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Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Glenn - I understand about the choices. We recently ditched our landline provider and put everything on Koodo mobile. It saves us close to $30/month and while that sounds like not much it does add up as you are fully aware of. Funny how the little things we took for granted when working become items of scrutiny after retirement. I wouldn't have blinked buying coffee a couple times a day before, but now I have maybe 1 cup every month. Take that $7 a day savings and multiply by 200 net days in a working year and it's a whopping $1400!! We dropped our cable SP long ago but have Optic TV through the phone company. Yeah, it's a weird setup but it works really well most of the time and the cost is less than 1/2 of what we paid before, plus it's better service.
Taxes? I usually buy Turbo Tax at Costco for cheaper than the cloud rate. I did look at Cloud Turbo tax, but they wanted close to $16/return and we have 3 to do. Costco price for the TT was $29 and it also provides the NETFILE option. I don't think anyone mails in their tax returns anymore. We did ours almost a month ago and got our refund checks (electronic deposit in the bank now) within a week. What I like about the new TT is the options it provides to do income splitting that maximizes the return. Good luck with yours and I hope the return pays dividends to you.
We no longer have this mountain of snow anymore....
First day at work this spring, awesome! God how i had missed it. Noise, smell, everything! And travelling around when someones paying for it
Sad its friday already tomorrow, need to hang over weekend somehow
1969w3155 - Good for you, about no strike. Here they are planning to halt half Finland with long strikes at Construction industry, shutting down all the major cement-companies, and they are threating to ultimately take infrastructure and what not with them. And if old marks are true, Transport Workers Union joins to support, and all export-ports too. Remember how Great Britain drove down their industry with strikes? I have a fear its hitting us too, they are aiming each-others with too heavy weapons.
Ha, we even have our own example. Paper Workers Union managed to almost halt whole paper industry on Finland, and companies moved to other countries. 10/10. Now they have their Super collective agreement, but no jobs to speak off.
So, long story short, i made my decision to leave Construction Trade Union. Im not going to join any strike, even less im taking part of possibly driving down the industry.
Short and simple story is, that when companies do good, usually workers have things better too, than when companies do bad. Its not on my world that some Union can drive down whole industry, and half the country if aforementioned other unions joins to support the strikes.
End of half a rant, half a personal opinion
Allan R - Snow melting on you at last? Great to hear! Soon spring arrives to you, and then the autumn looms over us
Okay, have a day all!
Last edited by Inline; April 12th, 2018 at 11:26 AM.
Jim, sorry to hear about you *** sitting. Allan, that's a bit of snow, Michigan's Upper Peninsula is supposed to get close to two feet of the white stuff, Green bay Wisc. possibly more, myself on the other hand, well we may get up to 1" of ice on Saturday, not good for the drivers, or any power outages that it may cause. We vote on the contract tomorrow, there is an increase in pay over the 5 year duration on the contract, a boost of 15% to 65% contribution to our 401k when applied to overtime. We already get a 6% match for our 401k, which is better than many companies. Probably the negative is a 5% cost increase every year for healthcare insurance. I don't have a problem with it, but many are against it due to believing the rumor mill rather than the facts. We had Union reps in the shop all day fielding questions, and I joined in, but others had their mind made up without talking to anyone to get the details right. Could get messy, I hope not.
Bee-utiful out. Got up a little early and went for a 15 minute walk, then moved some of the neighbor's wood pile.
Dan good luck tomorrow. Hopefully saner heads will prevail. It's bad enough these things turn into "us against them" but when there's a strike no one wants to give.
Jamesbo I sometimes end up on the back side of your father's advice. Buy what you want, you'll need it eventually.
Got out a few minutes after 5 this morning. Okay I'm tired of this game. The foreman should be off tonight and tomorrow, maybe we'll get a reprieve. Depends on the lead.
So as you know I've been looking for an Imperial for the longest time. Saw one up in New York that had been sitting a long time, but it didn't have any rust. Needed paint and soft stuff, the interior was poor but everything supposedly worked. The guy mentions it has ties to the Kennedy's. So, I'm thinking, I don't want anything to do with the Kennedy's, lest their bad luck rubs off on me. But in order to not sound superstitious, I'm trying to figure out a graceful way to bow out. Then the guy says, well, it doesn't have air conditioning. Sorry, gotta have air in Hotlanta. Eh, he wanted too much for it anyway.
