bogya

Hello to all! This is your friendly night nurse Renae. I am letting you all know that it is Jane and I's last day on Wed. 2/28/07. It has been a pleasure to work with you all. I will miss you all! If anyone is still wondering what "bogya" means it is what we have been forced to do as part of the UAW membership and Ford employees. That is "Bend Over and grab your ankles!" I must thank my local 879 for all their support on the matter of wanting us included in the packages that we were not. I appreciate your smiles when I needed them and wish for all everything that life has to offer you. As I have said to so many, when adversity faces us, it often forces us to pursue that next level that we have been fearful of "jumping into"and things turn out better in the end. We are busy in the clinic doing pre-employment physicals so likely will not be able to come out on the floor and say good-bye, please stop by the clinic and wave. I hope that we have made your life a bit better. I hate saying good-bye, so maybe the best statement to say is one that you will remember from me. TAKE CARE and BEHAVE!!!!! :shades:

"We as membership", remember Stang "we" nurses are members. Solidarity? That means what? Equality? Oh, but only for part of the membership? Why should we be penalized because we came to Ford/UAW with a degree? Is this really something that we need or should be penalized for? We nurses or any trades person has worked darn hard for our degrees and licenses, they are not given to us. Yes, if Ford would be staying open at TCAP, I would stay another 27 years for my retirement. I enjoy Occupational Health, believe it or not there is much action in this position, Not one day is ever the same. I enjoy helping people, and also enjoy the fact that I do have weekends and holiday's off. Yes, I can get another job fairly easily, however not one without the lifting and benefits. (even though we have to pay for them) We are no different than the skilled trades, they too likely will be able to go anywhere and get another job for as much or more pay. Change is hard for any field you are in, in nursing normally when we get another type of job, you start all over at the bottom and have to be re-trained to your new position. :yup:

The funny thing is the fact that this should NOT be a separate issue from the "hourly" buy-outs, I said this earlier and I'll say it again. We are ALL Full Time UAW/Ford workers, the buy-out issue is NOT in the hourly or the salaried contract. The requirement for these buy-outs were to be given to FORD/UAW workers, when I checked last, my UAW membership card does not specify that I am salaried. Yes, Chuck has just recently advised us that they are still meeting on this issue, however, it would have been sooooo easily specified as "ALL" rather than quickly changing the newsletter to read, "hourly UAW/Ford members" I do have an original copy of this letter. :yup: I personally do not feel that our International did their job back then or this would not be an issue now. Yes, I have already shared this with the International as well, or I would not be airing it here first. This issue alone seems to have divided the membership and the proof is in the pudding right here, hourly, salaried, red, purple or green, we are UAW!!! I do hope they come out with fairness and equality to all of us UAW members; this is why we are union and we are PROUD. We have strength in numbers and I was hoping to hear support from my membership that we will not allow our fellow brothers or sisters to be unfairly treated.

:happy feet: Hey Wixom, You have your stuff together!! You are already assessing the behavior and reccomending ways to improve it. :D I agree that possibly some could learn from anger management clases. :angrymirror: I said it before and I'll say it again... I AM PROUD to be a nurse!! I love the field and more so, I have really enjoyed working in the Occupational health field. I am also proud to be a member of the UAW. I as well as all the nurses and the engineers that belong to the "salaried" UAW are only asking for equal treatment under our union rights. Wixom, Good luck in your nursing career, we need more like you in this field!!

Thanks for your support J-150! :hyper: We do all need to support eachother and I am so grateful that there are people like you that understand what union is supposed to be. :D

I second the above note!! :hyper: Thank You so much, Our Local 879 members are the BEST!!! :P

Tradeslady- I do not want to work for an hour or a week on the line, I am not saying you all do not do hard work out there, Lord knows I see the injuries because of the repetitive work and lifting etc. that you do. However, as your union sister I would sure hope that you do not feel that nurses, forklift driver's, electrictians, pipefitter's, millwright's etc do not work hard as well. We all have different type of work that we perform and must do it to the best of our ability and training. We all pay the same dues and belong to the same union, just because there is differences in our job titles, does not account for any one of our positions to be unfairly treated by our own union, far less our brothers and sisters!!!

