SCOTUS appointment was a very big deal

[Mitch]

As a Teamster back in the late '70s and early '80s, our monthly union dues was 2 times the hourly rate plus $1.00. The company fought the union tooth and nail, sparing no expense with big-time N.Y. lawyers when problems arose. When we had problems and the possibility of a strike, the International Teamsters were no where to be found for a little help. Eventually, the company ousted the union.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Hi Mitch, I am constantly impressed at the breadth and depth of how well informed you are on so many real-world topics. Your travels obviously afforded you a wide perspective on matters pertinent to a lot of the country.
If the original poster of this thread does not mind, I'd appreciate hearing your (and everybody else's) perspective on the role labor unions played in the demise of the steel mills in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

Some folks in Pittsburgh feel the unions killed the mills, with their always pushing for higher wages and benefits, to the point where it became cheaper for the raw materials to be exported (to Japan?) and made into product than to have steel made in the USA. Some residents do not feel that way.

My only personal reference point is having worked in National Tube (McKeesport) for one very hot, almost unbearable, Summer.
As an employee at Kennywood Park, the two previous Summers, I earned 65cents, then, 85cents, per hour, serving food and cleaning tables in the Cafeteria.

When I worked as the lowest-rung, common-laborer in the mill the following Summer, I earned $2.75 / hr. The work was grueling but the paychecks were what helped me stay in college. And I had a lot of self-satisfaction that I was able to do the work.

I worked under here (see photo), under "The Pits." The temperatures were, literally, breathtaking. Every inch of working in a mill was super dangerous and stifling, IMHO. No place was safe, totally. Perhaps, that was a good reason the workers and the AFoL/CIO felt the wages requested were justified, I would suggest.

[HONDO74]

I don't know if the steel mills in this country can be saved. It is not a level playing field when you have to compete with cheap slave labor from China and other countries that subsidize it and dump it in the US.

But with the recent upping the ante on tariffs.
South Carolina steel plant reopened by UK industrialist, avoiding tariffs
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/sou ... ng-tariffs

British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Industrials on Monday reopened a shuttered South Carolina steel plant in a move that will allow his U.K.-based firm to circumvent the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on steel imports.

Liberty Steel said the facility would employ about 125 workers at launch and more than 300 workers in the “medium term,” according to a press release. GFG Alliance has vowed to invest more than $5 billion in the U.S. within the next few years.

[CWBurfle]

I don't know if the steel mills in this country can be saved. It is not a level playing field when you have to compete with cheap slave labor from China and other countries that subsidize it and dump it in the US.

Its not just cheap labor.
Business complains about having to meet safety (OSHA) and environmental regulations.
The USA is already softening environmental regulations.
Will safety ones be next?

[healey36]

I don't know if the steel mills in this country can be saved. It is not a level playing field when you have to compete with cheap slave labor from China and other countries that subsidize it and dump it in the US.

But with the recent upping the ante on tariffs.
South Carolina steel plant reopened by UK industrialist, avoiding tariffs
https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/sou ... ng-tariffs

British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Industrials on Monday reopened a shuttered South Carolina steel plant in a move that will allow his U.K.-based firm to circumvent the Trump administration’s 25% tariffs on steel imports.

Liberty Steel said the facility would employ about 125 workers at launch and more than 300 workers in the “medium term,” according to a press release. GFG Alliance has vowed to invest more than $5 billion in the U.S. within the next few years.

Hilarious...same thing HD is proposing and they are getting crucified.

[HONDO74]

Hilarious...same thing HD is proposing and they are getting crucified.

If you do some research you can find out more info about Harley Davidson.

Harley was already paying a 6% tariff on motorcycles they ship to Europe and now it will be 31%.

Harley Davidson India

India is the largest market in the world. There were 16.5 million motorcycles and motor scooters sold there last year, but India has a 100% tariff on motorcycles. To avoid that Harley set up a factory there and was producing motorcycles there in 2011.

Harley-Davidson's India plant only sells its bikes in India, Italy, Spain and Portugal, not the U.S.

Before 2007 India simply blocked all imports of the full-size motorcycles that are Harley-Davidson's core product. Then the U.S. negotiated a deal that had India accept motorcycle imports in exchange for agreeing to export Indian mangoes to the U.S. But the 100% tariff on motorcycles remained in place.

Tariffs on motorcycles are common across the Asia-Pacific region. Besides India and Indonesia, China has a 30% tariff, as does Malaysia. Thailand has a 60% tariff and Taiwan's tariff is 20%.

But Harley-Davidson reported record motorcycle sales in the Asia-Pacific region last year, selling 33,000 across the region. The plant in India was the company's only one in the region.

Now they have one in Thailand and they are shifting work there from the US

How is it that the rest of the world can put tariffs on what we ship to them but they want it to be free when they ship to us

[HONDO74]

Harley already has assembly plants in Australia, Brazil, India and Thailand.

