$63 per hour ain't enough!

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1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#61
I


Why are working conditions so bad when these people have a union?
I thought people joined unions, paid dues, making union big wigs rich to correct these problems.
My post or rant was probably too long and this may have got over looked.

In Southeastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia there are no unions.

They went on strike in the 70s to secure a union, but that didn't last long. The coal companies did not want a union. Those with union affiliates were blacklisted and could not get a job anywhere so they let the union go. They had to feed their families and had to work for whatever the coal companies were willing to pay them.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#62
There is no 'clean coal' IMO. it must be even worse in China :(
Yeah, I've read that it is a total black out there at times due to the dust and chemicals in the air and that's in the communities. I would hate to see the conditions the miners there are facing at work.
 
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SpoonJuly

Guest
#63
Yeah, it is a terrible situation all the way around. They've been doing the strip mining in Virginia and it is terrible. It is devastating to look at and totally destroying the mountains there.

Coal is profiting no one except the coal corporations.
You might research how coal benefits all of us before you make that statement.
Many would be setting in the dark with no internet or TV if not for coal.
Thousands of families would be without food and shelter tonight if not for coal.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#64
You might research how coal benefits all of us before you make that statement.
Many would be setting in the dark with no internet or TV if not for coal.
Thousands of families would be without food and shelter tonight if not for coal.
I know exactly what coal does and is used for. I'm saying that no one in coal towns are benefiting from it. It has destroyed the land and the miners. I'm from coal country and you can believe me many people have and still are losing their lives for 18 to 25 dollars per hour. If they don't get killed in the mines most are sure to die in their 50's or 60's from black lung, contracted in the coal mines. I've lost many of my family to this and I can assure you they did not profit from it in anyway. Just enough to pay their bills and feed their families. And like post said, there are very limited options for employment other than mining in these towns.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#65
You might research how coal benefits all of us before you make that statement.
Many would be setting in the dark with no internet or TV if not for coal.
Thousands of families would be without food and shelter tonight if not for coal.
I said no one is "profiting" from coal but coal corporations. I didn't say anything about the benefits. There are other ways and resources that can be used to reap those same benefits too, though without polluting the the environment and devastating whole towns....just saying.
 
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SpoonJuly

Guest
#66
I know exactly what coal does and is used for. I'm saying that no one in coal towns are benefiting from it. It has destroyed the land and the miners. I'm from coal country and you can believe me many people have and still are losing their lives for 18 to 25 dollars per hour. If they don't get killed in the mines most are sure to die in their 50's or 60's from black lung, contracted in the coal mines. I've lost many of my family to this and I can assure you they did not profit from it in anyway. Just enough to pay their bills and feed their families. And like post said, there are very limited options for employment other than mining in these towns.
I understand what you are saying. I would never live or work under those conditions. But they are feeding their families as you say, so they are benefiting to some degree.
There are options.
Leave---Move---
At $18 per hour, I could save enough in two years to make a move.
There are people here in Arkansas that pay their bills, feed their families and even save a little on $10 to $12 per hour.
It is all about where you set your priorities.
 
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SpoonJuly

Guest
#67
I said no one is "profiting" from coal but coal corporations. I didn't say anything about the benefits. There are other ways and resources that can be used to reap those same benefits too, though without polluting the the environment and devastating whole towns....just saying.
If they closed all the mines today, how would all those people, including your family members feed their families.
I agree there are better sources of power.
I am 100% solar.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
3,729
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#68
I understand what you are saying. I would never live or work under those conditions. But they are feeding their families as you say, so they are benefiting to some degree.
There are options.
Leave---Move---
At $18 per hour, I could save enough in two years to make a move.
There are people here in Arkansas that pay their bills, feed their families and even save a little on $10 to $12 per hour.
It is all about where you set your priorities.
Many younger people are doing that nowadays. The population is decreasing yearly in these areas due to people moving to try to make a better life. That still leaves many of the elderly folks here with not much hope though. These towns are shutting down. When coal goes there is no lively hood for anyone here. I have a college degree and a good job, but once coal is finally gone these towns will shut down unless the government steps in and brings new options for employment here we are helpless. Folks here are hard working and would work in factories or other jobs if they were available.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#69
If they closed all the mines today, how would all those people, including your family members feed their families.
I agree there are better sources of power.
I am 100% solar.
I kind of answered that in my last post, but that is the thing. These towns have been isolated for so long due to coal companies and even our own state governments were not willing to put interstates or good roads in here so that no other business or trades had any access. They made sure most individuals had no opportunity to do anything here but work in the mines. Now the towns are totally dependent upon coal so unless the government steps in with new job opportunities the situation is hopeless.
 
