Anyone aware of how -- or if -- this is affecting Bucyrus/Caterpillar Workers?

[mojowork_n]

After Tim Sullivan sold Bucyrus to Caterpillar -- and went off to pursue greater
fame and glory -- grandstanding/lobbying in support of the Gogebic Mining Bill;
have his choices come back to hurt folks in S. Milwaukee/Cudahy/SE Wisconsin?

I honestly don't know, and haven't seen anything about it in the J-S, but this
article came out today, talking about the strike:

http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/08/17/the-caterpillar-strike-as-metaphor/

I'm pretty sure Bucyrus shareholders have done very well, but what about WI workers?

Not that anyone—least of all American factory workers over the last three decades—needs to be reminded that corporations have very little respect for working people, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) strike against the Caterpillar plant in Joliet, Illinois, removed any lingering doubts.

Judging by their actions, Caterpillar saw this negotiation as a unique opportunity to stick it to their workers. Indeed, its truculent, take-it-or-leave-it posture is emblematic of every offensive aspect of post-Reagan corporate arrogance. Labor relations have gone from hard-nosed collective bargaining to gladiatorial blood sport, with labor now shedding most of the blood. What used to be viewed as an undignified and unnecessary show of muscle by management, is now regarded as standard procedure.

What Caterpillar has said to the IAM is this: No matter how healthy we are as a company, no matter how profitable we become, and no matter how much cold, hard cash we manage to rake in, we will never, ever, under any conditions, share one more nickel with the hourly workforce than is absolutely, positively necessary. Which raises the question: Why is this company taking such a hard line with their long-time, loyal workers? Simple answer: Because they can.

While it was announced Wednesday that IAM district leadership (as opposed to local leadership, directly answerable to the rank-and-file) had reached a tentative agreement with Caterpillar management to end the 15-week strike (approximately 780 workers went out on May 1), there’s a good chance the local will reject the offer when they vote on Friday. No one can predict how these votes will go, especially after a lengthy strike, but given how disillusioned and resentful the membership it, a rejection is definitely a possibility.

[mojowork_n]

1. OK, with a little more time to look, here's what's out there

From Milwaukee Public Radio, about a month ago:

http://www.wuwm.com/news/wuwm_news.php?articleid=10833

Caterpillar is the global leader in producing earth-moving equipment, such as mining machines and skid loaders. The company is reportedly seeking a six-year wage freeze and a pension freeze for workers in Joliet. Caterpillar would not comment for this story. But on its website, the company says workers in Joliet are paid well above market wages, making the facility uncompetitive.

Cheryl Maranto, a management professor at Marquette, finds that “competitiveness” argument disingenuous, given Caterpillar’s record profit of $4.9 billion last year. There are also reports that the company significantly raised its executives’ salaries.

“I think it’s essentially an issue of bargaining power. It’s not that the company needs those concessions. They just want them,” Maranto says.

Maranto says with union membership on the decline, and the worst labor market in decades, corporations have the advantage. “What they’re clearly trying to do…I mean, they have a two-tier wage system…and they’re really trying to force out some of the senior people who are at the higher-level pay so that they can hire in new workers at the lower-pay levels,” Maranto says.

.....I wonder how much of that effort, to get rid of the older workers, is based on higher costs to insure them?

And how much is sheer greed, top management looking to trim costs in any way possible, to lard their own accounts?