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Originally Posted by GK
Thanks for the informative post Steve. I am saddened to hear of the injuries to long-term line workers. It seems they give their all for the company and their bodies really pay for it.
In your opinion are your collegues happy to be working the line, or do they accept that it's their lot? It may be that they're proud to work for Ford, or do many wish they could be employed in another type of work?
I know there would be many and varied feelings among workers about such things, but if you could give us a bit of a clue as to what you see I'd appreciate it.
GK
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Thank you for giving me the opportunity to elaborate on this subject.
I will get this part out of the way right now. Yeah, within the population of about 1,700 employees at our plant, there is a percentage of people I would rather see not working there. Even 1% of that population is still 17 people. Yeah, there are some that don't need to be there, if you know what I mean.
The majority of people working the line have pride in themselves, do a very good job, get things done, make sure things are right, and then go home. The fingers that catch in position, the knee that still doesn't need replacing yet (but hurts like a mother), the achy back, and the shoulder that doesn't have it's full range of motion anymore are part of the job. There is no getting around it, period.
You would be surprised how many people on the line have college degrees. Some were earned before coming to Ford, some after coming to Ford. Some things I am told by these people is less mental/emotional pressure on the line makes it worth not being in the field of their degree. Some would have to do a lot of traveling in their selected field and that is rough on family life. Working at the plant they get to go home everyday.
Some have earned degrees and left the company.
There are also "Supermen" and "Superwomen" that throw themselves completely into the company. They take an extreme amount of pride in what they are doing and work to the total benefit of Ford. These people also have some of the most debilitating injuries.
However, with this kind of work comes a different kind of mindset. One of the employees, upon the completion of his SECOND hip replacement surgery, brought in his first stainless steel hip and had a Toolmaker machine it into a putter for him to golf with.
I know a woman in her mid 50's that had her knee replaced last year. I watched her hobble around in great pain for about 7 years on that knee. She was afraid to have the surgery and also be out of work for so long to recover. Her concern was both for making her bills on "medical" pay, and also for the people that would have to do her job while she was away. Now that she had it done and has recovered she didn't know what she waited so long for. Initially she wanted to wait until she was older so that hopefully the new knee would last until she died.
I know a guy that was 42 years old and he had to run his hands under hot water every morning when he woke and have his wife work his fingers so that he could use them on his job.
There are a number of employees that have no feeling in their hands due to carpal tunnel syndrome, even after surgery or surgeries.
I know two guys that are having shoulder surgery (rotator cuff) over the Christmas holiday while we are down.
I know 2 guys that got hit by forklifts. Both times it was the forklift operator's fault. There was also two women that were injured by forklifts. One had a large, steel basket of parts set down on the back of her ankles, the other was driven into on a corner where the forklift should have stopped.
A 21 year old was killed at our plant in the early 1990's. He was being stupid though. He was one of that 1% I mentioned earlier.
Fingers have been caught in machinery. Fingers have been left in machinery.
My mother inlaw retired from the Cleveland Casting plant. She has 2 vertebra fused in her neck, arthritis in her back, and two bad knees.
I worked on the line for 4 years before getting into skilled trades. In just those 4 years my thumbs were ruined by inserting "push-pins" into plastic panels. My thumbs would lock and I would be unable to bend them without "cracking" them very loudly as I forced them to bend. A few years later it got so bad that I would drop objects after picking them up from a work bench because my thumb would not exert the amount of force I thought I was using. They got better to where I wouldn't drop anything and also they would only lock up sometimes, but now that I am on the line again I have to crack my thumbs past the locking point 3 times every morning before they will work normally again. Through out the day they still lock open.
Let it be said, nobody retires from working the line and is 100% for their age. Something is not going to work right, or something is going to hurt, or something will be operated on.
But we look at it as par for the course. Miners have it worse than us yet they feel it is worth it, and the hazards are part of what they are paid for. Same for us, the pay helps these issues to be viewed as part of the job.
This is why I would never do it for $14/hr. You can't take all this for that kind of pay.
Steve