Avenger

Well, we know the media will go to that clown once there is an agreement. I hope something happens and he gets smart enough to keep quiet. Gary makes all union members look bad with his complaining.

What? Is this true? Reagan went after PATCO right after they supported him. He stabbed us in the back! How could any union member anywhere support this guy?

You are right, many of us need product and job security. I can live without getting everything back right now. I can't live without my job.

Len, you are right. We haven't done a good job promoting ourselves about who we are and what we do. I think that is changing, but we are not there yet and it still needs a lot of work. My local does a lot for the community, for seniors and veterans, etc. But, it is rarely in the media. On the flip side, the media shows our good wages and benefits and then shows a few people like Gary as our alternative "leader" talking about we need all our money back right now. This is in a nation with 9% unemployment, wages that have dropped and people who have little to no benefits. So, the media shows us as greedy bastards to the public.

I am pretty sure the Mustang is a Ford product and its built at AAI.

Rawsonville definitely has been screwed in the past. But, most of the jobs agreed to in the last contract Ford has brought in. So, there is job security. We have to hope that Rawsonville gets more work in this agreement. If what you say is true, why hasn't Ford outsourced all its work to other countries?

Agreed.

Or they go to Gary as one of our "representatives". Yep, that's the media for you, not doing its job and making us look bad.

We need to work for the membership! Not just one plant or another plant, but for all our members.

When you think you are a big shot, you lose your connection to the rest of us. Gary has been made big time by the media and others. We are the little ones in his tail lights now.

Yep, you are right, we need more products. That leads to job security.

Job security is the key. We need to see that as our #1 issue.

Thank you. Your post makes a lot of sense. I like what the UAW has done for me and don't mind the pay or benefits. We could be a lot worse off.

I agree we need to keep our Union Brothers and Sisters working, I disagree that the IUAW has 'no input'. They obviously do and have been succesful in bringing work into our plants since the 2007 contract. Bringing work back from Mexico was a steal for the membership. That is something I would have thought to be impossible. I highly doubt GM or any other company would freely and willingly bring work back from a low cost country like Mexico to the USA. The IUAW obviously had a huge impact in that decision. btw if there were no UAW, you and me wouldn't have jobs at the high pay and benefits we currently ahve.

It looks like Marchionne blew this one. He tried to look tough, but ended up looking dumb.

Obviously way off on your information.

It will be great if we can get jobs back from Mexico. That is a positive in my book.

I hope the negotiators can keep our jobs. Job security for me and my plant is the biggest issue. Fight like hell and good luck!

I think most of us are waiting to see what's in the agreement before we rush to judgement. I am in a plant that needs work and am not in good shape like you, or Gary at DTP for that matter. If I was in a truck plant, I probably wouldn't have any worries about the future. But, I am not in one. It is easy to complain about many things when you are sitting on top of the heap and are in good shape. For many of us, new work and job security is what we need.

This is amazing because in my plant we see Gary's letters about Two Tier wages and they need to be raised to Traditional wages at this contract and now he is saying: ''We can't put the companies at a disadvantage by asking for more than the transplants are paying." Some of the transplants aren't even paying the second tier wages. Is he saying the second tier should even be lower or that there should be a third tier? No wonder this guy doesn't make sense.

You really can't use Ford as a good example to the government. In fact, the Republicans are trying to do to the country what Ford did to many of its employees during the 2000's. Bad decisions by corporate leadership (or Republican leadership during the 2000's) meant that contracts had to be renegotiated numerous times and many salaried people were fired. Similar to what the Republicans are doing today. Just because Ford is doing better because it got rid of more than 60,000 employees because of poor leadership decisions doesn't make what they did right.

How did the Bush family get rich? It is a very fascinating history going back to dealing with the Nazi's to today with George W. Bush "buying" property surrounding fresh water in South America and then as President stationing US troops in the area.

Let's hope he continues throughout the playoffs. Too bad he had some no decisions earlier in the year or he could be reaching 30 wins.