A Letter From Gary Walkowicz

[lquidspine]

:. . . I agree with you, that all the membership shouldn't vote for the UAW president, since corruption would come out of the walls. . .

How would there be more corruption with the rank and file being able to vote on the top officers?

 

Are you insinuating that the UAW is any less corrupt than any other major union in the country(which all other major unions do have "one man one vote") ?

[DTPrt]

How would there be more corruption with the rank and file being able to vote on the top officers?

 

Are you insinuating that the UAW is any less corrupt than any other major union in the country(which all other major unions do have "one man one vote") ?

When I hired in, we were wined and dined and had promises made to us individuals to convince others to lean a certain way. . . People were hurt physically in rare cases that showed us to move in a certain direction. . . The UAW is a force!!! . . . Much has changed for the better, but the rank and file are still followers and will be for a time. . . Don't misunderstand me. There are some of you that are quite intelligent and could move into the ranks. . . Your posts have shown that you may be one that could move us in the right direction.

[1993Stang]

I read your post and understand it clearly..I KNOW he had no possibility of winning(thank god)...my point is that he did it for political advantage..I work at his plant and have expirienced his election campaigns In my opinion he is an old school diehard whose methods and way of looking at the industry are out dated..What good did he do the union by running? Is him having run going to change the unions strategy in the new contract one bit? Lets call a spade a spade he did it for votes in his own plant..he is appealing to the SMALL base of supporters he has

 

Yes, Gary is old school, way back to the old DAP that used to say "No" to concessions as he is still clearly doing today. So let me get this straight... you are o.k. with the new school, the one that gives up on the membership in order to please the corporations, o.k. with give backs and what the union has fought so hard for in the past, o.k. with your hourly wage being frozen while the retirees pay more in health care on a fixed income?

 

What strategy do you speak of? You mean the strategy of taking back what the membership has lost because he feels the membershiop deserves it? How stupid are you? All of you follow like sheep and continue to jump and say how high when the corporations continue to send your work to a foreign country and pay the new hires half the wages. Again, your union leaders are like lawyers, sort of like fighting for their client, weather guilty of not, their job should be to fight as hard as they can for their membership for that is what they are getting paid to do. What is it that you do not understabd? Don't give me the, well I'm still working BS because their are only 36,000 hourly Ford people left to pay. The membership is a quarter of what is was when I started back in the day.

 

Yes, voting him would change the strategy from Yes to "NOOOOOO" Last questions, how did you like that profit that Ford posted right after asking you all for concessions, how do you like that Ford is spending 450 million in Thailand for a new plant, how do you like the fact that you said "Yes" to a vote for concessions and did not admit that after the way you voted. Bet you said you voted "No" come on admit it. You followed like sheep, wouldn't go against the Leadership, you were willing to give up more and after they returned stuff to salaried you said it did not matter. Give me a break, YOU HYPOCRITE! Lets call the spade of spade, he did it for the membership, fool. It you would like I'm sure the salaried personnel would love to know that you are willing to work for $14 hour to save them some dough.

[louie]

Yes, Gary is old school, way back to the old DAP that used to say "No" to concessions as he is still clearly doing today. So let me get this straight... you are o.k. with the new school, the one that gives up on the membership in order to please the corporations, o.k. with give backs and what the union has fought so hard for in the past, o.k. with your hourly wage being frozen while the retirees pay more in health care on a fixed income?

 

What strategy do you speak of? You mean the strategy of taking back what the membership has lost because he feels the membershiop deserves it? How stupid are you? All of you follow like sheep and continue to jump and say how high when the corporations continue to send your work to a foreign country and pay the new hires half the wages. Again, your union leaders are like lawyers, sort of like fighting for their client, weather guilty of not, their job should be to fight as hard as they can for their membership for that is what they are getting paid to do. What is it that you do not understabd? Don't give me the, well I'm still working BS because their are only 36,000 hourly Ford people left to pay. The membership is a quarter of what is was when I started back in the day.

 

Yes, voting him would change the strategy from Yes to "NOOOOOO" Last questions, how did you like that profit that Ford posted right after asking you all for concessions, how do you like that Ford is spending 450 million in Thailand for a new plant, how do you like the fact that you said "Yes" to a vote for concessions and did not admit that after the way you voted. Bet you said you voted "No" come on admit it. You followed like sheep, wouldn't go against the Leadership, you were willing to give up more and after they returned stuff to salaried you said it did not matter. Give me a break, YOU HYPOCRITE! Lets call the spade of spade, he did it for the membership, fool. It you would like I'm sure the salaried personnel would love to know that you are willing to work for $14 hour to save them some dough.

 

If it wasnt for us taking consessions and lowering our labor rates the company would continue to outsource to lower waged markets.

 

The UAW is not the problem.

 

The UAW makes us attractive to continue to invest in the USA. This country has no manufacturing policy to keep work in the USA. Our politicians are the problem.

 

Do you really think the UAW was OK with losing 40,000 dues paying members as a way to bend for the company?

 

Do you think the UAW proposed these consessions to benefit the company or its Members?

 

Do you think that Ford could have been competitive at $70 per hour while GM, Chrysler and the Transplants operate at $45-$50 range?

