how a hog head might work graveyard tonight and two days later might be working the day shift. Talk about messing with your circadian clock. Also there's the part about how you can be called for a new shift after you've only been off work for eight hours (or is it ten hours???) and start a new shift one hour and a half later. When I was in high school, me and a high school buddy wanted to work for the railroad as engineers. I ended up building airplanes and landed in the IT field. My buddy realized his dream and is working for the BNSF in Missouri. He's been divorced three times though, is on wife number four, and his kids barely know who he is. I thank the good Lord above that I went the route that I did. I don't know how you guys do it Mark!
As for the UAW folks; this is symptomatic of what cheap foreign labor has done and is doing to the United States. American workers, blue AND white collar alike, now have to compete with manufacturing workers in China, software engineers in Bangalore, aerospace engineers in Russia, etc... If your job can be done over the Internet, look out! I believe it is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better! Personally as an ex-union worker (aircraft) I am loath to give anything back but in this case I think the UAW should probably made some concessions because what may happen next is Ford, GM, and Daimler-Chrysler will be forced into Chapter 11 rendering the collective bargaining agreements null and void.
Cheers!
Bill