Colt & OSHA

[FireDevil762]

Originally Posted by griz

Well, Colt clearly does not employ Union labor. Sounds to me like management has decided to cut costs in the manufacturing conditions for the workers in order to maximize profits into his personal accounts. That's partially why OSHA makes their penalties so stiff.

Being a Union shop has nothing to do with staying away from OSHA fines. If anything Colt would have to charge more for their products due to Unions overated payscales vs production. All of which benefit the union bosses. OSHA fines based on hazards which has nothing to do with a manufacturing facility being union or non-union. Ask a UAW vs a Toyota non-union worker. Toyota workers get equal or better payscales, better benefits, etc and do not have to pay or share with anyone.

[aiformula]

anyone else find it mildly ironic that the fine is 223k?

[ElJimmyStrappo]

Originally Posted by aiformula

anyone else find it mildly ironic that the fine is 223k?

That is exactly what I thought when I first saw the article. $223,000

[IHasanXD]

OSHA is coming here next week.

[mullanman]

OSHA is notoriously hard on the industrial and building sector. it doesn't take much to get a fine.

i hope they get it corrected. Being non union has nothing to do with this. In fact their prices would have to go up if it were unionized.

[griz]

Originally Posted by FireDevil762

Being a Union shop has nothing to do with staying away from OSHA fines. If anything Colt would have to charge more for their products due to Unions overated payscales vs production. All of which benefit the union bosses. OSHA fines based on hazards which has nothing to do with a manufacturing facility being union or non-union. Ask a UAW vs a Toyota non-union worker. Toyota workers get equal or better payscales, better benefits, etc and do not have to pay or share with anyone.

Your statement, while correct, has nothing to do with the point I was making. A union shop would not have put up with any dangerous conditions to the workers such as high lead levels, unsanitary conditions, poor working conditions. These working conditions are exactly why Unions were started! To protect the workers RIGHTS and to be treated like humans.

As for Unions costing more to the consumer, only if the owners continue to pile on the profits to their personal bank accounts. Gee... mansions, fancy cars, personal jets and villas in Italy... damn the workers! Let them eat cake!!

I'm as conservative as they come and yes, I'm a member of a national Union. I don't like a LOT of the ideals my Union expects me to regurgitate without question, HOWEVER, I'm paid a very FAIR wage base and benefit package for my training and level of expertise. I make my company a fair amount of money on a daily basis and I feel I earn my keep. Would I do it for less? I sure wouldn't want to and I shouldn't have to but if I worked for a non-Union company doing the same thing, they would charge the consumer the same amount for the same service the main difference being the company owner would keep more of the profit margin. Fair? Yeah, right.

Every non-Union worker in America has benefitted from the Unions. They have brought the wage base up for everyone to increase their standard of living. Thank the Unions for a 5 day 40hr work week and overtime standards. Working conditions have improved due to Unions. The list goes on.

The idealism of Unions isn't a bad one for the worker. It has been abused as of lately. We could go back to the day without Unions and deal with abusive employers, poor working conditions, poor wages, no overtime benefits, etc. Gee... where do I sign up for that??

[Saggin]

Originally Posted by FireDevil762

Being a Union shop has nothing to do with staying away from OSHA fines. If anything Colt would have to charge more for their products due to Unions overated payscales vs production. All of which benefit the union bosses. OSHA fines based on hazards which has nothing to do with a manufacturing facility being union or non-union. Ask a UAW vs a Toyota non-union worker. Toyota workers get equal or better payscales, better benefits, etc and do not have to pay or share with anyone.

I will have to agree with you 100% Firedevil. I have worked in the automotive industry for many many years and all the places I have worked have been non union and the places I worked at had much better safety ratings than our union plants. My Brother inlaw worked for Ford for 35 years and his plant was always getting nailed by OSHA. But for everyone to think about if you are inspected by OSHA and they find any soap dispenser in your restrooms with out soap it is a $2500.00 fine for each instance.

[griz]

Toyota workers get equal or better payscales, better benefits, etc and do not have to pay or share with anyone.

Maybe it's my generation but please remind me when TOYOTA was an AMERICAN owned company? Just where do those profits go? Just who really benefits from a JAPANESE based company growing so large on sales in a foreign country? Didn't these folks decide to have a WAR with us at one time? Why? Funny that now, it's not so much by force as it was originally to now letting us do it to ourselves.

Don't care if every AMERICAN built car had the worst reputation on the planet. I wouldn't buy ANY foreign owned/made vehicle for any reason. I speak ENGLISH and I shouldn't have to press 2 to hear it, I won't own an AK because it symbolizes everything COMMUNISTIC there is (don't give a rats @ss if it goes bang everytime, even in the mud). I spend my money where I make it. I support OUR economy by buying AMERICAN at every opportunity.

As consumers, we want more, want it faster, want an endless supply of it, and want it cheaper yet we want to reward our workers less for supplying it. It we can't do it, then let's give our money to a foreign country for it and build THEIR economy! Gee... that makes perfect sense.

[XDAndMe]

I used to be in a union. Every paycheck they took ample amounts of my money and all they ever did for me was send me a birthday card in the mail one year

Frankly, union or not, the job still sucked. I would rather have been able to keep that money for myself.

[griz]

Originally Posted by XDAndMe

I used to be in a union. Every paycheck they took ample amounts of my money and all they ever did for me was send me a birthday card in the mail one year

Frankly, union or not, the job still sucked. I would rather have been able to keep that money for myself.

I don't recall where any employer, union or not, guaranteed any particular job not to suck. By definition, a JOB does suck. You took the job, you had the right to quit the job. Whether it sucked or not is irrelevant to it being union or not.

I would also rather keep all the money the IRS takes (and fully believes belongs to them) out of my paycheck. They take it for any number of reasons without my true consent but there are benefits to willingly agreeing with the deductions.