fatfender

While I was talking to our benifits rep the other day I asked him about this issue. He said that as of Sept 2011 it was done. He also mentioned something about if you were born before a certain date in 1949 it continues (don't hold me to that one we talked about alot of things). He said this particular benifit gained for retirees the UAW only had for a total of four previous contracts.

Thanks for the info folks! Gives a little insight into this. Hopefully their car will hold out and another Ford will be sold!

Does anybody out there have any info on the upcoming C-Max (Grand C-Max) like where it's going to be built and possible production start up? Have been checking the C-Max forum but not much info there. I have a family member who is nursing their car along waiting for the C-Max but if they have much more trouble with it they may end up with a Mazda 5. Rather see them buy our product especially since they have been nuts about it since seeing it overseas. Thanks!

If you worked at OHAP you would know first hand what he is talking about as most people here do. I thought that Ford took care of that crook by firing him and you would think that with all the proof in hand the union would have backed the company seeing as union members were robbed by a union official. If memory serves me right, didn't he get caught in a sting where he was trying to get money out of someone who was terminated and 'couldn't' get his job back but he could get him a package if he would just walk away? I'd like to see some of that documentation to see how this went down.

It's like waking up one day and finding yourself back in Jr. High.

Not that I'm sticking up for Tim Rowe, but it was actually Bill Allen who cost us at Lorain the loss of T-Bird and Cougar. As far as the 550 went, that was a very low volume model, (model meaning like 250, 350, 450 etc.) that never sold very well. You could buy an f series cab that did the same thing with more room in it then the e-series. I don't think eliminating a model counts as losing a vehicle. I personally would blame Jack Hall for the toal shut down at Lorain, as he and his cohorts ran a scare tatics campagain against what Tim was trying to accomplish to keep Lorain going. That was about the time he was trying to get Tim kicked out of offfice for what turned out to be using a company copy machine for per sonal business. Funny thing was all those other guys did it too.

I saw this last night on the show, then the Free Press has it to but be fore the clip starts there is a real commercial for Toyota which makes it even that more hilarious, then it ended with another toyota commercial. HA!

You might want to go back through some of the older posts as this subject has been gone over before. The last I heard was that there are no HMO's for retirees anymore. I did hear that the union was talking to some other companies about HMO's and now the original carriers want to reopen talks cause they don't want to lose out. So really who knows. I haven't run into anyone lately that has been to any retirees meetings to get any more info. Might want to check with a benifits rep on the status of that. In Ohio they are offering Kaiser Permanente which is an HMO. Like I said, might be worth a call. I'm assuming NAP is Norfolk, if you don't have a local rep down there anymore, try some of the other reps at other plants or at national.

When this topic first came up I remembered the situation but the names were all wrong. Once Freds name came up it all hit home. I'm really surprised he hasn't been tossed in jail yet over that passed due money. I remember times the Sheriff Deputies use to come into the plant and arrest guys right off the line for unpaid support. Lorain County used to be pretty tough on that stuff and without lawyers just through the enforcement branch of the agency. Always wondered what ever happened to him as he posted on here alot and seemed to always be on a guy I think went by '40 and out'. Some of your questions are interesting though as it almost sounds like he bounced right over to another UAW represented local company and is or is trying to get back into a union position. Mmmm

They weren't specific about that but just guessing would be probably bottom of the line. It's unfortunate but my quess would be a continuing slide backwards for the retirees.

At UAW Retirees meeting last week at 425 the VEBA people were there and explained some of the changes affecting those in Ohio. Each state is somewhat different, but from what the rep said: All HMO's dropped everyone going to traditional coverage. You pay office calls. There is a deductible involved for single and family coverage but I couldn't hear that part (to many talkers visiting each other) Kaiser Permanente will also be available, but only to certian zip codes which leaves most retirees left with only the traditional option. Dental will be through Delta. (heard blue cross getting out of dental???) Vision will be through SVS Mail in drugs for 90 days will be 20 bucks generic, 50 name brand through Medco As of 1/1/10 some drugs not covered anymore, Nexium, or erectial were the two mentioned. They claim they are trying to do some HMO style coverage or office call coverage if it happens it won't be till after the first of the year, maybe by spring. Believe it when you see it. The rep stated in a side conversation that all HMO's nationwide were going away, it wasn't just Ohio retirees that were taking a hit. I feel for alot of these guys as many just had a huge weight placed on their shoulders money wise. Didn't realize how many people were going through different treatments and how costly just the doctors office visits were for the specialists. some were quoted at 400 + for just one visit. Don't know much about Kaiser, many people say the are to strict, have to use their drugs, and preappove everything, and their paperwork is terrible, others say they are content with them. Alot of Ohio won't have them as a choice though.

They are now parking unsold Hondas at the closed Lorain Assembly plant, maybe Mitch McConnell and his buddy from southern Ohio are working on a scheme for the Ford properties in KY after they run them out of business.

Read an article today in the Free Press about two guys at the Sterling plant who are making and selling a 'Out of a job yet' magnetic bumper sticker. The article gave their names as Brian Pannebecker and Tony Saputo. If anyone out there knows either one of these guys would it be possible to find out if they have an email address or a phone number as I would like to purchase some of those for our cars, and I know some others also down here in Ohio who would do the same. Thanks for any help folks!

