Criminalizing Bus Ministries?

[aleshanee]

Because of blue state stupidity Caterpillar moved their corporate office from Peoria to red state Dallas, Texas

my sisters company moved their main offices from new york city to texas for the same reason.... ..they did it in 2020... but instead of moving her to texas they moved her back here to re-open her old office in this same apartment.... during the time they had her back in new york we were using her office as a surfboard and bicycle storage room... ...plus her motorcycle and her husbands motorcycle were in there as well....

Wow...all this talk about Caterpillar and Illinois almost makes me want to move back to the Peoria Illinois area. Nearly everyone I grew up with had family working for Cat!

that;s the one thing hawaii doesn;t have anymore - a big manufacturing company..... .there is a company that makes tractor tugs for inside a harbor type work... and the navy has several dry docks at pearl harbor where they do a lot of work... ..... but the big ocean going tugs that bring barges in and out from other islands are made somewhere else.. ..when i first came here there were still a few sugar mills operating here... but the dole pineapple cannery had already shut down... and even the famous pineapple water tower was gone... pieces of it were in a vacant lot next to the factory buildings.... so i never got to see it standing.... .. ..

my natural sister had told me about how the cannery made that part of honolulu smell like a pineapple upside down cake whenever they were operating... .... they kept reporting that the old tower was going to be restored and put back up as a landmark but like most promises in a blue state it never came to pass... ..

 

[aleshanee]

I don't mean to speak for the whole Forum, but we all love you and love your exotic island stories.

Your life experiences good and bad are important to us.

thank you.... i really appreciate your kind words and support.... .the good ones are easy to write about.... but the bad ones are not and yet they are the ones i end up deleting most often... ..i;m told from time to time that i say too much in some of what i write... ..especially when it;s about some of the bad experiences.... ...but it helps to know that even those can sometimes be a blessing to others....

 

[coverbd]

thank you.... i really appreciate your kind words and support.... .the good ones are easy to write about.... but the bad ones are not and yet they are the ones i end up deleting most often... ..i;m told from time to time that i say too much in some of what i write... ..especially when it;s about some of the bad experiences.... ...but it helps to know that even those can sometimes be a blessing to others....

That's true. Keep on posting!!

 

[coverbd]

my sisters company moved their main offices from new york city to texas for the same reason.... ..they did it in 2020... but instead of moving her to texas they moved her back here to re-open her old office in this same apartment.... during the time they had her back in new york we were using her office as a surfboard and bicycle storage room... ...plus her motorcycle and her husbands motorcycle were in there as well....


that;s the one thing hawaii doesn;t have anymore - a big manufacturing company..... .there is a company that makes tractor tugs for inside a harbor type work... and the navy has several dry docks at pearl harbor where they do a lot of work... ..... but the big ocean going tugs that bring barges in and out from other islands are made somewhere else.. ..when i first came here there still a few sugar mills operating here... but the dole pineapple cannery had already shut down... and even the famous pineapple water tower was gone... pieces of it were in a vacant lot next to the factory buildings.... so i never got to see it standing.... .. ..

my natural sister had told me about how the cannery made that part of honolulu smell like a pineapple upside down cake whenever they were operating... .... they kept reporting that the old tower was going to be restored and put back up as a landmark but like most promises in a blue state it never came to pass... ..

Caterpillar is one of best companies in America.
I was very honored and proud to work for them.
Below is an interoffice memorandum I would
to share with you on that fateful day.

September 14, 2001

Caterpillar machines aid in rescue

The global Caterpillar family is joining together to support and aid in the rescue currently underway in New York City. As of Friday, Sept. 14, more than 120 Caterpillar and dealer employees are on site in New York City operating equipment, installing power and coordinating efforts. Since forming a disaster response team less than an hour after Tuesday's tragedy, Caterpillar has worked to supply the following:

• Emergency power and lighting during the first night's rescue efforts. Cat dealer H.O. Penn of New York was a key player in this effort.
• 80 megawatts of temporary power (enough to power 80,000 homes) and 19 miles of cable are on the scene. In addition, Caterpillar dealer H.O. Penn has more than 250 megawatts of permanently installed power in south Manhattan.
• A specialty Caterpillar 345 Ultra High excavator capable of 84-foot vertical reaches and elevated cab was expedited from the Caterpillar facility in Aurora, Illinois. Equipped with shears, the machine is capable of lifting heavy debris and cutting through steel beams.
• A M320 wheeled excavator with a hydraulic cab was also expedited from Aurora. The elevated cab places an operator higher in the air to improve visibility while working in tight conditions.
• Two expert operators from the Caterpillar Demonstration Center in Edwards, Illinois, are in New York to operate the specialty equipment and provide back-up support to other operators.
• Caterpillar work boots and apparel are en route for use in New York hospitals and by rescue workers at the site.

