mrballsonya

Evidently you haven't been part of the UAW very long. If it were up to FoMoCo and FoMoCo alone, then yes, management wouldn't move any capable employee, they'd only move the parasites..... and then they'd be moving them right out of the door. However, since Ford currently is still a predominantly Union based company, and they try to adhere to the UAW based contract mandates, such as "Recall rights, Return to base unit rights, Zone rules, Seniority rights..etc". Almost all the moves are solely due to the UAW job bid process and seniority hierarchy. It's far from a perfect system, but it's the best system that our brain trust could come up with. If it were up to Ford, we'd all be replaced with Chinese Robots purchased from Wal Mart. If the UAW controlled the system, a 95 year old with 75 years seniority would be "Our Main Man", and 3 guy's would be required to replace a light bulb. Both sides of the cause could make a pretty good argument. Unfortunately for us, industrialized globalization has made the UAW's argument much less valid. We (the UAW) must become much more realistic, and start to embrace the idea that we are totally expendable. We're simply a commodity or more than likely a liability.. depending on our membership and their work ethic, devotion, and maybe sense of entitlement. It's us against the World. It's time to man up, just like our fathers and Grandfathers did in the world wars. No more protecting the incapable, weak, or lazy. We currently, just aren't competitive. There are too many factors weighing us down. We're all dealing with incompetent management, nepotism, favoritism, meaningless UAW appointed positions, and uncompetitive health and Safety regulations....... Dead weight every where,...... on both the management and hourly side. Unless we adapt and change as a Company, we'll have only ourselves to blame for our failures. Accountability is a hell of a thing.... a thing that most "Ford Lifers" just don't understand.

Let's hope brotha'... I Know Ford stock has been mighty kind to my Tesphe account this past year and a half. But having a permanent Job somewhere, sure would be the icing on the cake. We certainly seem to have some nice products coming out in the next couple of years. If we can just keep taking advantage of the competition's missteps and continue to build a quality product, I think sales will only increase. But that's where all the warm and fuzzy crap comes to a screeching halt for us mechanical tradesmen. I personally feel that Ford has a very bright future, but unfortunately it doesn't involve us. I can't speak for all the Mechanical trades, but I know that Ford doesn't seem to be replacing Millwrights that have retired or taken buyouts. Buildings that once required 40 millwrights to maintain, have only gotten older and more decrepit, yet somehow now only require 10 millwrights. I do think the increased sales will create openings, but not for tradesmen. Reporting Live from Purgatory, Mr. Ballsonya..... BlueOvalNews.

Yes they do. Unfortunately brainwashed people also, "think" that they're making intelligent choices. Keep drinking this type of "You tube" swill, and you'll soon be the proud owner of a slap chop, a Snuggie, a very rare... limited edition Obama dinner Plate and 100 acres of Ocean front property in Billings, Montana. If it's on the "internets" its got to be true, right? Page 8, sec. 10... Rupert Murdoch, in conjunction with Bill O'reilly, Sean Hannity, the Fox News Network and all HMO's.... direct the Sheep to a You tube video that they helped to produce. Page 21, sec. 7.... The Sheep are in utter awe of something that's known as a Power Point presentation. Page 37, Sec. 9, the sheep get really angry when they see their Flag being flown upside down, underneath an obviously inferior Mexican Flag. Page 62, sec. 11, the sheep are now thoroughly incensed, their dander is up and they start to look at different federal buildings at which they should plant their collective Manure in front of. Page 79 sec. 2 The Flock is now in total revolt. They're so convinced that the Government is planning on taking away their Guns, granting illegal Foreign Sheep health care, and letting Natalie Holloway's killers go free, that they just lose all sense of cognitive reasoning. Page 84, sec. 8... the sheep have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker. Page 99 sec. 8..... Rupert Murdoch laughs diabolically, as he strokes his evil cat while contemplating how easy it was to manipulate the minds of American sheep. Page 110. sec 8.... the mindless sheep become corporate shills and start to spread the word of the half-truth, to all the other sheep. Page 122, Sec 8. a new "pro-corporate" regime is put back into office, and the sheep are ordered to go back to their tents and drink the Red Kool Aid.

