Appreciated.

Hey jimbo21165, I believe I read in a post of yours that you're in 'Nawlins?' I'm there several times a year on business. Own a place right in The Quarter. Man, do I love the food down that way! Everytime I'm down there, I always stop by the HD shop in Gretna just across the bridge.

 

Hey, next time you are down, gimme a shout....

Gretna has gotten a few bux outta me, too...

 

Sleepneagle, thanks for the article.


Well, there you go...look at the offer that was made. Are these workers paying attention to what'shappening at Ford or GM?Do they nothave friends or family that havelost a job to China or Mexico, suffereda wage freeze, lost health care benefits, watched a pension fund go belly-up? These workers are clueless!

And if it's the two-tier wage system that they don'tlike (a sticking pointwhen the Milwaukee plants voted on their contract a few months ago),they lookeven more clueless. Do they really think that someone coming in the door has the skill and knowledge of a seasoned veteran?What job doesn't start newbies out at a lower salary? Come on Harley employees, get a clue!

 

If you don't have your bike yet, better get it now. Might be a long wait for a Softtail or a Touring bike if this strike happens.

 

It sounds like the jist of the proposal is cutting the corp.s health care liability. This seems to be the going thing and actually is what is causing the most ripple effect in America. So as a payback for what corporate is adjusting, probably downward in terms of health care costs provided, they are making it up in a fixed cost to them, more money going to labor, both in terms of araise and more money going to their ira's. I'll bet the 2 tier wage issue is not the ball breaker here. Labor is afraid of them having to pay more for their own health care, which is not a fixed amount.

Health care benefits are what have forced Ford and GM to have such poor economics. Too much going out to retirees as well as current employees.

 

Time will tell. I do not know enough about the situation to coment.

The article seems to be written by someone from or for the Mo.Co. That being said, would you expect it to sound anything but one-sided.

 

I agree Matrix. Once the union makes their announcement you can figure the truth to be somewhere in between.

But its too early to make any kneejerk reactions. Theres far too much money to made by both sides to allow this to go on very long.

 

Sure does sound like greed [:@]

 

not that i care either way, but i think a more carefull reading of the article will show that the two tier system is that the starting wage for new hires will be lowered relative to the starting wage that is currently in place, so new hires will start at a lower wage in the future than current new hires.

 

This is theway I understand it also. When the Milwaukee local rejected the first offer,there were a few quotesin our local paper (from both sides) that mentioned this as a sticking point.