In addition, Caterpillar is matching gifts for all employee donations to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and United Way relief efforts.

Caterpillar employees around the world honored today's national day of prayer and remembrance. At Caterpillar world headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, Chairman Glen Barton led a moment of silence saying, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families as well as to those who continue in the rescue efforts."

 

[aleshanee]

Caterpillar is one of best companies in America.
I was very honored and proud to work for them.
Below is an interoffice memorandum I would
to share with you on that fateful day.

September 14, 2001

Caterpillar machines aid in rescue

The global Caterpillar family is joining together to support and aid in the rescue currently underway in New York City. As of Friday, Sept. 14, more than 120 Caterpillar and dealer employees are on site in New York City operating equipment, installing power and coordinating efforts. Since forming a disaster response team less than an hour after Tuesday's tragedy, Caterpillar has worked to supply the following:

• Emergency power and lighting during the first night's rescue efforts. Cat dealer H.O. Penn of New York was a key player in this effort.
• 80 megawatts of temporary power (enough to power 80,000 homes) and 19 miles of cable are on the scene. In addition, Caterpillar dealer H.O. Penn has more than 250 megawatts of permanently installed power in south Manhattan.
• A specialty Caterpillar 345 Ultra High excavator capable of 84-foot vertical reaches and elevated cab was expedited from the Caterpillar facility in Aurora, Illinois. Equipped with shears, the machine is capable of lifting heavy debris and cutting through steel beams.
• A M320 wheeled excavator with a hydraulic cab was also expedited from Aurora. The elevated cab places an operator higher in the air to improve visibility while working in tight conditions.
• Two expert operators from the Caterpillar Demonstration Center in Edwards, Illinois, are in New York to operate the specialty equipment and provide back-up support to other operators.
• Caterpillar work boots and apparel are en route for use in New York hospitals and by rescue workers at the site.

In addition, Caterpillar is matching gifts for all employee donations to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and United Way relief efforts.

Caterpillar employees around the world honored today's national day of prayer and remembrance. At Caterpillar world headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, Chairman Glen Barton led a moment of silence saying, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families as well as to those who continue in the rescue efforts."

that;s really awesome.... i was still in highschool when all that happened... but it was still night time here so we all woke up to the news..... . what i remember most was that for a long time after that.. .it seemed like weeks.... the skies over hawaii were empty.... a few military flights continnued and F15s still flew their regular patrols - but no airliners coming and going at all.... and that seemed to make everything else quiet.... one of the few times this city was ever like that...

 

[AverageJoe]

Caterpillar is one of best companies in America.
I was very honored and proud to work for them.
Below is an interoffice memorandum I would
to share with you on that fateful day.

September 14, 2001

Caterpillar machines aid in rescue

The global Caterpillar family is joining together to support and aid in the rescue currently underway in New York City. As of Friday, Sept. 14, more than 120 Caterpillar and dealer employees are on site in New York City operating equipment, installing power and coordinating efforts. Since forming a disaster response team less than an hour after Tuesday's tragedy, Caterpillar has worked to supply the following:

• Emergency power and lighting during the first night's rescue efforts. Cat dealer H.O. Penn of New York was a key player in this effort.
• 80 megawatts of temporary power (enough to power 80,000 homes) and 19 miles of cable are on the scene. In addition, Caterpillar dealer H.O. Penn has more than 250 megawatts of permanently installed power in south Manhattan.
• A specialty Caterpillar 345 Ultra High excavator capable of 84-foot vertical reaches and elevated cab was expedited from the Caterpillar facility in Aurora, Illinois. Equipped with shears, the machine is capable of lifting heavy debris and cutting through steel beams.
• A M320 wheeled excavator with a hydraulic cab was also expedited from Aurora. The elevated cab places an operator higher in the air to improve visibility while working in tight conditions.
• Two expert operators from the Caterpillar Demonstration Center in Edwards, Illinois, are in New York to operate the specialty equipment and provide back-up support to other operators.
• Caterpillar work boots and apparel are en route for use in New York hospitals and by rescue workers at the site.