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SpoonJuly

Guest
#70
Many younger people are doing that nowadays. The population is decreasing yearly in these areas due to people moving to try to make a better life. That still leaves many of the elderly folks here with not much hope though. These towns are shutting down. When coal goes there is no lively hood for anyone here. I have a college degree and a good job, but once coal is finally gone these towns will shut down unless the government steps in and brings new options for employment here we are helpless. Folks here are hard working and would work in factories or other jobs if they were available.
Good for you and those other young people for doing what you had to do for a better life.
I am 73 years old and I remember when things began to change for the better here in Ark when I was much younger. There were some difficult times and for some it is still difficult.

There are some GM workers that should spend some time in your neighborhood.
Maybe they would not be so greedy.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
36,530
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#71
The population is decreasing yearly in these areas due to people moving to try to make a better life. That still leaves many of the elderly folks here with not much hope though. These towns are shutting down. When coal goes there is no lively hood for anyone here.
how do you move away, when a mine dries up and there's almost nothing else in the shrinking little town but a dollar general? who is going to buy your house? it's not easy to pick up and leave.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#72
how do you move away, when a mine dries up and there's almost nothing else in the shrinking little town but a dollar general? who is going to buy your house? it's not easy to pick up and leave.
Yeah, that's a big problem. It happened to a degree a few years back when many of the mines began shutting down. Many miners homes were foreclosed on and a lot of people moved to Western KY to get jobs. I bought a house during that time for a fraction of what it appraises for, even here. In a city the house would value at probably 8 to 10 times what I gave for it. I know though that once the coal mines do finally shut down then this house will be pretty much worthless. That's why the situation is almost hopeless. Unless there are other revenues and employment options brought into coal towns then the situation is bound to get worse.



At present, there is very little in these towns anyways a few grocery stores, retail stores, Walmart and dozens of dollar stores. The hospitals are already a 30 minute to an hour drive for some folks. If they begin shutting down because most of the people move then it is going to put the nearest health care services an hour to hour and half drive for some folks left in these towns.

This has been the situation throughout the years in coal towns. I think it is a shame that the only option most were given was and is coal mining or move. There is so much land here that could be used for other things and other revenues, yet it has been isolated because of no interstates or good roads so that it is not easy access for any other companies or businesses. Coal companies and even the states in coal country made sure there would be no other competition for employment in these towns. Coal was big money for the states as well, yet they put most of that money into building up areas such as Louisville, KY; Richmond,VA; and other cities in these states.

Moscow Mitch McConnell says he is pro-coal...That only means he is for the profits of coal for bigger cities in KY. He is not pro-coal towns or coal miners. He is more worried about being in bed with the Russians than even trying to assist these small towns. He is pro- coal corporations because they pay a big chunk of his election campaign funds.
 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
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#73
They've even got songs about it. You spend your life thinking about ways to get away, but for most it normally turns out this way....just like a country song.

So here's a tribute to my dad, my deceased uncles who suffocated to death from black lung, my granddad who I never met because he was crushed up in a mines, and died before I was even born. So here's to all the miners and their families who suffered and struggled building this country up with no thanks from anyone for their sacrifices and struggles...

 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
3,729
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#74
Sorry GM this thread has officially been hijacked by a COAL MINERS DAUGHTER...lol

I hate big coal, but just like Loretta, I'm proud to be a coal miners daughter...

 

1ofthem

Senior Member
Mar 30, 2016
3,729
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#75
Here ya go GM...You've got power to run them big assembly lines....THANK a COAL MINER....

 

Whispered

Well-known member
Aug 17, 2019
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www.christiancourier.com
#77
September 13, 2019 Top 5 Companies Owned by Ford
The U.S Department of Justice is looking to make a move against the top automakers here.
I think this is more than just a ridiculous demand for higher hourly income as these workers strike because their union tells them to. So what's behind that do we think?
Likely we'll never know however, I think it is all politics.

I have a friend who worked the docks in my former hometown. Car's come in regularly there and one day he asked one of what he calls the suits, those receiving the cars, how much those vehicles really cost. These were current 2016 year Toyota's. One of the SUV's he was looking at ran the buyer just a bit over $2,000.00.

