$18? Try mid $30s once you get your seniority!
Holy, for unskilled labour??
yup...that's why all the plants are shutting down and moving elsewhere...when EMD (locomotive manufacturer) shut down in London a few years ago, it happened during a strike...the company wanted to reduce their unskilled labour workforce pay from about $36/hr down to $18 (trades were making $38/hr)...the union refused to accept the offer, the company said "take it or we leave"...the union went on strike, the company packed up and left (to Indiana).
a similar thing happened at the Kellogg's plant here a couple of years ago too...the company wanted to get rid of the 12 hour SAT/SUN shift (workers work 24 hours, get paid for 40)...this was the last plant to still have that shift (a relic from decades ago)...the union didn't want to eliminate that shift...they went on strike and a short term contract was eventually done (but i said at the time, they just cost themselves their jobs with that nonsense)...sure enough, as that contract was coming to a close, and the union was getting ready for its next round of demands, Kellogg's thanked everyone for their service and said none of them would be needed as they were close the factory.
even a few months ago, the inside city workers went on strike for 9 weeks...in the end, the deal they finally signed basically ended up similar to the offer the city had offered prior to them going on strike...all the things they said they wanted, they didn't get, and the pipe dream raises the union demanded ended up being a $56/year more...before you consider that tiny amount above what was already offered a win, they lost an average of $9000 in pay while on strike...the union is completely out of touch with reality and its members and it cost them (the members) dearly.
sadly, a TON of really good people in this area have been let go because of their jobs disappearing...while labour isn't the one and only challenge this region faces, it certainly has its moments...unfortunately, the union thinks it is still the 1950s, relatively closed markets and the sky is the limit, and their membership bear the brunt of their short sightedness.