udontkno

grbeck, Since you effectively got me off the subject, the way I see the election is the union supported the party that IS making people be responsible. Its called Obama Care. Now all of those who decided to ride the governments tit and not get medical insurance will be required to get medical insurance hence our taxes will not be paying for their hospital visit. Now if these moochers decide not to get insurance they will be taxed. Same goes for all of the employers who can afford to cover its employees but decided to let the government pay for its employees medical care. So go watch Fox news, since you so easily are buying what they are selling, dont cry to me you bought it and now you own it.

grbeck, I am not complaining about free riders, my post simply states you get what you give. While the law requires the union to represent those that elect not to be part of the bargaining unit, the law dosnt legislate love. Coworkers do not have to go the extra mile for scabs and the union has no obligation to give scabs special attention. I would go one step further and say that if a scab gets fired, the union reps legal responsibility would be to be in the hearing if requested by the scab. But why would a scab request a union rep? Needless to say RTW will make the union stronger because everyone will know who is in it and that will create a bond between those workers. BTW we posted a list of names on the union board of those who chose not to be in the union.

I worked at a Ford/UAW represented plant in a RTW state. We had over 2000 employees with close to 3000 at times and in all that time we always had less than 10 of those workers who elected not to be in the union. Needless to say the union reps had to represent these workers, but a union rep. in a plant this size would have over 300 people to represent, therefore when the union rep walked the floor, those that were not in the union wouldnt get any conversation. Additionally, many workers lookout for each other, when one is sick that day, coworkers help them out, give them extra bathroom breaks ect... Those who were not in the union didnt get this from their coworkers. While there will be some getting out of the union, most will remain because they know this is their only outlet to an amped up supervisor. The governor is either a liar or stupid or a little of both. RTW will not create jobs on its own. RTW does not prevent union organization of employers or any other law relating to the employee/employer relationship. RTW only pertains to workers who work in a shop that is unionized and whether or not the employee elected to be part of that union.

I hope I am wrong but this RTW legislation if passed will end up costing jobs. Right now the Big Three have the ability to discuss issues with the union and the union has been more than receptive. If the union losses its power or its power perception to the membership, the companies do not have the ability to easily change work rules or policies as this was done by the union. When the union rep. tells us whats going on, we tend to trust what they say because they are in the same position as us. Now if the company trys to push a new agenda through supervison, the blow back could be awful and eventually upper management will invest less not more in the state. No successful auto manufacturer is in business without unions. The Germans, Japaneese, S. Koreans all have unions in their home market and it is the working relationship with these unions that allowed them to become profitable.

Naturally Trim is going to side with the Conservatives if it wasnt for the Conservatives passing bills to outsource our work to other countries he wouldnt be working at Ford. Canada wouldnt be able to sell enough Ford cars to justify Ford building a plant in Canada. Most of the vehicles they build are sent to the good old USA. of the 60 thousand Crown Vics sold in the US 44 thousand of them are bought by our govt. for police. Assuming the other 16 thousand are sold in Canada they could never make a profit off a plant selling that few of cars. Havent looked at the Edge but I am sure the majority are sent to the USA. He would never promote a US govt. that imposed restrictions on imports. The same goes for Mexican built vehicles 90% are sent to the states. As far as health care I am sure he dosnt want our govt negotiating with the drug companies because Canadians would have to pay more for their drugs if Americans paid less than they do now. We pay in some cases twice as much as Canadians for the same drugs. I am not a big fan of this legislation because it dosnt have a single payer system and does little to control the insurance companies profits. Lets face it they profit when they deny health coverage to those who bought an insurance policy. It really does not make sense that we the people of the US have let this happen to our friends, familys and neighbors.

I agree, if any UAW represented employee votes for this car they are asking for Ford to continue to move their work outside the country. This only shows Fords big bosses that not only the American public will buy Mexican built cars but UAW Ford workers support them also. White collar is no different, Ford could do all its R and D as well as modeling and engineering in China at a much lower cost then in the US. After all its a billion dollar investment to build a new platform and vehicle in the US and that is before the first car is made. China could do it at a fraction of the cost and they are turning out 30 engineers a year to our (US)1. Maybe I should just stick my head in the sand and play dumb too it would be a whole lot less stressful.

