I have been a civilian employee of the DoD at an Aerospace Facility for 35
years. In the last 20 years I've seen the degradation of employee pay and
benefits by the "union busting" and the massive use of Contract Labor to
replace full-time employees with decent pay and pensions. I see guys (like
myself) who earn about $32 and hour with good benefits working right next
to guys, doing basically the same job that I do and earn $12 or $13 an hour
with little or NO benefits. I fear that my 5 Grandchildren will wind up
working for peanuts with no benefits. Good pay and benefits are a thing of
the past. Through envy the poor actually are in bed with the rich to
eliminate these jobs, instead or aspiring to get these middle class jobs.
The American worker is his own worst enemy. By taking a job for $12 an
hour with no benefits you are asking to be a slave and I have a hard time
sympathizing with "scabs" that drag the rest of us down with them. Shame
on you scabs, and don't complain if you are paid peanuts and have no
benefits. You get what you deserve as traitors to Labor...
This was a good and informative report. I generally remember the air
traffic controllers' strike and firing from 1981, though I was very young
(15) and did not completely understand all the players and ramifications of
the actions.