The UAW and the Little Guy

The UAW and the little guys - I had the pleasure of meeting many good folks at a local glass manufacturing facility near me during my short eight month career there. The plant was known as PPG industries, after the sale of there glass making plants it is now known as PGW. PPG is known world wide and produces paint and chemicals in addition to glassworks. This was one of the good jobs in town, right up there with GM and Timkin. I have written this to share my experience in my big UAW job.

Lets start with the hiring process. It took nearly 7 weeks of test and doctor visits and drug test and so forth to get in the door. This is standard procedure, I was no special case by any means. It was by far the most rigorous hiring process I had ever endured. This followed with a excellent training program that was impressive yet tiresome. They did pay for work boots and new eye glasses as well. It all sounds top notch so far. The most attractive attribute for me was that , not only was this a union shop, but the UAW. How could a guy go wrong with the UAW on his side.

I was surrounded by guys who had worked there for 40 years or more on average. Most workers made between 20 and 26 dollars per hour with full benefits including retirement. Many were retiring and the chance of moving up looked very good. They did not over work me and the environment was very good. The work and the people were very nice. Sounds like the job we all look forward to landing as far as factory work goes.

The starting pay was 9 dollars per hour with a 50 cent raise every 6 months and topped out at 10.50 per hour with no benefits. But I was working under the UAW contract, only that fact alone did not help me pay my bills. Guys I worked with were bringing home an average of 1200 per week while I was clearing just over 300 dollars doing the same work as they were. United we stand, that's our saying. I could not even get a hat at the union meeting, but I could purchase one if I had chose to do so. I can understand a lower starting pay, but let a guy eat is all I am saying. They had no balls when voting this contract in and the union urged those guys to take the deal. I feel the union just needs to keep the membership numbers up as they too are losing there butts in all this mess. These guys need to reflect on how hard people struggled to form unions starting with coal mines and truck drivers. Many have paid the ultimate cost in this journey and I have the utmost respect for every one of them. We have allowed ourselves to weaken in our self centered mindset we now endure. I hope for the sake of our children and grand children things take a drastic turn, but have doubts of ever seeing it in my lifetime.