I agree with those who are concerned. I called Applebees and asked them why not let the Big 3 workers have meals? The concern is that Applebees considers Toyota employees to be more important to their business then the rest of American autoworkers. I for one will never walk into an Applebees again. I used to get my haircut at Great Clips, but since I saw a Great Clips logo on a Toyota NASCAR, I will never go into a GClips again, nor a Home Depot for the same reason. Most people dont care about anyone but themselves, I care about our economy and jobs for our children and grandchildren. After all if I support Home Depot or Applebees or Great Clips I will indirectly be supporting Toyota! Until our politicians both Republican and Democrats get off of the corporations dole, workers in America will be fighting a losing battle with the wealthy financiers whos money allows them to corner the markets and gain political clot. Its called "To Big To Fail"! Socialism for the wealthy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I suggest we all print up flyers that say; "Please Do Not Drive this car and put my families life at risk"! ad a clipping of the Toyota recall to the flyer. Then when you see one of the cars on the recall parked at the store or where ever, place one of the flyers under the windshield wiper. The average person will think twice about driving the car and they might even get mad enough to trade it in. Its time we go after those who are going after our jobs!

Ford could offer an improved warrenty through the dealer that would improve the profits of Ford and the dealer. Many vehicles will never need any warrenty work but if Ford said the vehicle would have an extended warrenty if the owner of the vehicle had their vehicle serviced only at an authorized Ford dealership. Win-win the owner gets extended warrenty that they will probably never use and Ford and its dealers get the enhanced service revenue. After all my local Ford dealer charges $39.99 for an oil change, needless to say I would never get my oil changed from them. I have bought 10 or more new Ford vehicles and never bought an extended warrenty. I have never had any problems with any of the vehicles but If I did and the vehicle only had 50 or 60 thousand miles, I would not buy another product from a company that didnt back its product.

I agree seniority is seniority, if a skilled trade with 20 years has to go to the line to keep a job with Ford, they should have 20 years seniority with Ford. Additionally, if a line worker with 20 years goes into the trade at Ford they should carry all of their time into the trade. Thus a tradesman hired off of the street that was working 10 years would have less time then a 20 year line worker that goes into the same trade. Fair is fair and seniority is a way to base ones loyalty to a company or how much of their life they have sacrificed at Ford. It really doesnt matter if the time was production or trade, they are both union positions and are time served to the company! Lets see if we can get this changed next contract.

I have questioned Fords methods toward employee relations since I hired in in the 1980's. Fords management has the stick always will but they should do everything in their power to not use the stick. 99% of the hourly workers want to build a great product, (most want to build a better product then the company will allow). These workers know that their future employment rest on quality vehicles being sold in the public. Ford has hired a bunch of low down managers who use a stick because they have it, not because its the right or best thing to do for the company. Everyone ask yourself, "what if Fords management treated ALL employees with respect and part of a 1 Ford team?" I think employees would feel more empowered to share ideas to improve processes, productivity and quality. At the end of the day it would be a win-win for Ford and the workforce. Until that happens Ford will continue to be the best of the worst auto companies.

I understand how everyone feels, but this modification isnt the one that is hurting us. It was the last one. The last modification is the one that took everything away and promised little in return. If we look at why the UAW did that modification, we might understand, not like but understand it. GM was going balls out to break the union they even went bankrupt. Now Ford steps in by request of the UAW and negotiates a contract modification. This was done to take to Washington to show them the haircut the union was willing to take. Shelby and Corker demanded the no-strike as well as other modifications be put on GM and Chrysler. If the UAW and Ford didnt do that deal, its no telling what those bastards would have demanded, parity with the transplants??? Probably. VW is opening a plant in TN. starting pay $14.50 max out 3 yrs $19.00 with benefits. Is this a chance worth taking? Wagner was pissed at Ford but if Ford didnt do it and GM would have got parity, Ford would have been at a big disadvantage. If Ford would have asked us to take the same wage cut, we would have said hell no. Ford wouldnt have an option but to go into bankruptcy to get the same terms. The Ford family would have lost the company. We as a union didnt have a choice with the first modification. But today we do and those trying to make political gains are not telling the true facts. I say put the politics aside and lets do what is right. If we do and Ford can get better terms from the bond holders, we will get it all back in the future. I will be retired by then but I know it will come. My family has been with Ford since the 50's and I have lived through tough times before, not without sacrifice. But we have always come out on the other side in better shape then we entered. You can all hate me but be real to the message.

