Home

Join

Main Menu



blog advertising is good for you
Powered by Disqus

Links

Like IB

«
»

A Point of Personal Privilege

I got some flack Tuesday for a blog post I wrote regarding the rocket scientists over at the GM stamping plant who voted themselves out of a job.  I had a number of people ask me what would I do if my employer wanted me to take a 50-percent wage cut?

I can answer that question pretty easily because I had a similar situation occur back in 2003.  My boss had run for Governor of Illinois and lost so a lot of us ended up losing our jobs.   I was let go.  Luckily I had savings and paid off some debt to make it for the next few months.   Three months later I got offered a job playing morning radio talk show host.  It was a great opportunity, but it only paid 65-percent of my former salary.  So what did I do?  I took it.

I did it in part because it was something I always wanted to do and secondly, it was steady pay.   I knew had to make up the difference in pay, so I used the part-time and freelance jobs that I had picked up over the past three months to supplement my income.  And by the time it was said and done,  I was making more than I did with my old job.  It just took some ingenuity and some creativity instead of whining and engaging in self-destructive behavior.

Now I will freely admit my situation is a little different than most people.  A single guy in his late 20s and early 30s probably has a few more options than someone in their 50s with a family.  However,  how we deal with adversity is the true testament of our character.   We can whine and shutdown or stand-up and take on the challenge head on.

Obviously, the workers at GM who voted themselves out of job decided that they would rather face unemployment.

Posted: 09|29|10 at 6:16 am by Abdul Hakim-Shabazz
Follow this entry via RSS 2.0. Comment | Trackback

  • On the Side of Blue

    I seriously fear that many, if not most have lived from paycheck to paycheck and have little if anything to fall back on once they are out of a job. I say fear because by early 2011, those who are not relocated will be suckling on the government tit and may find it hard if not impossible to find work that pays what they are used to making. Those lucky enough to relocate are going to find it difficult to say the least to sell their homes here in Indy for what they have invested in them. However this all fits nicely into the current national administration outlook for America…sit back and let the government support you, take care of you, and tell you how to live your life while the rest of the nation who hasn’t figured it out yet pays into the means to support all that your government gives you.
    When will people figure out that the govenment can’t give ANYBODY, ANYTHING that they do not first take from SOMEONE else. Good luck former GM workers, I wish I could support you in your decision, but I’m just not feeling it. I guess I, along with every other working stiff, will have to settle for supporting your unemployment benefits.

  • Think Again

    You’re completely right about your personal situation, which I’ve also faced, and the local GM stamping plant.

    A few things to consider, please, genteel Host:

    You had a solid education and that gave you more options than almost any of the GM employees. If only everyone realized the value of a good education, and the need for government and all of us to invest properly. That education was made possible by your hard work and the sacrifices of you and/or your family. And all of us, because there’s not a university in America that hasn’t accepted various amounts of federal and state aid. An education will always place you in a better light during tough times.

    And, I’m afraid those GM employees were caught up in a battle that was much bigger than them. I think they were pawns.

    And, the plant owner is an opportunist whose play-my-game-or-I-move-overseas tripe is oft-repeated and getting a little old. Thank you, NAFTA, Bill Clinton and both Presidents Bush.

    Lastly, while you may have been right, hundreds of jobs getting flushed, even for dumb reasons, is nothing about which you should be smug.

    Congrats on a case history in bootstrap-pulling-up. A little less vitriolic taunting, please. Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    I see it this way: The GM employees were told they are out of a job. They saw another employer who offered them a job, but at less pay. They refused that job. There is something wrong with that mentality…

    -Now just what are they going to do? Will their union give them wages, or will they all go on the public dole because they refuse to work?

  • Melyssa

    I feel sorry for these factory workers who can’t think outside their small little boxes to understand that perhaps losing a factory job could be the best thing that ever happened to their opportunity for personal growth.

    I bet Abdul is glad he lost his gov’t job. Look at where it led for him.

  • Indianadobie

    Everyone complains about companies outsourcing jobs. But when you see something like this – where a company comes in and offers to keep people employed and is told to forget it – it becomes hard to blame them.

