mechanic

No one has mentioned the strike threat mod made sunday. didn't he say that they may have to give the company notice of an impending strike since they were so far apart on local agreement?

memo posted at vandyke friday, says 32 sterling rtbu to be coming back after shutdown. We were wondering are those the late may and june 2000 people that were forced to go to sterling?

mod and stefani posted the bargaining committee report today. 33 sterling rtbu after shutdown, 15 more utica trim in september and that is it for now. fn production going up 6f production maybe going up press shop losing shift after shutdown skilled trades tlo expiring june 1, layoffs possible ilo. says he will stand up to company to give us good local agreement. we will see.

Sure don't miss McCoy! signed coa without local vote on job during biggest ILO in recent history at plant lots of favoritism in the plant Quit in midterm to take first buyout offer. I bet there are people out there who would do a better job as chairman, but Jim won the last election. He is our voice against the company and we should have some sort of unity. If he brings us a bad local agreement, then we can tell him to go bag it. I don't think he would do that to us though. Just to be clear I never supported KL for pres. there were several better choices. I think Ken flat out bought the election with all of the money he spent on slick advertising. also, wakeup, what flyer in the plant? haven't seen it yet, could you post it?

Chairmen appoint the reps, they will choose their friends and supporters, that is how it works. The Utica people are here because of the national contract, not a special deal. Jim is doing a fine job, we have new work, quality is good, production is up. NO one has had the balls to openly call for mod to be removed, or to start a petition of complaint. If you think he has no support, then give it your best shot to have him removed.

thanks for confirming c shift schedule. it is prety much what I had heard from others. I would take a buyout before I would do that kind of shift. some plants are still doing ot. we have averaged 50 to 60 hours a week the last couple of months.

i heard that not everyone likes it, what about the C shift? dont some people work every weekend for straight time? maybe someone could talk about that if it is so or not thanks

I Would like to be appointed, that's why I was asking what was open. Being a Mod supporter, maybe I've got a chance at it. I'd need some extra OT on a regular basis though.

what appointed jobs are open? I know about seroka's spot but what else?

What do you mean other guys take him out? election is a long way off, if people aren't happy then they should try to get him removed now. the people in the room have no special sway, they are just members like everyone else. The members as a whole can decide who will be chairman. I have supported Jim, but if the majority doesn't then maybe they can make a change.

probably trades that we are short of. or dont apprentice for boiler operator, (SE), auto mechanic, etc. well someone from sterling just posted 80 to 100 returning to van dyke in next couple of weeks. from what i have heard, no one from utica or chesterfield has came to vd yet. with the new zone structure it looks like the east side (utica, romeo, chesterfield, sterling ) would all have first choice at any openings here.

there are about 75 openings to be filled in the new mid range line. some utica people are starting to come over in the next couple of weeks. I think if the sterling people had return rights they would already be on their way here wouldn't they? everyone currently working at van dyke is safe. there is no mechanism in place to dislocate low seniority workers for higher seniority workers from outside the plant. It could change in the future, but as of now it is not an issue. We have some openings, and the people from Utica will be welcomed here. If people are unhappy with our chairman then let them start a recall petition, and see how many signatures they get. I don't think it would be very many.

We have a couple at our plant, and I was not very impressed. Don't care for the styling. I think there will be too much market dillution between the flex, taurus X, edge, and explorer. Styled and marketed to younger crowd that can't pay 30K for a new car. Who cares about a $700 fridge and assorted interior lighting colors? I still love my 2000 EB expedition, and will probably buy a new one this summer.

I don't think I would order a vehicle without seeing and driving one first. Plus a lot of times the incentives are for in stock units only. just for info, do you know the order cutoff date? what is the mix between standard and extended builds?

I have been looking for a new expedition, the extended version. and have been told there were only 4 in michigan, none near me. are they just not building them because they expect them not to sell?

Actually we don't have any elections coming up anytime soon. does anyone know, are the other area chairmen picking up this kind of ot?

do whales eat seals?

Well I have a couple of questions, and maybe someone can comment on them. 1) do all plant chairman get paid the same? ie... 7 12's or whatever the workers in the plant are doing? if so then it is not an "hourly wage" it is more of a salaried situation where people are going to come and go and do business outside of regular hours. no different than the plant manager going to get her drycleaning, or a haircut during "business hours" these are accepted practices for high level employees who put in lots of extra time after work hours or at home. If this is not the case, then management will deal with the situation how they see fit, and it will be done with. This is not a big issue, just a passing news rating booster. 2) do union officials enter their own time into the TWOS system, or does a salaried person supervise their pay? If there is a salaried person in charge of paying the union officers, why hasn't there been any comment on that end? wouldn't you question that much overtime if it wasn't standard practice? 3) Ford Motor company is not going to close a plant or move work around based on something this small. Those decisions are based on much bigger issues. I would like to say it had to do with productivity and quality, but we know that even those are not big enough issues to save a plant. There are big picture overall cost concerns, and internal politics that drive those decisions. 4) If there is a move by other locals to revisit the merger issue in the near future, then it will give credibility to the "hostile takeover" rumor. More than likely the issue was generated by internal politics between the chairman and some of his detractors. The big rumor on the floor is that it has to do with the skilled trades cutbacks.

no he is not. x just came back from aai recently.

Actually I thought the pull cord idea was pretty good until I saw how it worked and that no one cared about the quality issues, other than keeping the line moving. but at least it was easier to get a bathroom break if you had a good team leader.

A lot of us came back to van dyke with the threat of layoff hanging over us but the general consensus was, better to be laid off from powertrain, than to keep working at aai. the 45 year old body just couldn't take it.

What is Ford Land? corporate headquarters?

Only flowback to Livonia will be a couple of tradesmen. they are losing a shift.

Just saw story about Batavia closing may 30. 800 more people looking for a place to go. I thought they were already closed.

A lot of the buyouts are not replaceable, people at twin cities, batavia, sharonville, ach, won't be replaced.