After helping a friend move in the rain tonight, I drove past Bobcat and saw a few picketers putting in a cold night. They waved as I went by, obviously trying not to look like they’re standing out there in raw greed. I waved back but I certainly disagree with them.

Factory work has never struck me as particularly stimulating. I’ve always considered that the reason that I know a lot of people who like making Bobcat money, but don’t really claim to love their job there. But there are plenty of people hiring around town…if you’re unhappy with your job, thankfully there are plenty of other places hiring.

What’s that, you say? They aren’t paying as much as Melroe at those other jobs? You mean those other places don’t pay you a signing bonus every time the union’s collective bargaining agreement comes up for renewal? Then what are you people so darn upset about?

I worked happily at KFYR-TV for 14 years. When I left in 2003, I could have marched directly over to Melroe and started at a dollar per hour MORE than I had made after almost a decade and a half working at KFYR! And I dare say that editing commercials, generating graphics, and directing newscasts for a four-station TV network is a little more complicated than hanging parts on a paint rack.

Don’t get me wrong…like I said, I worked happily at KFYR-TV for those fourteen years. I didn’t leave because of money. I worked the same sort of silly hours that one would expect at Melroe. But yet I made do pretty well; before age 30 I owned a house, had 5 motorcycles and a beater car…and Scooter, of course. Maybe the people picketing right now need to learn to be content with what they have, because I can guarantee they’re making a lot more than many other Bismarck-Mandan workers.

I tried the union thing once…in fact, I was even the shop steward at KFYR. The lesson I took from it was that people who work very hard get treated the same as people who don’t. Other than that, I really didn’t see a huge benefit. We had even less leverage than the Bobcat workers due to our smaller numbers and, after realizing it was a joke, all the employees let their memberships lapse.

So…now these people want their entire health care paid for by Melroe. I don’t get health insurance at all from my current employer, and I knew that when I tried very hard to get hired there. I’ve never figured it’s his obligation to provide it, either. Employers offer benefits like a health plan as an incentive to hire employees…in this case, there were far greater incentives for me to join the company. If health insurance ever gets that important to me, well…then I suppose I’ll look for a similar job that offers health insurance benefits. But I’m certainly not going to storm into my boss’ office and demand that he provide it. I’d be even less likely to stand outside our office with a sign whining about how unfair he is for not acceding to my demands.

My unsolicited advice for the striking Bobcat workers is to shut up and go back to work, or shut up and go get a job that provides everything that you demand. If you find such a job in the Bismarck-Mandan area, let me know. I’m pretty sure all my readers would like an application and an address to which they can sbmit their resume’.