Okay out with the dog and then to start Night 3. All this retirement talk has me jealous. Have a good evening everyone.
Mike, A friend of mine's father [in high school] had one of these babies, GREAT party car. Set your sights a little higher, You may need a secretary one day
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good morning everyone,
WTH??? Woke up to 'it's snowing' AGAIN.
Mike, I just googled Chrysler Imperial for sale. Holy samoleans! Those things are priced through the roof. Even a junkyard parts car is asking almost $5k. Everything else in the 64-67 range is upwards of $30K. Good luck with your search.
Dan, good luck today with the ratification vote on the contract. How soon will the results be in?
Jouni, is your job unionized? If it is I wonder how they will react if you decide to pull the pin, or whether they'll even let you. If you're working a private contractor I guess it's a moot point.
First week off. Today was horrible, after winter, everything i touched seemed to break down "best one" was, when i did whole day without breaks or lunch to leave that much earlier to Dodge the 4pm traffic jam. 15 mins before full day ( 8 hours is minimum for us), one hydraulic hose gave up from such a Place, i had to fix it before leaving home, couldnt leave it that way over weekend. So, there i was, without breaks, stomach giving hints of him, at 4pm traffic jam ...... Oh well, its traditional friday-sauna and beer!
Great weather outside, like summer. +13 and blue sky, no hint of clouds. T-shirt weather whole day. Womens are also lessening their clothing
Allan R - What ive read and understood, we have a bit different union-system than in US. I cant explain my all thoughts due to lack of words, but in a short, at here noone forces you to join or leave union, nor look you bad on work for being member or not. Here its more like your own choice, not masses choice.
For example, im working to one of the biggest companies of our business on our Country ( 3rd biggest i quess), and only 1/3rd of mens are members of Union.
I quess that more towards US system is are you working to your Company under direct contract, as their own employer, or as subcontractor, hired 1-man Company who then charges the main Company.. Subcontractors arent looked good, the ones under direct contract are "kings". And theres also direct relation on salary, the ones directly working on Company are paid alot better. And are usually on jobs where they cant take a change to lose you, or operating high-dollar machines. My machine for example is worth of about 1mil $
Hmm.. Heating sauna sounds good- see you all!
Last edited by Inline; April 13th, 2018 at 07:27 AM.
Beautiful out again. Hope it keeps up for the weekend.
Had an errand so Tiger and I hit the Awful house afterward. Took almost a half hour to get home. Something is amok on the expressway and all the traffic is going through town. I better leave early for work or I'll be on the hook for donuts.
The Imperial of my fancy is the '62 LeBaron. I wouldn't kick a nice Crown out of bed but I really want Mr. Drysdale's car. Silver velour interior. Very nice. Jamesbo I've seen those Executive cars in ads before but never up close.
Ah, Friday. Last night wasn't bad, a little hectic, no telling what tonight will bring. Doesn't matter, once I leave they can't touch me for 98 hours.
Well, gonna take care of the pooch and then head off. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Vote was roughly 60/40 for the current contract, it took about two hours for them to get the results back to us. We gathered at an events arena in Muskegon, about ten minutes from me, and about 18 miles south of where I work. The biggest issue wasn't with the company, but the workers, as there are differences depending when you were hired, for example, pre 1999 people had been under a different contract in the past as Howmet (a French co.) sold out to Alcoa at that time, these workers had a pension, everyone that was hired after 1999 had a 401k to contribute to, well, the company is freezing their pension, and will no longer contribute to it, those ( about 290) workers can still get the 401k, but most of them will be retired by the end of this contract in 2023, so at that time, they will get a 10k lump sum, which pissed a lot of people off, because they, and me were not going to get any of it as they came in after 1999. I knew that when I hired in, as did everybody else, what the situation was. Would i like that chunk of change? yep, but I knew coming in what was and I'm ok with that, we got more money than last time, and a larger lump sum in the 3rd year of the contract than before. The newer employees hired after 4/1/18 will have to work seven years to get to the top pay, I did it in 4, as we had a plan where top pay was achieved in 5 years based on getting an increase for every 1500 hours that you worked, if you worked overtime, would get there sooner. That was dropped, but they start at $3 per hour more than I did back in 2005. Insurance costs are always a hot topic, and they are going up again. I can't blame the company for what the insurance companies charge. We are the second largest employer in Muskegon County, only L3, and the healthcare workers (nurses etc.) make more, with Trinity Healthcare (two hospitals) being the largest employer. I make as much as a ten year police veteran, and I don't get shot at. Sorry for being long winded.