 

Do you think Ford would have continued to bring the Cmax, Kuga, New Mustang, New Taurus, New Explorer, New F150, New Escape and New Focus without a competative labor rate?

 

You better call your local and thank them for protecting you, me and the retirees!!!!

 

If it wasnt for the UAW GM, Chrysler and Ford would have very little if any US manufacturing in the US within 5 years.....

 

Educate yourself............ and soon you will thank our UNION instaead of cursing them...

Edited July 6, 2010 by louie

[DTPrt]

Yes, Gary is old school, way back to the old DAP that used to say "No" to concessions as he is still clearly doing today. So let me get this straight... you are o.k. with the new school, the one that gives up on the membership in order to please the corporations, o.k. with give backs and what the union has fought so hard for in the past, o.k. with your hourly wage being frozen while the retirees pay more in health care on a fixed income?

 

What strategy do you speak of? You mean the strategy of taking back what the membership has lost because he feels the membershiop deserves it? How stupid are you? All of you follow like sheep and continue to jump and say how high when the corporations continue to send your work to a foreign country and pay the new hires half the wages. Again, your union leaders are like lawyers, sort of like fighting for their client, weather guilty of not, their job should be to fight as hard as they can for their membership for that is what they are getting paid to do. What is it that you do not understabd? Don't give me the, well I'm still working BS because their are only 36,000 hourly Ford people left to pay. The membership is a quarter of what is was when I started back in the day.

 

Yes, voting him would change the strategy from Yes to "NOOOOOO" Last questions, how did you like that profit that Ford posted right after asking you all for concessions, how do you like that Ford is spending 450 million in Thailand for a new plant, how do you like the fact that you said "Yes" to a vote for concessions and did not admit that after the way you voted. Bet you said you voted "No" come on admit it. You followed like sheep, wouldn't go against the Leadership, you were willing to give up more and after they returned stuff to salaried you said it did not matter. Give me a break, YOU HYPOCRITE! Lets call the spade of spade, he did it for the membership, fool. It you would like I'm sure the salaried personnel would love to know that you are willing to work for $14 hour to save them some dough.

Your post is soooo correct . . . But don't be so harsh 'Stang' . . . Yes, you and I have seen the give backs at our expense over the years and I'm assuming that you knew of Gary and our local for sometime. . . Yes, the union leaders are like lawyers and yes, the membership are like sheep. That's why I said to 'liquid' the same thing. Our membership has been changing for quite sometime. . . There are new ones to this local who have the courage to make this union better. . . They are smart, intelligent, but just need good direction. . . Many of the ones who left with the Buy-outs could have helped, but many new ones arrived after they left. You know very well that none of the membership would want to work for $14 per hour. I'm sure it stings them to hear that salaried got some of their giveups, back. . . This new membership is now going to have to hire the new lawyers for the union and it begins with the new rank and file. . . It's a growing process and it starts in the plant.

[1993Stang]

Your post is soooo correct . . . But don't be so harsh 'Stang' . . . Yes, you and I have seen the give backs at our expense over the years and I'm assuming that you knew of Gary and our local for sometime. . . Yes, the union leaders are like lawyers and yes, the membership are like sheep. That's why I said to 'liquid' the same thing. Our membership has been changing for quite sometime. . . There are new ones to this local who have the courage to make this union better. . . They are smart, intelligent, but just need good direction. . . Many of the ones who left with the Buy-outs could have helped, but many new ones arrived after they left. You know very well that none of the membership would want to work for $14 per hour. I'm sure it stings them to hear that salaried got some of their giveups, back. . . This new membership is now going to have to hire the new lawyers for the union and it begins with the new rank and file. . . It's a growing process and it starts in the plant.

 

We are on the same page, buyouts helped to lower cost but to add on more cost savings by asking for more concessions, after half the membership disappeared, well that is just adding more salt to an open wound. New lawyers not a bad idea but maybe I favor the old way of doing business. Where are these new lawyers? Do they really know what the union stands for. If there were new lawyers why would Gary have to be so vocal? Gary is all for showing direction. I'm sorry but the IUAW has taken a u-turn toward the wrong direction. Why it so hard for people to say "No'. Why is it so easy for people to be bamboozled into pure B.S.?

 

Now the business is doing better so one side only gets the benefit? Why? Look the idiot above thinks I am cursing the IUAW, please, I am only cursing the way they are fighting against their membership. Personally I really like Bob King, seriously, I do but what the hell happened? The buyouts happened, some left and wanted a different way of life, some for personal reasons, but the ones who are left should try to respect the ones who continue to fight the batlle and not the ones selling out to big corps. If there are going to be new lawyers then learn from the best, the most experienced, the ones who show courage, continue to fight for what is best for the members. Let the newbies read about what happened on that bridge so they appreciate what they have today.

 

Let me make this simple for the guy who thinks I lack education (above statment) as I took as much ETAP money as one person could get their hands on.

The play by play in case we forgot:

 

Concession: Lets re-open the contract once again and give up more.

Speaches: Let's let the IUAW visit the plants and sell us on why this is great for the membership.

Vote: Let's hope the membership votes for more concessions because this is what the IUAW wanted.

