mrballsonya

:beerchug: :beerchug: :rockon: I'm glad I'm not the only one who has these feelings. I just wonder how long it'll take the working class (or by that time the NON-working class) to realize how badly our government sold us out. My only hope is that the people get really angry, and the politicians get REALLY SCARED. It sure would be nice to have a government that served the interests of the Majority, and not just the select few. Maybe when the people get MAD enough, this will happen.

Thanks Waldo. It looks like 7 millwrights from Wixom got the bids to R&E. Apparently you needed '94 trade seniority or lower to get one of the jobs. Good luck to those who took the bids, I hear it's a great place to work as long as overtime isn't that important to you.

Hey waldo what plant is SRP? Also do you have any idea what trade seniority the MW had, that took one of the R&E bids? Thanks in advance.

Wow, I guess that makes St. Thomas the new Checker Cab Company / Cop Car headquarters.

Agree 100%, in fact Toyota doesn't have a car or truck in their lineup that appeals to me. Evidently I'm the exception and not the rule. On a side note, I'm tired of hearing the "decreased rental sales" excuse from Ford and Gm to explain their poor monthly sales.

PSST.....Hey Guys I just robbed the "Jobs Bank", and man do I need to get rid of some of these babies. Do you guys know of anyone that might be interested? I've got all kinds of Jobs, good, bad, easy, hard, low paying and even some high paying. I'm letting these Jobs go for pennies on the dollar, so if you know of anyone.... let me know.

Thanks Furious.

It's true, You won't hear me quoting scriptures or citing specific verses from a 2000+ year old book. But I do know a little about history, and therefore about the complete lunacy of religious conflict and the egregious acts that have been performed in its name. Honestly what kind of religion uses "thou shall not kill" as one of its fundamental principles and yet sends out hordes of soldiers to convert or kill Muslims (crusades)? One only has to look to the middle east's constant religious conflicts to see how divisive and harmful religion can be. And it's not just different religions that have severe conflicts, look at the Sunni and Shi'ah infighting of Iraq or look at the Protestant and Catholic conflicts of Northern Ireland. Countless people have given up their lives or taken lives of others in the name of their Religion. If religion is so great why all the killing? What makes Christianity any better than Islam, Hinduism or Buddhism? Why should I feel the need to kill some one, for what he believes in? What makes you defend your religion so vehemently? Do you think you can "save" me from my heathen ways, with your enlightened conjecture? I do believe that the core value systems instilled by all the major Religions are a good thing. The problem arises when you have extremists or people that interpret 2000 year old scripture in ways that are totally nonsensical. Unfortunately these individuals are becoming more and more prevalent, and they ruin the whole party for every one. These nut jobs do unspeakable things in the name of their Religion, and all the while they think their going to end up in their "heaven". It's just crazy. Believe what you want. I'm not going to try to convince you that you're crazy for believing in a higher power, so please don't accuse me of being an "Ignorant Loudmouth" for not embracing the same beliefs as you.

The GOOD OLE' AFA. I wonder how many of their members would refuse the treatment of their dying offspring by a homosexual doctor. Or maybe they'd refuse to let a Homosexual life guard rescue their drowning kids. This bigoted group makes me sick, I'm not a homosexual, nor do I have any Homosexual friends. But I really could care less about what homosexuals are doing to each other in the privacy of their homes. Why should I care? Why should I hate a whole group of people, when they've never done anything of detriment to me? Who cares? To me the AFA is no different than the KKK, Nazi Party or any other hate mongering group. Fu*k them and their bullsh*t Ford Boycotts.

Remember to have your Pets spayed or neutered, folks. What......? My hero Bob barker doesn't give a shit about me? I'm devastated. I guess I'll stop praying for world peace and cheap gas to my Bob Barker shrine. In all seriousness, I'm not a big fan of religion. It's my opinion that the divisiveness of organized religion is responsible for more deaths and inhumane treatment to people than any other single entity in the history of the modern world. I tend to agree with George Carlin's views on religion....... "When it comes to bullshit, big-time, major league bullshit, you have to stand in awe of the all-time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. No contest. No contest. Religion. Religion easily has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now, you talk about a good bullshit story. Holy Shit! " George Carlin 1999 Heres a link to the complete rant. http://www.rense.com/general69/obj.htm

