MSchmi

This is a link to the Mulally vs. UAW pay: http://www.xpdnc.com/files/relatednewsandr...00Local3000.pdf

Local 600 Maintenance & Construction: 517 NO 117 Yes

DTP 1263 NO, 101 yes.

CAN YOU HEAR US NOW!

I think you can probably consider that to be your "prior notice!"

One e mail I saw from Chicago Assy. says 759 no, instead of 749??? Anyway it's all good.

Good job 845! Left no doubt where you stand.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...d=aLpI_8HZ9KjE# Ford Plant Workers in Missouri Reject Concessions, Union Says Share | Email | Print | A A A By Keith Naughton Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Ford Motor Co. factory workers in Missouri voted 92 percent against labor concessions that would match agreements the United Auto Workers reached with the automaker’s U.S. rivals, a union official said. Workers casting ballots at the Ford Escape factory in Claycomo voted 1,712 against to 147 in favor of the givebacks, Gary Walkowicz, a union official at UAW Local 600 in Dearborn, Michigan, said today. He received results of yesterday’s vote from two representatives at the plant. UAW Vice President Bob King appeared at Claycomo, which employs 3,737 hourly workers, yesterday to promote the accord that calls for a six-year ban on strikes over wages and benefits and a freeze on pay for new hires, Walkowicz said. Ford, the only major U.S. automaker to avoid bankruptcy, won support from UAW local leaders Oct. 13 on an agreement to grant concessions similar to those secured by General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC. Ford’s 41,000 U.S. hourly workers began voting Oct. 22 and will continue through Oct. 31. Factory workers in Cleveland and Wayne, Michigan, have approved the concessions, while employees at two plants in Michigan as well as the Claycomo workers have rejected it, Walkowicz said. “People are angry,” said Walkowicz, a member of the bargaining committee at a Ford pickup truck factory in Dearborn, Michigan. “There’s a lot of pressure from the international union to accept this, but people aren’t buying it.” To contact the reporter on this story: Keith Naughton in Southfield, Michigan at Knaughton3@bloomberg.net Last Updated: October 26, 2009 09:08 EDT

KCAP SHOWS THE REAL WAY FORWARD! AT LAST SOLIDARITY IS STARTING TO MEAN MORE THAN JUST A WORD. THANK YOU BROTHERS AND SISTERS!!!