In addition, Caterpillar is matching gifts for all employee donations to the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and United Way relief efforts.

Caterpillar employees around the world honored today's national day of prayer and remembrance. At Caterpillar world headquarters in Peoria, Illinois, Chairman Glen Barton led a moment of silence saying, "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the families as well as to those who continue in the rescue efforts."

Different people have different views of Caterpillar. When they went on strike back in the mid 90s, I was working full time at Menards in Pekin, Illinois. Many of the strikers did their best to get jobs from companies to supplement their $300 per week strike pay, the highest in the history for Cat strikers...and they finally convinced Menards to allow for strikers to have jobs at Menards PT....Well, it ended up being more than PT...I worked in several different departments and was getting ready to finish training to become a department manager...but they cut my hours back and gave them to Cat strikers. They did this with 14 workers in our store alone. I don't know how many jobs were affected in the Peoria location. My sister-in-law worked for Cat for over 25 years. She did okay there because she wasn't in the manufacturing end of it. I saw many of my friends go to work there just to see the union sell them out...pay for some of them never increased a dime because of the strike. In fact, some of them were let go because of it. Our church, which ran 60-80 people had 21 people who worked for Cat...during that strike, several of them lost their homes, lost spouses to others, and some committed suicide. My opinion of Cat isn't favorable.

 

[coverbd]

that;s really awesome.... i was still in highschool when all that happened... but it was still night time here so we all woke up to the news..... . what i remember most was that for a long time after that.. .it seemed like weeks.... the skies over hawaii were empty.... a few military flights continnued and F15s still flew their regular patrols - but no airliners coming and going at all.... and that seemed to make everything else quiet.... one of the few times this city was ever like that...

Here is another memorandum I got later that day.

September 19, 2001

Caterpillar providing much of the power to NYC

• Caterpillar machines are the primary products being used at the recovery and cleanup site, including numerous excavators, wheel loaders, skid steer loaders and articulated trucks. Dealer personnel continue to provide excellent support for this equipment.
• At least 250MW in standby units are providing power to businesses that lost power. In addition, an additional 70MW of rental gen sets are providing emergency power. Every major Stock exchange (NYSE, AMEX, NYMEX, NASDAQ, etc.) is being powered by Caterpillar gen sets, as well as the vast majority of New York's banking and insurance industry.
• Cat Dealers in the region mobilized hundreds more megawatts of power and staged them in Foley Equipment's yard in Hightstown, N.J. and H.O. Penn's yard in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. for deployment when needed. There are also 10x2MW units staged in Manhattan on South Street about three blocks from Wall Street.
• H.O. Penn has employees dedicated to Con Edison's Command Center. (Consolidated Edison Company of New York Inc. is a regulated utility providing electric, gas and steam service to New York City.) They are working in teams with Con Edison personnel and employees from Foley and Southworth Milton to find solutions and coordinate logistics for temporary power needs. Our dealers report that this is an hour-by-hour, building-by-building, block-by-block effort. They coordinate and dispatch over 40 service technicians, four lube trucks, cable and parts. They have fuel, air and oil filters, cleaning supplies, lugs, barrels of oil, and other parts needed to keep the units running.
• Three smaller gen sets (HX27's) are powering the Red Cross on-site kitchens. These units were up and running about midnight on Monday to run lights, etc. for the temporary kitchens set up primarily for the rescue workers.
• The Cat Rental Power network is working to prepare for some of the mid to longer term recovery of Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) in the shutdown buildings and various temporary offices which might be opening. Rental chillers and air conditioners are staged in the area ready to respond to the needs

 

[coverbd]

