MTP WORKER

Look this is not the 1990's or 2000's when the economy was stronger,health care was cheaper, and there was more of a good paying blue collar workforce. House values have dropped big time and so has most other blue collar workers wages. It is pretty clear that home values were probally inflated beyond what they were really worth and as much as I hate to admit it so was the rate of pay that I am receiving.Millions of other Americans have taken a massive financial hit and we are still pretty much untouched and are doing way better than the average blue collar worker. I was making $12.50 an hour before I landed a job with FORD. I actually had bought a house ($79,000 sale price) by working 6 days a week at the dirty old machine shop that I had been at for two years. The car I had was a old Crown Vic with a paint job not worth washing. 16 years later I find myself now with a lifestyle that I can only thank Ford and the UAW for ( I guess I better throw God and a nice relative in there in case they read this. lol). Sure I had to deal with some asshole bosses and some of the jobs were overloaded but the wage and benefits I got helped me get over it. Ford is investing in America, leaving wages alone( which are already awesome considering that just about anyone can do any of the jobs in a plant) and is not making me pay toward my health care premium like the salary workers and most other companies that provide group insurance. How many people do you think have the dental plan that we have? This deal we are voting on is not so bad that I would want to strike over it. By voting NO that is what could happen. I am not posting this for an argument. I am just trying to give a view to help the undecided ones. Like I posted before ask yourself this before voting . What is the worst that can happen with a Yes vote. What is the worst that can happen with a NO vote. It is not about what can you get but what you might lose that will have a greater affect on your lifes. Remember the IUAW is not going to push for something that they do not even support right now. They will be disgusted after all of the effort that they went through that not only keeps us were we are with wages but added a decent chunk of change and most importantly helped secure jobs and Plant investment. The greater majority will be ok with the current agreement and hopefully the economy grows and we will be in a better position to get more of the pie on the next contract. By the way if the contract passes try not to be to sad when you NO voters spend ( or maybe invest) the soon to be had easy money signing cash.

HA HA Very intelligent response RAWS. It must suck to have to go to work for a company that you hate. If is was not for the UAW in which you have no trust a lot of you haters would of been fired a long time ago. I will side with the IUAW by voting YES. If the money and benefits we are getting is not enough for you then go down the road and use your expert skills to make more somewhere else.

NO voters do not understand that Ford will not raise the already highest in industry fixed wage. Ford is a business and they need to stay as an attractive as they can to the investers and credit raters. I guess that a lot of workers think that they know better then people with business degrees. Most factory workers were not hired in for how smart they are. I am not saying that all of the NO voters are just plain stupid with low IQ's but I think that the HATE for the company and DISTRUST of the IUAW can cloud the good judgement of even the most intelligent ones. They are tired of feeling like victims(aww) and know they have the POWER TO SHOW THE MAN! LOL. They do not care and are willing to gamble( with my money too) even though THE RISKS OF A NO VOTE OUT WEIGH THE REWARDS! If this thing passes do not fret NO voters your way of life( at least financially) will still be pretty good compared to most others that do not have a college degree. If you short sighted No voters are lucky the Yes voters will keep you from hurting yourselfs( and the rest) when we pass this decent deal under the current economical circumstances.

Ford Motor will not give back anything that raises the per hour wage rate. For anything that they end up giving back they will take something else away. If you have the right to get pissed off so do they and the workers that voted yes will have to suffer because of the short sighted NO voters. If this NO vote results in a financial loss for me and the other non greedy workers there will be hell to pay. The risks outway the rewards but most of the No voters do not care about the future that is why Ford Motor is where they work. People are not hired in to a factory because of how wise they are. I made some bad choices when I was younger and did not go to college( although I make more money and have better benefits then a lot them) and get a degree like most of my former classmates and I know how damn lucky I am that this company and union exist. If the IUAW say that this is the best they could of done then I will give them the benefit off the doubt. I am not taking a big pay cut and health care is still pretty much free. What other blue collar workers can say this. I am smart enough not to want to bite the hand that is feeding me food that is still pretty tastie. I think that a lot of the NO voters are company haters and this is their way to express their feelings. Like I said to me and a lot of other rational thinkers THE RISKS OF A NO VOTE OUT WEIGHS THE REWARDS!

What is the worst thing that could happen to the the majority of UAW workers if we vote YES. What is the worst thing if we vote NO, I myself think that because of the current economical factors right now that the agreement is not worth striking over. If it comes to a strike we will loes pay and the buying public will not see the NO voters side. All of the workers that I talked to that said they were voting NO is because they thought that they should of gotten a few thousand dollars more up front. If we strike any money that would of been gained will be lost and I am a bit worried how FORD will retaliate. Voting NO is gambleing with my money. This Union division only strengthens the Union Bashers cause. I wonder how much cheering will go on when the workers who voted NO realize that a strike is something that they could not afford.

