So why add a second? Who’s going to even notice? Probably not you or I, but people in science doing precise measurement, especially of celestial objects, needed it. Do you need to reset your clock? Not unless you’re really obsessed with accuracy.

The change compensates for the gradual slowing of the Earth as it orbits around the Sun. Or as it spins on it’s axis. Or both. I guess it’s slowly sliding down the gravity well into the Sun, but not at any rate we’ll ever need to worry about.

You computer may have already reset it’s clock, especially if you have it set up to set it’s internal clock over the internet. Things like cell phones will also be adjusted by the network. Your GPS doesn’t care. Apparently, the GPS satellites use their own time scheme to keep time and it’s already a dozen or so seconds off UTC. The time you see on the screen is adjusted by a “UTC Offset,” a fudge-factor to make it’s time look right to you.

So if you thought 2008 would never end, maybe it was because it was a leap year and was 24 hours and one second longer…

Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes made of ticky tacky,
Little boxes on the hillside,
Little boxes all the same.
There’s a green one and a pink one
And a blue one and a yellow one,
And they’re all made out of ticky tacky
And they all look just the same.

While the song was about suburban architechture on the surface, the conformity this ordinance is attempting to impose fits just as well.

Why do we need to pass a law, an ordinance, another piece of red tape every time someone doesn’t like something? What ever happened to letting the marketplace regulate itself?

To paraphrase the motto of a local sign company, A business with a crappy-looking sign, is a sign of a crappy business. What serious businessman is going to put up a sign that looks bad? It’s in his own best interest to look good, especially the first thing someone sees when they see his business.

But this attempt at making everything fit the vision of the Mayor, or Mr. Ulrich’s scheme for Main Street, is excessive. The historic term has been dropped because of it’s un-enforceability, but the mindset continues. Who wants top see a historic sign on a shop that sells urban wear? Is it called Ye Olde Hip-Hop Shoppe?

A laundromat that has been a blight on a neighborhood for years has also been one of the businesses held up by the moratorium. New owners came in, fixed the place up, made it look nice and safe again and want to replace an old sign. Their reward from the city? A big NO!

As usual, the best solution, letting people alone and not cluttering our lives with more laws, and letting businessmen run their own business, escapes our politicos. Unless a sign endangers someone’s safety (which is already covered by building codes) why do we have to regulate it? Plaza owners already do a good job of making their tenants signs fit a theme for their buildings. It’s the first thing they do when they remodel a strip mall. Let our struggling business owners alone and quit driving them away with more red tape.

It was the typical Lockport paper puff-piece. Said nothing new, asked no hard questions and avoided the real issues here in Lockport. Of course they’re not the only media that falls into that trap.

As I’ve pointed out before, the bulk of the creditors in the bankruptcy are (drumroll, please) other parts of Delphi. It’s all a shell game to hide the money. Delphi is using bankruptcy to break its’ contracts. Contracts with the unions. Contracts with its’ suppliers. Contracts with GM. (Finally, something that makes sense.)

I suppose that change in the contracts with the unions are inevitable. Both labor and Delphi are between a rock and a hard place when it comes to wages and benefits. It’s a result of our country and governments’ going down the free-trade path, one we warned them of back in the 80′s. But the politicians ignored the labor unions and, well, the auto industry wanted it despite the impact on it’s U. S. operations. Those were expendable in the war for market share and profits.

The suppliers are hurting too, but many of them at least have other customers. Let’s hope the marketplace dictated their prices and they are able to survive.

And then there is GM. The spin-off of Delphi was orchestrated from the beginning to bring about this situation and GM has done everything in it’s power to help bring it about. Contracts for parts that were priced below cost and demands for annual reductions just weren’t realistic for a new independant company. They were designed to throw Delphi into the red and shift profits into the assembly end of the business. (GM)

That’s why it’s only fair that GM be required to pick up or guarantee the benefits and retirements of the former GM workers at Delphi. The court has apparently seen this and supports that.

But the paper keeps on treating Delphi like it is one company. That it is almost out of money and creditors are banging on the door looking for payment. That’s just not the case. The shell game is merely emptying one pocket out of many so they can turn it inside out to show the judge. The overseas operations, built on past profits from U. S. plants, are profitable. but they aren’t being counted in the bankruptcy. The property, the land, the buildings, the other holdings of Delphi aren’t counted either. They’re ‘owned’ by the branches of the company on the creditor side of the equation.