If this modification does not pass then I blame the International Union. Why? Because they allowed Ford to cancel the tuition payments and the membership is very stupid. If we look at this modification we will see no absoultly no negative to the current workers or retirees. I will break it down how I see it. Ford has a $10 billion loan coming due next year. They have two choices, 1.) Pay it (but this would take almost half of Fords cash on hand leaving them just enough cash to run day to day operations with no extra for future investments) 2.) Renegotiate the terms of the loan. (to get better terms on the loan Ford will have to show the investors that the union is making concessions (real or not real) and will not let Ford go bankrupt.) This modification is all a show, just like Ford saying they are doing better since they didnt take govt. money. If things do not improve in 12 to 18 months, Ford will be lucky to go through what GM has. This is because the economy is doing better and the govt may not loan Ford any money? Now I understand the membership felling that we are being screwed, and I will say we were totally hosed on the last couple agreements. But the "no strike" over wages is bogus. International negotiates wages and benefits. They also have to approve a strike. All Bob King had to do is extend his hand to Marty Mulloy or whoever Ford has negotiating and say "we wont ask for more wages or benefits the next two contracts". Come on guys be smart about this, it is all a PR stunt so Ford can get better terms. If Ford can save 2% on the $10 billion loan, that is $200 million a year. This modification is estimated to save Ford $20 million a year, do the math and get educated. The world runs through banks, not union contracts!!!!! I also think Ford will bring the majority of the work promised even if the mod fails. This is due to the decline of the dollar and it is not over yet. I believe the dollar will fall over the next several years.

Just because your black does not mean you cant discriminate against the black race. When some people catch a lucky break in life and find a good job they begin to think they are better. Ever heard of "Uncle Tom"? The newspaper interviewed a lady standing in line who was layed off at Chrysler and got a job at GM and was layed off from there too. She was an engineer, not a union worker. It strikes me to hear the Republicans bad mouth Obama when this is a result of George Bush one and two, Regan and Clinton's policies. Poor trade agreements and relaxing of oversight on the wealthy/business put us in this position. All of the major banks got billions of our tax money why shouldnt these people be given a break? They are much more important then BOA or Goldman Sach's or any other bank. Why save banks and leave the people suffer? How many banks fought for America's freedom? I supported Obama and am sad that he is not going to address NAFTA or other flawed trade agreements. I am sad that he put Geitner and Summers in positions to effect future policies when these clowns and their policies were a big factor in Americas problems. With all of my disappointment I am still glad Bush is not President because he would continue to make things worse with no possibility of getting better, ever!