Shanghai F1 qualifying- terrifying! Sad Kimi lost By a small margin to Vet on the fight for pole.
Allan R - Yes, im directly working under the Company. Despite the salaries, we also have other benefits, i just received nice benefits on top of nice payment increase this year. Subcontractors dont have any benefits from Company
1969w3155 - Good to hear it was accepted, so theres no strikes coming.
About you speaking of top salary? Do you guys have top salary Limited/ set By Company? Here they set minimum payments on collective agreements, but Company can, if they will, pay more. Im paid almost 3$ more per hour than minimum requirement is
slantflat - Imperials look beautiful, id take one in a heartbeat too
Hmm. Whole day ahead- need to do something meaningless and not waste whole day
Dan, everything gets worse as far as benefits, etc throughout the country it seems. I retired from Consumers Energy and was really lucky to get in there when I did. I was able to take advantage of old pension plan and new 401 K. Those hired before 92 got only pension, those hired after 04 (somewhere around that) could get only 401K. When I left I took it all and invested it elsewhere. Anyway everyone was always complaining how bad things had become. But we were still better off than most in the state. I am very grateful. Wow , some weather we are supposed to get. Winter ice storm warnings over most the state! I have gas for the generator but hope I don't need it. Had a nice warm but windy day Thursday. That was so welcome!!
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good morning everyone,
It looks like everyone survived Friday the 13! It started out so ugly with snow here and then warmed up enough to melt and dry the roads. So I went out around 2:00 and washed the Malibu. It was unusually busy at the carwash for that time of day.
Jouni, that's typical of company's who treat their employees well. I think their incentive is to maintain constant productivity without the fear of work stoppages from strikes. It also encourages other employees with higher wage incentives.
Allan, about 5 more years before I retire. Jouni, the wages are negotiated during contract renewals, between what the company wants to pay, and what the union thinks we are worth, there is a top wage that I will earn by the end of the contract, it goes up every April 1st due to what was negotiated for in the contract, which are five years in length for us. The process will repeat in 2023. I have worked for a company that gave a 7 cent an hour raise (what a joke), and then increased our insurance costs by $20 per week. We made office cubicles and bakery cases there, and they used a local tree farm that employed migrant workers as a comparable for wages. Greg, I'm watching the weather, should be interesting, hopefully too many trees don't come down from the ice. Not doing anything here right now, and I plan on working tomorrow, I'll go out, and if the roads are too bad, I'll turn around. 1" of ice on everything can mess things up in a hurry. Time to get my grocery shopping done (and stock up on batteries).
Hectic night last night, worked with another guy which helped. Got home around 6. Of course I told Tiger to wake me up at noon and he thought I said 830. I was barely asleep! So then he waited until 1 to come get me again. Sheesh.
So Dan will this be your last contract negotiation? The whole process seems burdensome. At my work maintenance isn't union, but some of the other business groups are. We are governed by some railroad act, which is outdated and has nothing to do with airplanes.
Sun is out but rain tonight. My plan is to clean out the gutters and clean off the garage roof. I have pine trees everywhere and the needles make a huge mess.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Dan, 5 years can seem like an eternity. When I was 50 I revisited the retirement discussion with my Mrs about my goal to retire at 55. It required some serious budgeting but in all honesty I was at the point where no matter how much money the company was throwing my way, work was becoming less and less enjoyable. I think everyone has been in that boat when it sailed. Don't get me wrong on the money, in the last couple years I worked there I was pulling in close to 20 hours of OT each week and at rates that were 1.5 or 2.0 times my regular wage based on the number of hours past 8.0 I worked each day. Up to 2.0 hours I got paid at 1.5x and anything past the first 2 hours was double time. If I ended up working on an off day, which happened quite often it was automatic double time. The company didn't like it but they ponied up because the assignments I was given were time sensitive and there were never enough hours in the day to accomplish them along with my regular work load. I picked my birthday to retire back in 2011, and that gave me 31.5 years of pensionable service. When I started back in 1980 the wages sucked, but the pension was golden if I could stick it out. Gotta say the last 2 months were pretty nerve wracking as I had to develop and train/test a Hazmat program for the company. Lots of research and resources went into that but I got it finished 3 days before I officially went on vacation. Because I hadn't taken more than a week of vacation during the previous 2 years I accumulated almost 3 months of vacation and EDO's to make that happen. I have to say it was really nice to walk out of there for the last time on June 7, 2011. Haven't ever been back either. I heard through the grapevine that everything has gone to crap with mgmt and worker performance though.