What Jr. High did we end up at and how the heck did we get there???

Lastly I do understand what happened and why, but lets not brag about insourcing low tier $14.00 an hour jobs while we have lost 900 traditional wage jobs under your watch. These are hard times but the way your letter is composed is misleading. We are still minus jobs from where we started, and the product guarantees came from the I-UAW. Just a note to your post. Insourcing low tier jobs isn't such a bad thing considering the times. They will be done by Local 2000 workers who if I read right will be eligible to move up over time to higher paying jobs as the openings occur. 20% is the balance number I believe. Right now alot of these jobs are being done at the mini warehouses scattered around town by workers who barely make over 10 or 11 bucks an hour and even though have 'union' representation really have no rights at all. Most of these jobs were done under one roof by Ford workers before the consolidation. Getting them back under one roof with true Ford employees is at least a start . I don't think we can really blame Nick for losing 900 traditional jobs as those were done under buy-outs on the national level. Don't we still have about the same body count as before by bringing in people from other plants that have closed or been sold. I don't think we have any 2nd tier people here yet do we? I think if you look closely at what he is saying, he got the product guarantee for whatever the date was during COA negotiations that happened way before the national contract stuff. If I recall all the plants were under the thumb from the International and the Company to do this COA business. I remember being at a union meeting and listening to some of the competition for his job tell him it might not be such a bad thing, times are changing, so on and so forth. My point being as far as COA's went we ended up with a very mild version compared to other plants. I will give him credit, where alot of the other plants jumped and initiated the COA bringing in outside contractors for our traditional work he didn't. After summer vacation 07 alot of material jobs, bi-level, clean-up and a few others were suppose to be gone to outside companies. A division of Falcon was going to start up right after we came back from vacation to fill many of those jobs. He did drag his feet on initiating that COA which kept the outsiders out where as at other plants they were in right away. Maybe he knew something was going to happen on a national level. In any case OHAP had alot less hassles associated with the COA then many other plants that jumped the gun. As I said just a note my friend. Politics is such a dirty business no matter what level it's on. At least from your posts it looks like you are keeping an opened mind and sorting out the trash from the facts. Not many people do that. They get all caught up.

For somebody who claims this is his first time to this site you sure jumped right into the frey with the rest of em. Looks like you joined up 12/31/06. Hmmm. Aside from learning how to spell or use spell check you should also try to make the facts you want to post at least look real or like they really did happen. This is not even close to how all the above went down.

Actually I also heard the same thing from some of the people I know who were on the 2008 launch.

I've seen the info sheet posted on this in different areas of the plant all this week.

I wouldn't be to sure about that this time around. I've been hearing on the floor since last week if anyone knows anyone interested in part time work to give your supervisor their name and number to be called to test. A guy I work with turned in seven names Friday and they were called Monday. I worked with this guy for years and know he's not connected to anyone at Ford.

If you are refering to the steering shaft problem in trim last night, when they opened the new box to put it on line it had the wrong parts in it. You can thank our wonderful supplier for that.

If that number stamped on my ballet was to keep count of how many people voted, around 4pm it was almost 600. If that's how it works 600 and some out of 2500 or so is terrible.

Something to keep in mind about this, outsourcing, you are right. This is only the begining. Now it's stock, cleaners, skilled trades, etc. I've seen different posts in the past about this and alot of them were 'so what those guys don't do anything anyway'. It will spread from there though. Next you'll see them wanting to outsource the motor line or the IP line, tire/wheel line or who knows what. Before the consolidation, when it was first announced, those areas were slated to be done off in a warehouse somewhere. Supposedly the union kept in in house. These guys want to operate like the Japs. In print they acknowledge they admire the Jap system. Quess what? That's how they do it. We need to tread very carefully here. I don't see anything positive happening out of this. Other plants voted for it and they still lost out.

To be more competetive Ford needs to design and build vehicles that people want, not what they want people to want. Look at the response that the two new concepts (Interceptor and MKR) have created, but in articles printed yesterday Jan 2, they aren't slated for production. COA is not the answer to their problems. They can cut costs all they want, anywhere they want, but until they start building fresh products that people want Ford is not going anywhere.

Very good post. Says it all. Seems info is coming out now that says COA was a deal cut to let UAW represent the new low cost plant the company wanted to build down south. http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic...UTO01/612130368 Check out Detroit News article today about canceling that proposal and how COA played a part in it. Whoops! COA not canceled, just the plant. Also see subject in forum about low cost plant canceled. As always, we the hourly have to pay for THEIR mistakes. The change or die directive should apply to those in the Glass House who have caused this problem, not us. Hope you others can vote on this. Heard us at OHAP will not be able to vote on this as whatever the barganing unit comes up with is what we have to live with. We are just the glassy eyed sheep being led to slaugther. About the only positve note on that is that I hear our Chairman has always been one to try and create and preserve jobs. Hope that's right. Spring, if you are following this, since you go to all the meetings, is that what went down last Sunday pertaining to the COA talks?