johnny 99

Thanks Suh for shedding more light on what happened to us as a company during that tough time. I appreciate your support of the hourly workers. Sounds like what you really need is a union.

I keep seeing you post this in numerous threads. The UAW has nothing to do with job security? You are telling that to me and thousands of other members who have their jobs today because of the 2007 agreement. So, if the International negotiated to keep my job and thousands of others that is job security. I hope they continue to negotiate to keep work and bring work in because that is job security for our membership.

I don't know where you get your information, but from what has been leaked the UAW got product for their plants (job security), an increase in Entry Level wage, a signing bonus and profit sharing based on North American profits so far. The job security is a lot more than "just a little bit". I would guess all our brothers and sisters at plants that need work would be happy to get product.

That is what happened to my plant from the 2007 contract. We need more product in our plants for our UAW brothers and sisters. That should be the International's #1 priority.

We have had rumors in my plant on the Equity of Sacrifice grievance. I went and talked with my chairman about it. His answer--it is going to Arbitration. Don't know how we get "answers" from one plant while other plant chairmen are telling us it is going to Arbitration. Can anyone explain that one to me? Btw--I'll take my chairman's word for it way before I take it from the plant that spawned Gary (just vote NO) Walkowicz.

Your response is really misguided. The link to the article is here-- http://www.freep.com/article/20110917/BUSINESS0101/309170004/GM-UAW-tentative-deal-5-000-signing-bonus-more-jobs-2nd-tier-wage-hike?odyssey=mod|breaking|text|FRONTPAGE From the article:"Workers will receive a $5,000 signing bonus, second-tier workers will receive a wage increase of about $3 over four years and profit sharing will be sweetened under the new deal that the UAW and General Motors reached late last night, people familiar with the plan told the Free Press. The deal will also add new jobs, including about 400 at Warren powertrain and an untold number at other facilities, including Romulus powertrain, Wentzville, Mo., and Spring Hill, Tenn., which will reopen, two of the people said." Bob King has stated over and over he wanted to bring up Entry Level wages. The negotiators at GM seemed to accomplish that goal. That was also a complaint from some Legacy workers who wanted to bring Entry Level to Legacy wages in one shot which would decimate any new work opportunities we could get. The UAW negotiated job security and new work and increased Entry Level pay--that is great news. To me, the #1 priority for the UAW at GM, Chrysler and Ford is to retain our current work and bring in new work at our current level of pay and increasing our brothers and sisters who are Entry Level. In that case, great job. If we get new work at Ford, that's a YES vote for me.

Yes, can we stop with promoting rumors? What is the point in spreading rumors in this forum or in your plant? Let's wait until we get a tentative agreement so we know what has actually been negotiated and have a discussion on the merits of it.

I don't really care if this person wants a sports forum here. If he does, fine. Why do you keep badgering this guy? It makes you look foolish.

Thankfully, Gary doesn't represent me. I think one thing you need to understand is the media loves to create "stories" where there are none. So, on an article about strike authorization, the Automotive News goes out of its way to talk to Walkowicz for one reason and one reason only to create conflict. I heard how Gary ran against Bob King and was destroyed at the Constitutional Convention. But, the Automotive News quotes him? This is poor reporting.

I agree Jeff. We have to fill our plants with work. If we get product in our plants, we have the potential to make the shifts necessary to move the trades from production. Going for a pay increase doesn't make sense as a way to accomplish this goal. It actually seems that it would do the exact opposite.

I know for me, personally, job security is the most important issue. As I've stated in other posts, if it wasn't for the work secured by the UAW in the last contract I probably would be on lay off. I hope more work can be brought into the plants in this contract. Everyone has their opinion but without a job, you have much of nothing.

Agreed. We need continued investment into new products in our plants. That is our future.

You are right. We need new products and investments for both skilled and production. The UAW has been successful since the last contract in bringing in product and investment due to the Entry Level wage. I hope cooler heads prevail in this contract and we don't do something rash which would lead to a loss of work and investment. We need to think long term for all of our future,