Looks Like I will have some time now

[4VR4CY]

To turn this back from Union/Non-Union, I just want to say that sometimes lay-off help you to move in a direction that you might not have had the courage or financial ability to do before.

We are surviving on 1/2 of what we used to make. It required a few minor changes, but it has worked out well so far for us.

At first it seems like the world is crashing down, but there is a light - no matter how dim it seems.

Good luck!

 

[Dave19642006]

my philosophy is that they spent 8 years of pay to get me into a position that I can could be self reliant. AS for the new people I feel for them also since they do not have the knowledge that I possess. As for the company enough said. The company is not a Union where I was at, across the street at manufactoring they are a Union.

Things will get better eventually, I just can't understand what the criteria was on how they picked the people to let go. There was one person there for 47 years and they let him go, WITHOUT the option to retire he was 59. I know that the company did alot for me and I did too muc for them. I learned from my mistakes, by not giving 100% I should have just given what ever everyone else did-enough to get by.

I never knew an American company that is so one sided that they would try to kill ther company by re-building with new people. Spend a ton of money to get a new warehouse built and let people go.

Sales people would underbid jobs for less then what they should have been sold for and make it up with another job and expect it out next week. Yet they kept there jobs. It seems with them as long as they get paid who cares. Then they get rewarded to go to Cancun because they sold 10million dollars, with a profit of $1,000,000 (Sarcasim) for the company when it should have been 5 fold of what was brought in.

I am surprised I lasted 8 years....

Like I stated before, It will get better and I am proud to be a Cyclone Fan.

 

[JHudd]

To turn this back from Union/Non-Union, I just want to say that sometimes lay-off help you to move in a direction that you might not have had the courage or financial ability to do before.

We are surviving on 1/2 of what we used to make. It required a few minor changes, but it has worked out well so far for us.

At first it seems like the world is crashing down, but there is a light - no matter how dim it seems.

Good luck!

That is exactly how I am looking at my situation, it does make things tough now in the short term but I have confidence that it is going to work out better in the long term. This may be easier for me than some since I am only turning 30 next week but I refuse to look at this with a bad attitude or else I may have my eyes and ears closed to a better opportunity.

I was in a situation close to the OP, phone call and all but I did answer the question. Same industry, not sure if we had the same type of job or not but I was in testing. I like the industry and the people I worked with just hated the actual job I performed. The last layoff came down to me and another guy in a life situation much different then mine with less options and I told my supervisor and HR that I would much rather see him continue working then myself since the outcome would force my hand and push me towards finishing some of my other goals instead of just collecting the same paycheck that was just maintaining our standard of living instead of taking a risk to increase that standard greatly in the future.

I know our situations are different Dave and am not trying to hijack your thread but as someone who was placed in a similar spot the first week of December, keep your head up and good luck! If nothing else I look forward to more of your Military videos you were putting together a year ago or so, some of them have came in very handy prior to some of my classes I have given.

 

[usedcarguy]

my philosophy is that they spent 8 years of pay to get me into a position that I can could be self reliant. AS for the new people I feel for them also since they do not have the knowledge that I possess. As for the company enough said. The company is not a Union where I was at, across the street at manufactoring they are a Union.

Things will get better eventually, I just can't understand what the criteria was on how they picked the people to let go. There was one person there for 47 years and they let him go, WITHOUT the option to retire he was 59. I know that the company did alot for me and I did too muc for them. I learned from my mistakes, by not giving 100% I should have just given what ever everyone else did-enough to get by.

I never knew an American company that is so one sided that they would try to kill ther company by re-building with new people. Spend a ton of money to get a new warehouse built and let people go.

Sales people would underbid jobs for less then what they should have been sold for and make it up with another job and expect it out next week. Yet they kept there jobs. It seems with them as long as they get paid who cares. Then they get rewarded to go to Cancun because they sold 10million dollars, with a profit of $1,000,000 (Sarcasim) for the company when it should have been 5 fold of what was brought in.

I am surprised I lasted 8 years....

Like I stated before, It will get better and I am proud to be a Cyclone Fan.

It sounds like the decisions were made by the bean counters with no regard to productivity. It happens often.

What I've learned over the years:

1) NEVER work for a company that has an HR department.

2) NEVER work for a company unless the top person determines the fate of your compensation and employment, and understands the value of what you do. This way if you are let go, it is because either the company is going under, or you suck.

3) Try to find a job where your compensation is directly proportional to your output. If you can find a job that is commission or piece-meal based, then the expense to your employer becomes variable rather than fixed. Variable expenses are much less likely to get cut as they are directly proportional to output.

4) If you can't find a job which meets at least two of the three above, then start your own business.

People say starting a business is risky, but so is putting your life in the hands of someone else, probably more so. When you get a business of any significant size, the bean counters end up taking over. Nothing wrong with bean counters, but their interests are not always aligned with that of a company's. Their job is to cut costs and that alone is what they are judged upon. They are not judged on a company's productivity. Therefore they are incapable of figuring out an individual's value in relation to their output. The larger the company, the worse it gets as management becomes more removed from what is going on with labor.

This eliminates most all large corporations from being good employment options. Corporations get large because people keep choosing to work for them. Working for one is usually to the detriment of the employee.

