John Deere strike imminent?

1UNI2ISU

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Jan 30, 2013
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They are assigned shifts to picket that are usually around 4-6 hours and there is more food and beer available than an ISU tailgate.

The union pays their full wage and also has support like a makeshift food pantry.

It's not their full wage. It's $255 per week with bonuses at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

My sister is an HR rep at Deere in Waterloo.
 

dmclone

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I don't know any Firestone workers but I'm just going to make a wild guess that they are a lot different than Deere workers. A few decades ago, my wife had to go to firestone to explain benefits, which happened to be during a strike. She got called a scab c*** as she drove through the entrance. Pretty classy.
 

BCClone

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Not exactly sure.
Are those skills useful for working an assembly line job?

A lament across some industries that use the apprentice system (like plumbing and HVAC) is that while kids coming out of high school now have computer/electronics skills, they lack mechanical skills (using wrenches, torches, saws, etc.), which was not the case 20-30 years ago.

Way back when I was in school, everybody took 1/2 year of Home Economics and a 1/2 year of Industrial Arts in grades 7-10. On the IA side, we learned basic wood working, metal working, how to use tools, some basic electricity (how to wire a plug), etc. Great practical life things. HE was great too...knowing how to cook food and sew things is really helpful...makes it easier to move out of mom's basement. I don't think this is a thing anymore in schools, which I think is unfortunate...
Local school has a little in JH for HE. HE has building trades and many affiliate with NIACC for those interested. It can be a crap shoot though. HS guidance counselors don’t like ideas that aren’t theirs so it can be tricky. Should show you an email chain I had with one for a western Civ class for my daughter. His 7th or 8th response was well what do you want her to take. I replied what I said in my original email to take this class online through such and such. Had to wear him down. Then he had to show his pull by not giving her the info timely so she missed the first 2 classes and lost participation points.
 

Urbandale2013

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Most people that run with that line of thinking spend more than they make, and wonder why they can't retire comfortably.
I have similar background and probably better skills than my parents did back when they graduated from school. If you go and look at the inflation adjusted wages I make less than them at the same point. People suck at personal finance but that has always been the case. I wish schools taught personal finance better but that doesn’t mean wages haven’t stagnated for most people. Even with me making less than my parents at this point in their lives I am still very fortunate in life financially so just imagine it for others who haven’t gotten the breaks I have.
 

cyclonespiker33

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I went to high school with at least 3 people that have worked with Deere for 25+ years. All 3 seem to be doing pretty well financially, especially with no college education. Scratch that, 4 people. One hasn't been able to work for the last 5+ years because he weighs 500+lbs.
So they all started over 25 years ago. That's the point. The same thing couldn't happen now.
 

Cyclonepride

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I have similar background and probably better skills than my parents did back when they graduated from school. If you go and look at the inflation adjusted wages I make less than them at the same point. People suck at personal finance but that has always been the case. I wish schools taught personal finance better but that doesn’t mean wages haven’t stagnated for most people. Even with me making less than my parents at this point in their lives I am still very fortunate in life financially so just imagine it for others who haven’t gotten the breaks I have.

The devaluation of the dollar is most definitely a huge problem, and getting bigger by the moment.
 

ISUCyclones2015

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Are those skills useful for working an assembly line job?

A lament across some industries that use the apprentice system (like plumbing and HVAC) is that while kids coming out of high school now have computer/electronics skills, they lack mechanical skills (using wrenches, torches, saws, etc.), which was not the case 20-30 years ago.

Way back when I was in school, everybody took 1/2 year of Home Economics and a 1/2 year of Industrial Arts in grades 7-10. On the IA side, we learned basic wood working, metal working, how to use tools, some basic electricity (how to wire a plug), etc. Great practical life things. HE was great too...knowing how to cook food and sew things is really helpful...makes it easier to move out of mom's basement. I don't think this is a thing anymore in schools, which I think is unfortunate...

Are skills for an assembly line job useful when automation is just gonna snatch those jobs right out of existence?

Should we blame the boomer generation then for taking those classes or studies out of school or blame the children that grew up in that system? If you wanted us to have those skills why remove funding for them? Why remove the teachers? Why change curriculum requirements?

