Car prices to rise due to tariffs and certain vehicles possibly ...

[JeffKeryk]

But yes-buy American. And I think tariffs used by the U.S. will help level the playing field. We have been screwed since forever.

Screwed by whom?
My experience is the CEOs who have made their decisions towards profit more than anything else. And short term profits, not 10 year and longer timelines.

 

[Torrid]

Screwed by whom?

I'm taking it as a trade imbalance screwing. We've not been to the level of manufacturing that we used to, but it seems the work force isn't looking for those types of jobs when polled about it.

 

[Al]

Absolutely not. In the railroad industry they're trying to take away our pay and way of life. Complete blasphemy.

The haves want us to have nothing and make them more money. It's the only hedge we have to not be destitute.

Union workers feel that way. To each his own

 

[Torrid]

Union workers feel that way. To each his own

Perspective matters a lot. They've taken a lot of our work rules away and the only thing we have left is to bargain for more money. The general public thinks we're overpaid and doesn't understand what it's like. All they say is "it must be nice to make that much". I dare them all to take the job. They'll hire anyone. Everyone says no when you tell them what it's like to be on call for 6 days straight with a 2 hour call and lots of hotel time away from your family.

I don't think you're very well informed on the topic. If you were you wouldn't be anti union.

 

[Ronsant]

Well said. I lament the absence of decent sports sedans from our shores. Admittedly they were few and far between, but they did exist and I miss them.

Cadillac makes two awesome sport sedans, but the regular guy can’t afford them.

 

[Ronsant]

At the start of the video it briefly mentioned the domestic makers making small cars. My first thought was, Vega and Pinto. It shouldn't, those relics are long and dead, that's beating a dead horse, but I'm not sure I'm looking forward to the Big 3 trying their hand again at small and cheap. We're a couple generations removed from those times but I still have this nagging feeling that Detroit would be like "oh you won't buy our expensive profit-heavy big vehicles? well we can make you regret that."
View attachment 271877

I'm not even sure how much I want a small car... cheap yes, but small vehicles tend to just do everything that much worse.

I'm not much of one for rolling back standards but... roll back a bit and you could shave a few percent. Removing the backup camera isn't going to save much (unless if semiconductor products really do get expensive). But if you took out a couple airbags, anything "smart" with forward collision detection etc, and otherwise decontented, could you shave more than a few percent off?

I'm probably tilting at windmills on this one. Only if the economy crashes and burns would low content cheap cars sell again.

Maybe Ford can figure out how to build a compact truck with steelies and sell it for $24k ……….

 

[Torrid]

Cadillac makes two awesome sport sedans, but the regular guy can’t afford them.

That’s true. People go on about expensive EVs and the Tesla Model 3 Performance is the affordable alternative with current pricing.

 

[svtrit]

Perspective matters a lot. They've taken a lot of our work rules away and the only thing we have left is to bargain for more money. The general public thinks we're overpaid and doesn't understand what it's like. All they say is "it must be nice to make that much". I dare them all to take the job. They'll hire anyone. Everyone says no when you tell them what it's like to be on call for 6 days straight with a 2 hour call and lots of hotel time away from your family.

I don't think you're very well informed on the topic. If you were you wouldn't be anti union.

I hire an electrician for work at my plant. I heard he was on 2 day a week work weeks and 3 forced days off, so I have him coming in to do some early maintenance, since he is free. His company had no work for him.

I asked why he only works 2 days and he replied that the union doesn’t have to pay unemployment if he works two days a week. My non union plant is paying him for a full weeks work that his union cannot provide. I am paying the company for his labor, not him directly, but I called him directly to come and work for me.

He has no paid time off. No holiday pay. My non union plant treats people better than his union does.

I wonder how the railroad union gets away with all it does.

 

[Torrid]

I hire an electrician for work at my plant. I heard he was on 2 day a week work weeks and 3 forced days off, so I have him coming in to do some early maintenance, since he is free. His company had no work for him.

I asked why he only works 2 days and he replied that the union doesn’t have to pay unemployment if he works two days a week. My non union plant is paying him for a full weeks work that his union cannot provide. I am paying the company for his labor, not him directly, but I called him directly to come and work for me.

He has no paid time off. No holiday pay. My non union plant treats people better than his union does.

I wonder how the railroad union gets away with all it does.

