Are there no honest contractors in Tulsa?

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

American cars are union made and were expensive and crappy for years.  (last car I bought was American)

The major airlines are unionized and are always rated poor for service quality, comfort, and reliability. (I fly Northwest mostly)

Public schools are unionized and many people feel they do a poor job at educating the country. (my wife is a teacher)

High Life is proudly union mane in the USA, but still sucks. (I drink Pabst when I need cheap beer)

I worked for John Deere, a strong UAW (AFL-CIO) operation and currently work closely with the Operating Engineers.  I know that the union can provide quality workers and a quality product.  But just by virtue of being affiliated with the union (worker or company) it doesn't necessarily mean the product is of high quality.  

Perhaps, with contractors the quality of a union shop would be somewhat assured in that they have someone to answer to.  Unions have figured out that they need to protect their reputation in order to sell their premium branded product.  The whole union situation is going to get very interesting when the 50 year olds start to retire.

CF- Did you work for Deere up in the Tri-City (or quad...been about five years since I was in Davenport) area in Iowa?

[cannon_fodder]

No, in Waterloo, Iowa.  That is where all the tractors are assembled, the drive tranes built, the engines built, the foundry is, and the product engineering center.

Specifically, I worked in the operations control room, main office complex, Donald Street Site, John Deere Waterloo Works, Tractor Assembly, Ag Division, John Deere North America.

and FYI, its the Quad Cities area (Davenport, Rock Island, Moline and Bettendorf).  That is the headquarters, but last time I heard Deere actually had more employees in Waterloo.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

No, in Waterloo, Iowa.  That is where all the tractors are assembled, the drive tranes built, the engines built, the foundry is, and the product engineering center.

Specifically, I worked in the operations control room, main office complex, Donald Street Site, John Deere Waterloo Works, Tractor Assembly, Ag Division, John Deere North America.

and FYI, its the Quad Cities area (Davenport, Rock Island, Moline and Bettendorf).  That is the headquarters, but last time I heard Deere actually had more employees in Waterloo.

Could you please be more specific where you worked at JD?  Not sure I got that. []

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by The Shadow

An honest contractor?  That's an oxymoron.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  The attornies taught the contractors their ethics. [B)]

[Double A]

quote:Originally posted by cannon_fodder

American cars are union made and were expensive and crappy for years.  (last car I bought was American)

The major airlines are unionized and are always rated poor for service quality, comfort, and reliability. (I fly Northwest mostly)

Public schools are unionized and many people feel they do a poor job at educating the country. (my wife is a teacher)

High Life is proudly union mane in the USA, but still sucks. (I drink Pabst when I need cheap beer)

I worked for John Deere, a strong UAW (AFL-CIO) operation and currently work closely with the Operating Engineers.  I know that the union can provide quality workers and a quality product.  But just by virtue of being affiliated with the union (worker or company) it doesn't necessarily mean the product is of high quality.  

Perhaps, with contractors the quality of a union shop would be somewhat assured in that they have someone to answer to.  Unions have figured out that they need to protect their reputation in order to sell their premium branded product.  The whole union situation is going to get very interesting when the 50 year olds start to retire.

Isn't pabst union made? I thought this article might interest you.

Ford workers pin hopes on battery-powered truck
by William Wilcoxen, Minnesota Public Radio
May 17, 2007
Listen to feature audio

Ford Motor Company's Twin Cities assembly plant is slated to go dark next year. But some of the plant's workers hope battery power can keep Minnesota's auto industry moving forward. Members of the United Auto Workers are trying to save jobs by developing an electric vehicle. Union leaders plan to have an electric version of the Ford Ranger on display at the State Fair this summer.

St. Paul, Minn. — Inventor Bob Albertson of Alma, Wisconsin, has been researching and designing automotive components for decades and holds a number of patents. But Albertson says his track record was not enough to budge the skepticism he encountered when pitching his idea for an electric car to potential investors.

"I went out here two years ago to obtain funding," Albertson says. "I was telling people I could make a car that'd go 200-300 miles without a charge. Well, nobody believed me."