 

[usedcarguy]

That is exactly how I am looking at my situation, it does make things tough now in the short term but I have confidence that it is going to work out better in the long term. This may be easier for me than some since I am only turning 30 next week but I refuse to look at this with a bad attitude or else I may have my eyes and ears closed to a better opportunity.

I was in a situation close to the OP, phone call and all but I did answer the question. Same industry, not sure if we had the same type of job or not but I was in testing. I like the industry and the people I worked with just hated the actual job I performed. The last layoff came down to me and another guy in a life situation much different then mine with less options and I told my supervisor and HR that I would much rather see him continue working then myself since the outcome would force my hand and push me towards finishing some of my other goals instead of just collecting the same paycheck that was just maintaining our standard of living instead of taking a risk to increase that standard greatly in the future.

I know our situations are different Dave and am not trying to hijack your thread but as someone who was placed in a similar spot the first week of December, keep your head up and good luck! If nothing else I look forward to more of your Military videos you were putting together a year ago or so, some of them have came in very handy prior to some of my classes I have given.

I've talked to many people over the years who've had their hand forced, so to speak. Most end up better off in the long run. The status quo of comfortability keeps many from achieving greatness.

 

[Cyclonepride]

It sounds like the decisions were made by the bean counters with no regard to productivity. It happens often.

What I've learned over the years:

1) NEVER work for a company that has an HR department.

2) NEVER work for a company unless the top person determines the fate of your compensation and employment, and understands the value of what you do. This way if you are let go, it is because either the company is going under, or you suck.

3) Try to find a job where your compensation is directly proportional to your output. If you can find a job that is commission or piece-meal based, then the expense to your employer becomes variable rather than fixed. Variable expenses are much less likely to get cut as they are directly proportional to output.

4) If you can't find a job which meets at least two of the three above, then start your own business.

People say starting a business is risky, but so is putting your life in the hands of someone else, probably more so. When you get a business of any significant size, the bean counters end up taking over. Nothing wrong with bean counters, but their interests are not always aligned with that of a company's. Their job is to cut costs and that alone is what they are judged upon. They are not judged on a company's productivity. Therefore they are incapable of figuring out an individual's value in relation to their output. The larger the company, the worse it gets as management becomes more removed from what is going on with labor.

This eliminates most all large corporations from being good employment options. Corporations get large because people keep choosing to work for them. Working for one is usually to the detriment of the employee.

Good advice.......this should be printed off by anyone seeking a career.

I've worked commission based jobs for roughly the last 15 years. Nothing else will make you prove your worth, and very little is more rewarding. And damn right.....bean counters look at people as overhead. You need a good enough boss (who has the power to make decisions) who has the balls to stand up and justify your worth to them.

 

[jumbopackage]

these all further illustrate my point. my grandma was forced into early retirement to avoid her from receiving her full pension.

obviously none of you have ever been a part of a union, because your posts are uninformed. you are never going to agree with me, and that is fine. there WOULD have been layoffs, but those who were hired last would go first. this man got screwed, and if he were protected by a strong union this never would have happened.

with good, there will be some bad. the UAW is not a model union. ok, you can think of a bad union, i can think of . Unions are supposed to be good for employers and employees, and the good ones are.

the fact of the matter is, one of my best friends' father does the same thing as mine, and gets paid half as much. i have the best health insurance you can get, he has to pay for it. if his dad gets hurt, tough luck. if my dad gets hurt, he still gets paid. his dad lost over half of his pension. my dad lost a small chunk. they are both highly skilled workers.

i have an uncle that is very undisciplined, not very good at what he does, and in a union. he doesnt ever hold jobs very long. incompetent workers get fired. thats the way it goes.

my dads company is one of the largest caterpillar dealerships in the country, and is doing fine.

And there is a reason that GM, Chrysler and Ford are in deep **** right now. Unions increase the cost of labor which makes US companies uncompetitive in the global market.

The company your friend's father works for has a much better chance of not laying folks off because it costs them half as much for the labor.

LABOR Unions are largely supposed to be good for employees.
TRADE unions are supposed to be good for everyone - and they largely are. There is very little that a labor union brings to the table that benefits anyone other than the members of the union. It hurts consumers, it hurts companies, and it hurts the economy, in the long run.

Why do you think that Wal-mart and pretty much every other major company tries so hard to keep them out? If they were so good for the bottom line, they would have been unionized years ago.

I would have far far less of a problem with unions if they were treated like what they actually are - companies that provide services.

And most of them would fold within weeks.

 

[MontyBurns]

You know what the union did at John Deere in Waterloo, IA? Crawling out of the farm crisis of the eighties and early nineties, the members of the union (by membership vote) sold out all future employees. Same union, same job, different start date, 50% less pay. Big middle finger to everyone but themselves.

Guess granny didn't work for Deere.

The same thing happened at American Airlines. The pilot's union approved a contract that guaranteed jobs at high wages for employees who were already there, but let AA hire all the new employees they wanted with lower pay and benefits. Way lower. They called it "A-scale" and "B-scale". It fueled a great expansion for AA, for awhile. As you might expect, the "B-scale" employees became less happy with their lot in life after awhile, but they couldn't do anything about it.....until one day when the company had grown so much that the "B-scale" employees outnumbered the "A-scale" employees. Then they couldn't get a contract approved and had a labor war that nearly destroyed the airline and cost all the employees money in the long run.

 

[kilgore_trout]

1) NEVER work for a company that has an HR department.

Tell it brother!