I know we are completely off topic here but figured I would toss in my Union vs Non-Union experience. I myself am a Journeyman with the IBEW. I went trough a 5 year 8,000 OJT 2,000 hour class room apprenticeship. I have worked with non-union and union guys and there are exceptions to either side.
However coming from an "employer" point of view I have worked on many job's where a non-union shop has subcontracted multiple "positions" that a single union technician was able perform. Do we have higher wages, depends on the contract. Davis Bacon wages non-union guys take more on the paycheck, we just negotiate our's into a pension and plan for the future.
From an employer when you higher a book 1 (tested, verified) Journeyman you can pretty much assume they have the exact same training at the vary least. In a construction trade such as what I am in this benefits the contractor greatly. Rather than having to keep a guy on staff year around you only use em when you need to fulfill a contract, then you lay them off and they go back to the hall to work for another contractor. When another job bid is awarded you call down to the hall and put a call in for how ever many Journeyman / Apprentices you need.
People that don't work in the trades really don't understand this concept. Not everyone works a 9-5 schedule 365. With my job I regularly work 16 hour shifts, weekends, holidays etc. Yes our contract compensates us well for what we do, and I have worked with guys that left the union to work for themselves. They bid the jobs at the going rate (125/hr) and pocket the 80/hr, good on them. Some people don't like "working for the man" and that's fine but it doesn't mean we are any less than another person. In fact when management clears over 4x what a union hand makes, but yet produces less and is more disconnected with the day to day operations where is the drain?
As for the Eco-Diesel, I really think they are going to fill a very good niche in the market. Up here in the colder climates almost everyone wants to own a 4x4 and don't need to haul. Having a 4x4 truck that get's 25+mpg is going to fit in very nicely, and if you have been to the northern states almost every other vehicle is a large truck / suv.
