BTV to SHV Transferee

***** BeWare Folks ****** This could be one of those that work for the right-to-work legal counsel. The republican anti-union busting machine. So far, most have answered the way they should have. 1) Ford Motor Company employee first 2) A Proud represented UAW member 3) We have a common interest in the industry. The jap plant workers have an interest with what we have in our contracts also. If we take a cut, so do they. The BEST Union benefit that we have is the removal of the "Employee-At-Will" status. No walk in today, fired for anything (bad hair, blue shoes, pick something, employee at will status is the most scary part of working for someone!). You have a right to the grievance process up to and including a third party arbitration. jap plants have a so-called employee review board that hears your case but they terminate you anyway (without recourse). The Union provides a safe work place with a voice without reprisal. Also collectivly we bargain for benefits and wages not just for the Big 3, but the (pick a slant eye, jap-korean) plants also. The Union keeps the work load even or as even as possible. The boss off your back and the right to speak to the boss just as he speaks to you! He cuss's you, then you cuss him. The Union makes an even playing field. The Union also makes quality the second priority next to safety. You intentionally make bad parts, you spend a couple weeks at home (without pay). Would I still want to be a UAW (or any Union) member if a company goes bankrupt? Yes because the Union is a debt holder (research the Delphi bankruptcy). Single employees are at the bottom of the list and 100% of the time are removed from the debt holders list by the bankruptcy judge. Goes back to the ole saying "United We Stand' Divided We Beg'!

I'm glad Gettlefinger told the GOP NO! Let the UAW GM/Chrysler/Ford decide what cuts will be made in a collective bargaining session, not by some Senator who clearly has an agenda!

The SUB fund is a separate fund that is funded by Ford at the begining of each contract and is paid and administered by a third party. The Union nor the company controls the fund, but it is subject to collective bargaining. $944 million will last a while, but if we all have to draw from it, it will be depleted in a short manner. What Cockrel wants is no more contributions to the fund so it dries up quickly and to not be subject to collective bargaining in 2011. His thought process is to have any and all Union's extinct by 2015. He is after the strongest, most politically and financially. He knows if he takes out the UAW, the Steel Workers, Machinist's, Teamsters and Government empoyees Unions will fall like domino's. If you control the labor, you control it all! Hitler, Stalin, Musilini and Hirohito all abolished the labor unions and they took over. Not to say Cockrel wants to be a dictator, but he sure is acting like one. He is also grandstanding because the republicans will lose complete power in 5 weeks. They will be known as the party that killed the economy, the middle class and the labor force. Look out toyota workers, if we get cut, you get cut!

hmmmm...... let's see. Ford has withdrawn from the loan program, so if the auto bill does pass, why would this affect Ford? Ford wouldnt have to live up to any of the stipulations of the bill. It would only affect GM & Chrysler. But, dont think Ford wont have their hat in hand asking the UAW to voluntarily do the same.

You all seem to forget the strike fund doesnt belong to just the big 3 auto companies. It also is for any UAW represented worker regardless of what type of job they have, so therefore the strike fund is out of the question and would also be a huge NLRB issue. We dont get paid by the UAW, Ford Motor Company pays us, we are members of the UAW and a portion of our monthly dues goes into the strike fund. Do you folks actually think Ford pays into the strike fund? It's the last fund they would contribute to. It seems ignorance is rampant on BON Forums!

Great interactive map from the Detroit Free Press. What State Has How Many Auto Jobs

BRAVO!!!! Way to Go Tony the Autoworker!

This guy was great on the CBS morning show. The interviewer was stunned by the way the Lansing MI Mayor let the facts be known! Lansing Mayor on CBS It's a five minute story!

I made this handy diagram for Mulally to use when testifying at Congress this week. Simple and to the point! Click the pic and it will open in another window. Place mouse over pic to enlarge it. GM & Chrysler can even use it also!

You are correct, the UAW could strike, but that would be the last nail in the coffin. Also, Ford would just get another judge to order the workers back to work. The bankruptcy judge is the key player in the game. Although the Delphi bankruptcy judge didnt always side with Delphi on everything.

We have all heard that the republicans wont support any loans (its not a bailout) to the Big 3. WHY? It's strickly because a Democrat won the Presidency and the repubs had taken a butt kicking in the Senate and House of Reps. They can say 'NO' now and hope that either of the Big 3 will go into chapter 11 and have a bankruptcy judge ( the most dangerous player in the game ) throw out the UAW contracts. This is actually a jab at the UAW for getting out to vote! They dont want either of the Big 3 to survice until January when they know President Obama and the New Congress can & probably will give them the loans. I hope President Obama signs executive order for the loans just to shove it in their face! In Ohio, Rep jean schmidt has(d) two Ford plants in her back yard. First, she bought a Chevy Suburban, she says only because it can use E-85 (buy only one pump in her entire district and it isnt anywhere near any of her offices or home). Two plants and she couldnt even buy one of our vehicles. She didnt do a damn thing to try and keep the Batavia, Ohio plant open. I guarantee if it was a toy'motor' plant and since they're non-Union, she would have bent over backwards and been on TV everynight about keeping it open!

