imdevo

Yes, Ford hired me to do a job and depends on me to keep their pockets overflowing. My UNITED AUTO WORKERS' UNION has negotiated certain rights (and rules) concerning my employment. One of those negotiated rights is a benefit concerning BLUE DAYS (or excused absences) to be used at our discretion. Whether it is for actual illness or personal time is not the issue. This is a negotiated benefit!!! We cannot let Ford continue to abuse our contractual language. And yes, Ford will start to fully enforce the attendance policy (unless, of course, one happens to be one of the "golden children" under the supervisors' desks). Since '92 I've never had an unexcused absence thanks to our NEGOTIATED BENEFITS, but this clause in the language will open up a can of whoop-ass for the company. There are other issues with this contract that aren't so good, considering what we gave up since '07, but I realize we're in a new "labor world" so overall this contact has some merit. But we can't let them chip away at the little things that make this job acceptable.

Excused Absence issue EXAMPLE: My son plays high school football on Fridays. His team makes playoffs and continues to advance in the state tournament. Can I schedule a Vac. day each Fri to watch my son play football? NOPE. Calendar is full. So do I start taking awols so I can watch my son play or miss being part of his life in a once-in-lifetime event? So, play this forward to other life events; extended weekend with wife, friends, yourself, etc... AND, what if you are ill? You will be disciplined for being sick on a Fri or Mon? Looks like the company is trying to control numbers to have less on the payroll to keep the line running.

Blue Day/E-Day rule change. We will be able to call in sick only once for a Friday or Monday per calendar year. I guess we can be ill only Tuesdays thru Thursdays!! This is a NO VOTE from me.

New rule concerning Blue Days/E-Days. We now will only be able to call in sick once on a Friday or Monday for the calendar year!!! Any more will be considered an awol: you now can only be ill tuesday thru thursday? WTF? I'm voting NO if only for this reason!

OK UAW Brothers & Sisters, maybe we can call off the attack dogs!! I didn't see the Brother whining about his work, just wanted some info from other HVCs about workloads. This is a Ford/UAW employee forum. Cut our Brother some slack. I did all the grunt work in assembly til they closed my plant and I know how hard it was for over 19 years. After 2 years on ILO I am now at a HVC. Not as good as everyone thinks. Less physical grunt work but we still have workload issues. Not complaining, just explaining. Company still tries to get away with taking advantage of us hourly workers, and the HVCs aren't as large so we don't have the same representation as the assembly plants. If you don't work at an HVC, why should you care about his/our workload issues? Chill out, we're all on the same team.

So, me not being a numbers guy, and IF I decide to take a transfer and become an 'active' member, what real $ are we talking about? The phone survey lady asked me about my opinion of 1/3 of 1 percent - of what? - hourly wage, current dues, Mullaly's salary? Anyone have a thought of actual $ increase? Would it become based on 2 1/2 hours per month?

Long story, I'll try to keep it brief: 1992 seniority, 5 children, 4 still in school, 3 weeks after plant closure my wife is diagnosed with breast cancer. Decision was to not transfer, take care of wife and kids, not disrupt life by uprooting, moving, finding new doctors, etc. Past 2 years have been very difficult, but recently landed a new position as a service writer at a Dealership (also a union position). Still have the option to transfer as openings occur, but can't pull the trigger yet. After 8 months of treatment, my wife is now cancer-free so we are just trying to maintain a 'normal' life for the family. Lots of variables and considerations went into my decisions, not sure if I made all the right choices but I had to do what I had to do. Just thought the increase in dues to be a timely topic since the phone survey was only a few days ago.

Recently received a phone survey about Unions, our dues, and my opinion on what the Union does or theoretically should do with our money. The final few questions were how I would feel if our dues were raised 1/3 of 1 percent. I responded with an answer of completely unsatisfied/unhappy, then had to fess up that it wouldn't affect me immediately since I'm sitting in MN on ILO. She ended the survey shortly after that, but heads-up current actives: math whizzes - figure out what 1/3 of 1 percent is and that is what you're looking at for a dues increase.

FINALLY! TCAP closes. My 19+ years at TCAP/Ford MoCo comes to an end. Not much to say other than good luck to all my brothers and sisters of local 879. Maybe someday I'll write that book, exposing all of the BS that's been going on for the last 5 years. Yep. I'm bitter, pissed off, and still not certain if I'm transferring or just riding off into the sunset. For now, I guess I'll just say that it's been a pleasure to have worked with everyone here at TCAP. I'll miss the people, my extended family. God Bless, and Good Luck to all of us!

