mechanic

Official word today from mgmt. FN down friday 6th friday 13 week of 16th through 20th 6F down weeks of 9th and 16th with probable weeks down in march also. mid range and press shop have no down time scheduled rumor (unofficially from mgmt) is that 6f will be on two week on two week off schedule from now through may.

From what I see at van dyke, no one got displaced, all of the new workers were able to bid on jobs as they came up. but there were still some people who wont talk to the utica folks, and just tend to ignore them. It is not alot of people with that attitude, but it is there. on the other hand some of the transfers brought the problems on themselves for whining and demanding special jobs, machining positions, and refusing to do certain parts of a job because "thats not how it was done at utica". we got some more people this week. and may get some more over the next few even as we have rolling lay offs, and talk of shift eliminations. my hope is now that gen is gone, they will avoid ilo and use tlo and targeted short weeks to handle production adjustments.

How many are still at Utica?

I got the letter too and it sounds like they fund the program based on hours worked by uaw members. Didn't it say something about reinstating the program in the future as more funds become available? they didn't really say that funding was cut, it sounded more like the fund was empty because there is less money being put into it. due to less workers and fewer hours worked.

The Mexico part sure makes sense, since the fiesta will be assembled there. also the chapter 11, then they can get it built even cheaper with wage and benefit cuts. I hope we get some of the work, but I am not counting on it. I know things are tight everywhere. A friend just got ILO from steelmaster in Oxford, they make a lot of our lines and machinery. The whole plant was closed last Friday. seems CAT pulled out of a major deal leaving them with about 4mil in investment. That caused them to loose cash flow and stop production on two other jobs one for Ford, and one for GM. Don't know what the ford job was, but they are trying to get up and running again. Also heard one of our suppliers went down and we might get an extra week off in the FN area. Until they find a new supplier.

The PS is currently being built in Germany as a joint venture between Ford and Getrag AG. It is supposed to go in all Fiestas and in the Focus starting in 2010 or 2011. That could eliminate our whole Focus line. If anyone has more definate info, please post. thanks!

how long can a dept or area tlo last without having to go to the entirety of plant wide seniority? say I work in an area that is scheduled to be down for three weeks, and I have higher seniority than people in a different area, how is that supposed to work? thanks for any input

here at van dyke where we make the trans, they are still telling us that production is going up again in late january or february. bringing more people over to fully man up a third shift. let us know if you here anything definate! thanks

there a lot of reasons to look at this as good news. the final details will be worked out by a new administration we are already close to the jap plants on wages. a new round of buyouts, and new hires at lower wages would average the cost in at an acceptable level with no major cuts. ford is not in the picture yet and has already said they will not ask bond holders for concessions, if they don't do that, then they can't ask for federal money gm still has a lot of archaic work rules, we got rid of most of those in the last few years. we get to vote on it, just say no. pattern bargaining does not apply when one company is healthier than the others, chrysler took pay cuts in the 80's bail out and no one else did.

Told today, that as part of that, at least 100 more people will brought to plant in january. to fill up midnight shift in all fn areas, and to add shift to midrange area for fusion job. also we are not getting extra week off, we need to make parts. good news if true.

Word in team meeting today that fn schedule will go up to 500,000 units as of April 1st.

Ford has announced that it will not ask bond holders to reduce the debts to aid the company. this being the case, we really need to stick together and say no to any cuts in pay or benefits. If all of the so called "stakeholders" are not going to give, then we shouldn't either! Tell Sen corker, Rep shelby, and even Pres Bush to stick it up their asses!

everyone should go to us senate website, click on link to send message, we can overload his email system. not too great a thing but might annoy him.. just be careful what you say, don't want any visits from fbi agents! link http://corker.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?...ation.ContactMe

Alexandra Maciag, started her career as a production operater at Buffalol Stamping.

supposedly manager from Rawsonville transfering over

here at van dyke our plant manager is on the way out. None too soon with unapproachable attitude and micro managing style. rumor has it she is going to windsor.

question about the sub issue, does the company put into it or the workers, or both?

doesn't mean we will pass it though. even now, there are differences in each contract, they will adjust the fine print just enough so It looks like we are getting a little better deal, just to make sure we pass it. At a previous company I worked for they did cancel our pension plan. they put a current cash value on everyones years of service, and deposited that much in a 401k for each of us based on years credited and our ages. after that your were on your own. no more pension or increase unless you added to it.

any idea what they are thinking dollar wise? the transplants pay 25 or so an hour. but the media keeps playing the 73 dollar an hour bit which makes it look like we should take a 10 to 15 dollar an hour cut. also since ford hasn't asked for money, will we just go ahead and match whatever cuts gm takes? will we vote on it? probably no sure answers, just lots of questions.

I certainly don't want a pay cut, but just for arguments sake, how much do foreign plant workers make? I always hear it is pretty close ( a dollar or two) to us.

300 off the bottom would take it to april 99 to stay working. unless more come over before then. would like to think this is just a vicious rumor, but the numbers look possible. focus sales about 8300 last month, that is only 6 days production. 6f area just as bad or worse. bright spot should be midrange with the start of the fusion supply chain, but that might not justify three shifts either. union reps say just a rumor, not true. going ahead with midnight committeeman elections. vigilante press rumor that Nick stefani may resign committee spot to take benefits rep position.

we have given concessions in the past, even now our leaders are giving up things to make the deal go through. So, I say enough is enough, If they try to touch our pay, or retiree benefits, we vote no, and we all either come through this or go down together.

Quite a few of us have finished up degrees. Now we can look at situation and not feel as much stress in these hard times. I thought about the buyout, but my field is not very open right now. I am sticking it out as long as it lasts. But, if things go very badly, I can find something else. I may have to move, but I could slide into another position making close to the same money. So I guess I am saying why cut something that doesn't cost that much, and helps people make plans for the future?

I hate to say this, but the majority of companies in financial trouble have switched from pension plans to 401k type plans. the current business models that wall street embraces show a strong favoritism for these type plans. also, the current trend is to do away with retiree health care. I can see an elimination of all retiree health care for anyone elegible for medicare. with a provision that the company will provide free part B coverage. several other large companies have gone this route. all these years the labor movement struggled to bring everyone up with it, and to see so many people who have rejected it and turned their backs on labor is very depressing.

Well, he owned and drove a Lexus before coming over to Ford. What I cant believe is that he is dumb enough to be using the company plane to go back and forth to Seattle every weekend. Especially after the Mark Fields incident a year or so ago. No thought of public relations, or propriety. People accept the idea of a company plane for business, but he has been here long enough to establish residence.