Different people have different views of Caterpillar. When they went on strike back in the mid 90s, I was working full time at Menards in Pekin, Illinois. Many of the strikers did their best to get jobs from companies to supplement their $300 per week strike pay, the highest in the history for Cat strikers...and they finally convinced Menards to allow for strikers to have jobs at Menards PT....Well, it ended up being more than PT...I worked in several different departments and was getting ready to finish training to become a department manager...but they cut my hours back and gave them to Cat strikers. They did this with 14 workers in our store alone. I don't know how many jobs were affected in the Peoria location. My sister-in-law worked for Cat for over 25 years. She did okay there because she wasn't in the manufacturing end of it. I saw many of my friends go to work there just to see the union sell them out...pay for some of them never increased a dime because of the strike. In fact, some of them were let go because of it. Our church, which ran 60-80 people had 21 people who worked for Cat...during that strike, several of them lost their homes, lost spouses to others, and some committed suicide. My opinion of Cat isn't favorable.

All the Cat union plants were in Illinois. I worked at the large engine center in Lafayette, Indiana
The Indiana plant was non union. The Indiana plant always paid higher hourly wages than the union
plants in Illinois, just to keep the union out. Most of the hourly people that worked in the machine
shop with 30 years service retired as millionaires. One machine operator owned about 28 rental properties,
another machine operator owned 3 nursing homes. I know some people will not have a favorable view
of Caterpillar.

 

[AverageJoe]

All the Cat union plants were in Illinois. I worked at the large engine center in Lafayette, Indiana
The Indiana plant was non union. The Indiana plant always paid higher hourly wages than the union
plants in Illinois, just to keep the union out. Most of the hourly people that worked in the machine
shop with 30 years service retired as millionaires. One machine operator owned about 28 rental properties,
another machine operator owned 3 nursing homes. I know some people will not have a favorable view
of Caterpillar.

I have a pretty decent opinion of the non-union employees. We didn't find many of these in Illinois. There were some allowed to work in the E. Peoria, Mossville, Morton, and Chillicothe plants. I nearly worked for them back in the late 70s and early 80s. I almost crossed the picket lines in the mid 90s, but, having been union in several other jobs I remember how we felt when scabs came in...While working as a stocker in a grocery store in the 70s we had people coming across the picket lines, and some were even threatened because of that action.

 

[coverbd]

I have a pretty decent opinion of the non-union employees. We didn't find many of these in Illinois. There were some allowed to work in the E. Peoria, Mossville, Morton, and Chillicothe plants. I nearly worked for them back in the late 70s and early 80s. I almost crossed the picket lines in the mid 90s, but, having been union in several other jobs I remember how we felt when scabs came in...While working as a stocker in a grocery store in the 70s we had people coming across the picket lines, and some were even threatened because of that action.

I can believe that. I have no personal view positive or negative on unions. That's a personal choice for people to make concerning employment.

 

[sword]

I have a pretty decent opinion of the non-union employees. We didn't find many of these in Illinois. There were some allowed to work in the E. Peoria, Mossville, Morton, and Chillicothe plants. I nearly worked for them back in the late 70s and early 80s. I almost crossed the picket lines in the mid 90s, but, having been union in several other jobs I remember how we felt when scabs came in...While working as a stocker in a grocery store in the 70s we had people coming across the picket lines, and some were even threatened because of that action.

In June 1994, between 15,000 and 20,000 Caterpillar workers, a part of the UAW union, were fed up with the working conditions, low pay and benefit cuts and walked out.

The strike lasted 18 months and was later considered a failure. The problem was Cat was able to maintain high levels of production becuase of the number of non-union plants it had. The second problem was the union did not have a large enough strike fund, workers only got $100 a week at first then it went up to $300 a week. This forced some union members to cross the picket line further weakening the union. In the end the union was unable to put economic pressure on the company and had to give up. Very little gain came out of the 18 month strike.

Strikes in 2023 by the United Steelworks of America, the Teamsters at UPS and FEDEX, the United Auto Workers strikes against Ford, General Motors, Mack Trucks and Stellantis and the The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were very effective because of the current strength of their unions and the ability to apply enormous conomic pressure on each of the companies. High levels of economic inflation and low to no raises and huge benefit cuts at these facilities and abuse of temporary workers were the catalyst for these walkouts.