This is a very long conversation. I only get my paid two weeks of vacation a year. I don't get holiday pay unless I'm working the holiday. At that point I get bonus pay. I also don't get any overtime if I don't work over 10 hours a day and that's including if I hit 40 hours because of the crap deals the railroads have worked with the federal government. Keep in mind that the electrician you're talking to has likely been screwed through business dealings with the government considering how they try and keep unions down.

Just for transparency I made $140k last year. My previous non union railroad paid me $72k my best year. The work load was still similar. It's why I left my last railroad. They don't care about us. They keep us constantly recorded on camera, expect us to be rested no matter the needs of the business to meet a two hour call and will fire us in an instant if we fall asleep even with the train stopped waiting for a signal to advance.

Businesses aren't out here to treat us fairly. They're out to get the most for their money and don't care about us. We cut unions and we instantly become second class citizens. Everyone is out here to say the US treats people fairly and it's very much class warfare. I'm gone 90 hours a week minimum and between working and living in hotels to make what I do.

You wonder how railroad unions get away with what they do? Piss off. You obviously don't understand the lifestyle. I give up everything to keep my family comfortable. At this point I wonder if it's worth it. There's no blue collar way to get ahead in this country these days. The billionaire elite goes out of their way to make sure they can extract every dollar from us. It's just modern slavery.

 

[GON]

This is a very long conversation. I only get my paid two weeks of vacation a year. I don't get holiday pay unless I'm working the holiday. At that point I get bonus pay. I also don't get any overtime if I don't work over 10 hours a day and that's including if I hit 40 hours because of the crap deals the railroads have worked with the federal government. Keep in mind that the electrician you're talking to has likely been screwed through business dealings with the government considering how they try and keep unions down.

Just for transparency I made $140k last year. My previous non union railroad paid me $72k my best year. The work load was still similar. It's why I left my last railroad. They don't care about us. They keep us constantly recorded on camera, expect us to be rested no matter the needs of the business to meet a two hour call and will fire us in an instant if we fall asleep even with the train stopped waiting for a signal to advance.

Businesses aren't out here to treat us fairly. They're out to get the most for their money and don't care about us. We cut unions and we instantly become second class citizens. Everyone is out here to say the US treats people fairly and it's very much class warfare. I'm gone 90 hours a week minimum and between working and living in hotels to make what I do.

You wonder how railroad unions get away with what they do? Piss off. You obviously don't understand the lifestyle. I give up everything to keep my family comfortable. At this point I wonder if it's worth it. There's no blue collar way to get ahead in this country these days. The billionaire elite goes out of their way to make sure they can extract every dollar from us. It's just modern slavery.

$140k annually working as a union employee at the railroad, that is awesome.

Please post a link to your employer's job openings web page. I am sure numerous BITOGers would be interested to see if they are a match for a union position at your organization.

 

[Torrid]

$140k annually working as a union employee at the railroad, that is awesome.

Please post a link to your employer's job openings web page. I am sure numerous BITOGers would be interested to see if they are a match for a union position at your organization.

I'd love to, but that isn't exactly standard. I only get that because of my amount of time in, not to mention if my company comes across the site(and they do those checks) I don't always say glowing things about them, it could jeopardize my employment. Base pay though is still in the area of $100k.

I'll just say it's a class 1 railroad. The possibility of furlough is high and I'm seeing it happen now with the tariff situation, so I'm not sure they're looking to hire now. I think it's the wrong time to get in. I only hope I have enough seniority to not get furloughed like I did during COVID.

 

[CKN]

I'd love to, but that isn't exactly standard. I only get that because of my amount of time in, not to mention if my company comes across the site(and they do those checks) I don't always say glowing things about them, it could jeopardize my employment. Base pay though is still in the area of $100k.

I'll just say it's a class 1 railroad. The possibility of furlough is high and I'm seeing it happen now with the tariff situation, so I'm not sure they're looking to hire now. I think it's the wrong time to get in. I only hope I have enough seniority to not get furloughed like I did during COVID.

Well...they are talking about laying off truckers...and those containers alot of times end up on railroads.

I told my wife in Januray...it was going to be a heck of a ride now......................

 

[Torrid]

Well...they are talking about laying off truckers...and those containers alot of times end up on railroads.

I told my wife in Januray...it was going to be a heck of a ride now......................

They're furloughing here. That's usually the early sign about the economy dropping. Here we go.

 

[scoot]

Watch beer consumption, tracks with layoffs .

 

[Pew]

Perspective matters a lot. They've taken a lot of our work rules away and the only thing we have left is to bargain for more money. The general public thinks we're overpaid and doesn't understand what it's like. All they say is "it must be nice to make that much". I dare them all to take the job. They'll hire anyone. Everyone says no when you tell them what it's like to be on call for 6 days straight with a 2 hour call and lots of hotel time away from your family.