But the paper doesn’t mention that.

They talk to one union official, Paul Seijak, who is almost the sole experienced member of the union board that’s left. They ignore the Shop Chairman (or couldn’t get through to him, which is more likely.) The Shop Chairman, Matt Gianno, or Gee-I-Don’t_Know, as he is commonly known, is usually unavailable, even to his own shop committee. He is seldom in his office and can usually be found by looking for him in Personnell or the Plant Managers office hanging out with management. The union committee-persons are so dissillusioned by no support from abive, they are all but unable to help their people.

Gianno’ s unilateral decision making on behalf of the rest of the union has become an issue as well. He’s often done as he pleased without consulting the rest of the shop committee and recently wanted to replace committee-person openings caused by retirements and flowbacks with his own appointees. He even reshuffled districts to make that easier for him to do. He was forced to hold elections when it was pointed out that he was going against the unions constitution.

I don’t know how the election went. It was the last week I worked. I got to vote in it, but really didn’t hear who won. I’m kind of glad that it doesn’t matter because I’m out of there. As time goes by and I lose touch with what goes on there, I guess it won’t make much sense for me to comment on Delphi any more. Maybe this will be my last post on that subject…

The back page of todays’ Lockport Journal has a full-page ad touting Alabama and Hyundai. It has two huge photos, one of a golfer hitting a drive on an idyllic golf course. The other is of a modernistic looking building, which turns out to be a Hyundai assembly plant.

The gist of the ad seems to be that life is good in Alabama and part of the reason why is that Hyundai is there. It’s a thinly-veiled job recruitment ad for Hyundai. They don’t just say “come on down, we’ve got jobs for you.” But if you read between the lines, or if your interest is piqued enough to follow the web link, you can find job application instructions.

Of course, they aren’t just asking for entry-level people either. If you have a maintenance trade skill, they want to hear from you and there is a special page for that. But probably anyone with manufacturing experience would at least get a look through the regular channels too.

The ad is obviously aimed at all the recent and near-future Delphi departees, whether they be early retirements, or buy-outs.

They probably hope to pick up some people who didn’t want to quit working at Delphi yet, but felt the time was right to bail out. Those who got a GM transfer are committed there, but a lot of people didn’t take that option and are free to shop around. Compared to being a greeter at Wally-World, or stocking shelves at the local Home-Despot, or flipping burgers, it has a lot to offer, especially to the younger ones.

As for second careers, Real Estate might not be the wisest. Homes are going to be taking a beating here with all the people leaving…

I wonder what would happen if a few dozen people cut this ad out and sent it to their representatives in Albany, and asked why companies aren’t building plants like that here.

Thirty years at the same plant. It’s funny how much it’s the same in some ways and how much it’s changed in others.

When I first came to work there, it was Harrison Radiator. It was owned by GM, but it’s own seperate division. By and large, it was a Lockport operation and the people who were in charge, were Lockport people. Things were different when people were dealing with their neighbors and families. Sure, some accusations of nepotism were tossed around, but you could always count on an open door, and deal with any problems face to face, man to man and be treated fairly.

And if not, a strong union presence was there to back you up.

It’s a long way from today where management treats the workers with contempt, refuses to discuss anything, and deals with everything with rules, “programs” and disciplinary action. The union is in a shambles, with a Shop Chairman who acts unilaterally without consulting the rest of the shop committee. He has no union experience and looks for all the world like he was hand-picked by the company. The shop committee has lost so many experienced people and the newer ones only want to cater to the new hires. The district committemen are so demorialized by the lack of help from the shop committee, they are ineffective. Management is having a heyday getting away with everything.

I’m glad to be getting out. Even if I end up poor and have to work another job somewhere, the way things are going there, it’s just a matter of time until the place self-destructs. The loss of experienced people through retirements, flowbacks and buyouts is going to make the place almost impossible to run.

The one thing, though, that you can count on is that when it all implodes, someone in Troy MI, will stand up before the press and blame the workers.