Word: nonunionism
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Nucor and Chaparral are leaders in a new class of companies that make steel in what are called minimills: small, low-cost plants that utilize state-of-the-art technology and, in most cases, nonunion labor. These factories contain none of the costly blast furnaces used to transform raw materials into steel. Instead, they take scrap steel, melt it down and reshape it into new forms. The minimills fashion small, specialized steel products rather than huge beams and sheets. Nucor's steel can be found, for example, in reinforcing rods for concrete walls, traffic barricades and lawnmowers...
Depending on how much steel the workers produce, they are paid bonuses as large as 200% of their base salaries. Says Iverson: "People think that because we're in the South and are nonunion, our workers make less, but we reward high productivity." He contends that in 1981 the average blue-collar worker at Nucor made $30,000, in contrast to $28,500 at the large steel companies. But that Nucor worker, Iverson maintains, churned out about 850 tons of steel during the year, while employees at the big firms averaged only 350 tons...
Trumka argued that Church had not been effective at organizing coal miners in Western states. The U.M.W, said Trumka, spent some $10 million to bring in a grand total of just 542 new members from the West, which is only 17% unionized. The U.M.W. members see nonunion coal as a major threat to their jobs, one reason that U.M.W. joblessness stands...
...coal companies are certainly not exploiting their employees. Most offer wages of over $35,000 a year with bonuses; added benefits bring the package will over $50,000. The lucrative wages are useful to the coal companies too, by keeping almost all the miners in the county nonunion. In an area where a small but sound house can sell for as little as $6000 and where there are few opportunities to spend money on recreation, miners are able to spend a lot on flashy cars and extravagant homes. Robert M. Duncan, chief executive officer of Martin County's only bank...
...support a walkout. Naturally, the owners too are talking tough. The union proposal, says N.F.L. Negotiator Jack Donlan, is "alien to American business" and "would be tantamount to getting control" of the league. Donlan threatens a possible lockout if no agreement is reached and hints at fielding teams of nonunion rookies and free agents. Should that happen, the rich new TV deal would start with some ironically low-grade football...