Corporation: Lets hope the company becomes profitable so that the salary get back what they feel they are entitled to and ignore the hourly and giveback nothing.

Con Convention: Let us sit back and watch the IUAW give themselves back what they gave up plus a raise because we all know they deserve it.

Finally: Let us all vote for the same very leadership that begged for concessions from the membership, asked for their raises to be returned and recieved it (IUAW), continued to say very little after they were clearly wrong about asking for the concessions in the first place, and be o.k. with the company crying POOR while building yet another brand new 450 Million dollar facility in Thailand while $$ucking the retirees after what they were originally promised.

 

And the guy or girl above thinks I need a better education, seriously? How did this not divide the memebership? I tell you how it was divided $28/$14 by half.

 

I

[messy marvin lang]

I love the people who complain "Ford is building a plant in another country"..Ya no shit dip shit..its a global company now and they have to invest in the asian market as it is the fastest bgrowing in the world..should we stay out of that lucrative market and invest in the US where we have excess capacity?? Thank god morons like you dont run the company..get your mindset into the modern global auto industry..you are living in an isolationist past...dinosaurs

[1993Stang]

I love the people who complain "Ford is building a plant in another country"..Ya no shit dip shit..its a global company now and they have to invest in the asian market as it is the fastest bgrowing in the world..should we stay out of that lucrative market and invest in the US where we have excess capacity?? Thank god morons like you dont run the company..get your mindset into the modern global auto industry..you are living in an isolationist past...dinosaurs

 

Oh I get globalization, get it, know it, understand it my friend. My bitch is not that we don't have to invest in asian markets, my bitch is when a company cries "I'm broke", do we really need to have one group of employees take concessions so we can build an empire somewhere else? I'm sorry my Messy Marvin salaried wanna be friend, but those are the facts. I know the company needs to invest to continue to be a viable company. Thank God Morons like you will not run the company because to run a company spelling might be the first thing they look for on your application.

 

Marvin, the salaried folks are waiting to save more money, give them a call and tell them that you are interested in giving up half your hourly wage so they can continue to invest somewhere else. Tell them that you feel motivated enough to make it on $14 hour wages and that you are looking out for the best interest of the company. Step up to the plate if you really want to help the company out Marvin and tell them you no longer need those health care benefits. Money saved from cuts to the hourly, maybe just a guess, but somewhere in the ballpark of 450 Mil???? Sounds like a familiar number doesn't it.... Marvy?? ETAP has returned, take advantage of this absolutely wonderful benefit and get your own self educated. I suggest International Affairs, you will witness the real gritty on how the people in the factories work, live, and eat near toxic dumps. What wages they will earn and how sick most will become.

[louie]

Oh I get globalization, get it, know it, understand it my friend. My bitch is not that we don't have to invest in asian markets, my bitch is when a company cries "I'm broke", do we really need to have one group of employees take concessions so we can build an empire somewhere else? I'm sorry my Messy Marvin salaried wanna be friend, but those are the facts. I know the company needs to invest to continue to be a viable company. Thank God Morons like you will not run the company because to run a company spelling might be the first thing they look for on your application.

 

Marvin, the salaried folks are waiting to save more money, give them a call and tell them that you are interested in giving up half your hourly wage so they can continue to invest somewhere else. Tell them that you feel motivated enough to make it on $14 hour wages and that you are looking out for the best interest of the company. Step up to the plate if you really want to help the company out Marvin and tell them you no longer need those health care benefits. Money saved from cuts to the hourly, maybe just a guess, but somewhere in the ballpark of 450 Mil???? Sounds like a familiar number doesn't it.... Marvy?? ETAP has returned, take advantage of this absolutely wonderful benefit and get your own self educated. I suggest International Affairs, you will witness the real gritty on how the people in the factories work, live, and eat near toxic dumps. What wages they will earn and how sick most will become.

 

 

Glad youre not President of the UAW. Your resolve is the same as Gary. Do nothing. Thank God for the UAW making us competative and keeping our job security alive and well with competative lablor costs. If we would have stayed at $70 dollars per hour we would have lost every new launch to lower markets. Within 5 years there would be 15,000 UAW members and shinking.

 

Youre hatred needs to be funneled to politians and their lack of providing fair trade and a industrial policy.

 

Doing nothing would cost not only jobs but loss of pension to our retirees.

 

Why dont you study general economics with etap. Maybe then you will see the real problem lies within our own elected officials

 

Once again thank God for the UAW.

[1993Stang]

Glad youre not President of the UAW. Your resolve is the same as Gary. Do nothing. Thank God for the UAW making us competative and keeping our job security alive and well with competative lablor costs. If we would have stayed at $70 dollars per hour we would have lost every new launch to lower markets. Within 5 years there would be 15,000 UAW members and shinking.

 

Youre hatred needs to be funneled to politians and their lack of providing fair trade and a industrial policy.

 

Doing nothing would cost not only jobs but loss of pension to our retirees.

 

Why dont you study general economics with etap. Maybe then you will see the real problem lies within our own elected officials

 

Once again thank God for the UAW.

