No-Layoff Company Now Writes Profit-Sharing Checks
December 25, 2012 at 11:20 pm in Grand Forks Herald
Marvin Windows and Doors, a family-owned business based in northern Minnesota, survived the financial crisis without any employee layoffs, a decision that won the company praise from presidential candidates and pundits alike. Continue Reading
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Like I’ve said time and again….most of the right wingers who are so damn scared of socialism don’t know what the hell it is. You’re right…this is much more like actual Marxism. Then again maybe the resident expert on Marxism will chime in and straighten me out
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Good business practices pay off; regardless of your political affiliation. Strong work Marvin.
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Absolutely. Amazing what happens when businesses just go about the “business” of making good products, selling them at a fair price and treating their employees well. Whining about business tax rates generally comes from inferior businesses.
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Congratulations to the company and the employees.
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This is not meant as a dig on unions, but it is applicable. Does anyone know if Marvin is unionized? The story does not say.
When the downturn happened the company responded with common sense austerity measures. As a result they all survived. Everyone gave a little so no one group had to give all.
I can’t help but wonder how different the rust belt would look if the auto industry & its unions had done the same during the 1970s & 1980s?
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I know for a fact that the Warroad plant is not unionized and I do not think any of their other facilities are either.
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If workers have this much power in a company they aren’t likely to think they need a union.
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Our nephew has worked there for so long I can’t remember. He likes his job. And he loves where he lives … just outside of Roosevelt in a modern log home. A dream come true for many.
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Marvin is a very anti union company that has put a lot of effort into making sure its employees do not organize a union like has happened at neighboring Polaris or Motor Coach Industries. This gives it the flexibility to enact the policies it has in place to avoid layoffs, such as its short work week when business is slow and making the profit sharing check a significant percentage of a worker’s pay when years are good. These policies while allowing layoffs to be prevented also lead to effect of painful pay cuts for all employees when times are tough, unions are typically lead by senior employees which for better or worse of coarse prefer last in/first out layoffs to varying pay with company performance since they are the best deal for members with enough seniority to avoid the layoffs.
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I’m not sure what plant you would be referring to in regard to Polaris but I do not believe they are unionized either. The Roseau plant, which is the only nearby plant to Marvin’s, isn’t a union shop.
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The union has been gone from Roseau’s Polaris factory for many years.
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” These policies while allowing layoffs to be prevented also lead to effect of painful pay cuts for all employees when times are tough”
Painful pay cuts for ALL employees…..now that sounds like taking the word “union” literally, doesn’t it?
” unions are typically lead by senior employees which for better or worse of coarse prefer last in/first out layoffs to varying pay with company performance since they are the best deal for members with enough seniority to avoid the layoffs.”
Yup, that’s the reason “seniority” is oh-so-important. However, it kind of flies in the face of the word “union”, doesn’t it?
“Solidarity? Why yes, solidarity and the union brotherhood is very important to me as a union member, but NOT as important as me getting mine while you may or may not get yours.”
“Marvin is a very anti union company that has put a lot of effort into making sure its employees do not organize a union like has happened at neighboring Polaris or Motor Coach Industries. This gives it the flexibility to enact the policies it has in place”
Someday I hope to own and run a company. I also hope I’m able to enjoy “the flexibility to enact the policies” I’ve put in place. Otherwise, what’s the point?
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Nurse, I believe when they expanded they chose north dakota because of the “right to work” laws.
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RIght to work is no issue with Marvin since they are not Union. They added one in ND for it’s lower taxes.
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Nobody likes sarcasm?
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Scott, please tell us how you truley feel about union labor!
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Once again Ron, a post of mine whooshed right over your head. Union LABOR, (as in the employees), doesn’t bother me or concern me a bit. It’s many of the union “philosophies” that I find puzzling.
Our many back-and-forths aside, what did you think of the post I replied to?
Like this for instance:
” unions are typically lead by senior employees which for better or worse of coarse prefer last in/first out layoffs to varying pay with company performance since they are the best deal for members with enough seniority to avoid the layoffs.”
Fair is fair, right? Why would a valued/talented employee want something besides their performance contributing to job security and compensation? What does it say about a person’s concept of belonging to something called a “union” if they want it guaranteed in writing that their “employment situation” is based in large part simply on how long they’ve hung around?
“We’re all in this together, just don’t think you’re *in this* as much as me, because your actual job performance, no matter how extraordinary, AUTOMATICALLY takes a back seat to my tenure….”
It isn’t the people Ron, it’s the concepts/ideals/philosophies. Aren’t you glad you asked?
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You don’t own your job. The company does. This is where I believe unions got it all wrong. I kept hearing “it’s a union job” on the ACS threads. No it was a job at ACS.
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Elderton, the herald ran an article about a week ago about right to work laws. They specifically stated marvin windows chose grafton for a number of reasons. Its location close to warroad, lower taxes, and the states right to work laws.
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I am glad I asked. You are basing your opinion of off your own experiences and emotion scott. I am sorry you had to work in such a negative workplace in the past. There are many union jobs out there where everyone works for the better good of the company and are not focusing on me myself and I. There are non union workplaces that are disfunctional and employees look out for me myself and I also. You can’t just use a blanket statement to describe all union workplace environments across the country.
