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United Automobile Workers of America (UAW)

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#19048 of 19798 Last Ride on 1960s Wheels... by lemko

Jun 29, 2012 (5:53 am)

SEPTA to Scrap the Last Silverliner II
 
Alas, even Budd itself no longer exists but as a wispy memory. I remember the massive Budd plant on Red Lion Road in NE Philly. The huge plant on Hunting Park Avenue in North Philly's Nicetown neighborhood still stands abandoned. It makes me sad to think that my Dad's generation and part of mine will probably be the last to manufacture such awesome things as railcars in this country.

#19049 of 19798 Re: Last Ride on 1960s Wheels... [lemko] by gagrice

Jun 29, 2012 (3:44 pm)

Replying to: lemko (Jun 29, 2012 5:53 am)
I lost interest in the railroads long before 1963. By that time they had ruined them with diesel electrics. My buddy and I jumped on a slow moving freight when I was about 13. We went for a couple miles and jumped off and hiked home. We wanted to be hobos. That was close to the end of the Steam era. Railroads were not the same after the steam engines. They were a thing of beauty in motion. PA is lucky that Hyundai decided to assemble the next generation of rail car in the State. PA is not what you would call the best place to start a business. It would have been better if SEPTA authorities had insisted on 100% Made in USA rail cars. That is what is killing the Unions and middle class workers. Unskilled parts assemblers are all that is needed.
 
http://www.thumbtack.com/survey

#19050 of 19798 lemko by marsha7

Jul 02, 2012 (6:36 am)

"The Hyundai-Rotem plant is a non-union shop using relatively low-paid, unskilled labor - not like the old Budd plants where the workers were true artisans."
 
Were they true artisans, or just more union hacks making RR cars instead of passenger cars???

#19051 of 19798 Re: lemko [marsha7] by lemko

Jul 02, 2012 (6:49 am)

Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 02, 2012 6:36 am)
No, they were true artisans and metal craftsmen. Those Silverliner II cars were built in 1963 in the Red Lion Road Budd plant in NE Philadelphia and are still on the rails today. I doubt very much those Hyundai-Rotem cars will last remotely as long. SEPTA is already having problems with these defect-laden cars: doors that won't close properly, electrical gremlins galore, etc. The old Budd workers would never let a railcar leave the factory like that.

#19052 of 19798 Re: lemko [lemko] by imidazol97

Jul 02, 2012 (7:01 am)

Replying to: lemko (Jul 02, 2012 6:49 am)
> SEPTA is already having problems with these defect-laden cars: doors that won't close properly, electrical gremlins galore, etc.
 
And those are not necessarily the fault of the workers. They can only use the materials and specifications supplied by the beancounters and the engineers. And the attorneys specify they can do minimum and get by with it legally if sued for damages...
 
Same quality thing that happened to certain GM products in some cases--they started using the Korean (Hyundai/Kia/toy/Honda) mimimum spec techniques and then things don't last in the real world like we would hope.
 
I saw a display of a particular auto part from various manufacturers torn down. The minimum amount of materials used for certain parts within the auto item was appalling from some companies. No wonder those car companies have continual problems through the decade with their parts.

#19053 of 19798 Re: lemko [imidazol97] by gagrice

Jul 02, 2012 (7:28 am)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Jul 02, 2012 7:01 am)
Keith, glad to see you are a storm survivor. I wondered about you when the devastation in some parts of Ohio were shown.
 
I think we are seeing a dumbing down of quality by all the auto makers. To keep the prices low. It is hard to blame a worker for installing a part the automaker gets from Korea or China when it fails. I don't think there is a 100% USA made vehicle today. Last I checked the Ford Explorer is 85% along with a couple models from HonToy.

#19054 of 19798 Re: lemko [gagrice] by imidazol97

Jul 02, 2012 (7:45 am)

Replying to: gagrice (Jul 02, 2012 7:28 am)
Thanks for thinking about our area and the storms. There are many without power in our metro and rural area; we have underground lines. Our feeder line went out during Hurricane Ike but was repaired about 12 horus later.
 
Our son is just off campus in Columbus in an older, upscale housing area with lots of old trees. While many of the units are apartments because of OSU, there are many people living in expensive, small and large homes with huge amounts of tree damage in that quadrant of Columbus. AEP estimates July 7 for having all power back on for that quadrant. Lots of suffering. AND the bus union went on strike at 3 am this morning. Many people had cars damaged by falling timber. The union had several hefty pay raises in recent years. I caught the number 9% on a radio talk show that I tune in from Columbus.
 
Instead of Obama trying to earn points by declaring Ohio a disaster area, he needs to tell his donor union to get back to work and shut up.
 
Because so many states have been hit by major outages, the trucks that come in from other power companies are being spread around over many states. Ordinarily, a huge number would be working in one area to get everyone connected again.
 
Maybe Obama could have the UAW workers come in and help.

#19055 of 19798 Re: lemko [imidazol97] by steve_ HOST

Jul 02, 2012 (7:52 am)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Jul 02, 2012 7:45 am)
I thought they were all out in Colorado fighting fires.
 
My sister lost a big chunk of a ~120 year old walnut tree back in NW Virginia and she's just sick about it. No power in her area of rural Shenandoah County, although the outages are spotty.
 
The UAW's agreement to share profits instead of raising wages is affecting Canadian autoworkers.
 
CAW under pressure to consider the unthinkable: Profit sharing (Detroit Free Press)

#19056 of 19798 I am losing sleep over the by marsha7

Jul 02, 2012 (8:16 am)

fact that I can't blame this on the UAW... ...last week the power window switch on my Crown Vic went bad for the second time...all the windows would work except the contact made for the driver's window was bad, so it would go down but not up...
 
The factory one lasted 6 years, this Ford replacement lasted only 2 years...when I spoke to the technician, he jokingly said it was probably made in Mexico...we looked at the box...
 
You guessed it...it said "Made in Mexico"...I wanted to blame those union boys so much, but this was not their fault...unless the UAW has signed up Mexicans in Mexico...

#19057 of 19798 Re: lemko [imidazol97] by gagrice

Jul 02, 2012 (8:20 am)

Replying to: imidazol97 (Jul 02, 2012 7:45 am)
And the Unions wonder why the voters are electing people like Walker in Wisconsin. Are these union people brain dead? If they were making minimum wage with no benefits they would have a good reason to strike. Trying to hurt the working classes by going on strike is immoral in my opinion. A bus strike does not hurt the wealthy 1% in the least. It is the poor dishwasher and waitresses that will not get paid if they have no way to get to work. People making a fraction of what a city bus driver makes. I look for more and more ballot measures limiting the power of Public employee unions.

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