I think everyone should voice their opinion about concessions. But I believe it should be done with a bit of class. When people curse and call names it really takes away from any valid point that they might share. If I attack someone it makes me look less then level headed and may even give that person positive attention. Most people attack others when they have no valid argument. Ford is currently building a $3 billion plant in Mexico to build the Fiesta with 4500 new jobs. I would guess the Fusion plant employees 3000 workers and the new diesel engine adds a few hundred. I believe the US hourly workforce is around 32000. 80% of Mexican production comes to the US and Mexico buys less than 3% of Fords total N.American production. So if we look at the numbers between Ford of Mexico and the US, we could figure that of the roughly 8000 Mexican workers, 7500 are hourly which is just under 25% of the number of US hourly workers. If Ford were trying to do the right thing, they would bring the Fusion, 4cyl and new diesel to the US from Mexico. Which would put the Mexican workforce at less then 15% of the US workforce. After all the Mexicans are not buying the products they build because they cant afford them. This being said Ford is not trying to be fair and Ford continues to lie to the US workers and UAW by promising work but moving it out of the country before its put in a plant. If we are going to approve more second tier workers why shouldnt we demand Ford bring the Fusion to the US and allow the whole plant to be second tier after all of the laid off workers are placed? I cant agree with a no strike clause, at many plants managers treat employees like sh-t and are trying to fire them every chance they get. If we have no ability to strike over production standards how will we stop the company from loading jobs to the point they fire workers. After the workers are fired, they will be rewarded with the ability to hire 2nd tier workers to replace them. I understand the UAW is doing the best they can but frankly I dont see any $ gain to Ford through 2015 by giving them these conditions. I doubt Ford would even meet their 20% second tier quota by 2015 without bringing in work from Canada or Mexico, which they have no desire to do. So the only way to get over 20% would be to get rid of current employees. Ford does not have 20% of the workforce eligible to retire by 2015. If Ford agreed to bring work to the US and keep Twin Cities open, I would agree to this contract in a heart beat. But if this site is accurate Ford only wants to add some work in a couple of Sterling Heights, MI plants. This work will create few if any new jobs. Now if the UAW stands pat until contract 2011, will they be in better or worse bargaining shape? If Ford is making a profit, I say the UAW will be in worse shape. If Ford is still bleeding red ink, the UAW would have more power because the company would be to fragile to weather a US strike. As long as the UAW allows Ford to keep the plants in Mexico, us the UAW workers have less leverage when negotiating contracts. Bring us work back from Mexico or forget me supporting any concession.

I will wait to hold my opinion but this is my current view. We the union members accepted in our 2007 agreement a two tier wage. This was to help Ford justify keeping work in the US. Within 1 year of the agreement Ford announced they were investing 3.5 billion dollars in Mexico to build the Fiesta. This will create 4500 new jobs in Mexico and 80% of the Fiesta production will be sold in the US and Canada. Now Ford is building the new diesel for the Super Duty in Mexico. I have not seen how many jobs it will create but do know Romeo, Cleveland and Lima engine plants could have used the work. Atlanta assy. was promised the Fusion. Ford later come back and notified the union it would be sent to Mexico. Atlanta was then promised the Edge. Ford later come back and said it would go to Canada. Now Fords number one assembly plant is closed and sold. If the Ford gets the union to agree to concessions in exchange for work. Then the work needs to be in place and workers working before the concessions take place. I am not willing to let the concessions take place today on a "promise" from Ford. I have been burned too much by Fords lies in the past. I could go on about the money Ford is spending in India, China, Europe ect... But the facts are on the web if people want to do the research. Everyone must make their own mind up but they really should research the last 5 years of Fords actions before they decide.

I will lean to my Keynesian teachings. This is the common thought of big business that they will be able to lower cost by reducing wages and they will make more profits. In the short run this may be true but in the long run they will sell less product and therefore make less profit. Lets use Ford as the example after Ford opens the new Fiesta plant in Mexico and creates 4500 new jobs there with new hires making around $2.50 hr. and seniority employees making $4.50 hr. On a 40 hour work week the seniority employee will make less then $200 wk. Mexican's pay similar cost for their food, after all much of their food is imported from American agri businesses. Other cost may be slightly lower but not a 1 to 1 relationship when compared to our wage. So naturally Ford will make a bigger profit on the Fiesta's produced in Mexico rather then the US. The only problem is if the 4500 jobs were created in the US that would have created 10's of thousands of support jobs that would pay the Federal Min. of $7.25 hr. If the jobs were in the US, many of these people would have been able to affored the Fiesta, while very few if any of these Mexican workers will be able to buy the Fiesta. Ford may argue that this is what they have to do to compete, every other employer is doing it. That is my point, if they all do it pretty soon the market that bought all of these goods will be broke, as America is now and the amount of goods sold will go down creating less revenue and profit. Short term gain for long term pain. Economist will argue that the cost of goods will go down and more people will be able to afford the goods. Sounds good but not true, less than 10% of the cost of a car is labor. If the Fiesta is $12,000 then $1200 would be the US labor cost in Mexico with the added transportation cost the figure may be $400 or so an $800 savings. $12000 minus $800 is $11200. This reduced cost is still more than the average Mexican worker can afford and will have little or no impact on sales in the US. If people have 11200 they have 12000 for a car. We need to get away from the Republican Capitalist at all cost attitude and start doing whats right for Ameircan workers. If companines want to sell goods in the US they should have to build 50% of the goods sold in the US. As China has mandated for cars sold in China!