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“I am sorry you had to work in such a negative workplace in the past. ”
Where did you get that idea? My first post in this thread was in response to someone else’s post in which THAT PERSON explained that one of the reasons seniority is so important to unions is because they don’t want everyone to be in on the pain of layoffs and pay cuts. Some would like to be given special consideration based entirely on how long they’ve hung around.
It was in their post Ron….did you read it?
“There are many union jobs out there where everyone works for the better good of the company and are not focusing on me myself and I. There are non union workplaces that are disfunctional and employees look out for me myself and I also.”
In these non-union workplaces, do the non-union workers have a guaranteed-in-writing agreement? No? Then does that mean that those workers need to have their job security based upon words on a piece of paper, or job performance…or something else? If those employees are “out for themselves”, how do THEY go about achieving the special consideration they want to achieve? Do they have to do something in order to get noticed, or was it handed to them simply because of how long they stuck around….in accordance with a set of “rules” THEY made up?
Re-frame the discussion all you want Ron, we can make this thread go to 100 posts as well. I’m going to do what I’ve done in our past discussions….use your words against you. By all means, do the same to me. Just don’t try what you’ve done so many times before and “quote” me…when I never said what you say I said. It will bite you in the behind because I will call you out on it, just like I’ve done in the past.
And then you’ll end up backpedaling….again.
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I forgot to address this:
” You are basing your opinion of off your own experiences and emotion scott.”
At least you got the order correct. My opinions ARE based upon experiences first and emotion second.
Your opinions are based upon the same two factors….just in reverse order. You have this picture in your mind about the ways things “ought to be”, and you base your ideas and posts on that, instead of basing them on the way things actually are.
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Just try to imagine if WallyMart did business like this.It’ll never happen. I mean a company that cares about it’s workers is becoming as extinct as the dinosaurs. I gotta believe that the Waltons would still be living in those wealthy gated compounds in Arkansas raking in enough to make the Fortune 500 top wealthiest people every year. Instead they give squat to the workers and keep it all for themselves. How rich do you need to be before you start to take care of the folks who make your wealth possible. The Walton’s may have some explaining to do at the pearly gates. They may even be barred from entering. Good job Marvins!
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I saw part of a bio on Sears. He said something to the effect that he knew if he treated his employees right they’d feel like they were part of the company, and in turn they’d do all they could to make the company work well and increase sales. For some time now there’s been an attitude in a lot of companies that only the management level needs to feel that connection, and the rest is replaceable regardless of the job. Then they wonder why there’s such big turn overs, theft, and general bad mouthing of the business…..Duh.c
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You are right about that. The marvin family has done wonderful and generous gestures to give back to their employees and the community of warroad. If all buisnesses could follow their example we would live in a wonderful world.
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You said it scott you base your opinion off of your own experiences and emotion. You have very little fact in your argument and you try to relate every union article back to american crystal sugar. Nope scott, I base my opinion on reality and fact. I never said I believe every workforce in america should be unionized scott! It works well in some situations and does not work well for other companies. Unionized labor has made great for working conditions and worker compensation in america. The marvins are an example of a healty non unionized labor force while walmart is an example of an unhealthy non unionized labor force.
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” You have very little fact in your argument and you try to relate every union article back to american crystal sugar. ”
Wrong and wrong. I don’t relate every union article back to Crystal Sugar, nor do I post a bunch of stuff I just made up. Simple question Ron: In all of our back-and-forths, who has been the most accurate? Who has taken more things out of context? Who has misquoted the other several times? Who has re-framed their point or argument in the middle of the discussion several times?
As for your ACS allegation, where in this thread did I mention them? You brought ‘em up…I didn’t. If you’re saying my comments on the seniority issue relate to the ACS situation, why do you suppose that is? Do you think the lock-out here is the first time “seniority rights” have ever come up in a labor dispute? FWIW, over the course of the lock-out and subsequent comment topic threads I brought up several other situations in which union thinking and methodology were illogical. For example, did the UAW comments and examples I made escape your attention?
It’s hilarious, (and yet oh-so-Ron), that you’d find my comments in the posts above about seniority as HAVING TO relate to ACS…..and only ACS. I told you months ago that your posts in the ACS threads indicated that you OBVIOUSLY didn’t know what was going on there…or why it was going on, and I actually asked you if that situation was the first labor dispute you’d ever bothered to pay attention to……
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TB says, “Like I’ve said time and again….most of the right wingers who are so damn scared of socialism don’t know what the hell it is. You’re right…this is much more like actual Marxism. Then again maybe the resident expert on Marxism will chime in and straighten me out.”
Marxism is socialism. Accd. to Marx there is no distinction between Marxism and socialism. Where did you get the idea there is a diff.? Lasalle, (a contemporay of Marx)
is the purveyor of the notion that there would be an evolutionary process from capitalism to socialism to communism. Not the case for Marx. As of now we have “socialism for the rich” considering that our taxes are handed over to the private sector, i.e., “military industrial complex” for the support of the 5% that own 60% of out economy’s assets. Is it any wonder that the frustration with the wealth distribution results in a society that doesn’t trust government because they see how the deck is stacked against the average person. Guns become the answer for desperate citizens.
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I know they’re one in the same, but I think a lot of people who throw around the term “Socialism” immediately think in terms of communist Russia as an interpretation for it. Marxism just doesn’t have the big old “Boo” factor as the other.
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Very true, although it seems to me Obama is called a Marxist more than a communist.
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