I don't think you're very well informed on the topic. If you were you wouldn't be anti union.

Correct me if I'm wrong but your field is dominated by a few massive companies that merged/bk/bought out during the late 1800s-1900s with little competition and no way for any other company to get in. My assumption is because our rails are privately owned for the most part and the funding it would take to create another class 1 rail company would be astronomically prohibitive.

Which makes me wonder, if conditions will ever improve enough for your field because it's impossible for competition to start now, so your left bouncing around a few companies.

In any case, it's interesting to see the dynamic of people and goods between different transport methods.

 

[Ranger83]

I'm old enough to remember when offshoring gained a full head of steam. Fortunately I had an engineering career that was unaffected by offshoring - at the time at least.

I vividly remember the offshore proponents saying how America should ship blue collar jobs offshore, but how we'd keep the high paying white collar jobs. The factory workers who got riffed could take up computer programming. Those words were actually said.

That didn't work because it overlooked the individual's workplace abilities, their education and training, where they lived, etc. The irony is that over time many engineering jobs have been offshored as well. Who would have imagined the jobs we wanted to keep would eventually be offshored to lower cost areas?! (sarcasm).

Scott

U.S. Manufacturing is fairly stable as a percentage of GDP. But as American manufacturers continually seek labor productivity, manufacturing employment is not.

https://www.nist.gov/el/applied-eco.../manufacturing-economy/total-us-manufacturing

What has to be remedied is the Chinese strategy of using government subsidies to eliminate competition so they can dominate market segments. You need only look at furniture or shipbuilding to see their strategy. The two main competitors in shipbuilding (Japan and Korea) also provide subsidies.

I’m not someone who believes war with China is inevitable. But we are one of the few economies left that can resist their tactics, which are strategically dangerous.

 

[4WD]

This is a very long conversation. I only get my paid two weeks of vacation a year. I don't get holiday pay unless I'm working the holiday. At that point I get bonus pay. I also don't get any overtime if I don't work over 10 hours a day and that's including if I hit 40 hours because of the crap deals the railroads have worked with the federal government. Keep in mind that the electrician you're talking to has likely been screwed through business dealings with the government considering how they try and keep unions down.

Just for transparency I made $140k last year. My previous non union railroad paid me $72k my best year. The work load was still similar. It's why I left my last railroad. They don't care about us. They keep us constantly recorded on camera, expect us to be rested no matter the needs of the business to meet a two hour call and will fire us in an instant if we fall asleep even with the train stopped waiting for a signal to advance.

Businesses aren't out here to treat us fairly. They're out to get the most for their money and don't care about us. We cut unions and we instantly become second class citizens. Everyone is out here to say the US treats people fairly and it's very much class warfare. I'm gone 90 hours a week minimum and between working and living in hotels to make what I do.

You wonder how railroad unions get away with what they do? Piss off. You obviously don't understand the lifestyle. I give up everything to keep my family comfortable. At this point I wonder if it's worth it. There's no blue collar way to get ahead in this country these days. The billionaire elite goes out of their way to make sure they can extract every dollar from us. It's just modern slavery.

Well, WB has gained around $200B from a railroad but maybe you were thinking of someone else …

 

[Torrid]

Well, WB has gained around $200B from a railroad but maybe you were thinking of someone else …

And that’s precisely why we need a union. They’d pay us even less if they could.

 

[KrisZ]

But to go back to your original statement, putting the blame of men not wanting to work because of women is ridiculous. A guy that only works for the attention of women isn't a man at all. He's a man-child and nobody wants to take care of that. I know a few people like that, thinking having a wife will make their problems go away and then wonder why no women want them. Like "dude you got problems that you gotta fix before adding anything else onto your life."

Not sure we're all of the above comes from. I'm talking in general terms, not about people you know and whatever problems they're going through.

Women definitely motivate men to work harder, and there is plenty of data and studies behind this. Married men out earn single men by a very significant margin. This trend tracks across all races and cultures.
You may think it's ridiculous, but that's just how it is.

 

[Ranger83]

/// There's no blue collar way to get ahead in this country these days. //

Almost every state has a shortage of high tech manufacturing workers.

As comedian Ronny Chieng says “If you are willing to die for your country - why aren’t you willing to learn math?”

https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/the-states-suffering-most-from-the-labor-shortage?state=