TigerFan

Another tip about the QOSC's at CAP is that many of us in Final have made a pact that when the elections come rolling around soon that the candidate we back had better be prepared to remove most of the QOSC's. Most are wanabe supervisors and some were. They rat many of us out to the bosses and try to bash former political leaders at CAP and promote current elected officials that make sure they get 7 days for sitting at the tables while we work. It is a mess to be cleaned up.

Yup everything back to normal at CAP. Millions spent to retrain the workforce on how not to harass the membership. First in the training class all elected and salary. Over 140 day supply of Lincoln MKS and Taurus even with $6000 checks in the glove box. Media banned from the plant because they can cause havoc by asking pesky questions about Federal charges. Instead of family tours of the facility now tours given to all the Federal agents. A Union meeting last Sunday in which the CAP Chairman says the Feds have made a mistake and he is back off discipline and in the facility pending a grievance. Yup Decker everything back to normal! CAP normal!!!!

chassisgroupleader you must be mistaken about the rebalance because contractually we are out of the rebalance period so any jobs such as SPC's for example could not be cut until the next rebalance period.

There is a sickness going around Chicago Assembly and it is called Grantitis. Last night many of us witnessed the most pathetic plea for votes by Coby, Hammer and Marcus. They told a whole break room full of mostly entry level that if they vote for Grant the plant would shut down due to lost product. They also stated that if we did not support them raising dues the IUAW would not put product in our plant. The IUAW cried about these tactics at VW but is using the same scare tactics, many of us talked after and ask if they think we are thatstupid? Coby also told us he had gotten 200 people jobs over the last month, he must have forgotten his letter selling FPS in which he gave credit to the former Chairman. The majority of members in that room laughed because they commented that the person they said would cause the plant to be shut down had gotten them jobs. A point 1 young lady made was doesn't Ford place product based on profitability, and who's side was this group on. In my mind it was clear they were on the side of raising dues and scaring the membership!

Imageneral great post, well to further prove your point turns out that a candidate for Chairman last election we add to our legacy. After receiving a wink nod from the IUAW to quit his quality job and they would take care of him if he lost, they followed through and now Nick is on his way North to Detroit.We are being ask to agree to a dues increase and they are adding staff that helps them control the local. Another in a long list of snake oil salesmen that our membership backed, he implemented FPS and now for his payoff, at our expense. All members should think of this as they enter the Hall to vote for candidates and ask who the puppets are and do we finally vote in our best interest.

Dumbfounded you have a good idea who I am, seems that I must be Grant, anybody that calls you on your crying is Grant. So because the plant makes money for Ford we should allow them to do as they wish? There is a certain point where even the most dense individual has to either make an argument in favor of a direction to follow or STFU. Which is it for you? I did not pick to work 12 hours the IUAW agreed to the 12 hour schedule for me so hearing about 11.5 strikes a nerve, production did not stand up for Trades on the long hours we are forced to work.

With my experience of calling my reps and never getting an answer or response except it is the other person's responsibility the litigation does not shock me. Dumbfounded, I like yourself thought the former Chairman was lacking in area's and I voted for most of the current group. What I along with many of the plant members have found out is that it is apparent the former Chairman was the only one keeping a lid on the mess we are living with at Chicago Assembly now. Amazing in what you put about crying I work on Monday's and talk to him and he seems to be pulling for this current group and has to be laughing at the incompetence and lack of grown up with a knowledge of the contract. As I stated to him along with the other group of Electricians with me was we did not know what we had until we got this current group. A growing number of members just hope there is something left to save after the wreckage this crew leaves behind. The civil rights Chair has not called me to investigate my case and it was written up 6 weeks ago and he was not at the Union meeting.

I have a question that I wanted to throw out there for any one at Chicago Assembly now that we are being told tag relief is being scaled back or eliminated after Christmas. This adds up to about 350 members displaced and if we are not tagging then where do these members go and had does this look for our plant, we have only been running 10 hours as it is. When one looks at the days of supply of the Taurus, MKS it is way above the point that is deemed healthy of 60 days, almost double this number. The frustrating point is that there has not been any information put out in the plant in 5 or six months except a Sub-Council report and even in that the Chairman, President and Units did not put down that they stood and voted to raise our Union dues.

