steve morris

You + $10.00 + crackpipe = confusion

Listen Brother, you have posted 4 or 5 times now bitching and moaning about something but i still have no idea what the frig your pissed about.

Uhhhmmmmmmm. okay, I'll get ready. For what...I'm still not sure. Hey, here's an idea......Put the Pipe down and try to focus long enough to tell me what the hell your talking about exactly.

Uhmmmmm................... WHAT?

whatever dickhead

you are all entitled to have your own opinion on this matter. I am not trying to say that your wrong to feel the way you do by any means. The point I was trying to make is simply this; I personally cannot cannot find fault in Nick accepting this position if it is something he really enjoys doing and it is a once in a lifetime opportunity that very possibly won't come around again before he retires. How many of us truly enjoy working in a factory? How many of us wish we could be doing something we really look forward to doing on a daily basis? The opportunity isn't always there. If this is what makes him happy, I cannot fault him for accepting the job. I understand your side of the discussion completely and i can see where you may think differently. I don't think your wrong, stupid, or anything else for not agreeing with me. I just think we have a different opinion. I can live with that. I do however disagree with the statements that everyone in the room is out for themselves, are slappys, etc. In my opinion, it's wrong to group everyone together just because we all work together. Everyone in that room needs to be judged by his/her own actions. There are people in that room that ran for the right reasons and truly care. If there is someone in there that you feel is there for the wrong reasons or don't give a shit, vote them out by all means. But to clean sweep without justification only hurts the membership. I can tell you straight up, If the people I represent don't think I am doing my job or feel I am not there for the right reasons, they should not vote for me next time around if I run. They would be stupid to vote for me if they truly felt that way.

Toolman, You made a couple of comments about Nick Stefani that I want to comment on. It took me a while to figure out how to say it because I don't want you to think I am just trying to protect everyone in the room. I'll say it again, I have no problem with people in the room being held accountable for their actions and I have no issues if you want to judge Nick for the job he has done. I just don't think it's fair to say Nick is out for Nick. I can tell you that Nick ran for the position of Plant Committee because he felt obligated to and he felt he could be good at it. Nick felt that the membership would be better represented if the top two positions were shared by Production and Skilled Trades. Nick tried to get me to run for Plant Committee but I refused because I felt I wasn't ready for that job and because I didn't think I could devote the time needed to do the job correctly. Nick believed the only chance for Skilled Trades to be in one of the top 2 positions considering who was rumored to be running, was for either him or I to run. When I refused, he threw his name in the hat. The job of Plant Committee is a tough job Bro. The amount of time a person needs to devote and the amount of stress that comes with the job is unbelievable. He knew that when he decided to run. Now I'm not sure if you're pissed at Nick for the job he has done or if you're pissed because he decided to accept the offer of Benefits Rep. If it's because of the job he has done, then that is your own personal opinion and you have the right to feel how you feel. If you're pissed at him because he has accepted the offer of Benefits Rep., I'll only ask that you take a few things into consideration. The more Nick got involved in the Family Medical Leave and other issues he faced as Plant Committee, he realized how much he liked holding the company accountable for that aspect of the contract. He has really studied the contract and law concerning these issues and I personally think he will be good at it.. He has commented numerous times about liking that. Considering this may be the only opportunity for him to get the job that he really enjoys doing, he decided to accept. Let me ask you an honest question: If you were in the same stressful position and were offered a lifetime job that you really enjoyed doing, what would you do? I'm not calling you out so don't take it that way brother. In fact, you don't even have to answer the question. It's just something to consider. Again, you can hold him accountable for the job he has done. I have no problem with that and I don't think he would with either. But considering how much of his own time he has given up, i don't think he was in it for himself. That's just my opinion.

Bonzai, From what I see, the other committeemen in that room are constantly getting pages and are on the go responding. Ask any former committeeman or the new midnight shift committeeman about how fast paced that job can be.

Gary Whitcher is our rep. at Region. Daryll Nolan is our servicing Rep. from IUAW.

I have not heard anything from anyone about 39 more people coming to Van Dyke.