Even In this extremely litigious society that we currently live in, this article just proves that no matter how hard they try manufacturers just can't completely "Moron Proof" their products. These type of people are the same ones that almost Bankrupted Audi in the 80's, with their unintended acceleration claims. It never ceases to amaze me, the amount of totally ridiculous lawsuits aimed at auto manufacturers. How about a Crown Vic not being able to withstand an 80 MPH rear end collision without damage to the gas tank and subsequent ignition of gas. I guess Ford should of put a warning sticker on the Dash stating "Warning Fire may occur when rear ended at 80+ MPH". How about all the crazy Explorer lawsuits, Imagine that... a tall SUV that becomes unstable when driving on 10 PSI inflated tires and doing 70MPH emergency lane changes. Some People are Idiots, pure and simple. In the wild these "Idiots" are the wildebeests that decide to graze right next to the starving lions. In the U.S. these "Idiots" are the ones that stab themselves in the eye with a Knife, and then sue the Knife company for making their knives too sharp and for not putting a warning label that states "Do not stab in eye". As far as this story goes, It's hard to blame an inexperienced 17 year old driver for what happened. But I find it hard to believe that the car wouldn't shift into neutral, but all of a sudden at the last minute it could be shifted into park. It sounds to me like a story told by a 17 year old to cover her ass about the transmission she blew up when she panicked and threw the shifter into park at 50 mph. Maybe our politicians should add something to the Declaration Of Independance under unalienable rights, the new version should state...... Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness........ And it's always somebody else's fault.

"Now you've had enough.........Bitch" --- Bob Barker (After kicking Adam Sandler's ass in HAPPY GILMORE) Here's to BOB :beerchug: , a better BARKER than Dan.

I'm pretty sure that's the biggest cost difference between the big 3 and the Japanese transplants. Hourly wages are almost the same, and I think we have fairly similar health care coverages.

I like that idea a lot. If we are truly making $71 an hour total, then in theory they'd be happy as hell to just pay us $50 an hour wage and get rid of the pension and health care obligations. I know many of my co-workers have spouses that have their own health care, so that would be a great deal for those folks. And as far as the pension goes, I'd be more than happy to just have a company matched 401K plan... at least that way you have some control over your retirement and if Ford goes belly-up you won't have to rely on the PBGC.

$60, $70, $80.... whatever, the number is arbitrary as long as it sounds substantial to the average reader. Why is it, that the only time I've ever seen a "total compensation wage" figure is in articles pertaining to what UAW members make? What about nurses and other health care workers? Why don't we hear anything about how their "ridiculous" total compensation wages have caused health care costs to skyrocket over the last 10 years? The cost of decent health care has increased exponentially in the last decade, this has put tremendous pressure on U.S. corporations that have to compete with other corporations that are based in Countries that offer National Health Care. Yet we never hear about how "ridiculously overcompensated" our nurses are. These types of articles are only meant to do one thing, create dissension among Non union and Union employees. The Non union employees are paying through the teeth for health care....why? Because they never joined a union. The anti-union press and greedy corporations have brilliantly turned this into a rallying cry for Non-unionists to attack our supposed "opulent wage and benefit packages". Decent Health care should not be a negotiated or earned privilege for any U.S. citizen, It should be a RIGHT. The richest nation in the world shouldn't have 45 million citizens that have NO health care. Our countries priority's are so screwed up right now. Our current government would rather spend a Trillion dollars helping another country become a democracy, rather than take care of our own citizens now (health care) and in the future (social security).

http://www.quote.com/qc/news/story.aspx?sy...33_BWR_94305941 The Japanese auto companies have been playing with a stacked deck and loaded dice for too long. It's ridiculous how long this has been going on with no intervention or pressure from our government. Its bad enough that the Japanese have huge legacy cost advantages over the domestics, but when you figure in their protectionist home market tactics and currency manipulation, its no wonder that Toyota is poised to become the worlds top auto manufacturer. This is yet another case of U.S. manufacturers trying to survive in a market that has all the chips stacked in their foreign competitors favor. Our government needs to wake up and realize that a service economy isn't going to win any wars, our country has to maintain its ability to manufacture. We cannot rely on other countries to supply us with the things we need (look at how much trouble foreign oil has caused), we have to be able to produce goods here in the U.S. . Unfortunately other countries and greedy businesses have taken full advantage of our current governments Laisse-faire attitude on free trade. Now our home manufacturers are faced with so many hurdles, that its hard to believe that they can still compete with their foreign rivals on the open market. Our government HAS to give our manufacturers the same advantages that the Japanese and Chinese have given to their home teams for years. All's fair in love and war, right?