Decker, TT is obviously a very bright guy and like you I have not been in school in a long time, but here we go the IUAW had all the foresight as he says and that is why we should be okay with a dues increase? I just have a couple concerns, but with TT that means Union breaker. First off with all of their foresight what happened to the retirees, X-Bonus taken away, for the first time in history no raise to their retirement checks. Clarification of fact the only reason the US Ford plants have product is that we have become the low wage producers of autos, with shipping included. With benefits and wages the average cost per hour is $51 dollars per hour for a UAW-Ford plant, the transplants are about $6 dollars more. So the foresight to suppress our wage structure , no raises, VEBA takes over retiree health care, over 20% Entry Level and LTS in our plants(IUAW even have a weasel clause for this they excluded Rawsonville, Steerling ect.). And finally they want a dues increase to fill the strike coffers, A. where did the fund go it was 1 billion and is now down over 400 million, this same group 4 years ago told the membership we should vote for the 2009 concession package which would have given up the right to strike, except health and safety. TT come out from under the desk and join us in reality!

It is valuable not to be thrown off course when discussing a topic and not change the key factors in determining if a Local Union is on the correct trajectory or off course. I like most individuals at Chicago Assembly could care less about the technicalities of an argument or old grudges between politicians. For anyone trying to parcel words or change the focus I will in my humble opinion redirect the discussion; 1) Did Chicago Assembly Leadership stand at Sub-Council on their own and propose a Union dues increase for the entire UAW rank and file, 2) With the Globally Harmonized System of Classifications being implemented at CAP are we on the same glide path as plants with 2 classifications, 3) When one looks at the balance and expenditures of our Union Hall is it sustainable and a responsible path(1.1 million June 23 to 628 thousand 5 months later), issues about the longevity of the C-Crew and the product being secured for future years. All of the individuals that are trying to bash or kiss ass to gain advantage again humbly these are just a few of the big issues that the membership at Chicago Assembly needs to stay focused on!!!!!

As you stated so well Spring we know who not to vote for to the Constitutional Convention, but you must give it to this crew they are proud of their vote to raise the Union dues for every UAW member in the system. Not to be outdone by that piece of work they accomplished at Sub-Council today at the plant they started teaching the Globally Harmonized Classification classes with Team Leaders and started the FPS on steroids program. It is clear that the UAW as we have known it is officially deceased at this point, the FPS program or 2009 concession package renamed was written by the AD to the VP of the UAW and his wife on the Human Resource side of the company. It is clear now why transplant management teams want the UAW to be in their plant, to drive down wages implement programs that gut work rules such as the FPS program. It should be a gut check for the UAW members that when the employees of these transplants do not want to be represented but the management team wants them, they understand the UAW is a company run Union. But to blame the IUAW is letting us off the hook, we knew who was going to give control of our plant to the Region and International and we followed their lead and now the willing participants from our local have ceded control and fell under the trance of promises of appointed jobs and forgetting who they work for, but they never believed it was the Rank and File. The lack of accountability was in large part because the leaders in Detroit are not elected by the members but delegates and could care less about the wants of the membership but only their future. The scare tactics will be the same as always we have to go along with this or the plant will close, 1 problem with this logic is that the leaders espousing this to the rank and file have nothing but a track record of closing plants, for example it use to be Michigan Truck and Wayne Assembly and now drum roll please Michigan Assembly.

