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According to Nick's letter, no downtime for the foreseeable future (the 16th was scheduled, but was cancelled). The 3.5's are going insane at DTP - nearly every other truck is a 3.5... and they have been ever since we started building them.

MARVIN Online is 100 times simpler than calling in. You will have to go to www.michigan.gov/uia-cwam and create your online account, which then you will be mailed a password. Once you receive it, you can begin claiming online. It takes less than a minute, and you can certify any day of the week, regardless of your scheduled call-in time.

There wasn't much Joel could do. It's not his fault the company decided to market test EVERY product inside Rawsonville in 2007. As much as I'd like to put blame on him, I can't... I remember working on ETB HVL#1 when this market test was going on - they told us that if we wanted to keep the line in the plant, that we would need to start running at a minimum 210 jobs per hour... during that 2 month period, we cranked out upwards of 250 per hour... and we STILL lost the work. I know he said in his State of the Plant in 2007 that we would all retire from there, but the sad truth is that if someone can find a cheaper way to make something, 99% of the time they will switch to the new way. I haven't been at Rawsonville in almost 3 years - I'm stuck in hell at DTP. I'll probably be there for the rest of my time at Ford too. It sucks ass, but it's just the way it is, I guess.

A 4600 is otherwise known as a write-up. It's just easier to refer to it by its form number rather than its name.

That's a bit odd, seeing as how we're only working 10 hours, even with 40-50+ minutes of downtime (at least on B-Crew)... [derail] On top of the fact that Wednesday (the same day the ASRS went down on B-Crew), to add to the 45-minute delay, they a) called 10 hours only, and B) shut the line down 10 minutes early to talk to us about safety glasses, food on the floor, and other crap we already knew, but they are becoming more strict on... Caught without safety glasses? Automatic week off. Caught with food on floor? Automatic 4600. Caught smoking inside? Automatic termination. Our supervisor told us that "the union had a chance to walk the floor and explain to each and every single one of us these issues." Funny, I don't recall a SINGLE ONE of them coming around and talking to us about ANY of these - at least not to our line. [/derail] Back to the topic, rumors are still swirling on B-Crew about the week of the 16th being down. Of course, no one knows a thing for sure yet,

I apologize to anyone who may have believed what I wrote... Turns out this was a rumor-turned April fools joke played on me by my team leader. Ugh. Back to posting facts only.

When I post something online, I like to have hard, credible facts in front of me to back up what I post, but this time, I am making an exception. There is a somewhat nasty rumor floating around DTP that come Friday, a shutdown announcement will be made that will be like this: 1. There is a supposed TLO planned for about 3 weeks from now (the week of Good Friday). The company would make this week the first vacation week of shutdown, and make Friday eligible for conversion. 2. The week of July 4th would be the second week, and make the 4th eligible for conversion. 3. There would be no other shutdown weeks planned for any other weeks in July or August. If this is true, there will be a storm on the horizon. Why, you ask? Here's why... 1. How can the company tell us that a TLO is now being converted into a shutdown week? Last-minute scheduling and a Japan Crisis happening before April 1st is one reason. 2. June-eligible employees would have no time available for the vacation week in April. To counter this, I foresee two scenarios: a. The company would essentially "loan" June-eligible employees 40 vacation hours, and have it "paid back" when their time replenishes. b. If the company doesn't go for option A, I can see them letting June-eligible employees take a TLO, and have an extra week of vacation at their leisure, while making December-eligible employees use vacation time. This is where the storm brews, because then December-eligible employees would want the same treatment. The company would essentially have a June-vs-December war on their hands, leaving the union to battle it out. If option B is chosen, no matter what the outcome is, one group or the other will get screwed. 3. How can we plan for a vacation when it is announced only 3 weeks in advance? I am seriously hoping this is JUST a rumor. It's a logistical nightmare to figure this stuff out in the first place, let alone only having a couple weeks to do it.

We were told the same thing at DTP. As of right now, the company wants the second week (week of August 8th) as a work week. Of course, gas prices could change all of that, but we will know by April 1st how they have made up their minds.

Thsre are about 80 still left. March 31 for A crew, April 1 for B crew and April 3 for C crew are the last days respectively.

It wouldn't necessarily change a thing... I would just like to figure it out for myself what I should be getting... rather than hear it from the media. That way, I can plan better what to do with it, rather than relying on a generic figure.

