Pull up a chair, I have a story to relate, and it's my father's story.
My Dad started working as a machinist in the 70's. As a kid growing up, i remember a few things distinctly. Him going to work with a United Steel Workers of America T shirt, and a lunch box. What exactly did my dad do? He worked in several departments within this company over the course of my life time, but the product itself was high speed machines, that sealed the lids of can's, with the product already in them.
Ever watch "Modern Marvels" on the history channel and they show some food packing place from soda, to canned corn with those bottles or cans moving through these machines at a high rate of speed, being packed up and off to a warehouse floor? That's what my Dad built. Those machines, and they made them from scratch.
My father's worked for this one company for at least all my 39 years on this planet. He started in "assembly", and worked his way to Foreman. This company had all the things that you associate with classic Americana. Company picnics, and retirement plans. Not 401K's. Once my dad crossed from being a Union Man to a company man, he carried with him the same work ethic he carried his entire life. The sad truth is that something has changed over the generations. The people who were in the United Steel workers while my dad was in the union, are not the same people today. Good people with strong work ethic nowadays, are hard to find.
But there's more to it then a generational degration of work ethic. But also of management ethic. Cause and effect? I don't think so. It's simple greed.
Almost 10 years ago. my father's company was bought out by some big conglomerate in Michigan i believe it is. Since that time, they have steadily dismantled my fathers work place. Parts they used to make in house, are now being outsourced. Machines they used to make, they no longer are. They have been replacing skilled craftsman, with cheap unskilled labor, and the end product is suffering for it. Companies that went with my dads company for years are now shifting their gaze elsewhere because the big corporate is clueless.
The short version of this sad story of layoffs, closed factories, livelyhoods lost, is there is nobody replacing craftsman like my father. There are no apprenticeship programs, and 40+ years of machining experience not being passed down. My father right now, is the last of a breed, and is extremly valuable to this company. So valuable they are spending 2000 dollars in travel expenses just to fly my dad to michigan every two weeks. Right now he's working two weeks on, and then flys home to calilfornia for 1 week. Then they pay to fly him out again. They are using him to try and train people to do individual tasks in a short time period. Trying to cram 40+ years worth of experience into a few weeks of training just isn't going to happen. These people are absolutely clueless. Fabricating a part that should only take 3 days, takes these people 3 weeks.
My dad is close to retirement, which is locked in and they can't take that away from him. Once he retires, a vast amount of knowledge, and experience, will go with him, and it won't be replaced. He is without exaggeration, the last of a breed.
I do not think my dad's story is an isolated incident, but one that has been happening all over, and one that will have dire effects for our country in the future.
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