I have know Idea, but we're still in the process of tearing out old stuff (although some new stuff is being installed simultaneously). If I were to guess, I'd say early next year. BTW, it's a great looking small car..... Kudos to Ford's Upper Management. I haven't bought a Ford in 9 years, the New Focus might just end that depressing streak.

The God I worship is... paycheck. Paycheck is a fantastic God, He Provides me with actual, tangible benefits, and material goods. Paycheck keeps my offspring fed, clothed and sheltered. Without Paycheck, I'd be destitute. I used to worship god, but no matter how hard I prayed, or how many touchdowns I scored, I just couldn't move my 7 person family out of my refrigerator box. Once I started worshiping Paycheck, I was healed, enlightened, and my family was housed .. Hallelujah. Paycheck makes you work for his faith, but once you really believe, and work real hard, he will take care of you. I'm sorry if this post is offensive to those that have "real" faith. If you're true Christians then I know you'll pray for my heathen ass. Please realize though, in my mind, your prayers hold the same value as that drunk street person that lives on Michigan and Trumball, you know the one.... the one that spews incoherent nonsense, as you drop change in his cup. Why didn't you people acclimate to cooler gods like Zeus, or Odin? Those Guys could kick the hell out of Jesus' ass. Odin was a bad Mofo, and had way better stories written about him than either Jesus or Muhammad.... So why all the love for Christianity and Islam. I think, I'm going to start the church for Loki, and the later day Norse saints. I can write as good of a story, as anyone else. If my story is good enough, will you start blindly obeying me? If you do, maybe I'll start writing better stories, some of which will involve parting lake Michigan. I might even write a story about shooting lasers down on the sodomites, or maybe I might reign Godzilla down on all the nonbelievers. Follow me.... Listen to me... Give me all your money. Every Sunday I'll be more than happy to take your money, and also your self respect . What a great racket, I love religion. Praise god, allah, odin, zeus, buddah, jesus, whatever. They're all the same entity, simply figureheads for the manipulators to take advantage of the weak minded. I worship fairy dust, Goblins, Dinosaurs, Fred Flintstone, snowcones and Paycheck. All Hail Paycheck.... Loki and the church of later day washed up Norse God saints and others.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/200...ies+Ford+worker ".....Ronald S. Cassady, 54, a resident of Eden Lane, died of “multiple blunt force injuries.” ..... doctors at University Hospital declared Cassady dead at 9:24 a.m., five minutes after arriving at the hospital......A police spokesman, Dwight Mitchell, said an I-beam had slipped from a fork lift and struck a man in the head and chest." R.I.P. Very, very sad news. With all of our required safety and lockout classes, I sometimes get lulled into a false sense of security about how safe everything is. Unfortunately it takes a tragic accident like this, to bring me back to reality and realize just how dangerous our jobs really are. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and coworkers.

Triple the debt huh? I assume you're referring to the annual budget and not the National Deficit (debt).

WIXOM seems to be a pretty good bet. With the "renewable energy park" supposedly taking over there, it would seem a battery plant would be a natural sibling to Clairvoyant Energy's solar panels and Xtreme Power's wind farm battery packs. Pure speculation on my part, but If the energy park really does come to fruition, this homer is betting on Wixom.

Not entirely true. I remember hearing from some of the "oldtimers" that I worked with in the past, that Ford did indeed match stock for hourly employees back in the seventies or eighties. I have no idea of the exact time frame or the details of the match, but according to them they took full advantage of it.

I heard a Chinese Company purchased the Ypsi plant. Rumor has it, they intend on producing Soylent Green there. Purportedly the Chinese Government had been looking around for years, for a place where they could finally take advantage of their biggest asset, and at the same time detriment..... people. :eek5: http://www.cinemagia.ro/trailer/soylent-gr...sul-verde-3675/

I don't think any production photos have been released yet for the Explorer, but here are some of the explorer concept. Has Ford ever announced intentions to continue the Expedition and Navigator beyond the current body style?