Thanks for your support!!! :hyper: I am a nurse, and I am proud to state that I am an Occupational Health nurse. :happy feet: Yes, a license is the main hurdle to jump when becoming a nurse, but when you specialize in an area of nursing and then lose that job, you need to be retrained in a different area of nursing until that time you start at the bottom all over again. I planned for this to be the last job of my life. I now am in the same place as anyone who works on the line. Tradeslady- I do not want to work for an hour or a week on the line, I am not saying you all do not do hard work out there, Lord knows I see the injuries because of the repetitive work and lifting etc. that you do. However, as your union sister I would sure hope that you do not feel that nurses, forklift driver's, electrictians, pipefitter's, millwright's etc do not work hard as well. We all have different type of work that we perform and must do it to the best of our ability and training. We all pay the same dues and belong to the same union, just because there is differences in our job titles, does not account for any one of our positions to be unfairly treated by our own union, far less our brothers and sisters!!!

Thanks for your support!!

All I have to say to you is you are very ignorant. The Company can enforce whatever fricken policy they instill, they can and have the policy to obtain a release from your MD so the diagnosis can be placed on the work excuse. We have NO CHOICE in the matter either. Why didn't YOU fight it? We are no Labor Relations branch, get that through your thin skin. As for hard work, yes we are busy all the time. We choose to be nurses, to help people, even sorry ass ones like you, and we have to grit our teeth and deal with this kind of attitude. It is your attitude towards your union brothers and sisters that I find appalling.

In the last contract (I was not the rep at that time) The vote to go hourly did not carry. I am unsure as to why? In the next contract this is precisely what we will be going for. (likely will be a mute point if they succeed at outsourcing us- It is obvious that the UAW will not fight for our jobs) I have been at Ford for 3 1/2 years, perhaps the nurse that you speak of is a Sr. Nurse, or she/he does not carry the insurance for the family. This past year it changed to the fact that if we had husband's on our policy, we have to pay an extra $110.00 per month for health insurance and an extra $10.00 a month for dental insurance besides the premium we paid in the past. To add to that we also pay $20.00 for a co-payment ($50.00 if it's for an ER visit), and $10.00, $20.00 or $30.00 co-pay for prescriptions. They have already informed us that this will go up another 30% next year! I have a strong feeling that this is what the hourly contract will also be in 9/2007. Hopefully not, but it is a known fact that the medical coverage is the excuse that Ford is using to state their case of financial loss. My personal feelings is that the policies need to be changed at the Federal level to reward the employers that provide their employees with an affordable health insurance plan. This however is a whole together different topic.

Yes, This is so very true and sad. The last sub-council meeting we were asked to recruit members into the UAW and to concentrate on the salaried members. My question to the International Union is, "What can I tell them is the benefit?" To date I have not received a reply. Unfortunately for the longevity of the UAW, this will be an example to future members that Management will use against the UAW. The membership will continue to drop. I personally have written the International on this concern. I sincerely hope that what the UAW is doing now will not affect future retirement benefits, as well as benefits in General. This next contract is going to be giving up much more than the nursing units. Thank You so much for seeing the bigger picture!! :happy feet:

Again, I am very sorry you feel this way. I can personally say that I feel our membership at TCAP for the most part are very supportive of our expertise and our support to them. They feel that we are being screwed as well. Again, we are in NO WAY a member of labor relations. At times I realize that people who do not meet Ford's Written policy are upset with us when we cannot approve a note by an MD due to missing information. I think perhaps you have had some poor experiences, and I can tell I will not be able to change your mind. You are indeed entitled to your own opinions, just for a minute try putting the shoe on the other foot, and imagine if we were the ones getting the package and "hourly" UAW members were not. Would you feel like you have been unfairly treated at that point?

You're right, however Ford has stated that they do not have to excuse the absence without the diagnosis, it is called signing a release of information with your MD to allow the diagnosis to be released. Again these are Ford's rules, we had them write it down on letterhead with a signature to give out to employees to show our UAW membership that these ARE NOT our rules, they are Ford's. Again, it is unfortunate that members of the past have abused the attendance policies to force implementation of these rules. I am not saying this is right, however, if this is company policy we do have to follow it.

The International also sold out the salaried union members, and yes I have already thought of your advice. Sounds like us who have been sold out need to get a class action suit together! The UAW International has been misrepresenting us. Shame on them!! How can Mr Gettlefinger and all sign their letters "In Solidarity" ?? or look in a mirror when they know how many peoples lives they have totally screwed over.