Mike, there will be one more as this contract expires in 4/1/23, and I plan on retiring on my birthday which is in November. Allan, I have had some crappy jobs, and even though I went to junior college for machine technology, it ididn't help much as those industries were disappearing, the likes of Sealed Power, Muskegon Piston Ring etc. typical of the rust belt. Started taking criminal justice when I was at the 7 cent an hour raise co., and was told by my manager that I could be fired because they weren't job related, this from a company where we were encouraged to further our education, where the tuition would be reimbursed as long as you had a good GPA, and as told by the company president "did not have to be work related". Pay is good now, and even was decent at the paper mill, but $ was made by overtime there. Some companies paid well, but were difficult to get into, even with a good background, this area, and a lot of Michigan is trying to rebuild itself, microbreweries, small restaurants, and such, but they are mom and pop business's, with exception of some of the microbreweries in the larger towns, so there is not much in the wage department. If I were young again, I would head into the medical field in some capacity, or pursue law enforcement at a younger age.
I kind of feel like that now. Want to move on to something completely different but there isn't much to choose from. I'm not against relocating but the places I'd want to go don't have much, either. If I could do it over again, I'd either not get into aviation at all, or I'd try for management. Not many people break into management at my age, at least not in my company.
What a race! Shanghai F1. Really interesting to watch, and outcome was also surprising.
Im not either planning to work on my current job for the rest of my life. When i got house paid, garage to yard, i think i move to some 8/hours a day job. This all might happen just at the age of 40. Or- then i might continue and retire at 50. Depends of health too. Alot of choices- so far ahead that i really shouldnt bother to think about them for a long time.
Its cloudy now, but still relatively warm for April. Have a day all!
Rain. Got up and got the garage roof cleared off and the house gutters cleaned out yesterday, so this is washing everything off. And it's rinsing the pollen off everything.
Headed to da hills to see John and Better Half today. Saw them last month in NO, always nice to be together.
It is a beautiful day here today with a blue sky and the sun is shining. But is it 40 degrees. I was supposed to go the a local car show yesterday but it was too cold and the wind was blowing like crazy bringing the chill factor down. If it had not been for the wind I probably would have gone. That is the second Saturday in a row I have cancelled going to a car show. I am scheduled for one next Saturday but the rain forecast is 50% at this time. Of course this is Texas where the weather changes every 30 minutes.
Not too much on tap today. We are changing some pictures around in my office so that will take some time to be sure I get them hung right.
Interesting conversation about work practices and unions. This is the perspective from the UK. Most workers do not belong to unions nowadays as they had a big hand in decimating the UK manufacturing industries. I’ve never actually known anyone that’s gone on strike. Health workers and teachers tend to be in unions but that’s mostly to sort out salaries etc. It’s because of the unions that there are no major car makers that are British, however we make cars for the Japs in one of the largest plants in Europe. One bonus of this is that we had to turn towards the service industries and banking making us the second largest economy in Europe.
From a personal point, none of my staff are in any union and even if they were I wouldn’t recognise it. I pay my staff around 10% more than equivalent businesses so the core of them stay with me, plus I’m a nice guy so why would they move on!
Nice weather is on the way. A whole week with temperatures in the mid to high 70s and sunny. Today though is a bit of a washout. Shorts on tomorrow!
Well the ice storm was a bit of a dud here, which is a good thing, the roads were crappy to drive on, and a couple of vehicles went into the ditch, but that is nothing more than routine in the snow.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Hmmm, Kevin Koe wins the Mens Players Championship. Didn't see that coming.
London, everything is what it is. Unions have a place in some industries but not in others - sometimes good, sometimes bad.
Dan, good to hear that things weren't catastrophic. I saw about 3" of heavy wet snow in Toronto. Apparently they had around 400 road incidents as some drivers had forgotten what snow was.
Mike, Mr Drysdale always had a cool ride, so did Jane Hathaway. Can't blame you a bit for wanting his Imperial. But then all the vehicles were supplied by Chrysler at the time. Except for the Clampets Oldsmobile truck.
Going to grill some smokies for supper even though it's only 41° out.