 

Spoken like a true "Yes" man for sure. You need not only a class in econ but maybe a class in statistics would do wonders for you also. What hatred? I am totally lost on that comment. Barrack and Allen met just recently to talk about EXPORTING more product. Product, not our jobs, product. Doing nothing? What nothing? Tons of people walked away with buyouts. This did not help the company in any way at all? Are you serious? This set the company up to backfill all those workers with lower paid workers. Damn buddy how much help do they need? The membership is already competitive? Louie, you and all others floor me with that $70/hr comment seriously? Who in there right mind discusses their salary on top of benefits and then lumps them together to get an hourly rate? Because the benefits are so good you lump that into the hourly rate and repeat that over and over and over. Louis, seriously were you making an hourly salary of $70/hour? Losing launches to lower markets you mean like the "FIESTA"? If the union falls further my friend it isn't over wages, it's over that political banter that says "The labor unions are ruining the country" "They make $70/hour and are not competitive" "All States should have right to work States". Finally, if your statement reads that the U.A.W. would have only 15K union members and shrinking after 5 years then why would the IUAW give themselves a raise? Are they worried about this so called competition? Thank God for the U.A.W. membership (we are on both sides here) its the leadership I am worried about as I have discussed in my previous post. Fortunately for you ETAP was restored so you can take accounting to add up all those dollars that the IUAW received Your check will be easy because your wages have been frozen : )

[Pulse]

 

 

If there are candidates that are qualified to run our Union, then let them run. But for all those that are patriciating Gary...you are missing the fact that you don't send the village idiot out to try and prove a point. Think about it...

 

Like I said...

[louie]

Spoken like a true "Yes" man for sure. You need not only a class in econ but maybe a class in statistics would do wonders for you also. What hatred? I am totally lost on that comment. Barrack and Allen met just recently to talk about EXPORTING more product. Product, not our jobs, product. Doing nothing? What nothing? Tons of people walked away with buyouts. This did not help the company in any way at all? Are you serious? This set the company up to backfill all those workers with lower paid workers. Damn buddy how much help do they need? The membership is already competitive? Louie, you and all others floor me with that $70/hr comment seriously? Who in there right mind discusses their salary on top of benefits and then lumps them together to get an hourly rate? Because the benefits are so good you lump that into the hourly rate and repeat that over and over and over. Louis, seriously were you making an hourly salary of $70/hour? Losing launches to lower markets you mean like the "FIESTA"? If the union falls further my friend it isn't over wages, it's over that political banter that says "The labor unions are ruining the country" "They make $70/hour and are not competitive" "All States should have right to work States". Finally, if your statement reads that the U.A.W. would have only 15K union members and shrinking after 5 years then why would the IUAW give themselves a raise? Are they worried about this so called competition? Thank God for the U.A.W. membership (we are on both sides here) its the leadership I am worried about as I have discussed in my previous post. Fortunately for you ETAP was restored so you can take accounting to add up all those dollars that the IUAW received Your check will be easy because your wages have been frozen : )

 

 

Spoken like a true "Yes" man for sure. You need not only a class in econ but maybe a class in statistics would do wonders for you also. What hatred? I am totally lost on that comment. Barrack and Allen met just recently to talk about EXPORTING more product. Product, not our jobs, product.

 

Yes, the UAW negotiated a competitive labor rate which we approved in March 2009. This also paved the way for GM and Chrysler showing the auto task force we can compete with the transplants and we can be competitive in starting to export which we haven’t done large volumes in years. The March 2009 modifications will be historic, it was our turning point to job security. With these new rates we will see greater job security in exporting.

 

Doing nothing? What nothing? Tons of people walked away with buyouts.

 

Doing nothing means just that. Thinking everything is ok with $70 per hour rates and doing nothing would have put us in distiction.

I won’t speak on behalf of the UAW but I don’t think the buyouts were negotiated to benefit the company, I do believe they negotiated to benefit members that wanted to leave and make room for lower seniority that wanted to stay with the company and avoid layoffs. The UAW did this for the members. Not one member was forced into a buyout. Buyouts were voluntary. The UAW lost huge amounts of dues paying members when this happened. Again, it was to benefit the members not the UAW.

 

This did not help the company in any way at all? Are you serious? This set the company up to backfill all those workers with lower paid workers. Damn buddy how much help do they need?

 

They don’t need help, we needed the help for job security. Nothing more, job security

.

The membership is already competitive? Louie, you and all others floor me with that $70/hr comment seriously?

 

Yes, Since March of 2009. This is sore with me also but it is a true fact. The UAW fixed this so we have greater job security.

Who in their right mind discusses their salary on top of benefits and then lumps them together to get an hourly rate? Again I don’t like the 70 per hour comparison but it was our rate to argue to keep work in the USA. The UAW did this for us not the company. When the UAW negotiates product they no longer have to use the 70 dollar rate they can use the 45-50 dollar rate and gain product and job security for us. This will be important if we strike in 2011.

 

Because the benefits are so good you lump that into the hourly rate and repeat that over and over and over. Louis, seriously were you making an hourly salary of $70/hour?

 

Not anymore we are at 45-50 dollar range.

 

If the union falls further my friend it isn't over wages, it's over that political banter that says "The labor unions are ruining the country" "They make $70/hour and are not competitive" "All States should have right to work States"

.

