skilled trades unions. They went for higher wages and benefits to the point
of killing the cash cow. Unions such as the electrical, plumbing and
machinists had unsurpassed apprentice training programs. They were the best
supply of skilled workers. Red tags were rare and a source of shame on
union labor jobs. Instead of going after safety issues which would have
been more meaningful, and reasonable retirement benefits and retirement
support structures they went for "cash now". Regan broke their backs when
the labor costs started becoming prohibitively high and "globalization" was
evident on the horizon. Now skilled trades unions are in disarray as well
as many of their apprenticeship programs. We have all lost out on that
important resource.
I knew a licensed "master plumber and master electrician" in Texas some
years ago in Brownsville - worked with his company for several years as they
bid on some of my subcontracts. When we got to "know" each other over a few
beers one day he told me how he had gotten his masters licenses in Texas - a
"right to work" state which really means that the workers have no rights and
can be fired at any time for any reason. This "master plumber and master
electrician" had graduated from high school and started working for a
construction company. He decided that it was too much like real work which
he didn't care for so he bought several books on plumbing and electricity
and started reading them while sponging off his mother. After 6 months he
took the tests and flunked royally, but he now knew what the tests were
like. Another 6 months went by and he rewrote the tests and flunked again.
Back to the books for a year, another set of tests and another set of
failures. On his fourth attempt he finally passed both exams. He then hired
some local electricians who had no apprenticeship training. His jobs got
more red tags on inspections than all of the other companies put together,
but the inspectors would tell him how to "fix" them. How he stayed in
business was amazing to me. It was a combination of personality, bullshit,
and low bids. He never would have made it in Ohio, Michigan, New York, etc.
where excellent union training programs are in effect. We parted company
when I had to sue him for "phantom workers' hours" on a job.
Somehow or other we as a nation need to set up training programs for the
skilled trades. The young men and women are out there. They just need the
motivation and the skills.
Cliff.
"May the best you've ever seen,
Be the worst you'll ever see;"
from A Scots Toast by Allan Ramsay
----- Original Message -----
From: "R Wink" <rwwink@insightbb.com>
To: <DIY-CNC@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 10:31 AM
Subject: RE: [DIY-CNC] How many axes are possible on a CNC lathe? - now OT
>A few years ago, I did some research for an editorial I was writing. I
> found, as part of that research, something like 90% of the kids entering
> the
> 8th grade didn't graduate from college and something on the order of 40%
> didn't graduate high school...this by federal government statistics.
> So looking at the numbers, say 200 from each grade school going onto
> college
> plan in the 8th grade, only 20 will get out of college with a saleable
> education. 80 will be flipping burgers at McDonalds and the other 100
> will
> be doing ??? with no skills at all. The 80 at McDonalds can't make change
> unless the resister does it for them. The vast majority of the 180 aren't
> able to balance a check book, make change or do any sort of higher math,
> construct an correct English sentence or any of the things you and I take
> for granted.
> It's not a wonder that we're loosing our position in the world economy.
> But enough of that, I guess we'd better get back on subject before we get
> reprimanded.
> R. Wink
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: DIY-CNC@yahoogroups.com [mailto:DIY-CNC@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf
> Of
> Dave
> Sent: Saturday, February 09, 2008 8:48 AM
> To: DIY-CNC@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: Re: [DIY-CNC] How many axes are possible on a CNC lathe? - now OT
>
> That sounds like our situation also. Fort Wayne has a trade school
> program, but we are not in the Fort Wayne district.
>
> Ivy Tech has decent program but they are really setup for post high
> school. The schools my kids are going through are well rated schools,
> they just don't have a decent trades setup.
>
> Ironically most of the people in my area live off skilled trades jobs.
>
> Some of the outlying schools in Indiana are just downright bad from what
> I have heard. I think that Greensburg's (Southeast of Indy about 40
> miles) HS dropout rate is close to 50%. Horrible! They were in the
> national news a year ago or so due to the very high dropout rates. When
> we moved here from Cincinnati 10+ years ago we looked for a decent
> school system. We could have done better, but we could have done much
> worse also.
>
> Dave
>
>
> No virus found in this outgoing message.
> Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> Version: 7.5.516 / Virus Database: 269.19.21/1267 - Release Date: 2/8/2008
> 8:12 PM
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>
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