Hey, there! Log in / Register

Workers who will be building our new commuter-rail cars end walk out over lack of water, AC

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports on the latest at the Hyundai-Rotem plant, where workers are scheduled to churn out a ton of new coaches for the MBTA just as soon as they finish an order for SEPTA, Philadelphia's equivalent:

Hyundai-Rotem, a subsidiary of South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Group, has brought increasing numbers of workers from its South Korean headquarters to South Philadelphia to try to speed up work on the rail cars. Delivery of the new rail cars to SEPTA has fallen more than a year behind schedule because of continuing material shortages, design flaws, production problems, and workmanship errors.

Topics: 
Free tagging: 


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

That 'lack of AC' you refer to?

"a broken air conditioner in the employee lunchroom on a day when outdoor temperatures approached 100 degrees."

This is the kind of thing that brought Detroit to its knees.

up
Voting closed 0

Yeah, blame it on workers not the geniuses in GM's finance department:
"They couldn't tell us on any given day within $500 million how much cash the company had. That's an amazing thing." - Steve Rattner

http://www.autonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=...

up
Voting closed 0

The Detroit management should have figured out that paying someone with no special skills $30+ bucks an hour, plus benefits and retirement, to do the job of a 30 cent microchip wasn't a winning business plan sooner.

up
Voting closed 0

of the free market. I heard slavery was a viable system once upon a time too.

up
Voting closed 0

Yeah I guess scientists, engineers, and industries which build factory robots are failures. And products built to tighter standards than is possible with human hands using machine tools aren't as important as staying in the 19th century. I'm sure all the factory workers loved operating the same machine 10,0000 times a day too with high risks of injury. Those factory workers were such a happy bunch indeed as indicated by every glowingly affectionate piece of literature written about them.

Less dangerous non-back-breaking labor, higher quality products, and lower prices that everyone can afford are obviously failures of the free market.

up
Voting closed 0

When Massachusetts still had factories I worked in them on the shop floor. How about you, college boy?

up
Voting closed 0

College boy? Stop, you're killing me.

up
Voting closed 0

Actually earlier reports from the Philly area in the press have spoken to some very serious issues atthe assembly plant. These include So. Korean managers actually slapping union workers for "talking back." There is a clear cultural issue taking place there in so far as the foreign managers have no concept of American workers or unions.

There has been morethan one work stoppage as a result of improper behaviors on the part of management.

Bringing in workers from So. Korea will also raise questions of violations of union contracts that could have broad-reaching effects on the delivery schedules.

The "material shortages" are in part due to a steel shortage because of the foreign war efforts that are scooping up a lot of metal these days.

The schedule drop at SEPTA will have a direct impact on their delivery of new coaches to the MBTA. We also need to look seriously at quality issues and design flaws.

Other news reports have stated that test coaches delivered to SEPTA were rife with problems forcing design changes and retrofits.

Not good.

up
Voting closed 0

While there are any number of issues raised in your comment I would like to comment on, I have time for only one.

Disclaimers: (1) I am not from Philly, but have several friends who have described their childhood years in the various neighborhoods to me; (2) I know nothing of these events other than what was reported in your comments.

In my mind, the work stoppages you speak of as a result of "So. Korean managers actually slapping union workers for 'talking back'" ends with a bunch of North Philly guys pummeling said So. Korean manager into a bloody pulp and the ensuing police response, rather than the workers walking off the floor.

In short, I just can't see the worker's reaction to that kind of conduct being, "okay, that's it, we're done for the day and we're filing a grievance." Are you going to disappoint me and tell me that is actually how it went down and that there was no brawl (or, I suspect more accurately, beat down)?

up
Voting closed 0

From philly.com-

African American, Hispanic, and female workers say they are frequently disparaged as inferior by their Korean managers. Some managers have slapped employees, workers say, and a male employee says he repeatedly was grabbed in the crotch by supervisors.

Also, regarding the $30 rate quoted above-

Currently, the hourly wage is $12 or $12.50 for most of the 120 electrical and mechanical workers hired by TTA, according to the union. Most team leaders get $15 an hour.

up
Voting closed 0

...slapping -- in school and work settings -- is pretty common. Not sure, however, that these are necessarily accurate depictions of everyday life. ;~!}

up
Voting closed 0

I've been to Seoul and other places in South Korea for business multiple times, in a sales engineering role, and have been loudly berated by the people I was working for. But I never thought I was in any imminent physical danger, and I've never seen anyone else, from my company or my customers', physically attacked. YMMV.

up
Voting closed 0

Are we really going to keep a multi-million dollar contact with these stooges when we know there's huge issues at the plant, and obvious signs that the Koreans are cost-cutting (not only their labor, but probably also on the plant).

Has OSAH been called in recently? For the reports of mismanagment, I bet they couldn't pass a safety inspection.

Are we going to throw away taxpayer dollers down a another green line trolly hole?

up
Voting closed 0

Rotem is also building cars for L.A's commuter rail operator Metrolink, but the L.A. cars are being assembled in California and don't seem to be having any of the problems that SEPTA is having

http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Story/2010/11/M...

Rotem might decide to assemble the MBTA cars in California instead of Philly if things don't improve with the SEPTA order.

up
Voting closed 0