AAI to Saline transfers

[deflep1]

AAI's labor relations can't seem to figure out how to transfer people to Saline. We have a group going Monday the 15th, and another on the 22nd. They were held for more than 2 months, and now the next group without a date yet, (May '97 and later), may not get to go for 1-2 months, if ever. We still have '95 seniority in Material Handling who can't leave because no one has trained to take over their job, while '94-'97 people are leaving this and next week. People are being skipped over for job picks because they have NO idea when they get to leave. People are now starting to BACK OUT of transfering, and the union is ok with it. (labor seems ok with it, because it's less paper work and less new people will have to be trained) When workers are asked to transfer, they expect it to be in a matter of weeks, not 6 months. Very few people are signing up to come to AAI on temporary assignment and be lowest seniority plantwide. If we don't get those workers, our workers hoping to go to Saline may be out of luck! Some workers went to Dearborn and then came back here just to be able to transfer to Saline. This is a major league CLUSTERF**K! Hopefully by pressuring the union, this will be resolved very soon. Our workers need a transfer date now! Good luck to everybody trying to go!

[Why42]

When was the posting for Saline ?

 

If your off on Med/Comp can you sign up for transfer ?

[flint]

Some workers went to Dearborn and then came back here just to be able to transfer to Saline.

 

 

 

Are you talking about the group of us that signed up to go to DTP last January? Cause if so, I'd sure like to know who and how many people returned to AAI for Saline. We have been told time and again-AAI won't allow us back for any open jobs. -just curious-

 

Also--any info on how many people are still needed there at AAI?

[Veritas]

No one from DTP has gone back to AAI

[ReDemption]

We still have '95 seniority in Material Handling who can't leave because no one has trained to take over their job, while '94-'97 people are leaving this and next week.

 

Understanding that in order to leave you need manpower for back fill coverage, why hasn’t there been a bid posting in MP&L to cover these brothers and sisters to help speed this process along?

We just had postings in Body Shop and Paint to cover some that are leaving. So when will we see Trim / Plastics / Stamping / MP&L postings for the same or does the contract read different for each department? Or is this selective department only, and if so who did the selecting and why?

 

Please explain, I’ll await your answer Mr. in the know or anybody that could possibly make sense of this.

 

Thanks

[deflep1]

We did have some workers who went to DTP, then signed for Saline. They were put in limbo and didn't report at DTP. They were off for 2 months and then came back to AAI. They are now waiting to see if they get a transfer date for Saline. Some workers got fed up with the waiting and refused to leave once they got their date to go this week. The company is letting them back out, and the next group-- March 23 '97 and later will be able to back out because no one knows a transfer date. Material handling brought back some of their displaced workers from Trim this week, but they still have to train people, so higher seniority Saline transfers will be leaving later than the lower ones who are going the 15th and 22nd of this month. I guess they didn't need to post the jobs, because they knew they were bringing back the workers they displaced in Jan. If you are on medical, the new plant doesn't have to accept you, we have a worker in Unit 17 Trim that signed to go and was injured away from the plant right after that. He's still on medical, but his name was on the Saline transfer list for the 15th. He was already told he probably wouldn't be going. I guess if you got medically cleared before your transfer date, you should be able to go.(Normally you wouldn't get 6 months to heal up before your transfer, but this is AAI we're talking about!) Rumor has it Saline may post 100 more jobs, Milan may post jobs soon, too. This will futher complicate things, as in Trim on B shift some units are getting almost all new people. As an example, we had 51 people in December, and by the end of next month only 7 people would be the same. We have team leaders leaving and are constantly training new people. Labor hates bringing in new people, management hates having inexperienced workers on the assembly line, so they have no incentive to let the rest of the Saline transfers go right in the middle of 2 launches. I wish I had more answers on what's going on, but the company is making up the rules as they go, and then changing those new rules as they see fit. Hopefully this will all be fixed soon.

[ReDemption]

Deflep 1, thanks for trying to answer, but still I have to ask why trim would be getting so many added and yet not one posting put up. You say that the company is doing what ever they want, we’ll what’s the bargaining committee and chair doing about these violations? With using your example of trim getting 51 members last December, where there 10 plant wide postings put up? That’s the contract, the very same contract used to post up 8 bids into body just last week. Also, from what I hear the company hasn’t met task in the body shop and will soon be cutting them. But let me stress that’s floor rumor, I certainly hope our bargaining committee didn’t allow the company to post plant wide into a department they intend to cut just after. No BC has ever been that stupid in the history of our plant, so let’s just say its only floor rumor (for now).

 

Again what about the members that left out of PDI / Stamping / Plastic’s / MP&L and Final? When will we see those bids? Or are you guys just randomly picking what ever department you feel should up hold our contractual language, leaving the others to do as they want? Is it a roll of the dice, a deck of cards hi card pull, a coin flip or what? Please tell us.

 

There are many members (in departments out side of trim) on b-shift awaiting lower seniority units in trim to have openings in order to possibly get to day shift. These members have been violated there contractual right to bid on open jobs. What’s being done about it? According to your information that’s 10 bids that should have went up last December in final and now with the people coming into the plant to back fill the saline members leaving, that’s at least anther 10 bids. So is it safe to say that approximately 20 seniority members have been violated there contractual rights to bid and a shot at finally getting to day shift?

[deflep1]

Redemption, I wasn't saying 51 people came into trim in December, I was saying that of the 51 people in our unit (B shift) as of last December, only 7 will remain if all that signed up to transfer to Saline leave. Almost half went to Dearborn after Christmas, and 16 are leaving for Saline. 10 displaced workers are going back to home units right now. 5 of us will be able to go to day shift, so this means almost the entire unit will be new people in a time frame of 6 months. We got a lot of displaced workers(from MP&L, Body etc.) after Christmas to replace all the Dearborn transfers. Most of them are returning to their home departments. Sorry if there was confusion, it's actually hard to explain to people how much turnover we've had in a short time. You are correct about the rules for job postings being inconsistent, when our rules should be followed. Sometimes I think the company just pulls rules out of their ass and does what they want. 11 of the 12 people on days in my unit going to Saline are leaving in the next week. 1 person backed out, and a few people on nights are planning on backing out when they finally get their transfer date. I usually know what the the rules are, what the contract says, and I try to give out correct information. Now we get different answers from labor, the union, management, and it changes all the time. I'm not going to pretend to have all this figured out, it just causes too much stress. We need to keep the company honest, but the union has to do more to pressure them to get things done right. We workers are wasting too much time trying to get the company to follow the contract, the union should do that. I hope I made our situation a little clearer.

[AAIFactoryRat]

plain and simple, before new people in the plant are placed, bids should be put up. If you have new employees being placed in depts then that dept should be posted. Where are these "new hire" "temporary assingment" or whatever the hell they are working at now?