Public opinion regarding unions comes and goes from decade to decade. Several of the auto transplant plants in the south are currently in the process of unionizing though none have been ratified yet. This is something that has always been considered impossible.

 

[aleshanee]

In June 1994, between 15,000 and 20,000 Caterpillar workers, a part of the UAW union, were fed up with the working conditions, low pay and benefit cuts and walked out.

The strike lasted 18 months and was later considered a failure. The problem was Cat was able to maintain high levels of production becuase of the number of non-union plants it had. The second problem was the union did not have a large enough strike fund, workers only got $100 a week at first then it went up to $300 a week. This forced some union members to cross the picket line further weakening the union. In the end the union was unable to put economic pressure on the company and had to give up. Very little gain came out of the 18 month strike.

Strikes in 2023 by the United Steelworks of America, the Teamsters at UPS and FEDEX, the United Auto Workers strikes against Ford, General Motors, Mack Trucks and Stellantis and the The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were very effective because of the current strength of their unions and the ability to apply enormous conomic pressure on each of the companies. High levels of economic inflation and low to no raises and huge benefit cuts at these facilities and abuse of temporary workers were the catalyst for these walkouts.

Public opinion regarding unions comes and goes from decade to decade. Several of the auto transplant plants in the south are currently in the process of unionizing though none have been ratified yet. This is something that has always been considered impossible.

my dad was afscme union for 35 years as a paramedic... then before that he was teamster as a mainland truck driver... ..he;s not against unions but he also doesn;t hesitate to criticize what they do wrong and the corruption too many unions are involved in... ...ironically here in hawaii teamsters no longer represent truck drivers... their biggest clientel are the waikiki hotel workers.... people that wouldn;t even know how to start a truck -much less drive one across country hauling freight..... ..they do still cover the city bus drivers though and that;s kinda weird since all the other city and county or state workers are covered by government oriented unions....... .... hawaii is definitely not a right to work state.. .. it;s just the opposite - a right not to work state... .

 

[coverbd]

The Southern states are "right to work" states. Usually when a union strikes and gets what it deems as seems as fair. The company usually reduces head count sometime later after everyone returns to work. When you read that a company is restructuring and has restructuring costs. That's a political correct way of saying they are going to reduce head count.

 

[aleshanee]

The Southern states are "right to work" states. Usually when a union strikes and gets what it deems as seems as fair. The company usually reduces head count sometime later after everyone returns to work. When you read that a company is restructuring and has restructuring costs. That's a political correct way of saying they are going to reduce head count.

in all his jobs he and his coworkers were declared essential workers through a judges decision (here in hawaii)... or government edict when he was a truck driver under government contract.... ...so he never had to worry about strikes... .. but i know for a fact that if a strike had been called when he was a paramedic he would not have obeyed it.... he would have reported to work the next day as usual.... .. in fact i think most of the people working in his ems department would have gone to work as usual... ..

 

[AverageJoe]

In June 1994, between 15,000 and 20,000 Caterpillar workers, a part of the UAW union, were fed up with the working conditions, low pay and benefit cuts and walked out.

The strike lasted 18 months and was later considered a failure. The problem was Cat was able to maintain high levels of production becuase of the number of non-union plants it had. The second problem was the union did not have a large enough strike fund, workers only got $100 a week at first then it went up to $300 a week. This forced some union members to cross the picket line further weakening the union. In the end the union was unable to put economic pressure on the company and had to give up. Very little gain came out of the 18 month strike.

Strikes in 2023 by the United Steelworks of America, the Teamsters at UPS and FEDEX, the United Auto Workers strikes against Ford, General Motors, Mack Trucks and Stellantis and the The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were very effective because of the current strength of their unions and the ability to apply enormous conomic pressure on each of the companies. High levels of economic inflation and low to no raises and huge benefit cuts at these facilities and abuse of temporary workers were the catalyst for these walkouts.

Public opinion regarding unions comes and goes from decade to decade. Several of the auto transplant plants in the south are currently in the process of unionizing though none have been ratified yet. This is something that has always been considered impossible.

Nissan tried several times after we moved down here to Murfreesboro Tennessee. Then several years back the Volkswagen plant tried in Chattanooga. That was a disaster. The GM plant in Spring Hill Tennessee went union and they've been up and down in work/workers ever since.