We no longer are charged the $70 rate its now $45-$50.

 

Finally, if your statement reads that the U.A.W. would have only 15K union members and shrinking after 5 years then why would the IUAW give them a raise?

 

There was a posting on here that stated the IUAW had the same concessions’ we had. True or not I don’t know. The post stated the raises only brought their wages back to half of what they gave up. Don’t know for a fact but it would seem true because of the loss of membership.

 

Are they worried about this so called competition?

 

I do believe they see our job security diminish if we are not competitive. We are competitive now and this will give them the negotiating leverage to continue to keep and gain product in the USA.

 

 

Thank God for the U.A.W. membership (we are on both sides here) it’s the leadership I am worried about as I have discussed in my previous post.

 

We agree that the UAW is a blessing but I see no problem with the leadership. I was so proud when I heard Gettlefinger standing up for us in the hearings. The leadership saved GM and Chrysler. Don’t take it lightly, they pulled off a miracle saving hourly retirees pension and healthcare and ultimately saving us in the mix. Again I am proud of this union and can clearly see them making all of these decisions for US not the company. I do agree we should challenge the leadership when we don’t understand or question them. Heck I will call the local, region and/or the international when I question their direction. I educate myself instead of flying off half cocked on rhetoric that the IUAW is crooked or there for the company. I have been in this Union too long to hear your accusations go unchallenged. I don’t mind the discussion but when you make statements like this it gets my blood pressure boiling.

Peace

[1993Stang]

Spoken like a true "Yes" man for sure. You need not only a class in econ but maybe a class in statistics would do wonders for you also. What hatred? I am totally lost on that comment. Barrack and Allen met just recently to talk about EXPORTING more product. Product, not our jobs, product.

 

Yes, the UAW negotiated a competitive labor rate which we approved in March 2009. This also paved the way for GM and Chrysler showing the auto task force we can compete with the transplants and we can be competitive in starting to export which we haven’t done large volumes in years. The March 2009 modifications will be historic, it was our turning point to job security. With these new rates we will see greater job security in exporting.

 

Doing nothing? What nothing? Tons of people walked away with buyouts.

 

Doing nothing means just that. Thinking everything is ok with $70 per hour rates and doing nothing would have put us in distiction.

I won’t speak on behalf of the UAW but I don’t think the buyouts were negotiated to benefit the company, I do believe they negotiated to benefit members that wanted to leave and make room for lower seniority that wanted to stay with the company and avoid layoffs. The UAW did this for the members. Not one member was forced into a buyout. Buyouts were voluntary. The UAW lost huge amounts of dues paying members when this happened. Again, it was to benefit the members not the UAW.

 

This did not help the company in any way at all? Are you serious? This set the company up to backfill all those workers with lower paid workers. Damn buddy how much help do they need?

 

They don’t need help, we needed the help for job security. Nothing more, job security

.

The membership is already competitive? Louie, you and all others floor me with that $70/hr comment seriously?

 

Yes, Since March of 2009. This is sore with me also but it is a true fact. The UAW fixed this so we have greater job security.

Who in their right mind discusses their salary on top of benefits and then lumps them together to get an hourly rate? Again I don’t like the 70 per hour comparison but it was our rate to argue to keep work in the USA. The UAW did this for us not the company. When the UAW negotiates product they no longer have to use the 70 dollar rate they can use the 45-50 dollar rate and gain product and job security for us. This will be important if we strike in 2011.

 

Because the benefits are so good you lump that into the hourly rate and repeat that over and over and over. Louis, seriously were you making an hourly salary of $70/hour?

 

Not anymore we are at 45-50 dollar range.

 

If the union falls further my friend it isn't over wages, it's over that political banter that says "The labor unions are ruining the country" "They make $70/hour and are not competitive" "All States should have right to work States"

.

We no longer are charged the $70 rate its now $45-$50.

 

Finally, if your statement reads that the U.A.W. would have only 15K union members and shrinking after 5 years then why would the IUAW give them a raise?

 

There was a posting on here that stated the IUAW had the same concessions’ we had. True or not I don’t know. The post stated the raises only brought their wages back to half of what they gave up. Don’t know for a fact but it would seem true because of the loss of membership.

 

Are they worried about this so called competition?

 

I do believe they see our job security diminish if we are not competitive. We are competitive now and this will give them the negotiating leverage to continue to keep and gain product in the USA.

 

 

Thank God for the U.A.W. membership (we are on both sides here) it’s the leadership I am worried about as I have discussed in my previous post.

 

We agree that the UAW is a blessing but I see no problem with the leadership. I was so proud when I heard Gettlefinger standing up for us in the hearings. The leadership saved GM and Chrysler. Don’t take it lightly, they pulled off a miracle saving hourly retirees pension and healthcare and ultimately saving us in the mix. Again I am proud of this union and can clearly see them making all of these decisions for US not the company. I do agree we should challenge the leadership when we don’t understand or question them. Heck I will call the local, region and/or the international when I question their direction. I educate myself instead of flying off half cocked on rhetoric that the IUAW is crooked or there for the company. I have been in this Union too long to hear your accusations go unchallenged. I don’t mind the discussion but when you make statements like this it gets my blood pressure boiling.