Yes, that's right.
How much was that same SUV on the floor of the dealers showroom?
For that RAV 4 LE, $25,000.00. Thousands of dollars more for the options package. Something like north of $32,000.00

I remember a police officer telling me once that driving is a privilege. You don't have the right to a driving license in America.
Now I really know he meant more than that when it comes to privilege. It's a privilege to be able to buy a new car. Contingent first on your credit score.
Imagine the difference between someone with perfect credit to that one with not so good, as to the interest rate they pay. And often times after financing through "GM Credit". GM? The car manufacturers finance their own creation.

Money,money,money, monnnney!
 
Apr 15, 2017
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#78
GM workers make $63 per hour in pay and benefits and went on strike for more.
Now if you folks want to talk about greed and the love of money, this is a great example.
No wonder new auto are out of the reach of most working folks today.
My dad worked for General Motors for 37 years as skilled trades, and retired from them, and made good money.

He never wanted to be a supervisor, and was not one, and did not want to be on maintenance, but on project.

That way he could sit in the bar for practically the whole day, and sometimes other people would punch him out, all the while getting big money.

And the supervisors know where they are at but being a Union job if there was not a project my dad would sit around the shop, so they did not care.

My dad said he made 15 dollars an hour in 1975 and he got overtime, and when he retired he made about 37 dollars an hour which he retired years ago.

I would say my dad was greedy for money for if he could get more he would want it, and he did not care about the poor and needy.

But you have to look at how much money General Motors makes.

Like Tom Hanks said he struggles with money for he made so much of it for a movie, but he said it has to go somewhere whether the film makers or him.

It does not matter how much money you make as long as it is legal, and not against the ways of God, as long as you follow the rule of God to only go by your needs and not your wants, and to help the poor and needy with money above your needs so it does not matter if you make 1 million dollars a year or 50,000 dollars a year your lifestyle is the same.

But we know the world is greedy for money and can never get enough of it especially in America where millions of dollars and billions of dollars is not enough for them.

So if they only paid the workers 30 dollars an hour top money including benefits which put more money in the pocket of the owners would that really make a difference, or would they still charge the same amount of money for their vehicles seeing the world is based on greediness.

Which God said that this generation shall devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

It is like the cereal companies that stopped putting toys for the children in cereal which some say it was a choking hazard for the smaller children all the while they still sell small toys to children in stores, for it does not matter if they put the age restriction on the cereal box, or at the store, it can be a choking hazard either way, and it is supposed to be off limits for the smaller children.

They gave away much more free stuff years ago, and free service, but do not want to do it now, and those toys in the cereal boxes cost money for the company.

It is all about money and whether they pay minimum wage or more than that they still want as much money as they possibly can get for their products and services.

So does it make a difference whether 63 dollars an hour or 37 dollars, for I would think it does not make a difference because they can never have enough money.

The companies are going to try to get all they can get, and the workers are going to get all they can get.

It is the way of the world, greedy company, greedy workers, greedy everybody of the world.

Pump your own gas, scan your own groceries having one person watch 8 check out machines, make you do the work while upping their prices.

Pro 30:11 There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
Pro 30:12 There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
Pro 30:13 There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.

Pro 30:14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.

Advanced technology caused money and material things to flow like a raging river, and they can reach out to more people to make money, and they heap and heap, and can never have enough, and it brought out the selfishness and arrogance of people more than ever in the history of mankind.

Jesus said since iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold, which is selfishness and arrogance, and they heap and heap because of it.

For the attitude is people basically care about themselves with little regard for anyone else, so you do not care about me, I do not care about you.

And then the attitude is get all you can get and forget everybody else, and they heap and they heap.

And the business man says if I was out on the street would you care about me, so I will bleed you dry of your money, and they heap and they heap.

Everybody is heaping and heaping, and reaping and reaping, whether legal or illegal, does not matter as long as they got the money.

Walmart, billionaires, wealthy, says save money live better, multitude of stores adding up cash for them, but they still have to charge as much money as possible for every single item in the store.

And they buy in big quantities saving them money so their profits are actually big despite a little lower prices, and buy cheap items.

Which Walmart is the biggest business in the world in workforce, and the richest in America, and the Waltons have a combined total of 133 billion dollars, and they do not pay that much, but they are richer than GM owners, so what is their excuse for having so much money.

Big companies charging more money than a mom and pop store that is trying to get by.

I do not think it matters 63 dollars an hour, 37 dollars an hour, minimum wage, they want as much money as possible for their products and services.

Pro 30:14 There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.