John Deere strike imminent?

[AuH2O]

I did a lot of construction until I was about 25 and even some welding. The vast majority of guys working at the factory are welders. I did a lot of ag construction including building a crapload of Sukup grain bins to name drop one of our ISU athletics benefactors. I could never get the hang of welding. I suck at it.

You can't learn to weld in 2 hours, not the quality level you'd want. You can't learn to weld to the degree you'd want on high quality farm equipment quickly. That's just my opinion of course but there is an art to welding and if it were just screwing nuts on bolts you'd have a point but you're wrong. Just my opinion obviously.

Also you aren't replacing that number of workers easily. That's just false.

I really doubt a vast majority of the people working at the Deere plant are legit certified welders. If so, they sure as hell aren't the ones supposedly making $18-20 per hour. If you're a certified welder and working in a factory for $18/hr then you are a complete idiot.

We've had students that weren't certified but had some ability to weld, and we can't keep them because they can go make $25/hr or more part time while going to school.

It probably depends on the line, but I bet the amount of legit, manual welding is tiny.

 

[VeloClone]

I really doubt a vast majority of the people working at the Deere plant are legit certified welders. If so, they sure as hell aren't the ones supposedly making $18-20 per hour. If you're a certified welder and working in a factory for $18/hr then you are a complete idiot.

We've had students that weren't certified but had some ability to weld, and we can't keep them because they can go make $25/hr or more part time while going to school.

It probably depends on the line, but I bet the amount of legit, manual welding is tiny.

My Dad was a self trained farmer/welder who welded in many jobs that he held over the years. But my Mom was the one who actually got certified as a welder. A woman certifying as a welder still wasn't that common 40 years ago.

 

[AuH2O]

Court order skims down number of union picketers allowed at John Deere Davenport Works

The order from a Scott County judge indicates there's a limit to how many picketers can gather, and puts an end to the use of burn barrels.

www.wqad.com

Maybe I’m just not old enough to really remember strikes. This seems really stupid from Deere’s perspective. I don’t think they have any real public support but I’m not sure the union does either. This seems like it is going to turn people towards the union.

I haven’t heard issues with true harassment but maybe I just have been ignorant of it.

This seems counter-intuitive to me. So people are pissed about the deal the UAW negotiated on their behalf, and that's going to make them more inclined to support the UAW?

Bottom line, this is a great labor market, an inflationary period, and these workers need to cash in on it. I'm not sure why this gets framed as you are either pro Deere or pro UAW. It doesn't seem like either is doing right by these workers.

 

[AuH2O]

My Dad was a self trained farmer/welder who welded in many jobs that he held over the years. But my Mom was the one who actually got certified as a welder. A woman certifying as a welder still wasn't that common 40 years ago.

Hopefully your mom is better welder than my Dad, me, and our other self-trained farmer/welders. I got lots and lots of work on the grinder.

 

[VeloClone]

Hopefully your mom is better welder than my Dad, me, and our other self-trained farmer/welders. I got lots and lots of work on the grinder.

Yeah, I am a terrible welder, but to be fair I really haven't tried my hand at it too much. Kind of like my golf game - you can't expect to be good at something you only do once or twice a year - or as in the case of welding for me, even less frequently.

 

[khardbored]

Deere has a terrible culture right now. They’re internal employee survey results are so bad they stopped doing them. The vast majority of salary personnel feel the same way the UAW guys do. But to act like these are highly skilled laborers are just disingenuous. Maybe 10% of the Union jobs are actually highly skilled jobs, the rest are easily replaceable.

I wonder how much experience matters in the rank and file? I know that 40-50 years ago, it did matter a lot, which is why Deere wanted to keep guys even after their 30 years or bring back guys who had already retired. But perhaps process and technology has now made that less important. I honestly don't know.

 

[BryceC]

I really doubt a vast majority of the people working at the Deere plant are legit certified welders. If so, they sure as hell aren't the ones supposedly making $18-20 per hour. If you're a certified welder and working in a factory for $18/hr then you are a complete idiot.

We've had students that weren't certified but had some ability to weld, and we can't keep them because they can go make $25/hr or more part time while going to school.

It probably depends on the line, but I bet the amount of legit, manual welding is tiny.

I've been in the facility before when they used to do tours. A lot of welding still happens unless things have changed a lot, it's probably been 10 years.

