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Biden Does NOT need a BILL to close the border
He only needs a PEN. Thats all he needed to open it.
Thats all he needed to close it. Thats all Trump needed.
Maybe this is just Proof Trump is better than Biden.

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 |  All Boards  |  Guest Posting Area  |  Topic: Gutting of the Middle Class continues 0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
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Author Topic: Gutting of the Middle Class continues  (Read 980 times)
Worton
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« on: 07 04, 11, 05:34:52:PM » Reply

BMW layoffs exemplify the evisceration of the middle
class
Every working American should be dismayed by — and
afraid of — what BMW is doing.
July 03, 2011
by Michael Hiltzik
L A Times

By all accounts, BMW's parts distribution warehouse in
Ontario was one of the jewels of the company's system.
Supplying dealer service departments throughout Southern
California, Arizona and Nevada, it received gold medals
from BMW for its efficiency and employed several of the
top-ranked workers in the country. In the roughly 40
years its workers had been represented by the Teamsters
union, there had never been a labor stoppage.



Times being what they are, when a Teamsters committee
came to the plant in early June to open negotiations
over a new contract to start Sept. 1, they thought they
might be asked to accept minuscule wage increases and
maybe some givebacks on health coverage.



They were stunned by what they heard instead: As of Aug.
31, the plant would be outsourced to an unidentified
third-party logistics company and all but three of its
71 employees laid off.



The union contract will be terminated. Some of the
employees might be offered jobs with the new operator,
but there are no guarantees. And no one expects the new
bosses will match the existing $25 hourly scale or the
health benefits provided now.



The average seniority of employees at Ontario is about
20 years; five have spent 30 years or more at Ontario or
its predecessor warehouse in Carson. Of the employees to
be laid off (according to a notice BMW sent the union),
27 are age 50 or older. The word that came most often to
the lips of workers and their families I've talked to is
"devastated."



Every working American should be dismayed by — and
afraid of — what BMW is doing.

These employees exemplified the best qualities of the
American worker. They devoted their working lives to
BMW, at a time when it was building and solidifying its
U.S. beachhead. Their wages, with benefits, paid for a
reasonable middle-class lifestyle if they managed it
carefully. Throw in the job security they were
encouraged to expect, and they had the confidence to
make sacrifices and investments that contributed to the
economy for the long term, like college education for
the kids, an addition on the house, a new baby. Then one
day they were handed a mass pink slip, effective in a
matter of weeks.
The harvest will be weighed in foreclosed homes, college
educations deferred or abandoned, new cars left in the
dealers' lots (BMWs not excepted) and consumer goods on
the shelf, one more little cascade of blows to the U.S.
economy.


Many of the BMW employees can boast of tenures
stretching back to the bygone era when a job was more
than a job. The longevity of the workforce tells you
that good wages and benefits kept turnover at the plant
low — when companies cared about keeping turnover low.


The company doesn't concede that it's outsourcing the
Ontario plant to save money on wages. It says it brought
in outside logistic contractors at Ontario and four of
its other five parts depots nationwide because it
prefers to focus on its "core expertise" of engineering
and making cars.

Of course, nonunion workforces
generally receive lower pay and benefits than union —
that's the power of collective bargaining — so the math
is hardly a secret.
---
articles.latimes

.com/2011/jul/03/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20110703
JT Ripper
Guest
« Reply #1 on: 10 05, 12, 05:25:55:PM » Reply

Here's a shocker for you.

Many different groups hate the Middle Class and by Middle Class I also include the working poor. Just about anyone with a job.

Corporate America hates them because if there is a large middle class it means that they are paying too much money out in wages. They will not say this publicly.

The Left hates the middle class too. They hate them for many different reasons. A large middle class means that there are fewer people who need their help through Govt. programs therefore they cannot be controlled. They also do not appreciate modern art. They tend to be religious. They may even own a gun and God forbid they might even go hunting on weekends.

When the Left says "Tax the Rich" they really mean tax the middle class and the working poor too. Corporate America likes this because that means they won't be paying those taxes. Many people on the Left are rich too. They will make sure there are enough loopholes so that their accountants will see to it they pay few taxes.

The Middle Class and the working poor cannot afford those high priced accountants therefore the tax burden is always on them.
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