Dayton Daily News Library

Poll finds discontent

* Respondents say tiered contracts are unfair and unions have let down younger workers.

By Mike Wagner, Wes Hills and Rob Modic
DAYTON DAILY NEWS

Published: Tuesday, December 15, 1998
Sidebar to Part 3

Do companies have to pay younger workers less money to survive?

Fewer than four in 10 local residents think so, according to a Dayton Daily News poll. A higher percentage - 48 percent - believe tiered wage structures that pay new hires less than existing employees are unfair to young workers.

ABOUT THE POLL

Results are based on a Dayton Daily News Research Department poll. Telephone interviews were conducted with 503 respondents chosen at random in Montgomery, Greene, Miami and Clark counties. The margin of error is plus or minus 4.4 percent. Dayton Metro Services conducted the interviewing. Polling is directed by Kathy Kralovic, who can be reached at 225-2095, or by e-mail at kathy_kralovic@coxohio.com\

The poll also found residents evenly divided in their opinions about whether unions are doing more to protect older workers than younger employees.

The poll of 503 residents of Montgomery, Miami, Greene and Warren counties was taken between July 31 and Aug. 12, just after the 54-day United Auto Workers strike in Flint, Mich., that idled 200,000 General Motors Corp. workers in North America. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent.

The Miami Valley remains one of the largest blue-collar regions in the country with 20,000 General Motors Corp. workers, more than any metropolitan area outside Michigan. The area's 7,000 tool-and-die makers rank among the largest pool anywhere in the United States.

`When I worked I was a production manager at a small company, and I always fought for everyone to get the same money whether they were old, young, men or women,' said Henry Hoop, a 73-year-old Brookville resident, who retired from the furniture manufacturing business. `It's always been about the bottom line for companies and that's what paying these kids less money is all about.'

Rachel Speaks, 30, of Dayton said, `The guys retiring in our auto plants had a chance at the good life, but the young guys are getting run over by union leaders and the companies. How can they expect workers to raise a family on $8 an hour? It's not fair and no one is doing anything to help the young guys.'

Just about everyone polled believed more jobs will disappear across the border or overseas. Almost 80 percent believe local companies will move more jobs to places such as Mexico or China in the next decade. Just 13 percent said they believed companies will export fewer jobs.

Several labor experts said the poll results here could probably be found in communities throughout the nation.

`People in our country don't see unions today as institutions that can cope with the big problem - the big problem being jobs moving out of town," said Dale Brickner, a labor expert from Michigan State University.

`We see unions being backed into the corner all the time with these tiered contracts. Is it better to (hammer) the new guys or take a chance on losing the whole plant? I wouldn't want to make that choice,' he said.

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