That must've been one high performance Volvo, otherwise she must've had something seriously wrong with her car. Goinbroke's right, high octane gasoline doesn't add power or mileage unless a stock car is so out of tune or so modified I.E.(aftermarket turbo, supercharger, or Cams) that it knocks. High octane gas does have more energy potential than regular gas, but unless your car is tuned to require it.....You're just wasting your money.

J.D Power awards Wixom Assembly, its highest award for initial quality. http://www.autoblog.com/2007/06/06/ford-do...ial-quality-st/ We can all pat ourselves on the back, and hold our heads up high as we walk away from our plant forever. The Town Car may be outdated and not selling well, but this award just proves what we've all known for a long time... Wixom employees know how to put together a good car. What really amazes me, is the fact that this award was given during a time when many of us were sad and bitter that our plant was closing... we were uncertain of our future plans.... and we had constant management and coworker changes (due to buyouts and transfers). Even with all the adversity and stress, we came to work everyday, did our best, and maintained the utmost professionalism throughout all the turmoil. We should all be proud, under all these extenuating circumstances that we somehow managed to put out a DAMN FINE CAR. So to reiterate, congratulations to everyone that assembled the vehicles. Congratulations to the supervisors that somehow kept quality high during the constant upheaval. Congratulations to maintenance for keeping everything running with NO Budget. And lastly....congratulations to all the lucky owners of 2007 Town Cars.... be happy knowing that you're driving one of the best assembled vehicles that Ford Motor has ever produced. Hopefully we all can bring our Wixom pride and craftsmanship with us to our next jobs, whether it be at another Ford facility or elsewhere. To all my fellow coworkers... :beerchug: ... thanks for the good times.

They produced quality cars while domestics were more concerned about production volume than reliability. It's like any other business, when your product gets stale and unappealing... you have to shake things up and bring someone in that understands what consumers want. If a company can please it's core customers and maintain consistent sales volume and profitability, then I'd have to say NO. Why would you change your management team if this were the case? A successful corporation would already have their own LUTZ (someone that knows product). They would have no need to add an additional LUTZ. Two LUTZ's don't make a right. :shades: I think you answered your own question.

WOW $10.75 an hour, I think I made that back in 1986 delivering the Ann Arbor News on my bicycle. What has happened to this country? :banghead:

Mark my words eventually Toyota will need a LUTZ. Right now they don't because they're riding the wave of perceived quality all the way to the bank. The American people aren't totally stupid, eventually they'll realize that their beloved Toyotas are no more reliable than most of the current Domestic offerings and once there's 1,000,000 used Camrys for sale.... the Resale value will be no better than that of a White Taurus Rental. When the people do finally realize that they've been buying these bland boxes with no added value, they'll start to look at other makes that offer exciting looks, handling or performance.......exactly the type of vehicles that are produced when a "Car Guy" is running the show. I just know how much you "LOVE" Lutz. :poke:

I figured someone would bring that up. I heard about the " S.F. Jacks" on a Detroit Morning Radio show "Drew & Mike , they've called up the guy that runs it a couple different times. It always makes for a pretty funny radio segment. The head JACK has to be one of the most flamboyant homosexuals I've ever heard :banmolest: . SORRY.....

Hey Jensen... The JACKS in your sig isn't related to the San Fransisco Jacks is it? http://www.sfjacks.com/pages/main.html Man I hope Not.

Man Oh Man, I think I've found my long lost brother. DCK you basically stole my thoughts and saved me a lot of typing. I couldn't agree with you more. This is for Jensen....LUTZ, LUTZ, LUTZ :poke: . Who needs A car guy at an Auto manufacturer? Ford doesn't. Ford is content to hire and promote bean counters and aviation managers. Maybe the next TAURUS will be a FLYING CAR that automatically invests your money in offshore accounts. Ford needs to hire some people that actually can gauge what market and design trends will be in the near term. Our current team just isn't cutting it. We need some fresh interior and exterior designs, we need to get more aggressive in the power train power department and at the same time offer up some high fuel efficiency small vehicles. We need to appeal to all aspects of the market. Right now Ford is a fragmented company, offering competitive products in very few segments.

Spot on!!!! China has had a much bigger negative impact on our economy and our jobs. Don't get me wrong Nafta has been terrible for the U.S. worker, (remember Perot's Great Big Sucking Sound) but it's nothing compared to the detriment that Chinas dirt cheap labor market has caused. In fact I seem to remember reading an article a couple of months back about some low life companies that originally left the U.S. for Mexico in the Mid 90's and now are abandoning Mexico for guess where?.....China