Peace

We agree to disagree. Let me just ask you one question? Why on earth would the IUAW ask for more and try to re-open up the contract once again? Why (tick tock) I'm waiting? The membership stood together on this one Louie (Thank God). While you voted "yes" I'm sure, the membership said "No". They even booed your so called IUAW worshiping Leader for this! Why did they BOO ..because they felt that once again the union was "NOT' doing right for the membership? Simple as that. Period. End of story. Am I wrong? Fast forward to the convention, do you see why the membership would have a little distrust in the leadership after that? Not a mention of, hey we were dead wrong! Nothing, just another rah rah vote for the same IUAW leadership. Give me a break! They were wrong, the membership knew they were wrong, and the sheep finally lost that vote : ) As the other poster pointed out, run for President, if I could, I would be honored and guess what I would do it for FREE. Yes, FREE. No Salary, no benefits, FREE! How many people would feel so strongly about a cause and not want to take nothing from the membership. Did I say FREE? yep, FREE. It floors me that people absolutely insult someone else for voicing their opinion in favor of the membership. Including Gary. Why on earth do people act like that is beyond me? Sorry that would be the lawyer dying to come out of me, protect the membership at all cost but again for FREE.

 

Use those health benefits to get that blood pressure down. It isn't worth having a heart attack over.

[DTPrt]

We agree to disagree. Let me just ask you one question? Why on earth would the IUAW ask for more and try to re-open up the contract once again? Why (tick tock) I'm waiting? The membership stood together on this one Louie (Thank God). While you voted "yes" I'm sure, the membership said "No". They even booed your so called IUAW worshiping Leader for this! Why did they BOO ..because they felt that once again the union was "NOT' doing right for the membership? Simple as that. Period. End of story. Am I wrong? Fast forward to the convention, do you see why the membership would have a little distrust in the leadership after that? Not a mention of, hey we were dead wrong! Nothing, just another rah rah vote for the same IUAW leadership. Give me a break! They were wrong, the membership knew they were wrong, and the sheep finally lost that vote : ) As the other poster pointed out, run for President, if I could, I would be honored and guess what I would do it for FREE. Yes, FREE. No Salary, no benefits, FREE! How many people would feel so strongly about a cause and not want to take nothing from the membership. Did I say FREE? yep, FREE. It floors me that people absolutely insult someone else for voicing their opinion in favor of the membership. Including Gary. Why on earth do people act like that is beyond me? Sorry that would be the lawyer dying to come out of me, protect the membership at all cost but again for FREE.

 

Use those health benefits to get that blood pressure down. It isn't worth having a heart attack over.

:shades: Well said . . . 'Stang'

[1993Stang]

:shades: Well said . . . 'Stang'

 

 

Thank You for your support : )

[louie]

We agree to disagree. Let me just ask you one question? Why on earth would the IUAW ask for more and try to re-open up the contract once again? Why (tick tock) I'm waiting? The membership stood together on this one Louie (Thank God). While you voted "yes" I'm sure, the membership said "No". They even booed your so called IUAW worshiping Leader for this! Why did they BOO ..because they felt that once again the union was "NOT' doing right for the membership? Simple as that. Period. End of story. Am I wrong? Fast forward to the convention, do you see why the membership would have a little distrust in the leadership after that? Not a mention of, hey we were dead wrong! Nothing, just another rah rah vote for the same IUAW leadership. Give me a break! They were wrong, the membership knew they were wrong, and the sheep finally lost that vote : ) As the other poster pointed out, run for President, if I could, I would be honored and guess what I would do it for FREE. Yes, FREE. No Salary, no benefits, FREE! How many people would feel so strongly about a cause and not want to take nothing from the membership. Did I say FREE? yep, FREE. It floors me that people absolutely insult someone else for voicing their opinion in favor of the membership. Including Gary. Why on earth do people act like that is beyond me? Sorry that would be the lawyer dying to come out of me, protect the membership at all cost but again for FREE.

 

Use those health benefits to get that blood pressure down. It isn't worth having a heart attack over.

 

I have been speaking on the March modifications and the UAW protecting our jobs by being proactive making us competitive.

 

I was comparing the $70 wage rate by doing nothing would have put us into pasture.

 

I am stating the UAW has protected me, you and the retirees thru job security.

 

Why you ask would the UAW reopen the agreement again? I would just guess to answer for the additional investments and more job security.

 

Say what you will about the Union. You will not hear me slam the very institution that protects me, you and the retirees.

 

As I have said earlier. If I question the leadership I will call and ask. I educate myself.

[ReDemption]

Listen, stop posting up time and time again we took concessions for job security. What planet are you from? When we accepted the 2007 mods, we lost the JSP program, our job security was gone period!! I dont care how much you believe that with the concessions we took, we are saved or viable. We are not my friends, even at 14 an hour we are not safe in comparability. Add liability, retirement and health care and youre at 40 and hour. Go to 0 an hour for hourly labor wages and your still at 26 an hour. The problem is not Labors hourly pay rate, its all about benefit costs, health care costs, taxes and liability costs. Im sure Ive missed some other costs enforced on American manufacturing companies but you get the point.

