dreamdancer 0 #1 August 6, 2011 good news... QuoteIkea workers in Danville, Virginia aren’t taking Thomas Friedman’s advice. Last week, after a three-year struggle, they chose by a 221-69 vote to unionize Ikea’s first manufacturing plant in the United States. Their move defies conventional wisdom that a competitive future requires a lower-wage, less unionized America. And Ikea’s choices – to build a factory in the old capitol of the confederacy, to deploy America’s best union-busters, and ultimately to reign them in – illuminate dynamics that get ignored in debates over outsourcing. Ikea’s example shows how easily European companies can embrace American-style union-busting. And it shows a path for workers to fight back. http://www.alternet.org/story/151909/union_victory_at_virginia_ikea_plant%3A_resistance_grows_against_race-to-bottom_wages/stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Belgian_Draft 0 #2 August 6, 2011 My sincere condolences to the Ikea workers. It is now only a matter of time, maybe just months, before Ikea shuts the plant and replaces those products with imports. May your jobs RIP. HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
hwt 0 #3 August 6, 2011 As a manufacturer myself i can say for positive that these workers just sealed their own fate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #4 August 6, 2011 Back in the 80s, a buddy of mine worked at a Kroger's (a grocery chain). His location unionized. That store never opened their doors again.We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #5 August 6, 2011 i'm sure ikea will survive (walmart next) stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Belgian_Draft 0 #6 August 6, 2011 Quote As a manufacturer myself i can say for positive that these workers just sealed their own fate. Agreed. I would bet even money that most of the 221 that voted for the unionization have never worked in a union shop before. The products Ikea markets are not difficult to obtain and hold a high standard of manufacturing quality. Any number of Asian countries or Mexico can easily produce tha very same product and be up & running so quickly the warehouses will barely notice the change.HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer nowadays is used as a kind of divining rod to locate the most expensive parts adjacent the object we are trying to hit. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
captain_stan 0 #7 August 6, 2011 Quote to deploy America’s best union-busters QuoteAmerican-style union-busting. And it shows a path for workers to fight back. Play that victim card! The tired cliche' "union-busting" conjures up visions of club-wielding bullies. Could you be any more dramatic? Organized labor's adversarial posture and portrayal of an employer being the enemy has caused many a factory to relocate. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #8 August 6, 2011 Quote Organized labor's adversarial posture and portrayal of an employer being the enemy has caused many a factory to relocate. It's the progressive way... We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airdvr 210 #9 August 6, 2011 QuoteTheir move defies conventional wisdom They at least got part of it correct.Please don't dent the planet. Destinations by Roxanne Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
captain_stan 0 #10 August 6, 2011 QuoteAny number of Asian countries or Mexico can easily produce tha very same product. Did you hear our President's recent speech in which he proclaimed that we will "compete with China?" Has anybody noticed how the Chinese are living? Evidently this is the new standard of living for Americans, with or without organized labor. Maybe that's what the OP meant by "race-to-the-bottom-wages." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
StreetScooby 5 #11 August 6, 2011 Quote our President... Obama should go back to community organizing in Chicgao.We are all engines of karma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
naivechic 0 #12 August 6, 2011 I deal with unions on an almost daily basis. If used right, unions can be a very good thing. However, most of the unions that I deal with tend to abuse their power and cause a great amount of additional expense for the employer. The cost of that additional expense ultimately has to be passed on to the consumer. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
GQ_jumper 4 #13 August 6, 2011 QuoteI deal with unions on an almost daily basis. If used right, unions can be a very good thing. However, most of the unions that I deal with tend to abuse their power and cause a great amount of additional expense for the employer. The cost of that additional expense ultimately has to be passed on to the consumer. +1 to that statement. Unions are responsible for bankrupting how many companies? No you don't deserve 75,000 a year for doing a job that a high school drop out can do just because you have worked for a company for 20 years, but haven't earned any sort of positional promotion.History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid. --Dwight D. Eisenhower Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DanJohnson 0 #14 August 6, 2011 Quote +1 to that statement. Unions are responsible for bankrupting how many companies? No you don't deserve 75,000 a year for doing a job that a high school drop out can do just because you have worked for a company for 20 years, but haven't earned any sort of positional promotion. Of course any "high school dropout" can be a grunt. When they expect high pay/ benefits without performing they could bankrupt a nation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mnealtx 0 #15 August 6, 2011 Quote Quote Organized labor's adversarial posture and portrayal of an employer being the enemy has caused many a factory to relocate. It's the progressive way... Mike I love you, Shannon and Jim. POPS 9708 , SCR 14706 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,998 #16 August 6, 2011 >It is now only a matter of time, maybe just months, before Ikea shuts the plant and >replaces those products with imports. Agreed. But as Dreamdancer has stated previously, once they are laid off they will be better off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #17 August 6, 2011 Quote >It is now only a matter of time, maybe just months, before Ikea shuts the plant and >replaces those products with imports. Agreed. But as Dreamdancer has stated previously, once they are laid off they will be better off. though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,998 #18 August 6, 2011 >though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news True! That's like being given two weeks notice that you will be fired. Who wouldn't take that as good news? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mpohl 1 #19 August 6, 2011 And your comment is SO neo-American... Suffice it to say that IKEA was founded by a Swede (socialist country, anyone?), who consistently ranks among the #1 or 2 of wealth in the world. What a sad state of affairs for this country, if even liberals like you consider unionization an enemy... Quote>though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news True! That's like being given two weeks notice that you will be fired. Who wouldn't take that as good news? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #20 August 6, 2011 Quote though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news Are you perchance suggesting that enforced union membership is a good idea? WOW (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,998 #21 August 6, 2011 >if even liberals like you consider unionization an enemy. Oh, I don't think unionization is "an enemy." People can join whatever labor organizations they choose, and make themselves as uncompetitive as they choose. And then consumers can choose to buy the overpriced union-made stuff as well - but generally, they don't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #22 August 6, 2011 Quote >though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news True! That's like being given two weeks notice that you will be fired. Who wouldn't take that as good news? no, it's like having a job and union membership - the rest is your overactive imagination predicting doom and gloom. i predict they'll still have jobs in 2 weeks - and provide a good example to other employers stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,998 #23 August 6, 2011 >i predict they'll still have jobs in 2 weeks . . . Probably. In 2 years? Probably not. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dreamdancer 0 #24 August 6, 2011 Quote Quote though at the moment they have both jobs and union membership so good news Are you perchance suggesting that enforced union membership is a good idea? WOW uh, they voted for the union...stay away from moving propellers - they bite blue skies from thai sky adventures good solid response-provoking keyboarding Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mpohl 1 #25 August 6, 2011 BV. You are loosing it!!!!! IKEA has the MOST appealing design, at the MOST appealing price point! Customers love it, the founder loves it, and the founder has no problems w/ unionization either. Because ultimately we are all in this together! Check out and learn about ALDI and TRADER JOE. Same story, same lesson from the Socialist Countries of Europe. You are so far behind the curve.... Quote>if even liberals like you consider unionization an enemy. Oh, I don't think unionization is "an enemy." People can join whatever labor organizations they choose, and make themselves as uncompetitive as they choose. And then consumers can choose to buy the overpriced union-made stuff as well - but generally, they don't. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
