fuzzymoomoo

The past dictates it to a degree. However I feel like there is some sort of middle ground that could be met. It's going to be interesting to see which side ultimately wins out

I had a feeling that's what happened. I heard 0 whispers of anything until break time, and even then it was from one guy.

The problem with that is, its getting increasingly harder to live off of $16/hr. I'm not one of the fools that think Ford's 2nd tier should go up to $27 or whatever their base rate is ( though I would be a fool to not admit that would be nice), I do however think there should be some sort of middle ground met, hell, I would even take moving to a single pay scale, starting at $16 then slowly building to the max rate of $30 or whatever the max rate is.

Very valid points. I knew what I was getting into when I started at Ford last may, that being said, I also know that when 2 tier wages were first agreed on in 2007, it was only meant to be a temporary thing to give all of the big 3 a chance to save some cash and rebound. Now that has happened, there should at the very least be a discussion about going back to a single pay scale. I cant imagine many (if any) plants will strike in Michigan with the new right to work legislation and the uncertainty surrounding that, however I do see it getting a little ugly. Just yesterday at my plant, a bunch of union reps were walking up the line and many people started shouting "one union one pay" at them.

If that's the case I should be getting a phone call soon to come in @ 6am tomorrow instead of 6pmm, Unless they only plan on running 5.5 again.

The article says they supply seats for Explorer and Taurus made at Chicago Assembly Plant

according to that article, they supply Chicago Assembly at that plant. We were sent home today because Body was down again

2015 Focus Job 1 is December 8 last time I checked. You won't see them on dealer lots until February at earliest

It's pretty obvious why, Sales are tanking. People are waiting for the '15 cars and Ford keeps delaying them

The rumors are true, Had it confirmed with a good friend of mine who is high up in the Union at Dearborn Stamping

Seems everything is back running normal. C crew went 10.2 last night

Yes it does, and it's hilarious every time I see it on the line.

That's surprising, I see a bunch of them coming down the line. I wonder if a majority of them are for export to Canada or Mexico (I don't see that information on door line)

yeah, we only worked 8 today. I've heard we might be off tomorrow, maybe Sunday too, I haven't gotten the call yet. Will post when I do

there's an S model too. Not sure the price off hand, will look it up when i get home later

woah what? Has it screwed anything up badly? I want to know if i should bring something to do for some downtime or not for tomorrow morning

last 3 weeks of October. That came from my committee man

That's more like it. Also, You couldn't find a Cruze hatch because it doesn't exist.

Is that for the sedan or hatchback focus? Hatchback adds a premium of about $1500

I would guess its more of features. Ford's pricing seems to be right in line with the others (at least in the case of the Focus), the problem is what does that money get you? GM and Toyota for sure, probably Honda too offer way more for the money

Focus doesn't even have pull on potential Cruze buyers.

I have a guess. A car that's getting stale and for some reason they keep pushing the launch for the new one back farther and farther. It's all the way in December now, when sales trends have been going down all year. Combine that with the fact that when you compare the Focus with just about every other car in its segment, It lacks a lot of the features and has a drastically underwhelming engine/transmission range. I'm not even convinced the '15 Focus is that much better. For as much that was invested in the C segment a few years ago, Ford has really dropped the ball and fallen way behind its competition.

which is why it doesn't make sense for them to acquire the whole plant.

In reading the article, It sounds like Equinox production at Spring Hill is just overflow that Canada can't handle, a-la Fusion at FRAP. That being the case, it would make more sense to build SRX at Spring Hill rather than Mexico, I would think it would save money in shipping costs since I would imagine SRX sells much better here than it does in Mexico.

By that same token, It can also be a good thing that they have a car that appeals to those who could only afford a V-6 Accord or whatever. I don't see a problem with a so called "entry level" car that appeals to the masses. Word of mouth travels fast, maybe these people have friends or family that really like that 1-series and leave a showroom with a 3 or 5-series. As long as BMW doesn't try to get too silly with it, the 1-series shouldn't hurt their brand perception much. It's a lesson that you would think GM would have learned with Caddilac back in the late '80s and early '90s when they tried to pass off a Cavallier as a Caddilac.