These economic times

Well, we here in the midwest are probably not going through anything that the rest of the country is experiencing to a lesser or greater degree in that money is tight.

In my 35 years at Caterpillar, I have been laid off twice both for more than a year. There has been some indefinite layoffs but Cat is at or below their "skeleton" crew so to speak and have a provision in the contract to have what is called rolling layoffs.

This is a much better option that to lose your job. In the rolling layoffs, the contract says those covered by the UAW can be laid off up to 12 weeks over a period of a contract year. It ends up being about one week a month. Just enough to screw up your pay and requires you to make those timely phone calls to the unemployment office.

Of course, up until now, you could volunteer for a week layoff but that has since stopped since Cat is afraid that they will use up the 12 weeks that they have to mess you up.

It is nice to have the time off and be out of the shop in the hot months but if you don't have the extra spending cash, you can't afford to go anywhere or do anything.

So, if you have some extra cash or have some friends that own a construction company, please point them in the direction of Caterpillar so I can afford to buy my toys again!