Re: Trying to form a Union


"Tom Gardner" <tom(spamless)@ohiobrush.com> wrote in message
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"Roger" <someone@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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Sounds like the counter view point is not a union member. How about
some personal experience stories, Roger.

Paul

I was a Union member, have held a couple of voluntary union posts, became
a manager and could not retain Union membership. I dont see Unions as a
threat, if you are a proactive manager the bulk of Union "issues" are non
events as you have already sorted them - eg Health and Safety is a
management task, not a Unions officials. Unions are a fact of life, good
managers cope with them, just like you deal with customers, suppliers or
bad weather. Thats what managers are paid to do, well they do where I
worked.

Some Unions certainly live in the past - notably the ones representing
the "old" industries (heavy engineering, mining, refining) who have hung
onto overmanning and under skilling. The Unions that had the foresight to
encourage increased skills (electrical trades for one) and encouraged
employers and employees to adapt to new technology have actually
increased their membership and the wages and profits of the companies
they work with.

There is an increasing number of employers who see the threat from third
world countries as a chance to just lower wages and revert to the 19th
Century, rather than develop a skilled, literate and numerate workforce
who cant be bettered by third world workshops - Boeing, Thales, BAE, etc.
are good examples. Plus some niche markets - I know of a printer who has
developed security tags for the retail industry, he used to employ about
ten printer/labourers, now employs about 50 with electronics backgrounds
who produce high tech materials.


My union isn't really a problem but I was told that when I go to sell the
company, I can expect 20% less than if I didn't have a union.

I am surprised that anyone buying a business would even include union
representation in their calculations, accountants usually look at the
balance *** with a 5 year or less payback on the capital outlay plus a 15%
return or better on the capital as operating profit each year. If you are
getting less than that its not a business, its an expensive hobby.

Its interesting how poorly performing businesses focus on labour costs, when
the costs of labour may only be 10% or less of the turnover for the
business. But the managers think nothing of carrying inventory worth more
than the annual wages bill, or persist with machines made in the 1950s. They
cut labour costs relentlessly, the numbers look big, but they have minimal
impact on the profits of the company (cutting 10% off wages will have a less
than 1% impact on profits if wages are 10% of turnover - assuming turnover
stays the same).

Get back to manufacturing basics, read Juran - learn how he took Japan (and
Asia) from an industrial wreck in 1945 into the power house it is today. Its
not new, an American industrial engineer turned Japan around with 1940s
wartime US production methods, but is almost unknown and unread in the USA.


.

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