I admirethese folks. After the Ford plant closed they had a choice and from what I'm reading, they are making it okay-not great, but okay-at least they're not whining which is something that I really appreciate. Life handed them a rotten hand and they're playing it as best they can.

It's it odd that these folks are realizing that there is more to themselves than they realized and most are actually enjoying their lives a little more-what's that worth I wonder?

For the rest of the UAW (United Auto Workers) who are caterwauling about what Ford, GM or Chrysler is taking away from them and what they "demand" and "deserve", if you don't listen up you're going to literally kill the goose that lays the golden egg.

I remember reading somewhere about United Suto Workers who were all upset that their health insurance co-pay is going to go higher, from just $10.00 to the "OUTRAGOUS" sum of $25.00. Source

Please, stop-you're breaking my heart.

Now, I know that these auto workers perform a tough job but they are well-compensated for their labor, some make upwards of $100,000 and for some reason, they still have a tough time making a car that lasts. I have a 1998 Ford Windstar that only has 70,000 miles on the clock and it needs an intake manifold gasket-that's not the sign of a high-quality car. Perhaps a little too well compensated for the product they turn out in my opinion.

I also remember back when the Ford plant in Norfolk announced it was shutting down, there was rending of garments and gnashing of teeth, but the Ford employees were offered severence packages that many could only dream of. So the days of all the overtime you could stand, a six-figure income and benefits that would make some executives green with envy were all coming to an end. No more new pickups every other year (along with the generous discount offered to Ford employees), no more jet skis, big houses and other perks that the nearly obscene wages Ford paid allowed their employees to enjoy.

The gravey-train never runs forever. You ought to know that.

I recall debating the subject with one soon-to-be ex Ford employee who lamented "Where am I going to find a job around here that pays what I made at Ford?!?!"

I told him that he could learn how to drive a semi and in a few years be back up to the $50's or $60's but he'd have to stay out for weeks and months to make that kind of money. With sarcasim and derrision dripping in his voice he replied, "Well, I don't wanna drive a truck!"

Well, son of a gun, neither do I and yet here I sit in Carneys Point, "Nuu Joyzey", closer to home than I've been in months but orders are taking me in a different direction.

Let me introduce some of these auto workers to the real world that the rest of us live in:

First of all, the relationship with your employer is as close to being a peon as you might find-you work when they say and go home when they say. They can pay you as much or as little as they want to and no, there's no shop stewart or "contract" that you can hide behind. If something you need to do your job is broken, either you fix it, find someone who can fix it or work around it-there's no excuse for not doing what you're supposed to do and you don't wait around on the clock waiting for "the other guy" to come and fix whatever's broken.

The job getting done is all that matters and it's all on you.

Second, you may or may not get health insurance and retirement? That's all on you. Sadly, there will be no generous prescription plans where you only pay $5.00 for whatever medications you need-chances are if the drugs you need are even allowed on your plan, your co-pay will be a heck of a lot more than $5.00.

Oh, you also won't get a day off with pay to go and vote and you might end up working on a holiday you thought you were going to have off. You won't be getting any benefits worth mentioning if the place you're working has to close down for any period of time and if you get two weeks of paid vacation after two or three years, you're one lucky person. Sick days you may or may not get at all and there's a good chance that you won't get sick days with pay.

The only discount you'll get on a new car is if it has significant hail damage.

Now, there is no real hard and fast rule that says under what conditions or circumstances habe to exist before you can be fired-your employer can walk up to you, tell you that they're letting you go and give you no reason for it whatsoever. That's called "at will employment" and it leaves you little if any recourse.

Thinking about collecting unemployment? Good luck.

Unemployment comes out of your former employer and they usually don't want to pay it (think alimony/child support). Sure, you can apply for the unemployment deal but chances are some desk-driver will send you a polite letter telling you you aren't getting it and while you do have the right to appeal, the time wasted will be your own.

Now, the job you have usually has a set of rules that you have little input in making or are subject to change on your employers whim-if they gave you something today, they can take it away from you tomorrow and if you don't like it, there's the door.  Your choice is A)Deal with it or, B)go work somewhere else.

So when I use to drive down Indian River Road when the UAW was on strike, I always got a laugh out of those folks holding signs that claimed Ford Motor Company was "unfair". Even when they closed the plant and all those people lost their jobs, Ford did better by them than most of us employed in the private sector could have a right or ever dream to expect. To my mind, these folks had no idea how good they had it and here they were, striking against a company that more than a few Hampton Roads residents would have KILLED to work for.

I have a shoulder that's acting up and I know good and well that it's going to take therapy a couple of times a week or perhaps surgery later on. I don't think I can expect an Over-The-Road Carrier like the one I drive for to get me home three times each week and with most trucking companies, the drivers don't have "sick days".

Sure, we have the Family Medical Leave Act, but most folks can't afford to take that kind of time off without facing financial ruin-so what is there for us to do?

All we can do, we solider on.

So what's my point?

My point is, you need to thank God that we live in a country where you have the freedom to reinvent yourself and guess what?

Major companies like Ford, Chrysler and GM can go out of business. If I were a UAW worker with the state the economy is in and the direction it's heading, I'd be as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs wondering if I would have a job tomorrow or next month.

Besides that, there are more than enough people in other parts of the world who would be happy to have "your plant" move into their country and take your job and rember this-your employers first loyalty is to the bottom line, not you, not your family and the fact that you have worked somewhere for however many years means nothing.

The sad truth is, in the global economy we live in, we're all expendable.