  • Anonymous

    Unions love to lord over companies with threats to take them down. In fact, today the AFL-CIO is asking the administration in DC to publicly take over private corporations and is spending $50 million to elect Democrats to office aimed toward that.

  • Anonymous

    If nothing else you take the job that is offered until you can find something better. The other thing to consider is whether there were lots of these workers who wanted the newly offered job but a majority vote of the union prevented them from having that opportunity. Once again, allowing your future to be determined by the opinion of the majority isn’t really the best policy. BTW – don’t we have some elections coming up? ;-)

  • Think Again

    Paul, that’s not the case.

    Abdul: you were fortunate to have a solid education behind you. You are a walking, talking example of the value of a good education. I know your new radio job wasn’t in law. But your collective college experience helped land you on your feet then, and someday, it will do it again, albeit probably at a larger pay scale (with all your jobs combined). You’re like the Haitian family on “Living Color” that jokes about having only five jobs, mahhhn.

    You, your family, and us helped facilitate that. I say “us” because there isn’t a single college in America, absent Liberty U., that doesn’t accept some sort of federal funding. And even Liberty and Bob Jones allow students to attend with federally-backed student loans.

    I fear these employees were pawns in a battle much bigger than their collective worlds. Melyssa’s point is well-taken.

    And we can’t forget the culpability of NAFTA, both Presidents Bush, and Pres. Clinton. The owner of this company is likely getting tax breaks to move those jobs. Thanks to the tax code rewrites of 2002-3. Those precious little scams would break your heart.

  • Ramon

    As free Americans, the workers at GM had the right to refuse to accept the slave wages and loss benefits offered by the low wage paying new company. They knew what they were doing. Obviously they have more faith in their skills and ability to find another job. They will also stay part of the GM family. Investigate what JD Normal has done in the other plants he took over and how well he kept his promises. I think we should salute those employees for standing up for what is right and saying enough is enough.

  • Greg

    Full agreement with you if they are willing to man up and own their decision when times get tough and they are not able to find that the grass is greener on the other side. How quickly will they come yelling….help me? If no, then they have my full respect for making a decision and standing by it.

  • pascal

    MYOB instead of theirs still seems sound to me.

  • Guest

    And you Abdul support the American auto worker by buying an American brand car?

  • Abdul

    My last two cars were Mitsubishis made in Bloomington-Normal, IL.

  • Anonymous

    Abdul; Working as an assistant Attorney General (or was it assistant to the Attorney General?) couldn’t have paid all that much to begin with. I’m sure it wasn’t even close to what GM workers make. And was the radio job also 8 hrs. a day, or somewhat less?
    You also had no family to support in 2003, and took a job which people do more out of love than for the pay. (And the radio job had the same/comparable benefits as the Illinois job?)

    It seems that you have compared apples to well, maybe not Toyotas, but perhaps carrots. Your situation was not as analogous to that of the GM workers as you made it appear. Using selected facts while omitting other relevant metrics to make a point is not good for your reputation. At least not when you get caught at it.
    Quit it out.

  • Abdul

    Mal,

    Couple things. I was not an AAG, I was a spokesperson for the office. I did pretty well. I went from $50K for the government to $35K base pay in radio. I admitted I had no children to support. And I was responsible for a three-hour radio show, regardless of how long it took to do it. I learned from my parents that you do what you need to do to maintain the lifestyle you want. Kind of funny how that happens.

  • Abdul

    Maybe if these union guys had a real work ethic they would still have a job.

  • pascal

    Are you saying or implying that those particular union workers do not have a real work ethic or that they did not have a work ethic? If so, please let us know upon what facts in your current possession you are basing that conclusion upon, IF ANY.
    Don’t remember ever seeing your happy face in that plant. And, for your information, even a talk show host ought to know how badly the purported new buyer desired the skills and abilities of that work force. He did make a pretty good effort to obtain those skills and abilities, did he not? My informed guess is that he knew then and knows now about a million times more about the work ethic of Indiana workers than does a talk show host talking about something he knows very little about.

  • Anonymous

    Abdul; You still didn’t address the benefits part. Sorry, my goof, you weren’t an Assistant A.G., you were an assistant to the A.G.

    And $50k/yr. wasn’t exactly a high paying job. I made that my first year as a mechanic at TWA in 1990, with great benefits. And I was underpaid by about $4.00/hr.