Okay, let me try to clear things up a bit... The reason i started posting on BON is because i wanted to get the layoff information out to the people I represent as quickly as possible. Considering i am involved in the TLO manpower matrix and that i represent the Skilled Trades, I felt it was my responsibility. On a few occasions I have commented on issues regarding production. In hind site, I probably should not have done that considering I am not involved in those day to day issues. It's all to easy to walk into that room while a discussion is being held and hear things without knowing the whole story. For me to comment on the production issues without being totally up to speed is not fair to you guys or the guys in that room. I apologize if by commenting on production issues, I made it sound as if i knew everything that was going on, because i don't. That is why when i posted, i said things such as "from what i was told" or "as far as i know". I see now that by doing that, it could be viewed as if i was being kept in the dark or that i felt as if what i was being told was bullshit. I never meant for it to sound that way. I have never had someone in that room not answer questions that I have asked. Considering that i am not involved in the day to day issues regarding production, I think it's best that i stop trying to answer any questions regarding production. The last thing i want to do is mislead you or cuase problems for others in the room by only giving half of the information.. If you have a question regarding production issues, please direct them to your committeeman. They are more capable of answering them than i am.

I'm not involved in the everyday dealing concerning production so i cannot comment on your statement. I will say that from what i know of the committemen i work with, if you call them out, they will come out and answer your questions. I have to disagree with your comment that the company is walking all over the union though, but we are all entitled to our own opinions. I do agree that people on the floor want to hear the truth regardless if they like the answer or not. It sounds to me like you need to have a serious talk with whoever you're accusing of these things.

I am not going to argue with you're interpretation of the language "no other employee will be used on the jobs of employees who are temporarily laid off." I would make the same argument. But to be honest with you, that language can be argued both ways. The intent of the language must be made clear to know when and under what circumstances this language applies. I do not know who Jim spoke to but i would imagine it was our Servicing Rep.. Unfortunately, i don't know the guys name. We just got a new Servicing Rep.

I don't always agree with every call Ron has made, but you have been on this site calling the man every dirty name you can think of. Let me ask you a question, are you involved in these negotiations to the point you know what is being said by both parties? I'm not looking to get into a argument with you, but unless you are directly involved in these negotiations, how can you make an educated decision on whether or not Ron is doing the right thing? Last question, what would you do if you were in Ron's place?

I know that in order to do the Skilled Trades lay off, if they were to honor seniority and shift preference, they would of had to have the survey completed by Thursday morning. Once the survey is done, the company, LR, the clerk, and the union sit down and jockey people where they belong based on seniority and shift preference. The matrix would have to be done by Thursday afternoon and posted Friday morning by 6:30-7:00 A.M. for the midnight shift people. I honestly do not think the clerk could have completed the survey by early afternoon considering he would have to contact Midnight shift guys that had already left the building.

I'm sure there are a lot of questions regarding the Feb 16th layoff. I will try to explain what happened the best i can. Late in the day Wed. the company got notification of a supply problem for 6FM. Due to the fact we were not going to have enough parts to run full, the company made the decision to run only 1 shift. The company decided to layoff the entire 3rd shift in 6FM (both production and trades) regardless of seniority due to the fact they felt there wasn't enough time to survey everyone and to do the manpower moves needed to honor seniority. FROM WHAT I HAVE BEEN TOLD, Mod tried to force the company to honor seniority but the company stated they didn't have time and used Pg84 of Volume 1 of the National Agreement to justify laying off the 3rd shift. For those of you who haven't picked up your 2007 National Agreement yet, Volume 1 pg. 84 section 21 states: Section 21 B) In the event of a temporary layoff, the company shall have the right to lay off employees as their work is completed, irrespective of their group seniority; provided, however, that no other employee will be used on the jobs of employees who are temporary laid off. Section 21 A) A temporary layoff for any other reason is defined as a layoff of not more than twelve (12) working days. The Provisions covering temporary layoffs shall apply to all employee, both production and non-production employees, and the so-called "skilled Plantwide" classifications in the Rouge area. The so-called "skilled plant wide" classifications, are not subject to the model change layoff provision of this agreement. A Model change layoff is defined as a lay off of not more than thirty (30 ) working days. If I'm not mistaken, The call was made downtown and they confirmed that the company can do this. From my understanding, the company did this because of timing. They plan to honor seniority whenever possible but they felt they did not have enough time in this case. I hope this explains what went down. I'm not happy with it but from what i have been told, it is contractually correct.

I have placed the tlo matrix on the counter in the committeeroom. The numbers did increase in each trade due to a supplier problem that caused the 6FM to cut production to 1 shift. Please , leave the matrix on the counter for others to look at if you go to the room to see it. The clerk will be posting the tlo matrix through out the plant first thing Thursday morning. The number of trades being tlo'd is as follows: Elect- 21 MW- 8 TM - 26 MR- 17 PF - 7 Hyd- 10 Machinist (tmo)- 4 cutter grind - 1 Die Maker- 2 -------------------------- Total 96 If you see any issues with the matrix, please let me know and i will try to get it corrected.