Thank you for understanding. I suppose noone really knows how it feels untill you have to go through this b.s. I realize I'm not the first nor probably not the last. During the past 19+ years my heart has gone out to those that have lost their home plant. Yep, I agree the UAW probably could not have saved TCAP. Usually once Ford decides to close a plant, it's history. (Except for the fact that Gettlefinger somehow saved LAP, which put TCAP in the crosshairs). Anyway, I'm not really blaming my union for the closing, I'm just blaming them for my miserable options that are offered. I had hoped that my representatives would have negotiated what Jimmy Settles stated to us 5 years ago: "a soft landing" for employees of a plant closure. I'm sure one way or another things will work out OK. I'll do what's best for my family. But for now, I'll just be pissed off and need to blow some steam.

Perhaps you mean the ENTERPRISE Nation-wide buyout options offered from Ford to all employees when they were desperately trying to get rid of senior employees at max. wage scale. Of course I'm only an hourly worker, but I'm gonna take a guess and say that UAW didn't have anything to do with negotiating these buyouts. Yep, looking back, I suppose I should have took the buyout and quit. For some silly reason though, I thought the UAW might actually try to negotiate to keep TCAP open. Since that didn't happen, I think that the UAW could of at least negotiated a 'softer landing' for those of us falling through the cracks due to a plant closing.

Wow. Negotiate the right to transfer? Didn't you get the same opportunity to transfer? I'm pretty sure that this great opportunity to transfer was offered at each plant. Ford needs workers at Chicago and Louisville. Anyone could transfer from any plant. UAW had nothing to do with transfer opportunities. The difference with me is that I don't have the option to stay at my home plant. Personally, the way I feel right now, I'd rather be laid off, be pissed off, and collect sub pay which I've earned. But, oh, that's right, our UAW negotiated that Ford can give me a mandatory transfer and if I turn it down I no longer get sub pay or health ins. Yep, for some workers, the right to transfer is a great option. For me it's not so great an option. And now the UAW has negotiated, that for closing my plant, my options are to accept less than 1 year's wages and quit, or transfer. rn4 - thanks for what?

Yep, I've been thankful for the past 19 years to be able to be with my family on holidays - paid holidays! This year, I get to spend Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family trying to decide if I should transfer to a different plant or quit. Thanks to my UAW and Ford for making this year a joyous holiday season for me. During turkey dinner we get to decide if my wife should quit her job, if we should uproot our 5 children from their friends and schools, sell our house at a loss and move to a different state for employment. Or, should I just give up and quit? Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Thanks UAW for all you did during negotiations which resulted in the closing of TCAP. I could go on about all that I'm thankful for, but my union and IUAW will not be included in my thanks.

Thanks for the info dozerman. At this point, the only buyout option I have is the 50k offer from the national contract. 19 1/2 yrs seniority, I'm not 50 yrs old yet so I can't retire. 39 weeks of sub + 39 weeks of tap would be more than the 50k and give me time to find a job in this market, while maintaining recall rights. If my situation changes in the future maybe I'll be able to transfer out of state. Maybe there will be better options after a negotiated closing agreement? I agree with your comments, I don't like being scared into a wrong decision - either from my union officials or the company. Hopefully everything works out. PLANT CLOSINGS SUCK.

I would like to know how anyone gets to use their sub pay? At TCAP, we're being warned that if we don't take a voluntary transfer, Ford will offer a mandatory transfer, probably within 3 months when Chicago goes to 3 shifts. If we turn down that offer, then no more sub and no more health benefits. So, I assume with all the openings at LAP and/or Ken. Truck, and soon Chicago, mandatory transfers would be offered, forcing everbody to move or quit? Any thoughts?

Absolutely agree. Who wants to uproot a family and move? I voted NO on every contract that closed a plant. Ford definitely compensates well for a transfer and I'm certain the plants I could transfer to are good plants with great brothers and sisters that would kindly welcome me. However, in my particular situation, without getting into the details, at this time I am unable to move my family to a new location. At this point, I guess I am hoping for a slightly better seperation package for a plant that is closing. Like I stated earlier, my seperation options are no better than for those of you who can stay and work at your home plant.

Allow me to make 1 edit: The temps, (rehires and original new hires) were hired under the 2004 contract language. So without me spilling too many beans, you should be able to infer how much our temps have been making per hour the past 5 years.

