Ten big ones on the road to bankruptcy

A surprising list:
1. Hertz
2. Textron
3. Sprint Nextel
4. Macy's
5. Mylan
6. Goodyear
7. CBS
8. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD)
9. Las Vegas Sands
10. Interpublic Group

Full article

Unfortunately, that Goodyear mark hits close to home. My father is nearing his retirement and he's an active Union member and has recently taken office - but not without spending 30+ years in a 90 degree tire room building out every day. God knows how many surgeries that company cost him, but he never complained about it because he provided for us. My grandfather retired from the same plant a few years ago. I'd like to spend 5 minutes alone with those authors and their uneducated opinions on the steelworker's union.

Thats good to know... Just earlier today I was looking at a job listing with AMD but now I think I'll abstain from applying.

Sprint is the one that caught my attention, but lately they've been irritating the crap out of me. had been thinking of switching to Verizon anyway. Can't even get any reception in my office.

I'll be happy to see Sprint die off. But Macys ? There's all kinds of tradition and whatnot wrapped up in that 150 some-odd year old company.

CBS surprised me too. No idea what TV would be like without CBS.

CBS is the one with the peacock logo right ?

They're all the same to me. I remember the channel numbers and always forget the names.

Let me get this straight UPSGuy,
If the union doesn't budge and forces goodyear out of business, where is the union going to get money for your Father?

Look at the bailouts, on how the unions and bondholders got almost all of it, and shareholders, and the company have little to show for all of it. There is no need for unions today, there are so many laws and lawsuits that businesses cannot ignore in the treatment of employees.

CBS=eye
NBC=peacock
ABC=circle
FOX=FOX

If you honestly believe that there is not place for unions in today's world then I would be wasting my time discussing it with you because IMO that categorizes you with the sadly mis/mal/uninformed. Where would they get money for him? The answer is they don't care - not about him, not about any other individual who isn't sitting on their board. A butt in a seat, regardless of pay and benefits, is the exact same to them when it comes to the REAL workers. Screw loyalty, performance, retirement - they'd throw it all out for a lot of people who would do the same work for minimum wage and no benefits. You expect laws and lawsuits to uphold the rights of the employee? Right. Our legal system has such an outstanding track record.

Union doesn't budge?! Give me a break - they've compromised left and right in every last negotiation I have been alive for (and I'm quite sure before then as well). That goes as a whole and as a local chapter. If you draw the line and say no more, then that makes you the bad guy? Just because this is the first time that you've noticed the struggle does NOT imply that this is the first time corporation and union butt heads. Furthermore, that very same corporation agreed in the past to every term that the union is standing on. What, are we calling do-over now b/c they decided they wanted to take something back?

If the corporation had their choice, my dad would be making significantly less than he is now and would have lost his job about 5 years back the FIRST time someone with an opinion a LOT like what you've stated began whining about pensions and tried to close this specific plant in lieu of another just because this one was further away for trucks to make the trip. Never mind the fact that the other plant was added some 20 years after, was smaller in employment and capacity, did not produce the same product, and sucked in their efficiency percentages altogether.

Nobody really gave two flips about the steelworkers until Detroit pulled bailouts. Interesting how you lump Goodyear and their employees into the 'evil' that media has portrayed around bailouts. If you're going to stereotype unions, then you need to experience and take on the management stereotype as well. By that I mean that you would have to assume them to all be heartless, stupid people who do anything to keep a penny in their pocket and don't care who they hurt.

I've worked management and seen it first hand (steelworkers and otherwise). I've been the union member (again, both steelworkers and otherwise) so I know that side well too. Heck, I was raised around the constant battle between the two. I really hope that if you reply, you're coming at me with some other opinion besides what you've seen on TV and read on the web. If not, then you're allowing yourself to become part of the problem.

I think unions will die out with industrial-based economies. There really is no place in commerce for a union and with the greenieness and robotics on everyones minds as of late there's becoming less of a place for industry.

I don't even think Teachers unions will survive.

Unions are both a burden and a blessing. They make things great for the employee, but for the employer they are a pain in the ass. I personally don't intend to ever join a union. I just figure I can stand up for myself and not pay someone to do it for me, its in my blood to be that way. My grandpa was a teamster back in the day, and when they were all striking he was a scab and kept working. My mom remembers times when they would come home and their cat would be dead on the front step, or she would come home from school and they would go on a surprise camping trip (to hide for a few days). I'm a wage slave and I always will be, I'll go to work even though I hate it. And if my employers treats me wrongly or unfairly then screw 'em! I can find other work.

I knew you of all people couldn't avoid a chance to poke someone with a stick, but care to expound?

Unions typically form around the production of something. If robots are producing everything, what will be left for a union to form around ?

Even teachers are producing something, educated individuals. When you can find the answer to any question instantly on your iPhone, why do you need a teacher to beat it into your head ?

Goodyear already implements a very heavy mixture of automation and thus far it's all gone into the company without causing too huge of a stir. Sometimes there's just no justification - the machines it would take to perform a position and the initial costs and maintenance don't offset what the human can do. I think technology still has a long way to go before it becomes versatile enough to entirely replace us in factories. If formal education is dropped because everyone has access to the intertubez, then I'm moving as faaar away from this country as I can because as a whole, the gen pop. is already stupid enough to push my limits. It's already bad enough when I hand someone cash and they can't figure out the change. God help us if that's the dependency we are to develop on every waking thought.

I hope AMD and goodyear doesnt disapear.