    What makes you think the union guys don’t have a work ethic? Perhaps they will do as well as you by working multiple jobs as well, or perhaps they’re not into winning the race to the bottom.

    And unions are bad? Maybe so, but certainly not from my experience. They are needed to combat abuses by managment to squeeze every last bit of profit at the sake of worker’s health/saftey. Funny how unions seem to work great in Europe but not over here.

    And what are you doing online at this time of night?

    Still love ya big brown.

  • Think Again

    Wow. I guess he told YOU, huh Abdul?

  • Dave

    Sure, there are rank & file union members with a show up & get it done work ethic.

    However, union representatives exhibit little in the way of a work ethic, in collusion with conscience free “management,” self serving pocket liners & short sellers, of companies & their owners (share holders); who can trust them to export jobs, far beyond the domestic confines of a common, familiar culture. The theatre, of each, blaming the other or the global market (which ain’t new), has worn very thin.

    We use terms loosely, when we suggest that a company, or let’s say a team, could win anything, in an environment where players & coaches lead a hostile or counterfeit “coexistence,” where each is the saboteur of the other.

  • Dave

    P.S. Abdul’s use of the word privilege is commendable, and his story of adapt & overcome ain’t bragging, ’cause he did it. America’s a place where such stories need telling. I’ll take all the inspiration I can get.

  • Rico

    Then you’re part of the problem, not the solution. And not a dime of tax-payer money should pay their unemployment, welfare, etc.

  • Rico

    Most of those workers learned their respective jobs in less than an hour, as is the case in most auto plants. And as far as work ethic? The labor unions couldn’t give a damn!

  • Think Again

    You really don’t understand the Unemployment system, do you? How it’s funded, how benefits are granted and monitored….you continually display your ignorance.

  • Think Again

    True enough, Dave. But revisit your “we use terms loosely” creed. Then re-read your broad swipes against labor unions.

    I know first-hand of examples where labor unions are excellent additions to companies.

    Admittedly, it’s a shirnkign list. Due in part to union incompetence on some issues, and due in part to America’s overall stance as perhaps the worst trade enforcer on the globe. We have trade rules by which we don’t live, and by which we don’t hold international trade partners accountable.

    Gotta run. Gotta shop for the cheapest big-screen TV at Wal Mart.

  • Rico

    Okay, a-hole, how about food stamps, welfare, etc.?

  • pascal

    “I know first-hand of examples where labor unions are excellent additions to companies.” I imagine that list has shrinked to about zero by now. Unions are always, in my view, a subtraction from the value of a company….they are never an addition to it’s value.
    If you really do know examples then let’s hear your top five or so companies whose unions make them excellent additions. Haiti says you can’t come up with five either now or then.

  • Dave

    You’re right about enforcement, and on that issue, in agreement with Pat Buchanan.

    But, prepare to be DLGF’d on that new TV; to the imputed tune of a referendamned 3% in property taxes; from a “progressive” GA, nostalgic for the inventory tax.

  • pascal

    Rico, I personally guarentee that you could not learn their jobs in less than an hour. It may surprise you to learn that a good number of those workers have college degrees and a higher number have some college credit. In the skilled classifications you could not learn their jobs until years had gone by…too, it is not just learning but doing.

  • pascal

    So, the strawman argument disappears. TA can find no companies where labor unions are excellent additions. Sorta reminds of our affirmative action President who is always talking about “some say this” when you, yourself, don’t know of anyone who ever said anything like it. Wonder is the Pres, like TA, spends time in funny farms talking to the inmates.
    Maybe asking for five companies was too much? How about three then, just three companies that are real ones, helpful if in Indianapolis but wouldn’t want to limit your strawman search.
    However, you ought not shrink your donation to Haiti for this tutoring of your great ignorance.

  • Think Again

    Point made, angel. You’re the one who started that half-assed comment with “unemployment.”

  • Think Again

    Wow, Dave…soon, you’re going ot need a “Dave-t-English” dictionary. But solid points.

  • Think Again

    Oh, Pascla, I just saw your request. I’ll get back to you, but you don’t deserve it.

