General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Fast-Food Strikes Expand Across U.S. to 50 Cities [View all]Lurker Deluxe
(1,041 posts)Skill has everything to do with salary, at least in any of the "skilled trades".
I am about to cut a couple of pockets this morning on a 5" horizontal boring mill in some cylinder heads from a large (15" piston bore) diesel engine. The tolerance on that bore is .0008", that is eight tenths of one thousands of an inch. The head is worth about 40K and if I make a mistake it could take up wards of 4 months to get a replacement part.
That is the reason I make well over $30/hr and have not only job security but the ability to replace my job with another should something happen here.
You can train people to perform some tasks, and I have trained many people to perform routine machining procedures, but when it comes right down to it and there are literally hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, skill means more than anything else. Many times others in the shop say they can do my job, they can do what I do ... when something like this comes up I always offer them the opportunity to step up to the plate.
They never do. A mistake on that level can get you terminated.