Why not, I don't know, stop relying on the school system to babysit your kids and actually teach them things as a parent.

Failure after failure is attributed to these millennial or Zoomer kids when they were doing what every other kid does, listen to the adults. You failed them. Congratulations you played yourself.
 

Cloneon

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Or removing hard paying, American jobs from JD. These farmers wanna put those technicians out of a job who have spent years learning their craft of diagnostic analysis and repair
It appears to me this debate is around bringing diagnostic code into the public domain. While I disagree with that specifically, it does warrant a more open interface to diagnostic results. That'd give the owner the option of best method for resolution.
 
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CYEATHAWK

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I don't know any Firestone workers but I'm just going to make a wild guess that they are a lot different than Deere workers. A few decades ago, my wife had to go to firestone to explain benefits, which happened to be during a strike. She got called a scab c*** as she drove through the entrance. Pretty classy.


That's it.....Firestone. I don't know the difference in workers. What I do remember is when they brought in the "scabs" the union boys thought they were going to get the best of this. Well, the "scabs" weren't little orphan annie and needless to say when the dust settled things didn't go exactly like the rank and file was hoping.
 

Cloneon

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Truly sad that vocational studies are disappearing in our public educational system. I've maintained not all people or their learning abilities are the same. Forming an educational system biased towards a certain mind is dangerous to an overall economy.
Interesting 'dumb' 69. By that argument we shouldn't be on a grading system either. Care to elaborate why you rated it a 'dumb'?
 

AuH2O

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Local school has a little in JH for HE. HE has building trades and many affiliate with NIACC for those interested. It can be a crap shoot though. HS guidance counselors don’t like ideas that aren’t theirs so it can be tricky. Should show you an email chain I had with one for a western Civ class for my daughter. His 7th or 8th response was well what do you want her to take. I replied what I said in my original email to take this class online through such and such. Had to wear him down. Then he had to show his pull by not giving her the info timely so she missed the first 2 classes and lost participation points.
What I think would be helpful with Industrial Arts is not so much job/career training, but some basic hands-on skills for all students so they can do enough really basic things, or have enough confidence to do some simple things around the house or with a car. You can find a video on Youtube about how to do pretty much anything, but I think there are enough kids that lack the baseline of know-how and confidence to tackle some of this stuff that they are certainly capable of doing.
 
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Macloney

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Are skills for an assembly line job useful when automation is just gonna snatch those jobs right out of existence?

Should we blame the boomer generation then for taking those classes or studies out of school or blame the children that grew up in that system? If you wanted us to have those skills why remove funding for them? Why remove the teachers? Why change curriculum requirements?

Why not, I don't know, stop relying on the school system to babysit your kids and actually teach them things as a parent.

Failure after failure is attributed to these millennial or Zoomer kids when they were doing what every other kid does, listen to the adults. You failed them. Congratulations you played yourself.

We are a very long time away from robots replacing jobs like this. I can only speak about car plants, but almost anything that could be completely automated has been and there are still 800 bodies on the line. The cost to retrofit or build from scratch a car plant would e astronomical and that would be if all of the technology even existed.
 

Pope

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It's not their full wage. It's $255 per week with bonuses at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

How long can these strikers live on an average of $36/day? Not very long.

But then again, how long can Deere live without $17 million/day in profits (based on $6 billion in profits last year)? Not very long.

Should be an interesting game of chicken. I just hope Deere will take some of those profits to improve the lives of their workers rather than passing the added costs on to the consumers. My biggest fear is Deere moving their factories to Mexico.
 

BMWallace

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Are those skills useful for working an assembly line job?

A lament across some industries that use the apprentice system (like plumbing and HVAC) is that while kids coming out of high school now have computer/electronics skills, they lack mechanical skills (using wrenches, torches, saws, etc.), which was not the case 20-30 years ago.