Thats is exactly how he meant it! That most of the Jobs Bank (GM, Chrysler) - JSP (Ford) is already eliminated and no need to try a amend that portion of the 2007 Agreement. He is choosing words carefully.

Remember, the UAW strike fund just doesnt cover the Auto Plants. Nurses, casino, colleges, insurance, state and public, FARM & Implement and lots of other employees. Therefore, he cant throw in the strike fund. Also, if the fund is depleted, any company that has a UAW contract would just lock out the employees, knowing the fund is empty. Also there is NLRB issues about the Union & company in collusion with each other!

I never thought I would ever agree with Pat Buchannon on anything! ECONIMIC PATRIOTISM!

Read the story here --->Toyota Cutting in Georgetown

UMMMM, that story is over a year and a half old. While I agree that the workers would be better off voting in favor of the UAW, there needs to be some up to date info about it.

Here is where the UAW needs to buy National airtime on Sunday, Monday & Thursday nights on the 4 networks, CNN & Fox News and buy 1 minute commercials with these exact points. The big 3 need to do the same. The 1 minute commercials worked for Obama.

How should President Obama help save the economy? Take a look at what started the the downturn. The housing market & ENERGY! The housing market is being addressed, but in the typical republican fashion, lining some bankers and ceo's pockets first, then some might "TRICKLE DOWN" ( a little Reagan pun ) to the root of the problem. But, Energy is also a root cause of the current economic collapse. When I say energy, I say Electricty, Natural Gas, Coal, Crude Oil, Gasoline, Diesel (and yes, I'm very aware you get gasoline & diesel from crude oil), Corn a.k.a. E-85 & Nuke-u-lar ( bush pun ) waste disposal. Folks where having problems adjusting to their housing interest rates rising over the last 5 years. A 1/4 point here, half point there, eating at their wallets. But what people wasnt expecting was he price of Energy to rise along with the interest rates. As the house payments went up a hundred or two hundred dollars, it had eaten into their Energy money also. A two hundred dollar increase in house payment would eat into their Electricity & Gas bills. Then, in a 3 week time period, we had $4.50 a gallon gas. In a vehicle the would cost $35.00 to fill was now $100.00 to get to 3/4 tank. So, the people in these homes just threw their hands into the air and gave up! They tried and failed because the Fed kept raising interest rates and the speculators in the oil and natural gas industries kept raising the market price for their products! How to fix it? A MORATORIUM for two years on the Interest Rates and Energy. Thats rights! (Here is where I will get the 'Socialist' tag) Cap the price the US comodities market will pay for a barrel of oil. Cap it at $60.00. If the market price goes below $60.00, so be it. Tell the world, we're not going to pay for your oil at the inflated prices anymore. Tell the arabs and venezualens to shove their oil. Tell Canada (where we export more oil from than anywhere else) that they need to play along with us, because if they dont, their economy will collapse also. Cap the price of a gallon of gas at $1.25 on the market. At the pump, Cap the price of a gallon of gas at $2.00. Most states & the fed have about $.40 cents tacked onto each gallon of gas. Take the remaining $.35 cents and divide that into 3 ways, $.10 cents to social security, $.10 cents to the general fund, $.10 cents to pay for current deficet and the remaining $.03 cents to pay for social programs. CAP the price of Electricity and Natural Gas. People are still paying off last years bills and most Electric and Natural Gas cost are going to be 40% more this year. You cap those and divide it up the same for the gallon of gas. The companies will still make their billions, their stock price might be flat, but they will still be profitable. Next, put a 50% tarriff on STEEL! Your saying "the rest of the world will shun USA made products", they may, as they already are. By doing the 50% steel tarriff, you fire our steel mills back up and back to making domestically. Not to mention the coke, ore and shipping & rail jobs that go with it! Thats just my two cents! BTV to SHV Transferee

The UAW has already given Ford BACK 42,000 jobs though Retirements, Buyouts & Plant Closings. The UAW has done its part by having co-pay increases and lets not forget about the VEBA. Also we gave away the floor, bathroom, dock handlers & scrap jobs to outside contractors! The UAW already bent over backwards for Ford, now the public justs wants the UAW to bend over!