Here's a photo of a previous generation of explorer And here's one of the Next Generation explorer

Yes... how'd you guess?

Did any of you naysayers even read the proposed contract revisions? The new product guarantees, were almost completely worthless. I understand Ford needing the latitude to put "market condition" stipulations in the language, but then it's not really a REAL "product and job guarantee" is it? How many legally binding contracts include easily defined benefits for one party, and highly exploitable, easily manipulated details for the other? If there are any, I bet they're few and far between. Would you sign a 2 year lease on a house that guaranteed the bank $3000 a month, but then had contractual stipulations in which the bank reserved the right to change terms at any time... "due to market conditions"?

I'm still trying to figure out some way to blame all of this on Wal Mart. Luckily, even if I can't find a link between this debacle and Wal Mart, there are still 100 other reasons to never shop there. B)

I think one of the things that disappointed me the most about this contract revision, was the audacity of both Ford and The IUAW to present us with such ambiguous contractual language. I guess it shouldn't really surprise me, given the utter worthlessness of our previous "Contracts". But when reading the highlights, I'm given the distinct impression that the IUAW leadership must simply be pocketing all the "lawyer money" for themselves. Any first year law student would heartily laugh at the supposed product and job "guarantees" in this proposed amendment. How many times have you ever signed a contract with a bank, where you agreed to give them easily definable, fixed monthly payments and in return they only agreed to "discuss" the possibility of giving you a car or a home... maybe it'll be a Yugo maybe it'll be Ferrari.... maybe we'll give it to you... maybe we won't. This scenario has never happened because it's totally absurd. The word "discussions" should never be used in any contract highlights. The word "discussion" holds about as much contractual value as a product guarantee from the likes of your "cousin Larry", who's a cleaner that knows someone down at the glass house. If Ford really wants us to grant more concessions to the contract that they agreed upon just 2 years ago, the very same one that we already renegotiated once. They really need to stop treating us all like adversarial, 6th grade dropouts and respect the fact that we want actual product and job guarantees and not empty promises to "discuss things", and loophole riddled contract language. The line between Ford upper management and our IUAW leadership has now become as thin as our job security. It's becoming very difficult to justify paying Union dues to people that allow the Company to run roughshod over them. I realize we are in a global economy in which manufacturing companies are leaving the US as fast they can, and it is a daunting task for our IUAW officials to just keep the jobs we have, but at some point they need to take a stand and resolutely say "enough is enough". With regards to this proposed amendment, I'll use the same answer as Alan Mulally used at the Big 3 congressional hearings.... when asked if he'd take a pay cut if federal aid was given to Ford Motor Co.... Mulally eloquently stated "No thanks, I'm fine where I'm at". I think the IUAW and Ford both need to take a good hard look at why this deal failed in such spectacular fashion. Maybe after some serious soul searching, a hint of research and some actual feedback from their constituents, then maybe they'll come up with a real proposal.

