level Steel Union job during the summers when going to college in the very early 60s and guess what i got paid for one brutal and dangerous job(this specific job i had was listed in the top 5 hardest jobs in the world at that time) as a Lidsman on an old Bee-Hive Coke Furnace. I got paid 2.75 an hour.So you bloody well know what i think of your views Max, you have my respect as I know first-hand about hard work. I spent much of my younger years working for unionized trucking companies as a dock worker here in Pa. Yes the money and benefits were good, but I also have a pair of 40+ year old knees that are shot from this type of work. Although I moved on to management in later years I still have much respect for the common man trying to earn a living, and yes, unions have their place in America. Regards and a Teamster at heart still. Mike