You go Biggtone! MS

Yep they are hiring high paid people fast and furious. Why not, it's our retirees' money not theirs! ================================================================================ = http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/26/74/40.php October 20, 2009 United Auto Workers’ Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association Gets Investment Staff in Order The new United Auto Workers voluntary employee beneficiary association won’t officially open for business until January 1, but the association—with more than $37 billion in assets—has a chief investment officer and is looking for managing directors to oversee equity, fixed income and risk management. Eric Henry, who resigned in August as executive director and chief investment officer of the $15.6 billion Texas Municipal Retirement System in Austin, will lead the VEBA’s investment staff as chief investment officer. The association was created through agreements with General Motors Co., Detroit; Ford Motor Co., Dearborn, Michigan; and New Chrysler Corp., Auburn Hills, Michigan; to shift the remainder of their retiree medical care obligations to the new trust. Ridgeway Partners, with U.S. offices in New York and Boston, was hired by the VEBA to assist in recruiting candidates for the positions. Ridgeway officials declined to comment. The VEBA’s equity and fixed-income managing directors will report to Henry. It was not clear to whom risk management personnel will report. The VEBA was created through labor contracts with the three auto companies before GM and Chrysler filed for bankruptcy protection this year. Both companies emerged from their bankruptcies weeks later under a bailout plan that gave the VEBA part ownership in the restructured companies. Ford did not file for bankruptcy protection. The association has an 11-member board made up of five of UAW officials and six independent members, all appointed by the union. The three-member investment committee consists of two independent trustees: Olena Berg-Lacy, former assistant secretary of the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration, and Robert Naftaly, retired president and chief executive of PPOM, an independent operating subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan. Berg-Lacy is now a board member and senior advisor for Financial Engines Inc. of Palo Alto, California. The third member will be UAW trustee Daniel Sherrick, director of the union’s legal department. Other independent board members include: Teresa Ghilarducci, Schwartz professor of economic policy at The New School for Social Research, New York; David Baker Lewis, chairman and CEO of the law firm Lewis & Munday, Detroit; Marianne Udow-Phillips, director of the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation, a nonprofit partnership between the University of Michigan and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan; and Edward Welch, professor emeritus at the School of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, Lansing. The names of the independent trustees came from a 2008 filing in U.S. District Court in Detroit about the VEBA. Names of the other UAW members on the board couldn’t be obtained. The three automakers will not have board representation or involvement with the VEBA. Their only obligation is to provide startup funding, which will permanently end their commitment to provide retiree health care to employees who belong to the UAW under earlier labor contracts. The UAW will run the VEBA as a single fund combining all the automaker contributions, although it will have separate accounts for GM, Ford and Chrysler to pay the medical benefits for each company’s retirees. The VEBA is expected to be based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and its asset size would rival that of very large pension funds. UAW officials declined to provide details about the VEBA, including how it is structuring its investment management and use of money mangers and consultants. Henry and Berg-Lacy and other trustees couldn’t be reached for comment. The VEBA is expected to rely on external managers in managing its assets. The fund will consist of a combination of widely diversified investments and securities of the three auto companies. Of the Big Three, GM will make the biggest contribution to the VEBA. Contributions by GM to the VEBA consist of: • 17.5 percent of GM stock. • $6.5 billion in GM preferred stock with a 9 percent interest rate. • A $2.5 billion note. • GM warrants entitling the VEBA to acquire an additional 2.5 percent, or 15.1 million newly issued shares, of GM common stock. • $9.4 billion in diversified investments from GM’s internal VEBA, which will be disbanded. The GM warrants would be exercisable at a price of $126.92 a share of GM stock anytime before 2016. At that price, GM would have total equity value of $75 billion. GM has not released current estimates of the value of its stock, which isn’t traded. The company hopes to begin trading the stock publicly in 2010. Ford is contributing a total $13.1 billion in funds and securities. Under a ratified agreement with the UAW earlier this year, Ford will restructure its VEBA debt obligations into a $6.5 billion note payable in Ford stock or cash at the company’s option and a $6.6 billion note payable in cash, both due 2018. Chrysler’s contributions will total $4.59 billion in a promissory note and company securities. GM and Chrysler have filed proposals with the Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration seeking exemptions under ERISA to contribute company securities to the VEBA. The EBSA, which must approve the exemption, has opened a 45-day period for each proposal for submission of public comments on the proposals. GM filed its proposal in September; Chrysler’s proposal was filed this month. The VEBA is searching for independent trustee companies to oversee the securities of GM and Chrysler. The hiring of the independent fiduciaries is a primary condition of the DOL exemptions, if granted. Filed by Barry B. Burr of Pensions & Investments, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com. Stay informed and connected. Get human resources news and HR features via Workforce Management’s Twitter feed or RSS feeds for mobile devices and news readers.

The voting should be monitored. How can we believe a vote count left in the hands of the officials? An independent rank and file team should be able to monitor all the voters. The election committee will report the yeses and nos, and the independent team's count of total voters should match up to the election committee's totals. Not everyone will be able to form such a team but it is a hell of a good idea. Keep down those 'extra' yes votes.

forwarded message: At the Dearborn Truck Plant today, Wednesday, the Unit's elected leadership passed out a letter calling for a NO vote. The letter was signed by the plant chairman, the vice-president, and about half of the elected district and bargaining committee reps. In response, Bob King came in to the plant on the afternoon shift. The company shut down production to have him speak. The workers booed Bob King off the platform and would not let him speak. Gary Walkowicz "A" Crew Bargaining Committeeman

Same here. Would have lost it anyway.

Just like profit sharing, they will arrange the books so that the "turnaround" point just somehow never quite seems to get here.

59% is very low for a IUAW-pushed deal. NO voters maybe didn't win but we preserved some dignity for our abused UAW. We need to look at this long term as the membership begins to wake from slumber. From contract to contract the NO group is steadily growing. Sure I would like it to grow faster but we will do what we can and let the Depression sound the membership's ultimate wake-up call.

I ask two questions: where are the consumers who can buy these things any more? When will middle class buying power recover? I don't see it for years. The wealthy have now cornered it all and they aren't giving it up.

Hvcpicker, Problem is, the media are totally corporate controlled. To get our side out, we have to create our own media. It used to be called Union Press or Voice of Labor. Now totally silent. MS

Very interesting Sam. About right on all counts I think. MS

No one can buy the cars, no one's going to make money. What they took from workers won't help this problem a bit.

Detroit News this AM says 1900 votes YES, 1600 NO, at Local 600. The DTP unit vote was 64% NO, I was told.

Monroe ACH, Local 723, 70% No from production, 65% NO from trades. Indianapolis ACH, Local 111, 53.4% NO overall That's seven. These are not official releases they are taken from internet postings.

That would 'splain it!

I heard Twin Cities and Lorraine voted no but can't find numbers.