  • Think Again

    Ya know what? I’m gonna give you one, because that’s what your snarky comments are worth. And it’s a personally-powerful one for me, because my dad worked at the GM Muncie Transmission plant that was shut-down to move to Tonawanda, NY in 1984, mostly because Tonawanda gave up the treasury for the new plant. Dad was “retired”–at 53, from a skilled job hje’d had since he graduated high school. Unless he wanted to move to Tonawanda. Follow closely, Pascal, this is (ultimately) a good story, involving the UAW and GM:

    http://www.wkbw.com/news/local/92260159.html

    Our President (yours and mine) would do well to read this, too. Unions aren’t always the answer, and maybe the Indy plant workers could’ve benefitted from the attitude displayed in the above clip.

    You might need an interpreter for the clip, Pascal. It’s common sense.

    Poof. Be gone.

  • Rico

    It all becomes crystal clear. Dad was a union guy, so you’re an apologist for the labor unions. Despite the devastating effect they’ve had on our manufacturing sector and our economy as a whole, you still think they’re a good idea.

    You’re about as blindly-biased on this issue as you are most others. Hyper-taxation, hyper-regulation, and UNIONS are what’s killing our economy! Try thinking outside your little world of higher parking rates to look at the big picture just once.

    And yours was NOT an example of how unions have improved a company. Look at GM now, and try living in the present!

  • pascal

    http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=20109290309 Your tripe is not on point. You have no personal knowledge. Worse, you refer to the infamous Muncie Plant where your father “worked” probably during the time when missing transmissions were a problem. Company officials discovered GM Union workers and union leaders were spiriting them over the fence at night and selling them on the black market. Common thieves, protected by your dad’s union dues? The thieves were fired but, their friends, probably including your dad, went on strike rather than see justice done. Eventually, the Detroit wimps of GM took the thieves back, backed down, and let the Muncie manager go. Great example. I think the manager’s name was Henley or Henly. The thieves of the UAW don’t appear to have transferred to New York.
    Want to try again? Bet you a lot of money that the manager in Tonawanda would dearly love to be shed of his union as would any manager in GM. It’s common sense, you know. Probably ought to send at least $50 to Haiti for this public undressing……

  • pascal

    Incidently, I expect your Dad will confirm all of these details and probably add a few. I also expect that given the details of the local Indianapolis stamping plant and his being a highly skilled worker that he would vote down the proposal just as they did and for some of the same reasons.

  • Greg

    The way I understand Rico’s comment, if people who have jobs choose to walk away with them, then they should not qualify for unemployment benefits that should be reserved for those who do not have choices in whether or not they have a job. Life sucks sometimes. This is but a smalll example of having support systems available for personal choices. Having said that however, if we were willing to bale out the well-to-do bankers, then by comparison, this is small potatoes, however, equally wrong.

  • pascal

    “And yours was NOT an example of how unions have improved a company.” I can recall fighting against a number of free trade agreements, Most Favored Nation status for China, Chile, etc. etc but Clinton rammed them through with the willing help of GM who wanted to exit the US market and build, essentially, all of their cars in China and other places.
    But, we can give you a do over. Tonawanda GM employees are still overpaid and underworked, modest trimming of outmoded work rules won’t save them for long. The Plant Manager there would, I expect be happy to no longer bear the excess costs unions impose. We could ask? Or, since you have tried to con blog readers into thinking you know something…why not pick a union around here with which they might be familiar? How about some of the economic crooks in the construction trades with their racist Davis Bacon scam? Maybe the USS up in the Northwest of Indiana? How about the UAW, almost public enemies since screwing taxpayers with their pension costs? Maybe ISTA would be more your cup of tea? Share with us all of the rotten instructors the costs of which are born by kids? How has their pension and health care crookedness been doing?

  • Pascal

    TA going dark again….maybe the signal of 1430 is fading….or maybe you called your Dad and found out that you were full of brown materials while Pascal was 100% correct even to the point of your proud father voting against servile wage offers.
    Maybe, means actually, no more than maybe not. In the maybe not arena it could very well be that having dug yourself into a rather deep hole you have decided to go silent and cease digging. In any event, I am informed that the nation of Haiti wants to garnish your paycheck…..almost in toto.