Winter parade in Wisconsin

Here's what somebody did with their Super C today: Drove around the Wisconsin State Capitol.

Is the top one an A? I guess those are the highway tires. You'd get no traction doing real work.


Here are more pictures of today's "Tractorcade":

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seiu/5520692233/in/set-72157626127492239/

http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=544978&articleId=1076030&func=6&channel=Do+You+Believe&filterRead=false&filterHidden=true&filterUnhidden=false


Tractors in Wisconsin

I love it. This country was built on the backs of hard workers. We should protect our heritage and ability to bargain for fair wages and conditions. Big business can do all right and middle class americans, including mom and pop farmers, can and should have opportunities to succeed. Go people of Wisconsin!

The top one is a Cub.
I like the tires on the Super C!

I agree people should be able to work without having joining a union. all a union does is give all those union dues to the gready politicians to pocket, no wonder they left the state.

I agree with Bob,unions had there place in the 20s but nowadays they are paid way too much for the work you get in return.It was the unions that broke IH,look at the mess they made with GM and Chrystler too

thats not all the unions do farmall bob and d1206. you always hear the negative stories, never the positive ones. do us all a favor, stick to commenting on tractors.

I would, but I didn't bring the subject up.
Bob

There isnt many in the middle class anyway,so whos going to miss us when were gone. The working man wont stand a chance

I have worked union for 26yrs and I am not saying its for everybody and its not always fair in your favor but its has done good for me and my Family!
But there is also 1 situation where 2 Company men saved my job and the Union didn't back me!
I was not a happy camper with that!

I'm a retired teacher and farmer from Wisconsin: not always a strong union supporter either, but if all us little guys don't stick together now we are going to be hung out to dry by the fat cats. This Wisconsin governor is in the pocket of big business and his business is to take it from our pockets and give it to them.

The unions didn't break Harvester. They were blamed, but really, the union problems were usually a symptom of other issues.

My point of view on the whole subject is that once again the working man is to blame. Was Walker stating his case from the governor's mansion or the governor's apartment or bungalow? The politicians should start with themselves as examples. I am a blue collar worker and was to blame for the ills of my company. My pension was taken, 35% pay cut, I pay 22% of my health care. Sick time gone, vacation time gone, workers comp gone, half the holidays gone and most disturbing 40% of the work force gone. Corporate heads got million dollar bonuses for doing such a good job. Before the politicians take from anyone, they should start with themselves. Here in PA the new governor's budget has a huge cut in education. That will really help us get stronger in the future! They just do not seem to get it. Sorry for the rant, but all things considered things could always be worse off if you let them. Allan.

No, the unions didn't cause International's demise....That distinction belongs to the stupid nearsighted management IH got from John McCaffrey to Archie MacCardell, including Brooks McCormick. The last decent CEO they had was Fowler McCormick.

so, can somone explain to me why my grandfather, the superintendant of mines for the Frick Coke Company in Pittsburgh Pa. who ALWAYS looked out for his workers, had to put my father and my aunt between the chimney's in their house so they wouldn't get hit by stray bullets that were fired at the house during wildcat strikes?

Can someone please explain why he was dragged from his car and beat to the point he was put into the hospital?

This was the man that used to go visit his worker's sick family members in the hosptial? This is the man who when one of his worker's was sick, would take food and medicine over to their house? This was ALL before there was social security, food stamps, medicare, and health insurance.

Sorry guys, I grew up in a family that was NOT treated well by the mindless mob mentality and actions of the union(s). I am a manager and have been for 25 years. I treat my staff fairly, and am genuinely concern about their welfare and careers.........and no union is telling me to do that. My job is to balance the needs of the company with the needs of the employee, making sure that neither side takes advantage of the other.

I ABSOLUTELY do not like participating in these types of discussions, but I couldn't sit back on this one............the real problem here is when either side gets greedy.....the company or the workers. When that happens, BOTH sides ultimately fail.............

Tom brings up some great points and I can no longer sit back either.

My wife has been a teacher in Wisconsin for four years now. She has been laid off 3 out of 4 years. WEAC decided the only "fair" way to determine who gets laid off first was seniority (of course) and then they would draw names from a hat and the first out of the hat was the first to stay and so on. My wife was drawn first her second year and second her third so she stayed. Why wouldn't the school get to decide who would be the best fit for them? Why not rank them on certifications, special ed ability, who does a better job for the school, or who is a better teacher???
Under the old regime the schools had to cut entire positions because they were not allowed to cut salaries. Now WEAC is complaining because each teacher is in charge of too many kids.
Explain to me how the old regime is so great?

Gunfire during labor problems is a longstanding tradition. It dates back to Frick hiring 300 Pinkertons to break a strike. Ever since, if you were management working for Frick, you could expect to be on the receiving end of gunfire during a strike.

Hi Shaggy,

I hear you. I was a union member for approximately (20) years a real socialist one. They could have bargained better with the company, but no. Then the company went south and we all lost our jobs with in 5-7 years. I had a young family and had to take a job that paid 1/3 what we were receiving. Don't get me wrong because it worked out for the best as there was a good education working for that company, and it has served me well. It isn't an isolated case it happened all over America. I have always believed that a man must receive wages from his own sweat and not from someone else. Thanks for your understanding.
Bob

Jim, I am very familiar with that piece of history.......it also doesn't make it right. Grandad decided that the environment in the Pgh region was NOT great for raising a family and moved them to a small town known as Harmonsburg, Pa. in 1938. That is when he bought the farm. My dad grew up on it, and so did I. Dad never made alot of money, but we always had plenty to eat, had clean clothes to wear, and were warm in the winter, and to the best of my knowledge NEVER got shot at.

Dad sold the farm when he retired, and I went on starting out in an entry level job. I worked my way to where I am now, with a few years help from the US military, and a lot of hard work and crackin' the books. Everything I have now, and everything I have achieved, I did through hard work and a never dying work ethic (that I learned on the farm).

I make my own decisions. I decide where and when I do things with my career. I am able to do so because of the results I deliver............not a group of my co-workers voting something in while holding the company I work for hostage. I am getting very close to retiring, and I am very proud of what I have achieved, and I have no one to thank except my family, for the values and the work ethic they instilled in me and God for what he placed between my ears. (and maybe the US military for teaching me confidence and discipline).

Ol' Henry Clay sure didn't make many friends with his methods, but it was not my grandfather who fired those guns or made that decision. I guess that justified the imbecilic sheep (mob) shooting up the house.........that sort of "guilt by association" is EXACTLY the mindless crap that has given the unions a bad name and my perspective. I have seen WAY too many times where the MOB mentality offset any rational compromise that may have been justified by the situation at hand.

Sorry Jim, I very much respect your knowledge and posts on this board............except on this one.

I'm not saying I advocate anyone using firearms to argue a labor dispute, either side of the issue. It is simply a matter of historic fact that any dispute involving Frick was likely to go that way. That fact can not be simply dismissed as being the fault of the union members.

It isn't a question for dispute. It is historical fact.

Jim, no harm, no foul, as I said, I have a lot of respect for you! This topic has gone waaaaaay far afield, and I contributed to it.

talking about unions is almost as bad as talking religion or politics........definately a black hole that one tends not to come out of in a civil way!