Wow.
I get the point that the union is trying to make.
Lockheed has been making record profits and they only want there share.
But damn it. This could be the straw that breaks the camels back. If they haven't thought about this carefully then the Dem's in the Senate could actual team up with that idiot McCain and make Sweetman/Cox and Air Power Australia (along with the other lackeys and hangers on) smile with glee.
This could kill the program.
Then not only will Lockheed Martin, the US Military and our allies but also the workers lose and lose big.
I hope I'm wrong but this is the wrong time to be pushing this issue. Management and Labor are both idiots.
Management pushed, Labor pushed back and they're both about to get a big stick up the behind with a total lack of vaseline.
It's this kind of $hit that makes me loathe unions. This and their absolutely piss poor work ethic. Fvck 'em.
ReplyDeletesferrin, lockhead doesn't want to give new employees a pension, i hope you never go for a job with them!!!! I know unions can take the piss, but i dont think this is one of thoses times.
ReplyDelete"lockhead doesn't want to give new employees a pension"
ReplyDeleteGood. Let them do 401ks instead. Pensions are unsustainable.
The usefulness of unions has been passed up by history. It is getting ridiculous now. There is a school district union here in California that gives full, lifetime healthcare to its employees, their spouses, AND THEIR FREAKING DEPENDENTS. Another gave lifetime healthcare after only 5 years on the job!!!!!!
ReplyDeletehttp://washingtonexaminer.com/entertainment/health/2012/04/cost-public-retiree-health-care-soars-calif/517056
I just did a paper on Lockheed Martin for a graduate-level accounting class where I explored the damage unfunded pension mandates are doing to LM's operations margins. Their program margins consistently run between 11 and 13% before ad-hoc pension contributions; they drop to around 8% after LM pays to cover shortfalls. Five years ago their operations margins saw hardly any impact. An increase at this rate is unsustainable. They have to do something.
ReplyDeleteFucking unions.
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ReplyDeleteUnions have a proper role in executing a 'best-value' economic endeavor. Unfortunately they rarely play it and I fear this isn't one of those times that they do. It was in the local news a week or so ago that the union's national 'leadership' decided to make a stand here after pension deals similar to what Lockmart is offering were agreed to elsewhere. The delightfully named Bob Cox had his first piece in the Startlegram yesterday and it quoted some really thoughtless good little zombies in the ranks. Such as:
ReplyDelete------
Nick Hight, an eight-year employee, said he is willing to strike for weeks if necessary over the pension issue. "No pension for new hires, that's not good. What if my granddaughter wanted to work here?" Hight said.
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If Nick used the brains God gave him he would have said something like:
"A different retirement system for new hires that's just like the saleried employees went to years ago? That might or might not be a good thing. We need to consider the impact of not being competitive compared to other companies in the future and evaluate the risk to our future members as well as the benefit to our current members. What if my granddaughter wanted to work here... and there was no work?"
I find the concern for 'future' and younger employees highly disingenuous, especially since I know LM hourly people with 20-30 years seniority in the union AND with LM but because they came from another site, only the years they have here count towards seniority. There's some side issues with the medical benefits and perhaps other areas, that might make sense to make a stand on, but I don't get the pension thing. Maybe because mine changed over to what they're resiting about 4 years ago. No harm no foul.
In the meantime Cox is playing this to the hilt with an F-35 angle in the paper again tonight. Cluck Cluck Cluck. What...an... a**