Gibson got raided again today by the Feds

[nofi]

it's a sad day when people in the usa have to take pause before they write or say something in a public or private forum.

[Freuds_Cat]

it's a sad day when people in the usa have to take pause before they write or say something in a public or private forum.

Its a sad day when anyone anywhere has cause to do it.

[fur85]

There's nothing new in not being allowed to say that in a public forum. If it's sad now it's been a sad day for at least 100 years.

[nofi]

maybe so but the populace as a whole were not paranoid about what they may print online since 9/11.

[Highlander]

(                                                                           )*


* sorry old chap, can't comment, Official Secrets Act signatory

[Lightyear]

While it's fun to believe in politically motivated government conspiracies, I think this whole Gibson raid business started with an employee tip. Gibson workers seem to hate Henry more than we do.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Gibson-Guitar-Reviews-E6869.htm 

Henry will howl like a stuck pig when the shop votes in the union   Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loathe the union concept, but I believe that in instances like this the owners would be getting what they're asking for.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

I seriously doubt this is partisan politcally motivated. I'd say it's a combination of an overzealous bureacrat who is being helped by a pissed-off current or former employee. Tennessee is a 'right to work' state and labor laws here were written by large corporations in the late 70's and early 80's, who rode Reagan's and Ray Blanton's (look him up) coattails to get a Democrat legislature to cow-tow to the false promise of jobs, similar to what is occurring on a national level for the past decade. That means almost no unions, companies are fairly free to abuse workers as they wish, and workers' rights are an outright communist assault on freedom. Henry is whining because he knows his argument makes hay in this damn state, which is so Republican it can't stand itself, in hopes that he can obscure the issue.  As Uwe said, where there's smoke...

edit: rode, not road

[Dave W]

While it's fun to believe in politically motivated government conspiracies, I think this whole Gibson raid business started with an employee tip. Gibson workers seem to hate Henry more than we do.

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Gibson-Guitar-Reviews-E6869.htm  

I doubt it. Every big company has disgruntled employees, and sites like that one attract them. It's hardly a representative sample.

Gibson isn't claiming any conspiracy.

Henry will howl like a stuck pig when the shop votes in the union  Don't get me wrong, I absolutely loathe the union concept, but I believe that in instances like this the owners would be getting what they're asking for.

We have no idea what it's really like based on what some unhappy former employees say. As one of the positive reviews said, "If you don't like being accountable for your actions and performance then this will be a difficult place to work." Maybe he's right. Or not. We just don't know.

There's nothing new in not being allowed to say that in a public forum. If it's sad now it's been a sad day for at least 100 years.

All the way back to the Alien and Sedition Act of 1798.

maybe so but the populace as a whole were not paranoid about what they may print online since 9/11.

True. And unfortunately they have good reason to be paranoid.

[uwe]

What's to loathe about a union concept? Wherever people share a common interest, they form a tribe, a village, a clan, a church, a political party, a cartel/trust, a nation. When workers unite, thereby being able to assert mutual goals more effectively, lots of people all of the sudden think that is somehow not right, yet it's the most natural thing to do unless you are Ayn Rand. Unions are no angels, they are interest groups just as employer industry groups are interest groups or the Tea Party. Since when is what is right for one side, wrong for the other?

I advise anybody to go to Red China and see how the absence of unions improves working conditions and really helps the single employee enforce his rights.

[Denis]

What's to loathe about a union concept? Wherever people share a common interest, they form a tribe, a village, a clan, a church, a political party, a cartel/trust, a nation. When workers unite, thereby being able to assert mutual goals more effectively, lots of people all of the sudden think that is somehow not right, yet it's the most natural thing to do unless you are Ayn Rand. Unions are no angels, they are interest groups just as employer industry groups are interest groups or the Tea Party. Since when is what is right for one side, wrong for the other?

I advise anybody to go to Red China and see how the absence of unions improves working conditions and really helps the single employee enforce his rights.

In my opinion the unions are the major cause of the downfall of Detroit. So often they refused to back down and I frequently wondered if they'd rather see the Big Three go out of business and have all their members out of work than make a single concession.

[Psycho Bass Guy]

Since when is what is right for one side, wrong for the other?

Welcome to US politics.

I advise anybody to go to Red China and see how the absence of unions improves working conditions and really helps the single employee enforce his rights.

That is exactly the goal of corporations in this country who have convinced a lot of people that capitalism is an unshakable pillar of democracy and the two are synonymous. One need only look to China to find that soundly disproven.

[Lightyear]

I doubt it. Every big company has disgruntled employees, and sites like that one attract them. It's hardly a representative sample.

True, these sites are not scientific and there is an attraction to the disgruntled.  But, I have looked at these sites many times and you will find large outfits with very positve reviews.  Take these comments with a grain of salt but usually there is some shred of truth to them. 

[drbassman]

Yep, China is a shining beacon of hope for all of the oppressed people of the world.

[fur85]

Yes, employee reviews on web sites like that should be taken with a grain of salt, but the volume of reviews for Gibson shows there may be a lot of disgruntled Gibson people. Gibson has 97 reviews while

Fender has 6 reviews:

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Fender-Musical-Instruments-Reviews-E5962.htm

Rickenbacker has only one review

http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Rickenbacker-Reviews-E14882.htm

and no one has rated Ernie Ball

http://www.glassdoor.com/Overview/Working-at-Ernie-Ball-EI_IE14040.11,21.htm

Might mean nothing but if I were a manager at Gibson I'd want to know what's going on with that. Why do so many people want to talk about what it's like to work there? Why are the feds raiding the Gibson factory and not their competitors who use the same wood?

[uwe]

In my opinion the unions are the major cause of the downfall of Detroit. So often they refused to back down and I frequently wondered if they'd rather see the Big Three go out of business and have all their members out of work than make a single concession.

The unions certainly played a role, but you can't blame solely them for what happened to the US auto industry in the last four decades. Your main issue was that you never produced for markets other than your own. And while the US is a huge market, the minute others got in to gnaw away for their share, you had nowhere else to go but gradually retreat. Go to any country in the world other than the US and perhaps Canada and Mexico, your immediate neighbors, and tell me how many American produced cars (not talking about cars produced by American-owned carmakers abroad) you see on the roads. That an uneconomic to the point of hilarious idisosyncracy like the Hummer is probably the most widespread model you see says a lot. Somehow, you guys failed to comprehend that the Chevrolet Impala was not what the (rest of the) world needed. And that it is kind of cumbersome in the old city streets of Rome or Paris.

Of course imperial size nuts and bolts contributed their share too! 

It's not that American products fail to sell abroad per se as the longevity and success of Gibson, Fender and Levis show.