Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The future of Colt??

workers(union or not) are like a truck, it may be capable but it is managements job to see it work. Wages, benefits everything is negotiated by both sides in a contract. If the union has it too good and is replaceable they will be locked out and replaced. If not blame management

Exactly.

Spoken like a unionista. Glad all those Union dollars and votes went to Hussein; Colt, the coal industry, the U.S. military, and America really ought to "thank" them properly.

I get your point jwp and I'm not trying to erase Mgt.'s responsibility entirely, but it's at a point where unions have frequently functioned at the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton race-baiting stage where they have to stir up controversy where there is none simply to justify their existence. To say that it's all Mgt.'s fault is a little like saying that Ferguson, MO is entirely the white establishment's fault in my opinion. Of course, I could be wrong.

No doubt tha at some locals run their business poorly and donot act as if the connection between management and labor is a 2 way street, the same can also be said for some managers. The fact remains that a company is not forced to sign a union contract. I have worked both sides and believe me there is certainly ways to control the situation.

I knew that Colt would never go anywhere after they stopped making the 1851 Navy.

In the short term, yeah unions can cause a lot of problems. I've worked with one that would say, "yes we are proud of our work here, glad to be part of your team" and there would be no grievances or strikes. But try to make a change to improve anything, and you'd hear "fantastic, great idea!" and then 2 weeks later they'd go back to the old methods. If something got improved, it would get unimproved 2 weeks later.

But some of the problems and attitude were a response to some of the company's actions.

In the end, the company just packed up & moved. And suddenly was non-union. In the end, it was a management issue.

Always is a management issue. Change is difficult to empliment on both side union or non union. People just feel more comfortable doing what they have always done.

If unions are not a huge part of the problem, why are other company's moving or wanting to move to right to work states.

A friend works for the RR, he said if the fridge don't work, the conductor/engineer area is dirty, or they don't have a locker they get to bill extra, like 20-50 bucks a day. Now I don't recall the exact amount but it was ridiculous.

GE built a plant in Texas in order to get a cheaper work force. So far this has not worked out, most of what they have built in Texas has had to be shipped to Erie, Pa. Ignore dear to correct poor quality by union workers before they could ship to the customer. The cheaper labor so far has cost more over all.

Still a management issue to correct.

It's kind of like every month when you get the checks from one of your credit card companies. They want you to transfer your debt from the 25% card so you can have no interest with them for a year or something. You put off into the future what you can't pay today so you can't pay it tomorrow either. I think this is what is happening at Colt. I just don't see how a company like that could die. They probably need bankruptcy protection to get from beneath the mountain of debt they have at high interest rates and to break some of the union deals they have made. This is not the unions or the banks fault, it is Colt's management or lack thereof. This is the way our system works, like it or not.

unions do tend to increase labor costs. Because union labor tends to get more of the pie. Is it perfect? No. Do YOU benefit? If you like 8 hour workdays, 40 hour weeks, overtime pay, insurance benefits, vacation pay or safety standards.
then YOU have benefit from unions. There have been big abuses but the pendulum has shifted since the seventies. Now if management wants they can do a lockout and replace union workers pretty easy. Companys go right to work to save money. I dont understand the union hating.

I have worked about the same amount of time union and non. The differences are very noticeable pro and con. Some are small like being told by management to shut up when you disagree. Others are not so small. Some will not like this but a union can make the two sides get along better simply because people are treated more equal. And no one will believe that I am still skeptical of unions and get mad every time i get the propaganda newsletter.

I�m not a big fan of unions, but I don�t bash union workers just because they�re union. Colt has been union for nearly a century, so the current people have had no say in whether Colt�s is union or non-union.

Truth be told, the lowest quality Colt�s came when Colt�s union workers went on strike from 1985-1990. Still Colt�s at its lowest quality has always been pretty decent. Series 80 pistols made in the �80�s were some of the low points for Colts but they functioned better than most Series 70�s, and the frame, slide, and barrels were still just as good as they ever were.

But if you look at the history of Colt�s they have ALWAYS had leadership problems, and have suffered horrendously from corporate raiders through buyouts.

But Colt�s biggest sin was their failure to innovate, and horrible marketing. THAT is a leadership problem, has nothing to do with the union.

In 2002 William Keys a retired Marine General took over as CEO and not long after that quality went way up. If you haven�t taken a Colt�s 1911 out for a test drive in a while, I recommend you do. I personally think they make the best production (non-custom/semi-custom) 1911 these days, with perhaps only Dan Wesson making a nicer 1911. Colt�s are fully the equal of anything coming out of Springfield Armory, and better looking aesthetically, just more attention to detail. And Colt�s beat Springfield & Kimber for the Marines contract. And did so with union employees whom some claim aren�t worth a crap.

+1

That's just anti-union talk for the sake of being anti-union. Unless you specifically have good information on how the union shop at Colt's is hurting Colt's at this time, I don't see how it's relevant.

Look I spent 16 years in a union against my will, but I couldn't work as a non-union medic until I became management. So I became a union shop steward to fix problems with the union and get them to work with management instead of against it. When I left it was a healthy shop. In fact, you're ONLY chance of getting into management was to have served as a union shop steward. We had a healthy partnership with management and people worked hard for the company. We specifically found ways to fire the non-productive people or those who were a danger. And again, I don't like unions either, but to throw all of them in the same batch just shows a lack of understanding.

Just because Colt's is UAW doesn't mean it works the same way as GM's UAW shop.

Colt's had a nasty strike in the '80's, and on that one, you can point fingers at the union (and let's not forget management, it takes two). But that was 25 years ago, so how do you explain the past 25 years?

Truth be told, Colt's has had piss-poor management from day one and has been on the brink of bankruptcy more times than you can count, and filed bankruptcy in 1994. It takes LEADERSHIP to run a company, if you don't have it, you're going to have problems. I personally think it's a miracle that Colt's has survived.

Which product/plant in Texas? I know GE builds Locomotives in Erie, but had not heard about other products.

They are trying to build them in Texas now, but so far the quality isn't up to par so they Erie plant is stil going. If they get the quality issue resolved in Texas I am not sure what will happen to the Erie plant. I have a good friend that works in Erie.

If you say so.




Travis

Too fuggin' funny.

News flash: Management can handle that real easy like.



Travis