[kharris]

Has anyone noticed that Meyer Glass employees have been picketing the past few days near the corner of Franklin and Arthur Streets? I've noticed nothing in the paper not have I heard anything on the radio. Does anyone know what they are striking about?

[edgeywood]

Has anyone noticed that Meyer Glass employees have been picketing the past few days near the corner of Franklin and Arthur Streets? I've noticed nothing in the paper not have I heard anything on the radio. Does anyone know what they are striking about?

WIMS had a Glazier local official on the air this AM. I don't recall the details, but their contract is expired. They are striking in Chesterton, too, so Meyers employees aren't the only ones out.

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=39744.39

Glaziers' union goes on strike

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Members of Glazier Local 1165 went on strike Wednesday and are picketing Meyer Glass & Mirror Co., 202 W. Harrison, as well as other glass companies in Northwest Indiana.

The glaziers' three-year union contract ran out Tuesday and members are not satisfied with proposed increases to their current $31.52 per hour wages.

Carl Morgan, Chesterton, and John Lott, Park Forest, Ill., were outside MGM Thursday afternoon with signs that said MGM was shut down. However company owner Mary Schultz said they were open for business.

Morgan and Lott are representing Local 1165 at the Michigan City location, while MGM glaziers have joined picketers at glass companies in Chesterton, Gary and Highland, Ind.

"We don't picket at our own employer," Morgan said.

In negotiating a new three-year contract, glass company owners offered an additional $1.50 per hour the first year, a $1.75 increase in the second year and $2 in the third year, Schultz said. The glaziers want incremental increases of $2.25, $2.50 and $2.75 an hour over the next three years.

Schultz said glaziers' current benefits package brings their total hourly wage to $51.32. With fewer jobs available, Schultz said employers can't afford to pay more than they already offered.

"With the economy now, work is becoming very difficult to get," Schultz said. "There's not a lot of work out there right now, and we have to bid against non-union companies."

Morgan maintains that glaziers are the lowest paid trade workers, with general laborers making between $34 and $35 and hour.

"If you go across the state line, they (glaziers) are making $40 an hour," Lott said, but added there isn't much work in Illinois right now. He said he'll strike for as long as it takes to work out a favorable settlement.

Schultz, whose husband Dennis is MGM president, said they've made a fair offer.

"Look at what the auto workers did," she said. "They all took cuts to save their jobs."

Meyer Glass Company started in Michigan City in about 1925, according to Schultz. They bought the business in 1982, during another recession. At this point, she is afraid about the future of the business.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Schultz said.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[IndyTransplant]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=24342

Glaziers' union goes on strike

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Members of Glazier Local 1165 went on strike Wednesday and are picketing Meyer Glass & Mirror Co., 202 W. Harrison, as well as other glass companies in Northwest Indiana.

The glaziers' three-year union contract ran out Tuesday and members are not satisfied with proposed increases to their current $31.52 per hour wages.

Carl Morgan, Chesterton, and John Lott, Park Forest, Ill., were outside MGM Thursday afternoon with signs that said MGM was shut down. However company owner Mary Schultz said they were open for business.

Morgan and Lott are representing Local 1165 at the Michigan City location, while MGM glaziers have joined picketers at glass companies in Chesterton, Gary and Highland, Ind.

"We don't picket at our own employer," Morgan said.

In negotiating a new three-year contract, glass company owners offered an additional $1.50 per hour the first year, a $1.75 increase in the second year and $2 in the third year, Schultz said. The glaziers want incremental increases of $2.25, $2.50 and $2.75 an hour over the next three years.

Schultz said glaziers' current benefits package brings their total hourly wage to $51.32. With fewer jobs available, Schultz said employers can't afford to pay more than they already offered.

"With the economy now, work is becoming very difficult to get," Schultz said. "There's not a lot of work out there right now, and we have to bid against non-union companies."

Morgan maintains that glaziers are the lowest paid trade workers, with general laborers making between $34 and $35 and hour.

"If you go across the state line, they (glaziers) are making $40 an hour," Lott said, but added there isn't much work in Illinois right now. He said he'll strike for as long as it takes to work out a favorable settlement.

Schultz, whose husband Dennis is MGM president, said they've made a fair offer.

"Look at what the auto workers did," she said. "They all took cuts to save their jobs."

Meyer Glass Company started in Michigan City in about 1925, according to Schultz. They bought the business in 1982, during another recession. At this point, she is afraid about the future of the business.

"I don't know what's going to happen," Schultz said.

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[IndyTransplant]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...ArticleID=24341

50 more laid off at Sullair

Laurie Wink
The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Sullair Corp., 3700 E. Michigan Blvd., laid off 50 workers on Tuesday as the economic downtown has continued to shrink market demand for air compressors.

The local company has experienced a series of layoffs since last November, when 41 employees were let go, and December, when another 54 jobs were cut. Additional employee layoffs occurred in April and May this year.

Dan Coulom, director of communication at Hamilton Sundstrand, Sullair's parent company, said the local layoffs were across all sectors of the manufacturing company. Coulom said Sullair still has approximately 500 employees.

Sullair and Hamilton Sundstrand are subsidiaries of United Technologies Corp., a diverse corporation that has been adversely affected in all of its divisions, Coulom said. UTC announced in March it would reduce its worldwide workforce by 5 percent this year.

"The recession in general is affecting all of us," he said. "We continue to reduce the work force to try to remain competitive."

Contact Laurie Wink at lwink@thenewsdispatch.com.

[Southsider2k12]

I will say one thing, EVERYONE makes less in Michigan City versus Illinois/Chicago. I have worked in Chicago for the last 10 years just for that reason.

[IndyTransplant]

I missed this before adding a new thread - feel free to combine. I did not see any way to delete the new thread.

