Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

[dcarrigg]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

IMO, unions would get more support from average middle class people if they weren't funding politicians and political parties. By funding political parties and politicians they bring animosity to themselves.

If they did stop all funding of the political class, I think most people would get rid of their anti-union bias and support unions. I know I would.

http://www.halfsigma.com/2005/04/the_unequal_bar.html

Well, that's fair enough. On the flip side, one could decide to only support candidates that don't take money from, say, the thousand largest political donors. That would take care of the unions, banks, and other big corps. Still, cannibalism is not a good solution to starvation.

[don]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Civil Service Unions are not really unions. In my early 20s I went through a federal electrical apprenticeship, working on boomers and fast attack boats at a naval shipyard. We were in a local IBEW, one with special characteristics. This local could not take any mass action by the membership, including slowdowns or strikes. It was eviscerated. The local was strictly for grievances and disciplinary hearings. Civil Service working conditions were something else again.

Up to that point I had always worked for small businesses, usually family affairs. Everybody got along, the boss was often a paternal figure, you did your job and everything was hunky dory. The first time I worked at a small manufacturing plant, as a mechanical maintenance helper, I was shocked to see men my father's age line up to punch out and run across the parking lot to their cars, fishtailing off the grounds. They hated every minute they spent on the casting machines they operated.

After our 2-week orientation at the shipyard, my apprentice group of 14 was sent down to a drydock that was de-commissioning an old diesel boat. No one was working on it when our foreman sent us over to the site. He put the one experienced guy, a helper who had joined the apprenticeship, in charge. As we milled around in the exposed superstructure, our "leader" crawled in among the piping ... and went to sleep! We were flabbergasted. I knew then I was in another world

The protected, mildly corrupt nature of America's Civil Service has been worked out by our government from its inception. When I read about the creation of the Civil Service it was a revelation to read that it was decided that it was better to have a complacent, soft civil servant that wouldn't strike, then one that would if pushed hard enough. It makes perfect sense. Our politicians. for all their mendacity, need these guys, plus it's the tax payer who coughs up the coins. What's not to like.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Danville has a population of between 40,000 and 50,000. About 7 % of the population moved away last year. Unemployment is way above the national average and has been for a long time. Local economy was clobbered by Walmart. People are desperate for work. If you decide to visit, don’t miss the architecture on Millionaires Row, wealth based on real slaves.

[touchring]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

$8 an hour isn't cheap.

Perhaps we're slowly returning to a production economy after all. A few more years of developments like this and we'll be the next cheap manufacturing center for the world.

latimes

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

$8 an hour isn't cheap.

$8 per hour for workers in the country where you intend to sell the goods, thus reducing transportation costs, and being in a country where laws generally exist to prevent foreign companies from getting ripped off sounds like a bargain to me. That's on an absolute pricing scale. Taking into account the cost of living in the U.S., roughly $16,000 per annum, excluding benefits, is near poverty wages.

The U.S. really needs to impose tariffs on imported goods that adjust with the average wage in the exporting country to neutralize the predatory mercantilist policies of countries such as China, Smoot-Hawley be damned.

[zoog]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Perhaps we're slowly returning to a production economy after all. A few more years of developments like this and we'll be the next cheap manufacturing center for the world.

latimes

$8 an hour isn't cheap.

I wish we had an emoticon for sarcastic or facetious statements. I used to use the rolling-eyes but we don't have it any more. I was not seriously proposing that US manufacturing would become globally competitive with China et al.

However...

$8 per hour for workers in the country where you intend to sell the goods, thus reducing transportation costs, and being in a country where laws generally exist to prevent foreign companies from getting ripped off sounds like a bargain to me. That's on an absolute pricing scale...

...I agree with this. I was surprised to learn that Ikea actually makes some furniture in Sweden. I suspect it is for the same reasons... despite comparatively higher wages, when it's all said and done, it may cost the company less to make some products in Sweden for the domestic Swedish market rather than import them from China. But certainly most of their products sold around the world are made in China.

...Taking into account the cost of living in the U.S., roughly $16,000 per annum, excluding benefits, is near poverty wages...

Quite. The federal poverty guidelines for the contiguous US for 2010:

1-person household: $10,830
2-person household: $14,570
3-person household: $18,310
4-person household: $22,050
etc.

The Virginia minimum wage is $7.25 (same as the federal minimum wage), so Ikea could pay their workers even less than they do.

[touchring]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

...I agree with this. I was surprised to learn that Ikea actually makes some furniture in Sweden. I suspect it is for the same reasons... despite comparatively higher wages, when it's all said and done, it may cost the company less to make some products in Sweden for the domestic Swedish market rather than import them from China. But certainly most of their products sold around the world are made in China.

IKEA does sell high end $400+ fanciful office chairs and sofas (costs more) under their own house brands - you can't sell a Made in China chair for $400+. ;)

I'm sure the cost of material for such chairs do not exceed $100 a piece.

