Well you were the lucky one, at $17.50 an hour and union too? From what I understand, union jobs are on the extinction list. Gone are the good ol' days i guess. Also almost every obtainable production job pays between $7.50 and maybe $11.00 an hour. This is because of the skilless nature of the work and the ease at which the companies can replace workers with more desperate low wage uneducated people. God it's a vicious circle!