Lockheed Martin Strikes

[Easy Bakes 253]

Lockheed Martin's largest union is hitting the picket lines at 12:01am Monday. The machinists local 776 voted overwhelmingly to strike.

http://www.the33tv.com/news/kdaf-lockheed-martin-machinists-on-strike-20120422,0,4027723.story

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Lockheed Martin's largest union is hitting the picket lines at 12:01am Monday. The machinists local 776 voted overwhelmingly to strike.

http://www.the33tv.c...0,4027723.story

Another turn of the inflationary screw. Labour must eventually learn that you can't keep demanding more and more for the same or less work and expect to remain employed.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 9, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[Duke87 1,070]

That isn't the issue, though. They're being offered annual raises. What they apparently object to is the health insurance and retirement plans.

Which is where these labor disputes just get asinine. The benefits are there, but the workers feel entitled to pick nits and demand specific this and that and go on strike if they don't get it. Which is particularly absurd when you consider that professional salaried employees, who are higher up on the totem pole, don't get to make such demands. Why? Well, they're not in the club. For the union it's all about me, me, mine, and to hell with everyone else.

(disclosure/disclaimer: I work for Lockheed Martin in an unrelated department. Opinions expressed in this post are solely mine, I'm not speaking on behalf of my employer, yada yada.....)

[hym 358]

Of course they can, especially because of the rise in costs for everything while everyone is continually finding it harder and harder to make ends meet. Remember, this is a US issue. It is not Canada. Try living here and do their work for a month, then you might realize why they are upset.

Just because your cost of living has gone up does not mean you deserve an increase in your compensation. The company's responsibility is to provide you compensation in accordance with the terms of the employment agreement. Your ability or inability to live on that compensation is not the company's concern.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Every little jump in the price of any part of the labour sector results in an inflationary bump in general. If aircraft workers get more, the price of aircraft goes up. This causes a jump in taxes to pay for the new toys, which means that the people in the countries that purchase such things, (us for example) will have to pay more for government (taxes are the price of government) which means we will need more to live because of this little incident in an aircraft plant in the U.S.

I have a fixed income. This doesn't help me a bit. So for the poster who suggested I try to live on the wages of an aircraft production line worker, I would be most happy to do so.

And as for the F35, it hasn't met our specifications yet, so all the hype from our Ministry of Defence about buying them is just so much smoke. At that price, the Treasury Board is now doing all its sums again and the MoD has been removed from the purchase participation of our new fighter, whatever it may be.

[krbe 193]

Canada can make her own planes.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Canada can make her own planes.

That would be nice, but after the Avro Arrow, only DeHavilland is left more or less. However, DeH owns Lear Jet, so I suppose it is possible. The Arrow generation of aeronautics people mostly moved to the U.S. A lot of them wound up at NASA.

Actually, for Arctic patrols, nothing beats the good old DeH Beaver, which hasn't been made in dog's years or more. It would need some beefing up, but it could land anywhere (if equipped with pontoons or skis) and take off in just about nothing. An outfit in Vancouver services them, and there are many still flying. In the Arctic, though, I'd want a twin engine aircraft.

  Edited April 24, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[krbe 193]

Bombardier is still a secondary player in the civilian market (and they bought out all the others, deHavilland, Canadair and Learjet). If Sweden can maintain a military aircraft manufacturer, Canada should be able to, too.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Bombardier is still a secondary player in the civilian market (and they bought out all the others, deHavilland, Canadair and Learjet). If Sweden can maintain a military aircraft manufacturer, Canada should be able to, too.

It is possible. They do bid on the big ship building contracts. Having spun off their recreational products group (BRP), they have become rather lean and mean. However, I don't see the DeHavilland or Learjet divsions gearing up to build a fighter. Mr. Diefenbugger took all that away from us.