So instead of putting out a retracted Sub-Council report in which our Chairman Coby Millender, President Carlo Bishop, Aaron Straker and Fred Weems explain to the membership why they were the only 4 to stand up and propose raising every UAW members union dues they took the other path; today they have a meeting with all the reps and tried to chastise us for not being on the team and backing them up saying we should show unity. The 4 of them are being smiled to by members but they are getting beat down like no one has at Chicago Assembly in a decade. The most vocal Unit in the meeting Fred Weems or aka ninja most of us have not seen him in 2 months, a golf outing. They ask all of us the number of members in our districts and it turns out they have the bright idea to redistrict to eliminate the Skilled Trades Representative Mike Marzillo. They have the thought that eliminating the skilled trades rep and giving the members to other reps will fly. I certainly am not an expert but over the weekend they moved his things out of his office and gave the space to the company, this made the Dream Team 1 big laughing stalk not only with the members but the company also. Most of us were elected and wanted to try and unify the membership instead the moral is as low as it has ever been, rumors of the C-Crew being eliminated in March and the response from our leaders is we need to be 1. When you have dug yourself into a hole the best thing to do is stop digging, well this squad asked for a bigger shovel!!!!!! And we will not even start to talk about the 400 thousand spent out of our local fund in 4 months, but the Feds will figure that one out, we have a huge mess to figure out on our own.

Not a rumor but on the financial report that was put out at the last Union meeting. Since the swearing in of this administration we went from over $1 million in our account to $600 thousand. Latest item to hit no pun intended is that Friday night our Chairman hit the Labor Representative in front of a dozen witnesses. He ran out of the building and was called to return for the investigation and said he would be back in 20 minutes, still has not shown back up. What has members irate on the floor is at the last Union meeting he stated anyone that fights in the plant he will not help because of CAP's bad reputation. After signing FPS, Voting to raise all of our dues, setting up his family in plum jobs it will be interesting to see what will happen now that the company has got what they wanted out of the Chairman.

Dumbfounded, sorry to burst your bubble but DTP is still open and thriving. And as far as stopping FPS the only 2 individuals that can stop the program is the Plant Manager or the Plant Chairman and I am neither and we in trades know you are not also. By making the statement a plant in our condition you have fallen for the oldest trick in the book "sign and give this up or we are closing". At DTP it worked, at OHAP it worked, and now at CAP it worked! Look at all the plants that have not fallen for the oldest trick in the book and guess what they are open and thriving. The difference is seasoned leaders who know that Ford Motor makes product placement decisions on 1 factor, profitability! Wixon, Atlanta, Norfolk, Lorain, St. Louis amongst a big list of parts facilities signed and went along with every program dejour and guess what they not only closed but it sped up the process, it is not rocket science but economics. The company is eating our lunch and will continue to as long as the mentality is as yours that you just need to give up 1 more thing to save product and jobs. In a period of profits that Ford has never seen before it is pathetic that the concession caucus still has a voice, but at CAP with the vote to increase Union dues by the President, Chairman and Units I can tell you the tolerance for these individuals is on thin ice to say the least.

Well everyone in Skilled Trades knows who dumbfounded is now. We were joking that we will never rob a bank and have him drive the car, he would spill the beans on himself and not have a clue he had done so. Was at the Hall today and the V.P. of the UAW was present and to his credit my 2 questions were answered, was FPS being implemented at Chicago Assembly now and had our Chairman, President, and Units voted for the Union dues increase. The answer was a big yes to both.. I thanked him for his honesty and now this is ! Tradesman that is spreading the word, how we need to vote locally.

Many people complain about Chicago but I must start by saying I have enjoyed most of the members and the fellow tradesman I work with embraced me with open arms. With that being said the last 4 months has been the most disturbing in my 23 years as a UAW member. The following reasons explain the previous statement, I have voted in 7 elections and never have I seen the open corruption that was displayed in the last one. As I went to vote I was directed to a particular voting machine, election officials being paid for months by the winners of the elections after the elections were finished, when one added up the vote totals from the election, the numbers did not add up(and no cracks about trades having plenty of time to look at the vote sheets), a President that bypassed a resume such as mine for an appointed spot and gave it to a member with 6 months seniority, 43 thousand dollars of lost time being paid out last month alone as the Excused Absence method of quieting the troops. On the bright side I have a hard working Skilled Trades Rep that tries to give information to us but against the memberships vote was not allowed to go to sub-council. Then added on top of this you have the Department of Labor investigating the elections and investigations of our finances, from just my experience it is going to get bad before it gets better!