I must say I'm a little alarmed hearing that a couple of guys on this thread stated that they were "Told to Vote one way". I would hope that everyone who voted listened to all the facts that were presented, read any available language revisions and then formed their own opinion on how they should vote. It's my opinion that you Sterling guys read the same garbage that we all did, and you then voted accordingly. This deal absolutely stunk, and from looking at the vote totals almost every other Ford plant in the system voted accordingly. Who knows If you guys will lose out on the rear drive unit, I hope you don't, but if you do; like others have already stated it probably was going to happen anyway. I think one of the things that disappointed me the most about this contract revision, was the audacity of both Ford and The IUAW to present us with such ambiguous contractual language. I guess it shouldn't really surprise me, given the utter worthlessness of our previous "Contracts". But in reading the highlights, I'm given the distinct impression that the IUAW must simply be pocketing all the "lawyer money" for themselves. Any first year law student would heartily laugh at the supposed product and job "guarantees" in this proposed amendment. How many times have you ever signed a contract with a bank, where you agreed to give them easily definable, fixed monthly payments and in return they only agreed to "discuss" the possibility of giving you a car or a home... maybe it'll be a yugo maybe it'll be Ferrari.... maybe we'll give it to you... maybe we won't. This scenario has never happened because it's totally absurd. The word "discussions" should never be used in any contract highlights. The word "discussions" holds about as much contractual value as hearing rumors from the likes of your cousin Larry who's a cleaner down at the glass house. If Ford really wants us to grant more concessions to the contract that they agreed upon just 2 years ago, the very same one that we already renegotiated once. They really need to stop treating us all like adversarial, 6th grade dropouts and respect the fact that we want actual product and job guarantees and not empty promises to "discuss things", and loophole riddled contract language. The line between Ford upper management and our IUAW leadership has now become as thin as our job security. It's becoming very difficult to justify paying Union dues to people that let allow the Company to run roughshod over them. I realize we are in a global economy in which manufacturing companies are leaving the US as fast they can, and it is a daunting task for our IUAW officials to just keep the jobs we have, but at some point they need to take a stand and resolutely say "enough is enough". With regards to this proposed amendment, I'll use the same answer as Alan Mulally used at the Big 3 congressional hearings.... when asked if he'd take a pay cut if federal aid was given to Ford Motor Co.... Mulally eloquently stated "No thanks, I'm fine where I'm at". I think the IUAW and Ford both need to take a good hard look at why this deal failed in such spectacular fashion. Maybe after some serious soul searching, a hint of research and some actual feedback from their constituents, then maybe they'll come up with a real proposal.

As a laid off Millwright I really appreciate the compassion and concern set forth by all of you electricians with regards to this latest proposed contract. I Guess what impresses me the most, is the shear fervor and militancy from you guys, especially given the fact that this new language doesn't really affect you too much. I'm one of 19 trades that Ford evidently wants to dilute into one. I can't find a permanent job now, so It's hard to even imagine how bleak my future job prospects will be, once I'm grouped with every other pipe fitter, toolmaker, machine repairman, painter, carpenter Etc. Etc. in the Ford System. When this Turd of an amendment gets shoved down all of our throats and passes, you guys will still be electricians. However For the rest of us, we will no longer be tradesman we will be Mechanics.... funny I've never heard of a "Mechanic" being an apprenticeable trade. Evidently the current Ford Management Team either doesn't realize or just doesn't care how much money just one skilled, conscientious, knowledgeable tradesman can save them. From what I've read about this new agreement, there should be absolutely no reason why any right minded UAW Ford member would want to vote yes for it. We have a contract now. If Ford wants contract concessions, then let them honor one contract for the full term first, and then maybe we'll work something out after this one expires. Ford didn't go bankrupt and they aren't in dire financial straits. In fact, even if Ford was burning money like it was going out of style, these concessions would be of absolutely no help in the near term. These concessions are all about long term savings and that in and of itself would be perfectly fine, as long as the we were getting some semblance of long term future product guarantees in return, But we're not. Ford continues to invest huge amounts of money in Mexico, China, India, Eastern Europe and even Canada. And after all of that Foreign investment, they have the gall to ask us the UAW to help pay for part of it with these conciliatory contract revisions... you've got to be kidding me. Talk about cutting off our nose to spite our face. The fact that the IUAW would even bring this crap to us for a vote, shows how irrelevant and powerless they have become. This latest Contract amendment absolutely reeks. VOTE NO!

I hope it's true Romeo, and if it is ....Congratulations.... you guys deserve it. Romeo is a great plant, with great employees, and very good middle management. I've really enjoyed working there for the past couple of months and I wish my stay there was a permanent one. Alas, for me and my fellow vagabond Millwright brethren, Romeo is just another Bus stop in our never ending search for a permanent home.

I wonder if Carbon engineered these cruisers to take 100 MPH rear endings, without catching fire? If they didn't, Carbon might not be around very long. All it'll take is a couple frivolous lawsuits, to bankrupt a new company. In all sincerity, I hope it works out for all of you in Indiana. I give Carbon a lot of credit for building the vehicle up here in the rust belt and not in Mexico.