[touchring]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

$8 per hour for workers in the country where you intend to sell the goods, thus reducing transportation costs, and being in a country where laws generally exist to prevent foreign companies from getting ripped off sounds like a bargain to me. That's on an absolute pricing scale. Taking into account the cost of living in the U.S., roughly $16,000 per annum, excluding benefits, is near poverty wages.

The U.S. really needs to impose tariffs on imported goods that adjust with the average wage in the exporting country to neutralize the predatory mercantilist policies of countries such as China, Smoot-Hawley be damned.

Yes, of course i'm not comparing with China because if you compare with China, you would have to work for free because if you open a big factory in China, you can get free land, and if you're hi-tech, they would even build the factory for you - you only need to send in your equipment and engineers. And also, low cost financing - that probably need not be paid back. lol

[mesyn191]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Seems to me that a missing aspect of the union debate, is the unionization of public vs. private employees. Makes little sense to me that public employees are forced into unions whose dues influence who gets elected and ultimately sets their wages & benefits - all at taxpayer expense.

You say this like its a bad thing...

The gov. can mistreat its workers just as well as any private institution and has done so in the past. Having a good union to help protect your wages/benefits is almost always a good thing. It should be noted too that gov. employees don't really make all that much more money in general than private workers as a rule, what they do get is better benefits. But instead of looking to drag down gov. and/or union worker benefits to something more in line with what most private orgs/companies are willing to offer (which is to say little to no benefits) why aren't you looking to improve the benefits for the private employees?

Why do so many look to drag others down rather than lift everyone up? You know how expensive medical care is right now. If you don't, then know that avg. cost for a family of 4 (2 kids, 2 adults, all healthy) right now is ~$22k a year. The majority of dual income earner families make less than $60k a year, and around 80% of families are dual income earner. Around 50% of dual income earner families make $44k a year. How the hell are these people supposed to afford anything at all do you think?

Gov. employees and unions are not the cause by a long shot of our nation's budget issues, and you could eliminate them entirely and pay them minimum wage and it would hardly matter at all to the budget. Look to the wars and entitlements and taxing the super rich if you want to fix the budget.

[mesyn191]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

If those pictures are legit it is more proof that homogenous, high-iq societies(Japan) have a unique approach.

The Japanese are very very good at pulling together to do Big Things, outside of that though they have at least as many problems as we do with corruption and graft. There is a reason why Japan is still suffering a prolonged low level depression for the last 20-30 years or so. They still haven't really recovered from their last housing bubble and their debt to GDP ratio is still around 200% last I heard. Long term their economy and gov. are probably screwed and everyone knows it, they're just waiting for the shoes to drop at this point.

[mesyn191]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

there are many state workers getting a paid vacation (retirement) at more than most of the private sector makes working full time at the top of their career!

Why do you think its the state workers taking advantage when its really the private workers getting mistreated? You know PTO and benefits used to be commonplace through your employer right? I used to get 4 weeks every year of PTO when I worked in a hospital, benefits too. I saved most of mine up to cash out when I left, got a $12k check IIRC. That was after quite a few years though.

[chr5648]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

The Japanese are very very good at pulling together to do Big Things, outside of that though they have at least as many problems as we do with corruption and graft. There is a reason why Japan is still suffering a prolonged low level depression for the last 20-30 years or so. They still haven't really recovered from their last housing bubble and their debt to GDP ratio is still around 200% last I heard. Long term their economy and gov. are probably screwed and everyone knows it, they're just waiting for the shoes to drop at this point.

I wonder what the whole obsession with 'growth' in the west is? How can we expect or desire growth when there is no stability or stable system. You can compare the Japanese economy to the US on GDP numbers, debt, and growth but, at the end of the day deflation in Japan has brought rising living standards, and most in Japan aren't complaining. I personally see nothing wrong with deflation, when you think about it, its pretty good. On the other hand the 'growth' (FIRE economy) in the US and the west has not brought rising living standards, instead wages have been stagnant over 30-40 years and over a 10 year period they are down.

[LazyBoy]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

Pics look almost the same except for the hue of the trees in the background, seems like a big difference in color unless the cloud cover caused the change in hue.

If the curb in the bottom picture was broken then it should be the same curb in the top picture. They seem legit.

On the right side, the first stand of trees are gone, replaced by an embankment. The arrangement of the bottom pic trees matches the second stand in the top. This is more "proof" that the bottom is an "after" picture (barring photoshop).

There's still some color difference, but less extreme.

[mesyn191]

Re: Ikea's U.S. factory churns out unhappy workers

You can compare the Japanese economy to the US on GDP numbers, debt, and growth but, at the end of the day deflation in Japan has brought rising living standards, and most in Japan aren't complaining.

What, where are you getting your information? The japanese are pissed. That is half the reason why you saw them elect a prime minister that wasn't from the LDP years ago*. And their living standards are deteriorating too**. There are huge social changes going on over there as a result of this since many of them now feel betrayed by their gov. and the mega corps. You have the same situation over there as over here where there are little to no jobs for people out of college and the few jobs that are there have intense competition to get into. No real changes have occurred with the new prime minister, he is much like Obama in that respect.

*http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32871624...-asia-pacific/
**http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/ja...-decline-60343