Nick Kottalis happened to be walking around our plant on Friday.... I asked him why it had not been released, and this was his response: "They needed another business day to figure it out... my guess is they are trying to cheat us out of whatever they can..." Well, this business day has come and gone, and still no % factor. A simple plug into Excel of the formula would determine the numbers in less than 20 minutes. It has been a month since 2010 financials came out, and we still don't have the percentage factor yet? Something is not right here. Whatever anyone is thinking, it must be released before this Friday or we will not get our checks on time. Direct Deposits actually get sent 2 business days BEFORE the actual date of the check (anyone who uses NetSpend and has their check deposited onto that card knows this - you actually get paid on Wednesday instead of Friday) - If Employee Payments doesn't have the information by Friday, then Comerica won't get the deposits sent out by Monday to arrive on Wednesday. Unless, of course, they already have the information and are simply withholding it from us. These so-called "accountants" need to be re-schooled on the importance of the definition of "ON-TIME"... The IRS doesn't care what the reason for you being late is... why should we be any different on expecting our percentage factor on time from a GLOBAL, MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR company?

http://www.detnews.com/article/20110221/POLITICS02/102210378/1001/Labor-plans-Lansing-lobbying-blitz-Tuesday This is the AFL-CIO blitz, but I can't imagine the UAW being far behind - after all, they are the ones representing most of Michigan's state workforce.

If I did the calculation right (I don't have the contract in front of me, but IIRC it starts at 173.15 for 5 cents, and it goes up a penny for every .06 points it goes up), It looks like we would be getting $2.11, had we not given it up, and had we not given up all of the VEBA setoffs to it either. You can check it here - we use Table 5 (CPI-W, Urban Wage earners & Clerical Workers, seasonally adjusted)... scroll down to the Special Indexes, and look at "All items less medical care": http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.t05.htm

OK... Thanks

Does anyone have any new info? I got a call from a number that, IIRC, was the same number that called us off last time, but I accidentally hung up the phone before I heard who it was. The number was 877-565-8465.

I'm not sure why Gettelfinger would say that, because as of October 31, 2010, the Ford VEBA was fully paid for by Ford. They owe nothing to it from here on out - no stock, no cash, no long-term notes. They completed their transfer of funds in Q3 and now have cut that liability from their books. Seems odd that he didn't know that. It's on Ford's website: http://corporate.ford.com/doc/ir_20101026a_2010_3q_financial_results.pdf - see slide 21.

They are, but once again, ONLY the portion of North American Sales that originated from the United States count. National Agreement, Volume III:

You must remember... just because that is the North American number, it is not necessarily the number used in the equation. Our profit share excludes profits from Canada and Mexico. You must also remember... the amount of employees does not necessarily count into the equation - what counts is the eligible pay of said employees. Take this for example: 109,000 * 24.62 * 2220 (blended wage in 2000 * avg number of hours worked) = $5,957,547,600 46,000 * 31.11 * 2220 (blended wage in 2010 * avg number of hours worked) = $3,176,953,200 If you were to take that $733,000,000 and place it among us right now, that equals a percentage factor of 23.07%, or a little over 23% of your (EDIT: eligible) gross pay for the year. In terms of what that would be for a profit share check, that would equal roughly $13,000 per eligible employee, something I don't think Ford would let happen. Once Friday comes, we can finally put this to rest.

Ford Credit was a part of the P/S equation up until 2007, when this contract went into effect. It is no longer a part of the share equation.

According to the phone call from Labor, this will last one week. I would hardly expect them to cancel production for 2 weeks in a row if we are so behind like everyone says we are. If you didn't get a phone call from Labor, then your number needs to be updated. I received mine at 5:57pm on Friday night, so I would assume if we don't get another call by then, we will be going back to work.

This should be good news to those of you waiting on your 2011 F-150's: A good chunk of them are now being shipped. A decent amount of people from B-Crew came in yesterday on OT and figured out what truck is with what campaign. Some are simply missing simple stock (running boards, floor mats, etc), while others have minor repairs in regards to the tailgate issue, while still others have various issues with them. The PCM issue is all but solved at this point. It shouldn't be much longer now. Good things come to those who wait... and from driving one for the first time last week, you are in for a treat once you receive it. May it bring you years of faithful and reliable service.

Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, Sec. 7 (a)(1): That about sums it up. The FLSA has dictated many of this nation's labor laws for the last 62 years. This was one of the main sticking points. State laws can supercede Federal law, but only if the law is more stringent or strict. Any union contract can also supercede Federal/State law, but once again, only if it is more stringent/strict than any law it supercedes. Otherwise, it can be construed as unconstitutional. There are some contracts (Fire departments. etc) that allow for provisions of more than 40 hours per week, but as long as the benefit of the time-and-a-half (or its equivalent) is present, it is an acceptable provision. EDITED to add the following: Section 7(a)(2): In a nutshell, the above reads as if you were saying the following: If you are under a contract (as certified by the NLRB), your employer may work you up to 2,240 hours per year, but only if you are guaranteed a minimum of up to 46 weeks (while being paid at least 30 hours per week), overtime is paid for the rest of the 6 weeks, or any hours over 2,080 per year, and/or any hours in excess of 2,080 per year.

According to the national agreement, and also our modifications, all overtime (AWS or not) begins after 40 compensated hours.

Honestly, it's best not to bring it up on this forum. If you're not briefed on it, it's best to stay non-briefed. In a nutshell, we are having bad PCM's come in from Mexico and we are trying to get them fixed ASAP... that's all I'll say for the time being.

Due to the PCM issue, it's unclear at this point. I would assume they will begin shipping by the end of this week, however if the issue continues, it's uncertain.