We will get an auto strike tomorrow. How do I know? Do I have a plant at the negotiating table? Have I bugged Shawn Fain’s phone (head of UAW)? No, no, no. But my gut tells me that the Union is aching to punch their company bosses in the gut. It’s just been too long to live under the guise of harmony as the truckers, pilots, and dockworkers have shown the world their power. The money differences while, they seem big on paper, will be compromised because labor costs for Union and non-Union auto workers will ultimately be within reach…
Author: Lloyd Graff
Wednesday last week was exactly 15 years since Risa drove me 55 miles to see a friend who was an infectious disease doctor. I thought I might have had pneumonia, but I suspected it was something worse. He was attending to a boy with a leg issue, but he saw me waiting and came out after a few minutes to say hello and listen to my heart. He put the stethoscope on my chest and with concern in his voice he said, “Lloyd, I’m going to wheel you into the emergency room myself.” The last thing I remember is the…
My son-in-law, Scott, bet a friend a fancy dinner that neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden would be the next president. No odds were given. I silently pledged that I would not write about the upcoming presidential election, but this contrarian bet gave me the entree to discuss politics without needing to pick a team. Scott is fairly apolitical, very smart and works in the artificial intelligence field, but when he told me about the bet several weeks ago, I considered it briefly and then told him to prepare to pick up the check. But now I believe he is…
My used machine tool company, Graff-Pinkert, has sold some used Davenport multi-spindle screw machines to China over the years. It’s impossible to know what type of parts they will make. Haas Automation stopped selling machines to Russia after the invasion in February, but according to a PBS news show Haas parts are still reaching Putin’s people. Gene Haas’ Formula 1 racing team’s top sponsor was a major fertilizer producer based in Russia. The son of that company’s owner, Nikita, was the car’s driver. The Russians no longer put their name on the Haas car and Nikita is out as a driver,…
It’s August. The 2023 Chicago Cubs have a shot at the playoffs, and my granddaughters have become avid fans. Life is good. Baseball. “The greatest game in the world,” according to the significant prophet, Harry Caray. I’ve written about my love of the Cubs before, but really, can you write about it too much? My passion for the game probably began when I was three years old. I was a late talker. My first word was probably “Cubs,” but who can remember? My mom loved the Cubs. One of my happiest memories as a kid was going to Wrigley Field…
There’s no good writing, only good rewriting. I wrote a lovely blog about the possibility of a UPS strike. Then they settled! ___ I should have remembered my interview with James Hoffa, Jr., in 2006 about the “impending” UPS strike. Hoffa was head of the Teamsters Union. He told me “don’t worry about it.” There are 23 Locals, and you must satisfy them. Then you can make a national deal. And there was no strike. This time around, the key issue was how do you deal with part-time people who are increasingly part of the UPS workforce. In previous negotiations,…
I feel like I’m at Manny’s Deli for lunch, walking down the buffet aisle almost overwhelmed by the tasty options. I’m writing this blog hoping to pick the tastiest threads to weave together. The Supreme Court ruled that Affirmative Action was unconstitutional at Harvard and the University of North Carolina last week. At long last, in my opinion. If there was ever a broken system it was Harvard’s admission to the Freshman class, limited to 2,000 students. First, Harvard had 30 percent of spaces allocated to legacies. These were the children of former graduates, particularly famous and wealthy ones. Then…
I recently received a note from a friend telling me that Notre Dame had just terminated its intramural tackle football league. It was the last college in the country to have one. He had fond memories of putting on hand-me-down uniforms of famous varsity players. It was a way the kids in the halls bonded and developed a commitment to the university. To me, one of the saddest things about modern day life for the young and old, particularly men, is the lack of friendships. As a kid, I played baseball in the park across the street and in Little…
Please excuse the error in the email blast. If you meant to go to the newest podcast, please click on this link. The question seems as obvious as the sun in the sky. Our company can make more money if we can find skilled workers to run our machines. Where are they? What if that is the wrong question? What if there were a dozen questions and the simple, straightforward one was leading you into a brick wall? What if a better question was how much will it cost…
Are we more connected today or more distant? A few days ago, I received an email from a business relationship I had not heard from in a decade. He wanted to connect with me on LinkedIn. I do have a LinkedIn account, but I have no connections because I lost my password and lacked the motivation to invent a new one. Every week, I get several emails saying somebody I never heard of wants to tie up with me on LinkedIn. I ignore them all. I don’t feel like I have the time for it. But this email intrigued me…