Pick an industry. Whether it be Auto Plants, Grocery Stores, Coal Mining, Truck Driving, Construction, Longshorman, Nursing, Education, Paper & allied products, when ever a company or industry as a whole are doing bad, it's always the Union's fault. Thats the first thing corporate CEO's do is blame the greedy Unions. First of all, if the companies dont like the labor agreements, they shouldnt have signed them. The companies do a hell of a job going to the media and blaming the Union for thir financial woes. Lets take Ford for example, The UAW didnt design the Ford 500 or any other mistake! We didnt kill the Taurus. WE didnt hire any terrible engineers that think their you know what doesnt stink because they sat in a college for 6 years to make $55,000 and I was hired off the street with no degree making $85,000 with OT. WE dont make the terrible advertising campaigns. WE didnt close the un-needed dealerships. WE didnt decide to let mexico & the rest of that rathole Central America, china, india and soon to be korea & thailand have unfair trade deals. WE didnt burn all the profits to buy Volvo, Jaguar, Range Rover or Aston Martin. The Union dosnt have any say in this at all! The Union workers do with what they are given. When you give us bad designs and unstylish cars, you get closed plants. Look at volkswagon, nissan & the almighty toyota! Nissan has 6 plants in the US and 5 have been idled since June because no one wants a nissan truck or van. Toyota hasnt built a tundra since July. Volkswagon stopped building their factory in Tennesee. But no one seems to be screaming about those companies. No Union to blame at those places. If they were Unionized, the first thing the company would do is blame the greedy Union. Well, It seems that there arnt too many Unionized bank workers out there and the banks are the ones with their hand out and are getting billions in tax payer cash. Let's see who they gave loans to. Hmmm, low wage, non-union, low-to-no education & un-diciplined people. I dont want to hear how the Democrats made the banks loan to these people. They didnt make the banks loan to anyone, they wanted to make and tried to make the playing field even. Also the banks were counting on the Feds to buyout the bad mortgages anyway, which they knew were going to be bad and they are doing. The banks didnt expect those who were buying property to 'FLIP' them to go belly up at the rate they are. I'm tired of all the people giving sympathy to the banks when they made billions on closing cost, home inspections and title searching. Put the blame where it belongs, on the back of corporate CEO's not the average joe-blue collar worker!

The point is to put a Federal FREEZE on all mortgages that havent had a judge declare them forclosed upon. The bank and the mortgagee will sign an agreement with a fixed rate of 6%. No penalties or fees against the mortagee and put the unpaid payments on the balance and declare the mortgage up-to-date. NO penalty for early payoff. This will reduce the cost of the whole mess by 650 billion. It is a matter of paperwork shuffling. I know your saying the "mortgagee couldnt pay the payment before, what make you think they are going to pay it again?'. The mortgagee also has to take a small 2 hour class about budgeting (which in some states you already have to do after a bankruptcy). The mortgagee has now seen the light that they signed a note and they have to pay no matter what. As it stands now, when a house is foreclosed upon, and if it does sell, the mortgagee still has to pay the difference of the original mortgage price and the forclosed sale price. Also the mortgage companies and banks will have to quit telling people that just because they qualify for a $250,000 home they should go ahead and buy it. I personally qualified for a $310,000 home but bought $112,000 and my banker was furious (cut his commision)! If these forclosures arnt stopped, the only real persons to benefit are the apartment complexes and trailer park owners. People will just rent and when the rent isnt paid, they will just move to the next place without looking back! Right now, apartment complexes are begging for tennants because they are half full and are giveng away 1-3 months free rent.

I am a frequent listener to syndicated radio host Dave Ramsey. He gives the best solution to any bailout. It will cost a fraction of the 700 billion and the Automakers could seek the full 50 billion in LOANS! Notice LOANS is emphasised, because the automakers will pay them back, the banks are getting bailed out! Dave Ramsey's Bailout Plan Send this to all you know. Send it to your Senator or Representative of the House! Your Thoughts?

Hmmmm. I guess you havent paid attention the last few months or years. Toy-motor has idled both of the Junk-tra plants in Indiana & Texas. Highlander & RAV plant in Mississippi is on a every other week - 1 shift schedule. The transmission and Engine plants in West Virginia and Mississippi are idled also (they support the others). Nissan in Tennesee & Alabama gave buyouts to several thousand workers. Most of those were forced into taking them because they were going to be fired if they didnt take a buyout. Hyundai in Alabama doesnt even employ full time employees, just temp services. Honda quit making motorcycles (yes, they build them in the same plant as the Accord) in Ohio last year due to lacking sales. So the non-Union transplants are automatically immune to plants being idled or job loss? Guess you havent done your home work!

I stand Corrected!

Is it just me or does it seem as if the big banks in this country get Federal bailout when ever they need it. Not just through FDIC, but a receivership and total takeover by Government. Bear-Stearns got a complete bailout. So did IndyMac and Countywide. Now Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae get one too. And just like the others, they got one in the wee hours of a sunday morning, when everyone is asleep and the press is home for the weekend. Little mention of it Sunday morning when no-one watches tv or during Sunday Football games. Funny how all this takes place when the multitude is not paying attention. When the Big 3 just ask for a loan (not a bailout), they get shit on. Told to do it on our own. Reagan at least helped Chrysler and look what it did for them. Maybe the banks should eat some of the Republican pie and 'Just do it on their own"! Oh, wait, the Republicans own the banks and are bailing themselves out because they made their billions (in off shore accounts mind you) and want you (the tax payer) to bailout their bad loans to people. Just a thought! Yours?