i don't know how it is around you Larry, but the outfit i retired from [it was Rockwell International when i started there in 1973] after 45 years as a master machinist and shift supervisor, is, and has been begging for workers in all positions and shifts for years, and can't get workers.
even after raising starting wages to $15.50 per hour ! it took me 15 years to get to that wage, and when i retired, i was only making $19.90 per hour !
my position pays $38.60 per hour now, after the latest company buy out. [
] i asked my old boss for a company t-shirt, and he told me i don't work there anymore, so i was SOL.
Wall Street Journal newspaper had a fairly long article a few days ago about companies that have recently switched to concentrating their hiring on OLDER WORKERS only, because their “work ethic” advantage outweighed their “aches & pains” physical limitations.
Is the best compromise to have
a 65+ age worker
directing a new robot that can lift 2000 lbs with one arm
but whose robot fingers have the dexterity to thread a needle?
Read this as well. Talked about employers frustration with needy younger workers, and their lack of work ethic, focusing on their phones instead of work, and their overall concern with "me" over everything else while the older worker was ultra reliable, always on time and had far greater work ethic.
when i was working, the ONLY time i was off was during vacation days, holidays [sometimes not even then !], and in the last couple of years before retirement, the very last day of inventory time when ALL of the paperwork was collected from the inventory and sorted. i still had to deal with the paperwork afterward, but at least i didn't have to climb all over it and the racks it was stored on, to retrieve the paperwork. the other time i unexpectedly took off, was when i contracted pneumonia. i was off for a little over three weeks that time. i probably should have been off more, but as there was no "paid sick days", i had to get back to work to pay the bills.
after one vicious snow storm in which we got several [3+] feet of snow, i mounted up an unmatched but same size [within an inch or so
] set of new 14" [real] winter tires [bias ply at that] i had laying around for years, and installed them on my old '74 newyorker 2dr. i was running as my daily driver at the time. i did, however, leave the skirts off, in case i got REALLY stuck. off to work i went.......[remember, i worked midnight's !]
so on to the interstate i went, 18miles on it, then 3 miles to the parking lot at work. the interstate had been plowed before, but there was still a foot or more of snow on it, and the front bumper was "plowing" as i went, allowing those "real" winter tires to work, with a lot of help from the sure-grip rear with the 2.94 gears. i had to be real easy with the loud pedal, as just the tiniest bit too much, and the old 440 [with a ton of miles on it, but i don't remember just how many] would smoke them, er, break them loose in the snow.........
no traffic at all [no surprise there] and both truck stops [one each east and west bound] i passed were jammed with rigs, including many parked on both sides of the entrance an exit ramps, as well as on the berms leading to and coming from those stops for at least 1/2 mile.
i finally make it to work, on time no less, and early[er as i would normally be as well] ! not being surprised, i see no cars in the unplowed parking lot.
as i had keys to the building, unlocked the doors, fired up the compressor, started the coffee pot [the MOST important job of all !
] and turned on all the equipment and machines to warm up getting ready for the shift's normal run time.
after 20 minutes or so, none of my guys showed and i got no phone call offs, so i started the show without them. that kept me humpin' all night to [at least try to] keep production up so the day shift could work !
my boss showed up about 6:30am, [he is usually here by 5:30-5:45] and as usual, i had HIS coffee on !
it's BETTER than the big pot i HAVE to get going for the REGULAR day shift guys............
anyway, he asks me what i'm doing there ? my shift was CALLED OFF.
HUH ?????????????????
I DIDN'T GET ANY CALL...............
he said i "should have known better" [???????]..........but thanks [in a kind of underhanded way] for showing up and getting "something" for day shift "to do".........
[thanks.......BOSS........
]
well, that ended up as water under the bridge, and after a few company buy-outs, i'm retired, he is still there [i think] and still has a few [10 maybe ?] years to go........... and did i mention my [former] position currently pays $38.60 and i didn't even "receive the shirt" ?
