cobra8

They might be test driving these vehicles. I know they were doing it before.

I have heard at least one auto analyst say on CNBC say a new contract is likely (personally I dont know of this being an option but: From The Detroit News http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic.../810240431/1148

Here is a copy of the letter:

My dad died about 3 months ago. I took my 3 days, not knowing any different and returned through Labor who did not tell me any different only to find out after talking to a UAW Brother I was to get 5 days.

Maybe they did it that way to get more to sign up for the buyouts.

I would guess that would be up to the dealer but I have not heard of any negotiating off on A plan price. If you have extras on the vehicle that were added after sticker, you could probably negotiate that part. But you would also qualify for any incentives offered from Ford on that vehicle.I would ck. on incentives before you went to dealer as I would not put it past a few of them not to tell you they exist. You can ck. on incentives at www.fordvehicles.com

Here is a copy of the paint and body shop schedule

The whole plant is down July and B crew is off first 2 weeks of August with A and C crew alternating those first 2 weeks of August. That is as far as it went.

They are running subs. in the body shop on nights this week and I am working. For everyone that is off I seen a letter from our committeemen that said an updated schedule will be comming out Wednessday June 11th.

I hear the order bank dropped 10000 last week and more weeks in June are possible.

I agree this is a good time to stock up on meat. I use to raise livestock and the saying was you feed $2.00 corn and sell $3.00 corn. Corn is around $5.70 today. These livestock feeders are taken a beating and have been liquidating their herds which puts extra meat on the market near term but takes away from future livestock delivery's to the packing houses. I don't know how high meat prices will get but it is bound to be higher (possibly allot higher) than ever before.

Article in Louisville Courier Journal dated March 19th 2008 section D page 1 The Ford has said it'll eliminate the 1,000-worker night shift at the Louisville Assembly Plant this summer in response to declining sales of the Ford Explorer, Explorer Sport Trac and Mercury Mountaineer. Ford's contract with the UAW pledges a new product will replace the Explorer by 2010. The contract also allows Ford to replace up to 20 percent of its work force with employees who earn half the going rate of $28 to $30 per hour. But the buyouts do not aim to make room for such hires, Hinrichs and Mulloy added. "This effort is not simply about shedding extra workers and replacing them ... with new hires at lower wages to save money," they wrote. "In all honesty, that likely will not happen until at least 2009 or beyond."

It looks like Ford will be tweaking the offers just enough to get a few more to sign up each time accomplishing 2 things. 1- spend as little as possible and 2 not disrupting the operations at each plant. I know rumors of much higher buyouts were circulating at KTP a few months ago and my only thought against this was if allot of workers signed up for buyouts it could take a year or maybe longer to implement. We all know what happens at the end of the line when new workers or new operators are put on a job. So a slow steady implementation of the buyouts makes allot of since. It looks to me Ford will be accomplishing this by tweaking the offers and getting a few to sign up each time. Ford has said they do not expect to hire any 2nd tier workers till 2009 so the best offers will probably not come till the end of 08 or sometime in 09. I have run into situations at KTP and probably LAP where workers are divorced and their x in these cases wives get half their retirement and I know of 1 guy in his 30's who says his x wife would get half of his buyout and each one has said they may have to be carried out before they let that happen.

Just wanted to refresh this thread with this article for anyone considering the buyouts, with just a few hours left for our decisions. http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d...D=2008803100387

I was told that supervision at KTP had a meeting today and were told to ask hourly personal to encourage eligible retirees to take the buyout offers and make room for transferring employees. I have not seen or heard this first hand yet. Anyone considering the buyout offer should read the article published in the Louisville Courier Journal (dated 3/10/08) that was posted on topic with heading - NEWS FOR LAP AND KTP (good reading). I have seen where Cap723 has said the next step may be bankruptcy (Capt723 seems very one sided and all hope is lost). Ford still has several billions in cash and the sale of Jaguar and Land Rover in the near future will also help and the possible sale of Volvo down the road. But I remember Chrysler having great difficulties in the late 70's and early 80's and the government bailed them out. I do not think Ford is in that bad of shape yet. But if they did not let Chrysler go under I do not think they will let Ford go bankrupt before helping them out also, after all Henry Ford was one of the pioneers of this country. The low numbers of signers for buyouts had to be expected as they have offered basically the same thing before and ended up extending the sign ups several months to get close to their numbers calling it (hardship cases but I do not know anyone that was turned down). I tell people of an encounter I had with a former Ford employee. My wife and I and another couple went to downtown Louisville one night to 4Th street live. We pull into a pay parking lot and are greeted by the attendant, who collects our parking fee. He notices my Ford jacket and asks if I work at Ford. I reply I do and he tells me he used to. I noticed his teeth are in bad shape and he tells us he took the buyout in the early 80's. He said the worst thing I ever done but they waved a little money in my face and I took it. He said I could have retired by now. I wondered, how much he was making parking cars. Our union did a great job on this past contract and I appreciate their long hours spent on negotiations but I hope they were not up all night negotiating these new buyout offers. Each one of us has to make that decision but I remember A man telling me once - You do not realize what you have until it is gone. I am not trying to change anyones mind as each one of us has their own circumstances but give you something to think about as time runs down for sign-ups.