Oil jumps above $100 on refinery outage

[tw]

Originally Posted by TheMercenary

And why is that Idiot? because the US workers unions made it so. The industry was fucked by the unions, hence they outsourced. Pensions, insurance, required union work conditions have all contributed.

More hate? So union workers created all that stifled innovation for 30 years in GM? Did you ever work in a GM plant? I did. How I could get work accomplished? I found a union worker who took the proper attitude (completely with an arm gesture). Problem solved immediately.

Another example: a pipe fitter probably forgot to tighten a fitting. Materials flowed through that pipe until cooling finally created a leak. The room filled with a dangerous gas. Another pipe fitter held his breath, ran in, cut off the flow, and retreated safely. (I asked him if he was crazy.)

Somehow I got called into a meeting by the plant manager. She had maybe 50 people in the room to discuss the event. Obvious from irrelevant questions was that neither she nor her assistants knew even what the material was used for - how the work gets done. She could not ask a single useful question. But a most damning observation? Neither pipe fitter was there. Nobody who knew what happened was present. No problem. She was an MBA. She conducted a meeting. Therefore she had everything under control.

So many people discussing what none knew anything about? Clearly another example of unions destroying America? Yes, where contempt replaces logic.

TheMercenary, how many more will your hate attack? When an adversarial union exists, then look years (decades) earlier for an adversarial management that too often comes from business schools, has no idea how the work gets done, and who must hire more subordinates.

Legacy costs. GM cars cost more due to legacy costs? Reality: the day that union worker requires, those pension funds should be fully funded. But 1990s GM cars had so many more pistons (were so anti-America) that GM management stopped funding those pension funds. Now GM, et al owe $7 billion to the pension funds. GM blames legacy costs. What anti-Americans let GM forget - they stopped funding those pension funds so claim profits in the 1990s. But again, this is blamed completely on the unions - according to TheMercenary. Hate trumps facts?

How was 1981 Ford saved from bankruptcy? First the MBA was removed - Henry Ford. Then Ford eliminated management. 48 layers of management were reduced to 5. No union workers had to be eliminated. Instead, Ford eliminated the only reason for their problems - management. So Ford Motor went from near bankruptcy to record profits between 1981 and 1990.

When unions get blamed as TheMercenary posts, well, the accuser is better replaced by an immigrant – to make a better America.