 

[AuH2O]

I've been in the facility before when they used to do tours. A lot of welding still happens unless things have changed a lot, it's probably been 10 years.

I'm sure there's a ton of welding. I mean that not all welding is the same. As an example I worked at a factory making tool boxes for a summer back in the day. For a bunch of those jobs the welding that was required was at the level you could grab somebody of the street and have them doing it in hours no problem. Conversely, I've worked with millwrights fabricating custom hoppers and stuff like that, and it would take not an expert welder, but somebody that has some skill and experience. They were paying college kids good money to weld if they had some skill. I also work with an engineering company and hired out their TIG welder for jobs. He's a good welder, and it's expensive.

I'm sure Deere has mix of that type of welding, some robotic welding, mixed in with some more manual, skilled welding.

 

[Pope]

You just going to keep posting this every day?

Forgive me for expressing the same comment twice in two days. Guess I'm getting old. Appreciate you keeping track, though.

 

[Neptune78]

I really doubt a vast majority of the people working at the Deere plant are legit certified welders. If so, they sure as hell aren't the ones supposedly making $18-20 per hour. If you're a certified welder and working in a factory for $18/hr then you are a complete idiot.....

Those in the know said said the $18 and change pertained to the starting wage at Deere.
I haven't seen any reference to the wage of certfied welders there. Anybody know?

 

[mramseyISU]

My Dad was a self trained farmer/welder who welded in many jobs that he held over the years. But my Mom was the one who actually got certified as a welder. A woman certifying as a welder still wasn't that common 40 years ago.

Shortly after college I worked as a weld engineer in a non-union shop that did a lot of work for Cat. Most of the welders there were "certified" but couldn't weld to save their life. The guy who ran the certifications would give them the setting to run their machine for to run the tests but none of them would use them because they knew better than a guy with a degree in welding. They got 3 shots to pass the certification test which eventually they would accidentally pass. Me being 25 years old with no filter made a smart ass comment about it and one of the guys challenged me to take the test for $20 if I could pass it on the first shot using the settings they were supposed to run. Little did they know I had 4 years of metal shop in high school and was a really good welder. So I pass the test with no problems. Keep in mind this was an x-ray test for the weld. He was pissed and challenged me to take the vertical weld test, maybe 15 out of the 60 guys in the shop had passed that. So double or nothing I took him up on that and asked if anybody else wanted to throw down $20. I ended up walking out of there $100 richer.

 

[jmax71]

I'm sure there's a ton of welding. I mean that not all welding is the same. As an example I worked at a factory making tool boxes for a summer back in the day. For a bunch of those jobs the welding that was required was at the level you could grab somebody of the street and have them doing it in hours no problem. Conversely, I've worked with millwrights fabricating custom hoppers and stuff like that, and it would take not an expert welder, but somebody that has some skill and experience. They were paying college kids good money to weld if they had some skill. I also work with an engineering company and hired out their TIG welder for jobs. He's a good welder, and it's expensive.

I'm sure Deere has mix of that type of welding, some robotic welding, mixed in with some more manual, skilled welding.

I was going to quit posting cause I was turning into that “get off my lawn” guy and I apologize for that. Reading through these posts about welding just reminded me of a good story.First though, Des Moines doesn’t weld stainless or aluminum, or anything that require air tight or water tight ratings so welders that have those skills would probably find much better jobs elsewhere. They do their own weld training and certifications for their own in house purposes: some of the better welders we have had no previous experience until going through weld school.

Now for the story: About 30 years ago I worked with a welder who claimed to be certified in underwater welding as a Navy Seal. ( Uhh, Yeah, Right), but I didn't know how truly great he was till he told me that he was so good he had dolphins trained to bring him weld rod when he needed it!

Sometimes working in a factory has its own benefits in being able to hear great stories everyday.

 

[swiacy]

Just stopped in a GM/Chevy dealership to discuss a new vehicle trade for '22. Salesman said that GM has told them to not make any trades, new orders or commitments for '22 models. So, he said he was only dealing in used vehicles. Speculated that next summer would be the soonest for new deliveries. I wonder if JD is headed that way too eventually and that they may not be under normal pressure to keep production on line as they know they are headed to slow down anyway due to chip and parts lack of availability.