Investment banks never made loans knucklehead, they sold the loans as "investments" all over the world. Fannie and Freddie never made a loan they back the loans the banks make. You mean well but you are grossly uneducated in the whole process. Fannie and Freddie have been around for decades and never had any issues. The issues came when the unregulated investment banks came on the scene. They were able to leverage cash at a rate of 30-40-50 to 1 while regulated banks were governed to leverage no more than 10 to 1. When the investment banks seemed successful in buying repackaging and selling this debt to pension funds, overseas investors and foreign governments, the regulated banks started to take similar risk but in the bigger picture also bought some of these packaged investments (as long term investments) that went South. The problem wasnt someone forcing someone else to make a loan, the problem was the govt. didnt regulate the secondary market (investment banks) that was buying and selling all of this debt. You need to stop trying to play the blame game and start trying to figure out why regulation only benefits working and poor people and why the wealthy and large multi-national corporations hate regulation. I can tell you but its too simple and you wont believe it because I said it, not Rush, Hanity or any other corporate supporting crook! Its one thing to have facts to support your point of view, its another to listen to those who have a direct benefit in making you believe their side. My side is the working peoples side I am not sitting on a billion dollars nor do I make $300,000 a year (the top 1%). You either are very wealthy or very mislead and uninformed.

I can tell your a one line Republican because you listen to their one lines and run with them. The truth of the matter is the unregulated investment banks were putting bad loans in packages and selling them all over the world as investment grade investments. As long as this was going on it only made sense to continue to make loans. If the investment banks were regulated we wouldnt have went down this road because there wouldnt have been no doc. loans made. These unregulated investment bankers that decided to become regulated institutions so they could get a chunk of the govt. money are still unregulated. Poster child is Goldman Sachs they took the money and agreed to be regulated but are doing business as usual. The problem was never with Freddie or Fanny it was with the unregulated investment bank market. As long as you have drug addicts your going to have drug dealers. As soon as the investment bankers stoped buying the bad loans(drug addicts), the market to make the loans (drug dealers) dried up.

I totally agree. But there is a group of white collar's that are trying to beat the union and union workers. They somehow believe that they will get ahead if they can put the screws to the union workers. On our side there is a small group of union workers that believe its us against the company and the union should do everything possible to help them get over on the company. Both camps need to find employment else where. If Fords management team gave more responsibilities to the union workers, the company could make more money and the union workers could have better job security. It bothers me when a couple of "union" employees try to beat or take advantage of the company by leaving early on the clock or taking long lunchs on the clock, sleeping on the clock ect.. These knuckleheads make every union worker look bad and do nothing for us when we try to get job security or better employment conditions. I am 110% union but these guys need 1 warning and the second time they get caught at the bar or sleeping on the clock they need to be fired. All of the white collars that are only trying to figure out ways to cut jobs or outsource work need to be fired, they are doing nothing for the company or union workers. White collar workers need to find ways to improve the vehicles, parts, processes ect.. anything else is a waste of Fords money and will perpetuate a divided company that will continue to lose market share.