There is a MW, MR, and power house guy coming. These guys are coming over due to a posting that was put up for buy out replacements. National Language calls for a one for one replacement on buyouts. you are right though, things are looking bad.

I didn't say there were no projects being worked on. there are a couple. but i agree that 25 toolmakers is bullshit when they just brought in 11.

for those of you who haven't heard, there is going to be 87 Skilled Trades temporarily laid off starting Feb 16th. The company stated they cannot pay for all the projects or PM work at this time. There are a limited number of projects that are going to be done through the Fab Shop but the funding is not there to do all of the projects we have at this time. This will be a one week TLO surveyed from high seniority down. If there are not enough volunteers, low seniority will be forced. There will be more of these down the road, but as of now, there has been no talk of ILO's that I am aware of. I will be meeting with the company tomorrow afternoon to do the manpower matrix. I will try to have it posted in the committee room as soon as we finish. THERE IS MOST LIKELY GOING TO BE SOME MISTAKES ON THE MANPOWER MATRIX ! Take the time to look it over and if you see any mistakes, let me know and i will try to fix them as soon as possible. I do not remember the numbers exactly so don't quote me on this, but i think the break down was: MW-6 Elect_16 or 17 TM- 25 Hyd- 8 PF-8 MR- 17 then about 7 or so from the tool room. I will be meeting tomorrow with the company at 12:00 P.M. I will try to have the matrix posted by the time day shift leaves tomorrow.

You need to talk to the person that tried to explain it to you. I don't know what he/she said or what he/she meant. As far as the Chairman's report, I can tell you that Mod and Nick were in negotiations on this issue until late Thursday. As soon as they got the answer on how this was going to work, they planned on getting the info out through the source and the local letter. As i stated before, I have no problem with holding the people in the room responsible for their actions but negotiations on this issue didn't end until late Thursday. They got the word out as fast as they could. Mod agreed to do it through the source and through the local letter. You need to understand that there are a lot of times that we would like to get the information out there in a timely manner for people to make accommodations, but it can't be done until both sides agree. For example, i can't tell you how many times i bitched and moaned about doing a Skilled Trades Manpower Matrix for TLO's on Thursday and posting it on Friday. I don't think it's right that people end up having to change shifts but don't get notified until Friday. It wasn't until recently that the company has tried to get these done in a more timely manner.

I don't claim to be an expert in all of this but both sides are obligated to negotiate in good faith. If the union came out and ripped the company for their stance in the negotiations, and it caused the membership to get upset and slow down working or to sabotage machinery, the Union could be held responsible for that. So it is very difficult for the Union to get specific on negotiations. As far as IUAW goes, the only time IUAW gets involved is if the union calls and states the company is not negotiating in good faith. If the company refused to come to the table and discuss things, we could call IUAW to come in. As long as the company is willing to sit down and talk and there is some progress being made, it is usually left at the local level.

We have no more old agreements left. here are plenty on the floor though. Just ask around on the floor, i'm sure you can find one. The Phone number is on the back cover.

I'm not dogging you so don't take this the wrong way bro. Why are you so interested in a new local agreement? I ask that because i don't see us gaining anything in a new local agreement. With things as bad as they are, i would be happy to maintain what we currently have. Company wide, they are trying to take things away at the local levels. Currently, both sides are obligated to follow the last local contract. If i had the choice to settle on a new agreement or keep the one we currently are following, i would chose to follow the old one.

I don't know who from IUAW was communicating with our local, but if you want to ask questions regarding this you have one of two options. You can follow the chain of command and call the region and speak to Gary Witcher (took over for Donnie MArshall). The phone number to Region can be found on the back of your local agreement. If Gary can't answer that question, he can give you the number to our servicing rep. at IUAW. Or you can talk to the other Toolmakers in the plant. They have already called numerous times. In fact, a few of them are still calling considering they have brought in 11 Toolmakers and are laying off so many. The first layoff, they wanted to layoff 18 and we got them to cut that down to 15 or 14. They asked for 19 for this week and we got that down to 12 or 11. Ask around and see who they are talking to downtown. Sorry if that's not the answer your looking for but it's the best i can do.