 

Simply said, without our representatives addressing manufacturing costs in the US, we as laborers are doomed. We as a Union need to start banding together and along with our International representatives force our state representatives and our US Government to help save our American manufacturing jobs.

 

We need to have health care cost incentives, direct shipping tax rebates, property tax incentives, building tax incentives, health care kick backs for amount of employees.

We need to start addressing the real problem in this country, and thats GREED. This greed includes pharmaceutical costs, health care costs, manufacturing costs and total liability costs.

We need to address the infrastructure of NAFTA and either every other country accepts the same rules or we are done with it.

 

This country has been brought to its knees before and American leaders with great minds put it back on its feet. They all in campaign preach change, I agree that change is needed for sure but the change would be to start looking out for us, the American people and our way of life.

 

Be Good

Edited July 7, 2010 by ReDemption

[louie]

Listen, stop posting up time and time again we took concessions for job security. What planet are you from? When we accepted the 2007 mods, we lost the JSP program, our job security was gone period!! I dont care how much you believe that with the concessions we took, we are saved or viable. We are not my friends, even at 14 an hour we are not safe in comparability. Add liability, retirement and health care and youre at 40 and hour. Go to 0 an hour for hourly labor wages and your still at 26 an hour. The problem is not Labors hourly pay rate, its all about benefit costs, health care costs, taxes and liability costs. Im sure Ive missed some other costs enforced on American manufacturing companies but you get the point.

 

Simply said, without our representatives addressing manufacturing costs in the US, we as laborers are doomed. We as a Union need to start banding together and along with our International representatives force our state representatives and our US Government to help save our American manufacturing jobs.

 

We need to have health care cost incentives, direct shipping tax rebates, property tax incentives, building tax incentives, health care kick backs for amount of employees.

We need to start addressing the real problem in this country, and thats GREED. This greed includes pharmaceutical costs, health care costs, manufacturing costs and total liability costs.

We need to address the infrastructure of NAFTA and either every other country accepts the same rules or we are done with it.

 

This country has been brought to its knees before and American leaders with great minds put it back on its feet. They all in campaign preach change, I agree that change is needed for sure but the change would be to start looking out for us, the American people and our way of life.

 

Be Good

 

 

 

Listen, stop posting up time and time again we took concessions for job security. What planet are you from? When we accepted the 2007 mods, we lost the JSP program, our job security was gone period!!

 

Let me type slowly so everyone can understand. Job security= Competitive labor cost, which will fill our plants with product. Nothing more. We have a competitive structure now at $45 to $50 an hour. No need to move product out of this country. We are competitive!!!! This is our job security. JSP is not job security. JSP was a great benefit but it raised our labor cost and made us uncompetitive. This was negotiated to keep our product in our plants but when the recession hit and we went from producing 4 million vehicles to 1.8 million vehicles per year this caused a spike in our labor rates which if they stayed at $70 per hour all of our products would have been outsourced over time.

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Your statement from here down is 100% correct. If this does not change than the UAW cant keep us competitive much longer. If this does not change we are in trouble. I will say that over the last few election cycles I have been involved with the local and region to help get our candidates elected. Door to Door and phone banking. I wish more of us would get involved politically. The fight and anger needs to go to the polls. Enough is enough. These politicians over the past 10 years have stomped on the workin man and Ive had enough.

 

I dont care how much you believe that with the concessions we took, we are saved or viable. We are not my friends, even at 14 an hour we are not safe in comparability. Add liability, retirement and health care and youre at 40 and hour. Go to 0 an hour for hourly labor wages and your still at 26 an hour. The problem is not Labors hourly pay rate, its all about benefit costs, health care costs, taxes and liability costs. Im sure Ive missed some other costs enforced on American manufacturing companies but you get the point.

 

Simply said, without our representatives addressing manufacturing costs in the US, we as laborers are doomed. We as a Union need to start banding together and along with our International representatives force our state representatives and our US Government to help save our American manufacturing jobs.

 

We need to have health care cost incentives, direct shipping tax rebates, property tax incentives, building tax incentives, health care kick backs for amount of employees.

We need to start addressing the real problem in this country, and thats GREED. This greed includes pharmaceutical costs, health care costs, manufacturing costs and total liability costs.

We need to address the infrastructure of NAFTA and either every other country accepts the same rules or we are done with it.

 

This country has been brought to its knees before and American leaders with great minds put it back on its feet. They all in campaign preach change, I agree that change is needed for sure but the change would be to start looking out for us, the American people and our way of life.

 

Take care, Lou

Edited July 7, 2010 by louie

[1993Stang]

Listen, stop posting up time and time again “we took concessions for job security”. What planet are you from? When we accepted the 2007 mods, we lost the JSP program, our job security was gone period!! I don’t care how much you believe that with the concessions we took, we are saved or viable. We are not my friends, even at 14 an hour we are not safe in comparability. Add liability, retirement and health care and you’re at 40 and hour. Go to 0 an hour for hourly labor wages and your still at 26 an hour. The problem is not Labor’s hourly pay rate, it’s all about benefit costs, health care costs, taxes and liability costs. I’m sure I’ve missed some other costs enforced on American manufacturing companies but you get the point.