[Southsider2k12]

I missed this before adding a new thread - feel free to combine. I did not see any way to delete the new thread.

You can't deleted a new thread, only a post within a thread. I merged them together into the existing thread.

[IndyTransplant]

You can't deleted a new thread, only a post within a thread. I merged them together into the existing thread.

Thanks.

re: Glaziers
Seems like pretty poor timing to me. I imagine they might get a pretty chilly reception from the 12+% unemployed and the same or larger % of those underemployed in MC right now.
Actually I have never had $20 an hour in benefits provided to me and that is a huge help for those workers. Their hourly wage is also not to be taken so lightly IMO.
I cannot muster up any sympathy or support for them at this time.

[Michelle]

I suppose they've weighed their options and decided that this course of action is best. It seems so out of touch, though. I mean, striking over getting a potential $1.50/hr raise instead of $2.25, when you're making $30+ an hour & benefits? While so many people are unemployed and businesses are struggling to survive? Cry me a river.

[TSNSPYDER]

I agree with the "cry me a river" comment. The glaziers don't know how good they got it there. Here in AZ, there is no union, therefore no pension, and no high pay. The average wage for all people in AZ is $12 an hour. I wonder how many of you on this forum have a pension. And to be striking when the economy is so bad is ridiculous.

My Dad used to be a glazier in MC, probably the best one in NW Indiana in fact. When he retired they gave him a lifetime membership to the Union. He was one of the guys who installed the stained glass panels at the chapel at Valpo.

[Michelle]

Wow, I went to Valpo. Those windows are beautiful; quite an achievement.

[lovethiscity]

I suppose they've weighed their options and decided that this course of action is best. It seems so out of touch, though. I mean, striking over getting a potential $1.50/hr raise instead of $2.25, when you're making $30+ an hour & benefits? While so many people are unemployed and businesses are struggling to survive? Cry me a river.

Out of curiousity, would you be willing to hang the glass panels on the outside of a building like the new Bluechip hotel? Would $30 an hour be enough? While hanging from the upper floors knowing the laborer on the ground is making more then they are, they should be crying. Dangerous jobs deserve higher pay.

[IndyTransplant]

Out of curiousity, would you be willing to hang the glass panels on the outside of a building like the new Bluechip hotel? Would $30 an hour be enough? While hanging from the upper floors knowing the laborer on the ground is making more then they are, they should be crying. Dangerous jobs deserve higher pay.

What makes you think the laborer on the ground is making more than they are?

Sorry but in this economy with many people losing jobs and more taking pay cuts to keep their jobs, this just looks insensitive & greedy. But that is in my world and my economy. However in your world, if you want to open a glass business and pay them that much....it is your choice. Meyer Glass offered them a raise in an economy when most are lucky to keep their current pay or take a cut in pay or hours.


By the way I stood one day and watched the glass going in some floors of Blue Chip and saw no one hanging off the building - they were fitting the glass that day at least from the inside.

[lovethiscity]

What makes you think the laborer on the ground is making more than they are?

Morgan maintains that glaziers are the lowest paid trade workers, with general laborers making between $34 and $35 and hour.


This was in the newspaper article you posted

[Michelle]

Morgan maintains that glaziers are the lowest paid trade workers, with general laborers making between $34 and $35 and hour.
This was in the newspaper article you posted

I suspect that's not generally the average, though. I haven't seen any job listings coming through in that pay range for general laborers. Mr. Morgan didn't cite his source, so it's hard to say. The Occupational Outlook Handbook shows the median hourly earning for general construction laborers as $12.66, with the middle 50 percent between $9.95 and $17.31, and the top ten percent over $24.19. That fits with the range I've seen advertised as well. The OOC shows a median income of $16.64/hr for glaziers, with the middle fifty percent between $12.85 and $22.18, and the top ten percent making over $30.52. Those statistics always lag a couple of years behind, so ymmv.

I've never wanted to be a glazier--fine job, but it doesn't play to my skill set--so what I personally would want to make doesn't apply. $30+/hr seems fine to me, though, and it comes in at the top end of what glaziers appear to make.

Like I said, they've decided this is the best option to take, and that's within their rights. I don't have sympathy for their cause, though. I don't think that being offered only a 4.75% raise is worth striking over. That's a great raise. I'll save my sympathy for those who are laid off, or those forced to make deep concessions in their pay or hours to stay in their jobs.

[IndyTransplant]

Morgan maintains that glaziers are the lowest paid trade workers, with general laborers making between $34 and $35 and hour.


This was in the newspaper article you posted

That was quoted by one of the striking workers with no attribution to where he was getting his facts. My research (and personal experience) does not back him up. In central Indiana, the general laborers wages range from $9 to $20 an hour according to people I know who work in the industry and salary reports I have seen. The glaziers are often on the top end of the wage scales as they are more skilled workers. I also had experience in taking bids for construction work in a former job and based on those bids, the companies bidding would be losing money if they paid anywhere near the wages currently paid to the striking workers here.

I found the link below listing the current hourly rate for glaziers compiled nationwide.

http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Glazier/Hourly_Rate

[eric.hanke]

Since I am laid off due to the current economic downturn I have no sympathy. I do however, have tons of free time.







Need I say more?

[Ang]

Has anyone noticed that Meyer Glass employees have been picketing the past few days near the corner of Franklin and Arthur Streets? I've noticed nothing in the paper not have I heard anything on the radio. Does anyone know what they are striking about?

Did we scoop the N-D AGAIN?!?!?!?!

Oh, and Spyder, good to see you're still around!

[Southsider2k12]

Nice work guys! My question would be the comparision of wages... Are we talking about starting, average, or median wages? Those are very important distinctions for economic comparisions.