Just made it back from da hills. John and Better Half send their best.
Apparently it's been raining in the Greater Stockbridge Area most of the day. Cloudy and windy in the NG mountains but not too cold. That's a long drive.
Tiger spent the day in his room, and had some fun chewing apart his couch. Pretty soon there won't be anything left. That's okay, anything goes in there.
Well have a good evening everyone, I'm a bit tired I might hit the sack early.
The last cold slap in the face before summer [I hope]
Mike, I tried to wave coming back south when you were headed norte but I had a Varsity chili pimento cheese steak in my hand. and part of it started running down my arm
Ice storm wasn't too bad here either. Lost power a couple times for at most 15 min at a time. We got mostly weird BB sized white ***** but accumulated to 2 " or so. Not really snow but also not ice. Most area schools cancelled today- quite unusual to have a snow day on April 16th! Supposed to warm into 50's by the weekend, I sure hope it does and stays that way!
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good morning everyone,
Ma nature is confused up here. Spoda snow again today and tonight but by weeks end we should be up to mid 50's. According the the weather dude we have set a new record for the most number of consecutive cold days (temp at zero or below) since 1975. We're now at 168 and counting....
Good to hear about John and the better half. Did he say if he's going to revisit the forum again?
Jim, sounds messy. So no whackin whitey today?
Some peeps were next door looking at the crib for sale yesterday. They stayed over an hour and a half. I don't know if that means they were interested or just haggling over the price that long. IMO it's overpriced and the interior is substandard. Anyone who buys it would need to get it cheap so they can put in a proper kitchen and renovate. Wouldn't surprise me if they build the basement into an in law suite.
London, good on ya! I admire the people and companies that value good workers and pay them accordingly. It definitely keeps the possibility of unionization out.
Greg, sounds like you caught the tip of the storm? They cancelled school for 2" of snow? Wow!
It is another beautiful day here and supposed to start warming up this week. Welcome back Jim. I am going to do like you and stay out of the union conversation. I have to take my wife for a root canal this morning. I had one last year and the guy was really good. He had a great sense of humor. When I told him I had never had a root canal he said well I have never done one. My wife has a big fear of dentist. We had dental insurance all the years I worked but I could never get her to go. Now I have to carry dental insurance on Cobra so she can get her work done. Bless her heart I hope she does okay. I unpacked my boxes of stuff I brought home from my office and have to get it either put away or thrown away to do. It will probably be a combination of both.
Cold and windy. Feels like winter. The first year I lived here, 1997, in February it was cool in the mornings and shirt sleeves by afternoon. Every year after that it's been cold well into spring. I was duped.
Jamesbo I figured you hightailed it up norte in such a hurry you forgot to say goodbye.
Leaving in a little while to go pick up the truck. I'll be glad to have it back and in running order. It doesn't have any heat so I'll have to find something to wear that will keep me warm.
Well, last day off. One of the leads called me around 2 last night, then when I didn't answer sent me a text. Asked if I was working on a particular airplane. How did he not know I wasn't at work. I think he did it on purpose.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Have a safe trip Mike. Strange that the deuce wouldn't have any heat in the cab. You going to drive one of the fleet up and load it into the back of the truck for the drive home?
Well got home okay, that thing is a handful. Learned some things about the truck from the guy who worked on it, learned some tips for taking care of it. Glad it's home.
My truck spent the majority of its days in Alabama, so it didn't really need a heater. Some had them some didn't. A lot of heat comes through the floor.
John I think is just busy with other things. I don't think he works on his Starfire a lot these days so it's easy not to think about the forum. Can's say as I blame him. There's a lot of things I'd like to take a break from.
Think I'll relax this evening. Work tomorrow. Have a good evening everyone.
Allan, not snow, a freezing pellet/sleet mix, which made driving a pain in the ****, going to work yesterday was a handful where the roads were'nt plowed, it would pull you all over the place like a heavy slush at times.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Dan, we have that going on here for the past several hours. Heavy wet snow that pulls cars around on the road. Spoda snow like this till tomorrow afternoon. Forecast is for up to 5" of heavy stuff before it stops. Yuck. Good thing our cars still have winter shoes on.
April 12th, 2018, 10:10 AM
It started out so ugly with snow here and then warmed up enough to melt and dry the roads. So I went out around 2:00 and washed the Malibu. It was unusually busy at the carwash for that time of day.