"It is worth mentioning that Harley could make the decision to shift production because it had chosen, in 2017, to open a new manufacturing plant in Thailand."

"At the time, the company said it was moving manufacturing there to avoid a different tariff: this one being the 60% duty levied on Thai imports."

We shall see who blinks first. I am betting the other countries will because they need us way more than we need them.

We are the biggest contributor to Nato for their protection and we have 4000 military personal and equipment in Europe to protect their borders from the big bad bear. We can't protect our own southern border. Shut that down and let Europe pay for it.

And one more thing. Harley was already in the process of transferring work to Thailand as they shut down their Kansas City plant. Why not, you can make more money using cheap Asian labor

[healey36]

But Harley-Davidson reported record motorcycle sales in the Asia-Pacific region last year, selling 33,000 across the region.

From their annual report, Harley Davidson sold 30,348 bikes in the Asia/Pacific region in 2017, down from 32,889 in 2016, a decline of 7.7%.

Sales in the U.S. were 147,972 in 2017, down from 161,658 in 2016, a decline of 8.5%.

Total world-wide sales were 242,788 in 2017, down from 260,289 in 2016, a decline of 6.7%.

Without a lighter, quality, affordable motorcycle in their lineup, HD will be gone in ten years. Strike that...HD will be a nameplate slapped on some bike manufactured in Malaysia in ten years. Hopefully they'll still sell shirts.

For comparative purposes, it should be noted that Honda sold 17.7 million motorcycles worldwide in 2017.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Frankly, Healey and HONDO, when you guys converse like you just did about Harleys, I learn plenty. Such well-informed conversations as this have got to be a good thing on such a forum as this, IMHO. Plus, you kept it civil and polite, of course. You have my continued respect.

[HONDO74]

Frankly, Healey and HONDO, when you guys converse like you just did about Harleys, I learn plenty. Such well-informed conversations as this have got to be a good thing on such a forum as this, IMHO. Plus, you kept it civil and polite, of course. You have my continued respect.

My thoughts were that both Healey and myself were adding information to the subject Nothing challenging about it

I have taken the time to read through a couple of time the thread that Healey started "Royal Enfield"
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=15679

It is quite informative with a lot of info. I am not into motorcycles or British sports cars but I enjoy reading about them from the members that are.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

...I am not into motorcycles ... but I enjoy reading about them from the members that are.

Some of my happiest times were when I would ride my Honda NightHawk 550 circumnavigating Manhattan and across the GW Bridge during the Summers of the 70's.

[healey36]

...I am not into motorcycles ... but I enjoy reading about them from the members that are.

Some of my happiest times were when I would ride my Honda NightHawk 550 circumnavigating Manhattan and across the GW Bridge during the Summers of the 70's.

That does sound like fun.

I've never owned a motorcycle in my life. My brother has owned a few, and I have surreptitiously ridden them a few times under cover of darkness, lol.

Back to the topic at hand...the SCOTUS appointment is a big deal. Right or left, I don't give a damn who he selects as long as they are qualified and pledge to rule on the letter of the Constitution, not their interpretation of it. If the Congress doesn't like it, they can amend it.

I find it amusing that the Republican content of registered voters is ~ 38%, yet to hear the left you'd think it was 90%. It's real easy folks, if you don't like it turn out your 50+% and change it.

Another thing...I thought it was rich of Trey Gowdy in his tirade on Rosenstein yesterday, demanding an end to the Mueller investigation. This is the guy that chaired the House Benghazi commission, and after 2-1/2 years indicted no one, while spending God knows how much money. Mueller's been at it for a year, has indicted thirteen officials, at least one of whom is in jail, and has probably spent half of what Gowdy blew.

I need to get rid of C-span...it's killing me...

[rex desilets]

You are aware, Healy, that Congress cannot indict anyone? What Gowdy's hearings did was to illuminate problems. If the Executive fails to indict, based on information Gowdy revealed, how is that his fault?

[healey36]

You are correct Rex, but the progression should have been a call for a special prosecutor. Maybe there was and DOJ refused, I don't recall. And the cost was just $7 million...chump-change when it comes to Congressional boondoggles...my apologies to Congressman Gowdy

[CWBurfle]

As a Teamster back in the late '70s and early '80s, our monthly union dues was 2 times the hourly rate plus $1.00.

If you figure working 8 hours a day and 20 days a month, that is 160 hours.
So 2 hours pay is roughly 1.25 Percent, far less than the person being charged an hours pay out of a ten hour week.

During my college days, I worked shape-up (11:00 PM - 1:00 AM 0r 2:00 AM ) for United Parcel. We were allowed to work six weeks before being required to join the union. If I recall correctly, the initiation fee would have taken all six weeks pay. My job was interrupted by a strike, and I never was called back. Most folks working that shift never made it 6 weeks anyway.

My buddy and I had to go up to the UPS warehouse during the strike to get our last checks. The picketers were not happy to see us, they thought we might be scabs. When we told them we were there to collect our checks, they did let us through.