Way back when I was in school, everybody took 1/2 year of Home Economics and a 1/2 year of Industrial Arts in grades 7-10. On the IA side, we learned basic wood working, metal working, how to use tools, some basic electricity (how to wire a plug), etc. Great practical life things. HE was great too...knowing how to cook food and sew things is really helpful...makes it easier to move out of mom's basement. I don't think this is a thing anymore in schools, which I think is unfortunate...
Truly sad that vocational studies are disappearing in our public educational system. I've maintained not all people or their learning abilities are the same. Forming an educational system biased towards a certain mind is dangerous to an overall economy.
I am a little over a decade out of high school, and there was barely anything resembling home ec or industrial arts in my time. The closest thing I had to wood shop was working on theater sets for school plays. If I wanted to have any formal training in a trade type skill, I would have had to go to the community college and take classes there.

That is a result of high schools shifting their focus over the years from preparing kids for the working world, to preparing kids for college. Credential creep has made a college degree a near requirement to entering the work force in a large chunk of the economy. That is what we were told in school: if you want a good paying job, if you want to succeed in life, the only option is college.
 

CYEATHAWK

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Interesting 'dumb' 69. By that argument we shouldn't be on a grading system either. Care to elaborate why you rated it a 'dumb'?

I agree with what you are saying. Most of my wife's family went to the now closed/changed Technical High School in Des Moines. Most of the stuff you need to pay for now at DMACC were certifications offered to high school kids. Most didn't need to take anymore schooling to get into a trade. This was before the powers that be in the government required you have a license for putting on socks. When that happened, the days of getting on the job certified training via a high school were over.
 
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khardbored

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As a 20-something, it's amazing to me to hear about the old days where someone could go work at a factory right after high school graduation, stay in the same company for 47 years, with a spouse who stays home and two kids, and still be able to afford a house and a car and expenses for the kids - all with a pension at retirement at 65. And they'd work a solid 40 hours a week on the floor and no more.

The world has changed so much, in worker-unfriendly ways.

Correction -- it used to be at John Deere, you could retire after 30 years of service.

My dad worked from age 22 @ Deere, 30 years straight and retired at 52. He's now pushing 80 and has the best health insurance I've ever seen (pays $0 premiums, and has an annual out of pocket max of $1,000), a modest-yet-fair pension, dental coverage, and a small company paid life insurance policy.

Meanwhile, I'm currently working full-time for a large corporation and my benefits pale in comparison to this man who hasn't worked a minute for them in 25+ years. I will be lucky to retire at 65.

Dad also doesn't understand how the modern world works, and in his mind getting a job hasn't changed since 1970. "Why don't you just go to your boss and ask him for more time off work?"
 

jbhtexas

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Truly sad that vocational studies are disappearing in our public educational system. I've maintained not all people or their learning abilities are the same. Forming an educational system biased towards a certain mind is dangerous to an overall economy.
The problem I see with vocational studies disappearing in high school is that kids who are skilled and gifted in these areas don't have an opportunity to discover their gifts.

I recently learned that a young man I know opened a wood working shop; turns out he is an incredibly skilled wood worker. He was doing electronics/tech for a few years (because he was pushed there in HS), and not really happy. I don't know the full story, but somehow he got hooked up with a wood worker, and discovered his wood working gifts.

I'm a mechanical engineer. STEM in high school is fine and all, but I have some real problems with the way it is being pushed/implemented, because it often comes at the expense of other important things...like vocational arts.
 

1UNI2ISU

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Correction -- it used to be at John Deere, you could retire after 30 years of service.

My dad worked from age 22 @ Deere, 30 years straight and retired at 52. He's now pushing 80 and has the best health insurance I've ever seen (pays $0 premiums, and has an annual out of pocket max of $1,000), a modest-yet-fair pension, dental coverage, and a small company paid life insurance policy.

Meanwhile, I'm currently working full-time for a large corporation and my benefits pale in comparison to this man who hasn't worked a minute for them in 25+ years. I will be lucky to retire at 65.

Dad also doesn't understand how the modern world works, and in his mind getting a job hasn't changed since 1970. "Why don't you just go to your boss and ask him for more time off work?"

That same group completely sold out all future workers with the 1997 contract when they took most of those post retirement benefits away.
 
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