At the time 30 to 40 miles was all battery powered cars could muster. Today, though, electric cars that go 200 or more miles between battery charges are not only possible, there are already prototypes. A California company called Tesla Motors makes a high-speed, lithium battery-powered sports car. It's spendy--$92,000--but is drawing media attention from the likes of the New York Times and ABC News. A price tag in the six-figure range will keep Tesla's electric vehicles out of reach for most Americans. But inventor Bob Albertson maintains he can deliver battery power for the mass-market. Albertson says gas-powered vehicles already on the road can be reconfigured to run on electricity.

"We're looking at making kits available that you could retrofit, let's say a Ford Ranger, where they could take the present engine out of the car, the gas engine, and put in our kit," he says.

Albertson envisions dealerships around the region where auto workers could carry out these gas-to-electric conversions.
"We really feel this is something that will grab the eye of somebody."
- Gary Muenzhuber of United Auto Workers local 789

Some of the strongest believers in his vision can be found in the union hall at United Auto Workers Local 789. The union office sits across the street from an 82-year-old plant that Ford plans to close next year. Nineteen-hundred people used to work there, building Ford's light truck, the Ranger. Next year, that number will fall to zero.

The UAW's Gary Muenzhuber says union leaders are excited about Albertson's plan to retrofit a Ranger with electric components and demonstrate its viability at the State Fair. The dream is to convince someone to save factory jobs by making electric Rangers from the wheels up.

"We really feel that this is something that will grab the eye of somebody. Maybe not Ford, we're just hoping we can do something to save this plant," Muenzhuber says.

But if the concept is a long shot, the plant's closing appears a sure thing. Ford lost $7 billion last year and has said it's firm in its decision to close the St. Paul plant, among others.

Albertson says even if they're not made at the existing plant in St. Paul, electric vehicles could offer a way to salvage auto manufacturing jobs somewhere in Minnesota.

But that hope will need to be reconciled with certain economic realities.
Larger view
Leaders of UAW Local 789

Albertson and the UAW lack financing.

And analyst Dave Cole, who chairs the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, says the industry does not seem interested.

Cole says the technical sensation of this year's International Auto Show in Detroit was a General Motors car. GM plans to produce a hybrid with a small gas engine that recharges a relatively low-cost battery pack and has a range of about 600 miles.

"Right now it looks to me like this series hybrid or plug-in hybrid with lithium batteries that are not huge but provide reasonable range -- that could be a real winner," Cole says.

Ford has already dabbled with an electric Ranger. The truck had a range of only about 65 miles and was cancelled after just a few years of production. As for efforts to preserve auto manufacturing jobs, Cole says the biggest obstacle is overcapacity, not only at Ford, but in the industry generally.

"If you look at the capacity to make cars and trucks in the world, there's capacity to make about 85 million and the sales rate is at about 65 million," Cole says. "So this overcapacity problem is a horrendous issue."

Despite the hurdles, UAW officials are moving ahead. They've been in contact with unions on the Iron Range and plan to drive the prototype Ranger from the fairgrounds to a Labor Day rally in Bovey.

[cannon_fodder]

Yes, I believe Pabst is union made (as it is made by UAB at the same location that makes Highlife now).  Northwest in also unionized and my American Taurus was built with union labor.  That's why the post was so clever.  []

Best of luck to those guys. I really hope an electric car come through in the not-to-distant future as it would be something I could readily utilize.  I rarely drive more than 200 miles in a day and would keep one "real car" in the family for trips.

Of course, then we would need more power plants which pollute and are less efficient than gasoline internal combustion, we would also have to dispose of batteries... but every solution has its problems.

[sgrizzle]

I think the first to tap the cheap light-truck and large vehicle markets will be important. The ranger is the most fuel-efficient truck so it;s a no-brainer. Daimler-Chrysler has been testing a PHEV version of the sprinter cargo/large passenger vehicle and supposedly is working on a hybrid v8.

[Double A]

Check out the Tango.

Here's a cool video link:

Tango Google

[AngieB]

Dang...talk about thread-drift...

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