I agree that Fords union workers are not overpaid. I am not a finance guy so its hard for me to quantify if Ford is profitable in NA it depends on how R&D, accounting ect.. are charged. When Ford uses American engineers to develop a vehicle to be built in China for the Asian market, are the cost for the American engineers in the US charged to NA or Asia? When Ford purchases parts from an in house supplier based in Europe, is the purchase for the part at cost or is the supplier paid a profit? If paid a profit, the profit of the vehicle in NA would be reduced on the NA books by the same amount. Ford is no where near Honda, Toyota, Nissan or BMW, Damiler in cash flow or debt. So to say Ford is already ahead of the competition it would depend on what your talking about. Ford is pushing $40 billion in debt, Toyota has little debt and $30 billion cash, with a credit rating that allows them to get financing at less than 5% interest. Fords credit rating is not very good and is charged over 10% for financing. Finally, there is some question whether the US govt would back a Ford bankruptcy in todays enviroment. When the govt backed Chrysler and GM it was with a backdrop of the worst depression since the 1930's and the govt believed a liquidation of Chrysler and or GM would push the already bad economy into a bigger crisis. Therefore it is no forgone conclusion that the US or any other country would provide bankruptcy financing to Ford and this could result in a liquidation. Which could end vehicle production. Now this probably wouldnt happen, but never say never in our greedy capitalist country.

First lets get one thing straight I am not salary! Not that there is anything wrong with salary, they are trying to feed their families also. Second I should have re read my post, it was very late and I was tired so some of the things I wrote didnt come out exactly how I meant. biggest error, "Fast forward, 2009 the executives that screwed this company up are by and large gone. The board of directors that blessed the dicisions are still sucking the tit. But the answer now is the part of the company that was the rock, employees hourly and yes front line salary are making too much money for us to be competitive we need to reduce and cut benefits. " What I meant to say is Ford's executives believe that if they cut our pay or hire in more 2nd tier or reduce classifications somehow all of Fords problems will be behind them. The problem is not nor ever been the hourly employees pay/benefits. If you read my post you will see that the real problem has been VERY POOR executive decisions. If it werent for these knuckleheads running the company into the ground, Ford would be so far ahead of all of the other companies today, it wouldnt be funny. So I am sorry for not re reading my post, but you are a poor example of a human being with your foul mouth. It is people like you that give all union members a bad name. Clean up your mouth and your view on humanity and maybe you will become a much happier person. You should go into work today and ask your supervisor how he/she is and treat them like you want to be treated. We cant be accountable for others actions only ours and if Ford goes out of business tomorrow, we will all be in the same boat!

If we want to discuss profit then lets discuss the root cause as why Ford is not as profitable as they should be. When I hired in Ford in the 80's Ford was investing in new product all of the time, early 80's Taurus, Sable, updated Thunderbird models, new Town Car in 1990, along with Tempo, Topaz. Fords product cycle was pretty good and in the mid to late 90's Ford was making money hand over fist. Including a profit of $9 billion that was a record profit for any company at the time, yes including oil companies. What did Ford executives with the blessing of the board of directors do with all of that money? Build new plants in N. America where they profits were coming from, increase or sustain investment in the vehicles that made the profits? No, they were like women with a credit card in a clothing store. They bought Jag. in 1989 $2 billion (analyst said they overpaid $1billion because Jag's manufacturing plants were never updated). Invested a more than $12 billion in Jag over the years with never not one profitable quater. Bought Volvo $7 billion invested billions more with no steady or huge profit from the division. Bought LR for another few billion and invest in 33% of Mazda. I not going to bring up the junkyards in Europe, or the money losing dealership purchases in the Southwest, or the 3 or so IT companies started or bought during the tech. boom (all money losers). Ok well thats all good but what about the vehicles and plants that made Ford the profits? The big wigs forgot that they had a N.American auto manufacturing division. The Mark VIII-canceled, Town Car last update 1998, Grand Marquis/Crown Vic last update 1992, Ranger last update 1993. Taurus run from 1996-2007 with little change. Thunderbird canceled late 90's. Tempo/Topaz canceled. After complaining for years on the company chat sight that Ford was killing its American car business in favor of Volvo, mazda, LR,Jag ect... Ford hires Mullaly and he tells Bill "you need to sell Jag., LR, Volvo ect"...Bill was pissed because Jag was daddy Fords prize. Mullaly says, look Bill you dont understand if you dont sell these divisions and concentrate on the Ford brand, you are going to lose all of the divisions! a 2008 Ford starts to sell the unprofitable divisions that sucked up huge resources from the money divisions Ford Lincoln and Mercury. I contend Ford would be the most profitable auto manufacture in the world today with more money then Toyota if the rockheads in the upper offices would have applied business 101 and took care of the golden divisions. Now that they finally figured it out, they have to spend huge sums of money up front in product development and plant updates while not having the product available today to turn the profits. Ford knows they will be profitable by 2011 because the largest part of investment will be completed and producing vehicles that can be sold. It took tens of millions of dollars to hire Mullaly to tell them something that many blue collar employees in the US were saying. Ford is still making bone head decisions in the FCSD division by renting all of the HVC buildings that will cost them more to lease for 10 years then they could have purchased for and owned real property. But lets leave that for another day. Fast forward, 2009 the executives that screwed this company up are by and large gone. The board of directors that blessed the dicisions are still sucking the tit. But the answer now is the part of the company that was the rock, employees hourly and yes front line salary are making too much money for us to be competitive we need to reduce and cut benefits. This business is so simple its not funny, but Ford hired a bunch of wiz kids with big dreams and about lost the whole company over it. Just like the investment bankers on Wall Street, create all of these fancy "investment" vehicles that no one could understand and about put the world in the worst depression since the 1930's. Henry Ford disliked bankers and would have never bought any of those other companies. He would have did what he done best and thats improve his product! And we all know Henry was the first billionaire in the world.