I've been at TCAP for almost 20 years. 5 years ago it was announced that we would close, we went from 2 shifts to 1, most everyone at that time took a $100,000 buyout package. About 200 of us did not and remained as "full-timers". The company re-hired about 300 of the buy-out employees (as temps), and 300 new hires (as temps) - all under the 2007 contract language. We kept getting extentions to keep our plant open and many of us had hopes of either another extension or a complete retool for a new product. Obviously neither option happened and now we are officially closing. The numbers speak for themselves. Those of us that are still full-time, approximately 20% voted NO on principle. How could I vote yes to close my plant. The temps, 80 % voted yes for their own reasons ($$$). As of now, we don't know how the closure will go down. Who will be able to transfer? Full-timers for sure. Temps we don't know yet. For me personally, I cannot make the move. The whole situation sucks! So basically Ford is closing my plant and all of you have better options than I do: you can stay in your homes and keep working at your home plant, or take a $50,000 buyout to quit. Through no fault of my own, I cannot stay at my home plant, cannot stay in my home and keep working for Ford, and I get the same buyout offer of $50,000. Hopefully, the international will bargain for a better deal at closing. Life kind of sucks right now.

I might be wrong on this, but I'm pretty sure that the non-union plants in U.S., at least Toyota, pay their base line workers $2 more per hour. As far as salary workers, most of them at the plant level have come from the hourly rank. Good employees? Yep, some of them, others don't have a clue how to manage work or people. If they are paid similarly to people at other companies, then there is a lot of fat to be cut throughout all companies. I've been at my plant for almost 20 years. I'm not a huge union guy, but I can see the need for our union. I'll take the good with the bad. Each worker has his/her reasons to vote yes or no on the contract. On principle I voted against this contract. You see, this contract includes the closure of my plant by this December. I'm OK with the most of the other details, but how could I vote yes to close my plant? Concerning the strike issue. One needs to contact UAW VP Jimmy Settles and ask him why he alone decided to call for a strike instead of going back to the bargaining table.

"I rarely feel the need to comment; this is one of those times. Every dollar the UAW "negotiates" out of Fords pocket comes from a customer.So yes, this involves every customer, and every potential customer. We customers pay for any and all raises or bonuses that the UAW gets, and an extra few dollars an hour may sound like very little to you, but several Union members might work on a car, meaning the cost per vehicle is magnified (especially considering crosstown rivals GM and Chrysler will be somewhat lower, do to differing Union agreements)." Ok, kind of true, depends on how much one believes labor costs go into the vehicle. "Whatever Ford decides to pay managers and executives and how much profit they make or don't make should be of no concern to the UAW. They're only entitled to compensation for the job they perform, just like any other employee of any other company. If they don't like the offer they're free to go find another job. I'm sick of the entitlement mentality." So, hourly wages/concerns are a deciding factor for the public to purchase, but salaries' compensation should be of no concern to the workers or more importantly the public? This is the definition of hypocracy. Wish someone could post labor costs: hourly vs. salary in addition to value added consideration and then we could possibly form a better opinion of the situation.

I would say that Twin Cities are most in need of commitment of a new product. Ranger production is scheduled to end in Dec. Could potentially add 1400 additional jobs for a total exceeding 2000 employees - if plant is updated and second shift is added. Pattern bargaining: if GM can reopen a closed plant, why not Ford keep an existing plant in operation? Just saying.

Let's remember that this is a contract year. Lots of 'information' will come out through the media from both the company and union. A lot of BS/political talk will be spewing out. Read all of it, ponder some of it, and believe none of it until negotiations are finalized and the contract is approved.

Question for STAP employes: Since you know your closing date, what options have you been given, if any? Transfers, Buyouts, Unemployment? I realize that you are in Canada so the options may be different than what we might get, but it is still one Ford company so I would assume that the options should be similar. Thanks for any info.

Thanks for the info so far. I don't have exact numbers, but there are about 150 of us "full-time Ford" hourly left out of about a total of 800 employees. Everyone else is part-time, either re-hired former employees or temp. new hires. I'm guessing there are about 50 full timers that could retire. No new info about transfer options. I'm kind of thinking that Ford would rather get us off their books and hire new temps nation-wide. Seems to be the way things are going at other plants. Question: Are there certain local union positions that are allowed or mandated to stay locally employed for up to 2 years? Also, I know that most of these plants were closed before the nation-wide buyouts were offered. But, were you offered special buyout offers?

To any former Edison, St. Louis, or Atlanta employees. How far in advance did the company give you notice of your exact closing date? I understand the law states that they must give us a 60 day advanced notice. But I am wondering if Ford gave you notice farther out than 60 days? Also, how did the final days come about? Did the body or paint dept. finish a week before everyone else, with final area working longer than the rest of the plant until every last unit was out the door? Thanks for any info. Just trying to prepare ourselves at TCAP for how the end might happen. We're keeping our hopes up that the new contract might bring us some good news, but also trying to stay realistic.