People are being booted out of their jobs at 50

I guess I never realized til now just how lucky am to be involved in construction work.Even though I am nearly 39 for the ninth year running, because of having a firm understanding of how to best accomplish my task and set things up so that jobs run smoothly I have a huge advantage over younger people and I can normally work their ass into the ground even though they are more physically fit.It is especially true in my industry {waterproofing}because a lot of the new workers we get are from university students filling in with whatever work they can till their own field of specialty is available.
It is harsh to say but an awful lot of these workers are morons as comes to personal safety and ability to adapt to changing circumstances.They no doubt can run rings around me in their own fields but how long will it be till they are replaced by fresh young workers who do not have to "forget" a lot that they have learned in order to accomplish the latest system for computer language implemtation?
Thanks guys I feel really good now.

Troy There is no guarantee of protection even with unions as I know of one instance on the coast of B.C. where workers at a Union shake and shingle mill were laid off while the company claimed to be in the process of restructuring.What in fact happened was they sold the company to people in Japan I recall and the new owners refused to hire them back.To make the case of insult to injury the pension plans were null and void due to a legal glitch concerning offshore ownership of a canadian firm.
Men with 25-40 years service were left with no pension and no job.Can you imagine 40 years loyal to the same comany,of paying into something and then being without a pot to piss in? That is cold in ways I do not even wish to contemplate.But that is the way of things.Loopholes do exist and are exploited despite their moral bankruptcy.A few of these men died within a couple of years from hitting the booze,some struggled on ,some trained for new work but to a man the idea of loyalty and trust was gone and that is a great tragedy.This message has been edited by sidelined, Fri, 2005-05-13 09:57 PM

RAZD I quite agree and I think that is exactly the nature of the reason those men lost out.The nature of business was changing at this time and they simply got caught in the change. I think it is getting to the point that it is probably wise to bring a lawyer to an employment interview.LOL