The last concessions was the first modification or contract that I have voted for in at least 10 or 12 years. The union members showed good faith in helping Ford and the leadership at Ford believed the concessions would help. Now Ford is pushing for more concessions and I totally regret voting for the last concessions. Ford dosnt want to have a (one) team with everyone working for a stronger company. No they want a us-vs-them and the best wins. The way I see it as long as the leadership at Ford feels this way, they better have some good bankruptcy lawyers close at hand. If the workforce feels unhappy they will be less productive and make fewer improvement suggestions. On the other hand I dont want to force Ford to pay me so much more that they can't compete (even if they dont give a sh-t about me, my family or community). So I have a good resolution that is a win-win. Ford will get the following concession 1.) unlimited 2nd tier through 2015 as GM has. In return for this Ford will move production of the Fusion, Milan and MKZ to a U.S. plant (not at a later date now) when the production is in the U.S. Ford will be able to hire the 2nd tier workers. If I were Bob King I would also negotiate for Ford to bring the Mexican built Fiesta to the U.S. and allow the whole plant to be a 2nd tier wage plant, as long as all first tier on layoff are recalled first. When a future first tier opening comes open the employees at the 2nd tier plant will get the first option to transfer to improve their life. If Ford dosnt want to agree to these resonable terms then they should be the 2011 strike target and unless the Mexican work is brought back to the US, the membership will strike. A long enough strike could force to default on its loan payments and start bankruptcy. If we look at the GM/Chrysler bankruptcys, the workers maintained pay and benefits but the shareholders lost everything and most of the creditors took a big hit. Bill Ford would be known as the Ford who lost the company because of 2 Mexican plants. If the UAW dosnt make a stand now, they may lose all leverage. GM didnt include its asian or latin operations in its bankruptcy and now they are investing more money in China. I believe GM's bankruptcy was staged over 10 years ago when GM became the largest private employer in Mexico. Labor scholars call this "escape". It is when a company has to deal with a union and would rather "escape" to another country to avoid the union.

Thats great for you guys. I wonder how all of the non-skilled workers that are on layoff throughout the country feel about not getting the chance to work and they are burning through their benefits? It almost seems like we have two unions. One in Michigan that gets all the attention, and one for the rest of the country. This dosnt bode well for the union when they go to organize Honda, Nissan and all of the other transplants outside of MI. It shows the union is looking out for a certain group, something the union was formed to stop the company from doing!