The IUAW which I at this point trust when they tell me that this deal would of been worse if they did not push on Ford is as good as it is going to get. Why delay getting the deal done and having to wait longer to get the money. It seems that most of the workers that are against this deal hate the company and have no respect for the UAW leadership. It must suck to have to go through life hating all of the time but that is I think just the way some people are wired. Our wages and benefits are already pretty rich for the blue collar world that we live in now. Alan makes what the going rate is for his type of job and we make probally more than the going rate. If Ford went first in the bargaining process then we may have been able to get a little more but since GM already ratified we have to stay close to their going rate to make our company seam like a good investment. I work for a great company and am proud of it. I want to hear good news in the media about my finacial provider. The fact that we do not have to pay for health care other than a small copay in this day and age is amazing. My life style would not even be close to how it is now if it were not for the existence of Ford Motor and the UAW. A few of the guys that I work with that were going to say no have said that they have changed their minds after actually reading the agreement. Do not be to proud to admit that your convition to voting NO might be in error. Start by trying to see the good in things instead of the bad. It is like being in a relationship with another person. You have to have some room for compromise or your life will suck ( UNLESS YOU GET OFF ON FIGHTING). LIke I said earlier some people are just plain HATERS and they will post a comment in response to my opinion filled with anger( and probally with high blood pressure and a red face) . This deal will most likely pass and maybe next time the economical factors will be favorable enough to get some greater gains. SOLIDARITY RULES. :beerchug:

Well most of the hilo's at dtp have very week batteries and right now it takes an hour on a large machine to get around a 20% boost. I keep hearing abut new equiptment coming but nothing yet. I do know that the hilo repair guys are keeping busy with all of the breakdowns and over heated units. Quite often the batteries will not charge when they get to low ( the unit produces an error code) because of their high battery temps and faulty battery fans. If the 3 shift thing is going to happen Ford is going to have to make a large investment in this area.

I have been told that 1st shift will be preferred over 3rd by seniority workers . :shrug: Most A crew workers will stay on days but a lot of higher seniority workers on 3rd (B crew right now) will eventually bump to 1st shift (midnights).

I hear ya! It's like they hate the place so much that they have to get away as fast as they can. Like they are breaking out of a prison.

Word from the plant chairman and a bargaining rep is that the company was thinking about giving us a down week this month but now they are saying no down weeks and they would like to make up the lost production.

: But it is a nice feeling knowing that we on C come back to work for just one day and then we can rest up for three days after the one day of work. :happy feet:

I just got a text from my committee man and he has been told that shutdown will be back to back weeks starting july 4th. Rumors suck.

I have been coming to this site for years and there have been tons of rumor talk and worry or hoping and the majority of the time they do not come true. Everyone that I have ever asked if they go on this site say that they may have checked it out but they stopped coming because of all the rumoring and arguing. I am sorry if I offended anyone with the idiot remark but I just said that because I worked with a few people in the past that were always trying to start or pass on a rumor(usually a negative one) and the workers around me would always say "do not listen to that idiot" and they were right because most of those rumor starters were always wrong.

I heard the rumor that Jesus is coming to take all the good people on 5-21-2011. Has anyone heard this too? I guess time will tell just like every other thing that ever happens. If it is true I hope that my family and I are good enough to make the trip out of here before shit hits the fan. :fan:

Um I was talking abut the plant chairmen Nick K. I do not have to be popular to have a rumor spread. There are Aholes that start rumors all the time just to see how it spreads. They are the ones that ruin the inside information rumor spreader helpers that are trying to just give a heads up. I myself like having a heads up but most of the time the rumors are false. By the way whether I respond to a post or not I will still be asking anyone that might know about this rumor when I go to work because it does affect me and in the past most of the time the rumors are never true and it is a waste of my time and breath.

Well if the plant chairmen or anyone else that has any kind of authority does not know what the answer is then just wait until it is posted. Just like when someone rumored that we would be going to 3 shift of 8hrs, everyone was talking about it and bombarding the chairmen with the same question to the point that he had to put out a letter to let everyone know that it was not happening. He could be spending more time with legitimate matters. If I go to work and tell one person about a rumor it will spread through out the plant in a day. I am not saying that your rumor will not come true but most of the time they do not. By the way when I go to work I will ask the chairmen myself. :P Hmm I wonder how he likes getting asked the same question all day. Here"s Nick

Look when you post a rumor on here it will spread and the committee people will get bombarded with questions to answers they may or may not know. Do youself and everyone else a favor and ask as many people that might have that answer in person and then if you think there is enough proof of the rumor you are hearing then post it but remember when you post a rumor and it does not come true it makes you look like an idiot.

Rumors,rumors, rumors.

I agree to some the cup is always half empty opposed to full. Last year at this time if you told any worker that they would get 5k they would laugh in your face. By the way I care about other peoples stock decisions as much as I care about what hand they use to wipe their asses.

Do you think $5000 on average is huge enough compared to what we have been getting the last few years or so.

Are you sure it was part of the equation when we got the big ones?

Got mine in the mail today.

The real bonus for three crew is that we only work 4 days per week. Saves on vehicle expenses . One less day to have to go through the whole routine of having to be somewhere other than your home.

:party: :hysterical2:

Good news for LAP workers. I wonder what product Kansas will be getting to replace Escape side production.