A very interesting, and at the same time disturbing read. Thanks for posting it Spring. Here's a slightly similar article from Wired that explains the extremely flawed mathematical equation, that led to the eventual meltdown of our economy. http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/17-03/wp_quant It's rather unfortunate, that so many citizens in this great country of ours have essentially become mindless lemmings. We follow blindly, we don't hold our leaders accountable, and we vapidly watch as our major News networks force feed their corporate agendas down our throats. We have essentially become thoughtless worker drones. Drones that want nothing to do with confrontation or protest, Drones that don't care that our quality of life is being slowly taken from us. We have all become trapped in a consumerist economy, an economy in which we NEED to have 5 LCD TVs, 4 Computers, 3 video game systems, all the latest clothes, and the latest cell phone. Oh... and of course we also need to have the requisite credit card debt that comes with the purchases of all that cool stuff. These days, many of us have bills and obligations that have virtually enslaved us into serfdom to our corporations. We have become the new slaves of the 21st century. We need our uneducated high paying jobs, a lot more than the corporations need us... and this is a big problem. In the new global economy, uneducated and high paying are terms that are almost diametrically opposed. There are just too many willing and able Chinese and Indians workers, that would love to do our job for $3 an hour. We simply can't maintain our current lifestyles and honestly compete with Indians and Chinese. The only possible way we can compete, is through technological breakthroughs and efficiencies. If it takes 20 low skilled Chinese workers to complete a job, that a $200,000 robot and an electrician can handle, then we might be able to retain that job. It's time to wake up people, we've had a good run. We made a lot of money, we had great benefits, we gave back to our communities, we bought houses, we bought boats, we enjoyed a good American middle class life. Now we can't afford to do anything, and surprisingly the U.S. economy is similarly stifled, imagine that. Are there any correlations? I don't know. I'm not qualified to empirically base my assumptions and observations on articles such as these, but it sure seems like there is an ongoing theme of screwing the middle class.

+ 1 .... Especially for me and all of my fellow Millwright brothers that are now on the outside, looking in. Someone please throw us some scraps, we're getting hungry for knowledge out here.

Here we go. First Delphi, then Chrysler, then Visteon, and soon to be G.M...... who's left? Ford. Lets all cross our fingers that our Company doesn't feel obligated to mimic their rivals, in order to "remain competitive".

Sorry fellas, but I had to hook you with a typical Fox News headline. http://www.quote.com/news/story.action?id=KRO136e4474 The real story is about Mulally's contention that Ford will be profitable again in 2011. But the article does mention that Mulally drives a different car every day, and one of them happened to be a Honda Fit. I for one, was ecstatic to read that Mulally has been driving other makes and models. A very wise 6th century B.C. Chinese General named Sun Tzu, once stated in a treatise titled The Art Of War, that if "you know your enemy & know yourself, in 100 battles you will never be in peril". Mulally understands this basic principal, and wants to "know our enemy". I love this guy, he's worth every penny of his $16 million+ salary. Hiring Mulally was the best thing that Bill Jr. ever did for the Ford Motor Company. Maybe after this mess is all over, Bill Jr. can convince Mulally to take over the Lions. We can only hope.

Sorry fellas, but I had to hook you with a typical Fox News headline. http://www.quote.com/news/story.action?id=KRO136e4474 The real story is about, Mulally's contention that Ford will be profitable again in 2011. But the article does mention that Mulally drives a different car every day, and one of them happened to be a Honda Fit. I for one, was ecstatic to read that Mulally has been driving other makes and models. A very wise 6th century B.C. Chinese General named Sun Tzu, once stated in a treatise titled The Art Of War, "know your enemy & know yourself, & in 100 battles you will never be in peril". Mulally understands this basic principal, and wants to "know our enemy". I love this guy, he's worth every penny of his $16 million+ salary. Hiring Mulally was the best thing that Bill Jr. ever did for the Ford Motor Company. Maybe after this mess is all over, Bill Jr. can convince Mulally to take over the Lions. We can only hope.