 

[mramseyISU]

I was going to quit posting cause I was turning into that “get off my lawn” guy and I apologize for that. Reading through these posts about welding just reminded me of a good story.First though, Des Moines doesn’t weld stainless or aluminum, or anything that require air tight or water tight ratings so welders that have those skills would probably find much better jobs elsewhere. They do their own weld training and certifications for their own in house purposes: some of the better welders we have had no previous experience until going through weld school.

Now for the story: About 30 years ago I worked with a welder who claimed to be certified in underwater welding as a Navy Seal. ( Uhh, Yeah, Right), but I didn't know how truly great he was till he told me that he was so good he had dolphins trained to bring him weld rod when he needed it!

Sometimes working in a factory has its own benefits in being able to hear great stories everyday.

The chiropractor in my home town was like that. He was apparently a CIA agent that was just hiding out in small town Missouri so the soviets couldn't find him.

 

[Brandon]

Shortly after college I worked as a weld engineer in a non-union shop that did a lot of work for Cat. Most of the welders there were "certified" but couldn't weld to save their life. The guy who ran the certifications would give them the setting to run their machine for to run the tests but none of them would use them because they knew better than a guy with a degree in welding. They got 3 shots to pass the certification test which eventually they would accidentally pass. Me being 25 years old with no filter made a smart ass comment about it and one of the guys challenged me to take the test for $20 if I could pass it on the first shot using the settings they were supposed to run. Little did they know I had 4 years of metal shop in high school and was a really good welder. So I pass the test with no problems. Keep in mind this was an x-ray test for the weld. He was pissed and challenged me to take the vertical weld test, maybe 15 out of the 60 guys in the shop had passed that. So double or nothing I took him up on that and asked if anybody else wanted to throw down $20. I ended up walking out of there $100 richer.

To be fair when I got certified I went to stork testing. They watched you weld, did an xray, and a bend test. Being certified by an employer in house is really being legit certified.

 

[mramseyISU]

To be fair when I got certified I went to stork testing. They watched you weld, did an xray, and a bend test. Being certified by an employer in house is really being legit certified.

Guess I could have been clearer. The x-rays were done at a 3rd party lab in town. Took a couple weeks to get results back.

 

[jmax71]

Those in the know said said the $18 and change pertained to the starting wage at Deere.
I haven't seen any reference to the wage of certfied welders there. Anybody know?

There is no additional pay for any outside certifications or amount of experience you come in with.

 

[Sousaclone]

Now for the story: About 30 years ago I worked with a welder who claimed to be certified in underwater welding as a Navy Seal. ( Uhh, Yeah, Right), but I didn't know how truly great he was till he told me that he was so good he had dolphins trained to bring him weld rod when he needed it!

Sometimes working in a factory has its own benefits in being able to hear great stories everyday.

Yeah it's always interesting the welders that you get when hiring off the street. Some of them are legit and watching them weld is almost a thing of beauty. Others, well...

Took one guy to the testing lab to get tested for 4G under D1.5. This guy who claimed to be certified for bridge work was just amazed that they didn't let him use any power tools to clean the weld and at just how many passes it took to get the weld flush. But, to quote him, "I done filled it up real good". Needless to say he didn't pass even the visual let alone the x-ray. The CWI called me that afternoon and told me that he knew it was going to be a failure just watching the guy weld. Still did the X-Ray and bend test just so that we had backup for when we didn't hire him.

That guy was the reason we made people start welding a test coupon in the yard before dropping the money on getting them certified.

 

[Neptune78]

There is no additional pay for any outside certifications or amount of experience you come in with.

OK. Outside certifications don't matter.
But does anyone know what the welder grade at Deere makes?

 

[jmax71]

Yeah it's always interesting the welders that you get when hiring off the street. Some of them are legit and watching them weld is almost a thing of beauty. Others, well...

Took one guy to the testing lab to get tested for 4G under D1.5. This guy who claimed to be certified for bridge work was just amazed that they didn't let him use any power tools to clean the weld and at just how many passes it took to get the weld flush. But, to quote him, "I done filled it up real good". Needless to say he didn't pass even the visual let alone the x-ray. The CWI called me that afternoon and told me that he knew it was going to be a failure just watching the guy weld. Still did the X-Ray and bend test just so that we had backup for when we didn't hire him.

That guy was the reason we made people start welding a test coupon in the yard before dropping the money on getting them certified.

Yeah, in many cases someone with years of experience is bringing years of bad practices or habits with them.