The Economic Meltdown – how bad, what it means, and what to do

[aehurst]

Quote: Originally Posted by cwtnospam Blame it all on any politician who claims to want a "free" market. That's just a code word for letting corporate raiders do anything they like. It's a sure bet that your bus manufacturer was bought and sold several times over the last ten years. Edit: Hmmm, looks like only twice, but there's no mention of the number financial games played with the company's assets during that time: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IC_Bus

You did your research.

Well, I'm going to blame it on founder Dave Ward's kids. I worked there in the 60s when it was Ward's body works. When the bus body came out of the oven where the paint was baked on, I'd jump in the hot bus to scrape the floor, spray down some glue then lay and trim the floor mats.... with the window and seat crews yelling at me to speed it up. 100+ degrees outside, no air conditioning, and constant pressure to hurry... all for $1.65 an hour. And I was glad to have the work.

30 minutes for lunch, one 15 min morning break and one 15 min afternoon break.... other than that it was go like hell to keep up with the line. But when a station on the line got behind, ole Dave Ward was right there to jump in and get his hands dirty to keep that line moving. Can you imagine the GM CEO picking up a drill and installing tail lights or windows? Ole man Ward was always there making that line go.

That's another side effect of corporations and big business... too much distance between management and labor.

After two summers of that, I never complained about a job again.