 

Simply said, without our representatives addressing manufacturing costs in the US, we as laborers are doomed. We as a Union need to start banding together and along with our International representatives force our state representatives and our US Government to help save our American manufacturing jobs.

 

• We need to have health care cost incentives, direct shipping tax rebates, property tax incentives, building tax incentives, health care kick backs for amount of employees.

• We need to start addressing the real problem in this country, and that’s GREED. This greed includes pharmaceutical costs, health care costs, manufacturing costs and total liability costs.

• We need to address the infrastructure of NAFTA and either every other country accepts the same rules or we are done with it.

 

This country has been brought to its knees before and American leaders with great minds put it back on its feet. They all in campaign preach “change”, I agree that change is needed for sure but the change would be to start looking out for us, the American people and our way of life.

 

Be Good

Thank You Redemption for pointing out about JSP. Yes, job security gone with that also. Also NAFTA, good point also, rules both way and no way at all. My Granny was a Rosie on the line while Grand-Daddy was at war so yes the American workforce put this country back on its feet again. Absolutely Redemption, take care of us first, before anyone else, AMEN to that.

 

Change happens only when we want it not when we follow what is already there.

 

I have a sick relative right now and they are using his medicare like a credit card. Test, after expensive test, and more test, UGH! Greed, you are right on the money, this illness is making these CEO's and Hospitals RICH!

 

We should always band together with Leadership but only when we know the Leadership has our best interest at heart because simply put, that is what they are paid to do. This Louie idiot said I think the buyouts were forced, 'NOPE" never said that. All I said was it did help the company out and for him to do the Math. You had 100,000K people working at Ford (hourly) now 36,000, most still full wage but some half a wage, this was a huge savings, huge. The math is so easy on that one. Job security was now given to all those that might be in that lower wage because all of those workers would of been laid off. The salary and hourly (amount of people) I believe are almost equal. 36K to 24K. Damn I remember back in the day when you had 1 boss for like 20 people: )

[dividedwebeg]

Its clear with the just say "No" campaign would have seen product quickly pulled out of the states. I do applaud the IUAW for being proactive.

[ReDemption]

Lou, we are on the same page my brother. I didn’t mean to give the impression that I thought that the JSP was a save all, but you have to admit it was huge issue for them to deal with when shipping our plants off shore. 93Stang I agree with your assessment of how the buy outs helped the big three and I read your posts I didn’t see where you said it was forced (somebody must have been confused).

 

However, I still see a huge issue with our labor costs in comparative. Ford, GM and Chrysler, even with VEBA and 2nd tier wage, are still nearly 10 – 14 per hour off the mark when in comparison to our foreign competitors. Ford, GM and Chrysler are only within reasonable comparison with each other.

 

If you think about it, what happens when our competitors start hiring at 14 an hour? Don’t think for one minute this won’t happen, because it’s going to. Now the big 3 are again over 20 an hour off in comparison. Every thing that I have listed wasn’t just to save Ford, GM and Chrysler. It’s about saving all manufacturing jobs in the US. We can no longer be so narrowly minded to think we can select certain companies to save with the incentives and or bailouts. The 10 – 14 an hour is purely legacy costs. Sooner or later the rest will fall in suit with the same costs on their books. But what our state and or Government could do is account for legacy costs with any of the listed incentives I posted earlier.

 

For example:

1. Property Tax Incentives

2. Health Care Provider Incentives

3. Building Tax Incentives

4. Shipping Cost Incentives

Any of the 4 could be listed as a Government kick back to x amount of legacy costs. When any manufacture obtains x amount of legacy costs, they could file for one of the 4 incentives per the given amount of legacy costs that they endure.

 

We can’t just stop at the tax incentives. We also need to read the HR676 Single Payer Health Care bill and start pushing our Union, our local Government, our State Senators and our US Government to accept this bill and make it law. This bill will not only help with the big 3 legacy costs (our Union Brothers and Sisters), it will help with current worker health care costs for all manufactures. This bill is an expanded and improved Medicare for all act.

 

Here is the link:

 

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-676

[messy marvin lang]

Thank You for your support : )

You are the idiot sir..i understand more about international relations than you ever will. And i can guarantee I have more education than you oldtimer..The lawyer in you LOL??? Cmon you probably barely made it outa high school

[1993Stang]

You are the idiot sir..i understand more about international relations than you ever will. And i can guarantee I have more education than you oldtimer..The lawyer in you LOL??? Cmon you probably barely made it outa high school

 

Old timer, I am young, I graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations and graduated with a 3.8 with a Masters Degree in Science Administration/Labor Relations. I grew up on the nice side of town and went to one of the best school districts in the area., beating out most districts of top 100 schools in the area. The school, I believe, got a 94% this year.

 

Never start a new sentence with AND. You should of just combined the two sentences together. example: I understand more about international relations that you ever will and I (Capitalize) can guarantee I have more education than you, old timer (old timer two words). I think you better got back to school, skip International Relations, and take English 101.

[messy marvin lang]

Old timer, I am young, I graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations and graduated with a 3.8 with a Masters Degree in Science Administration/Labor Relations. I grew up on the nice side of town and went to one of the best school districts in the area., beating out most districts of top 100 schools in the area. The school, I believe, got a 94% this year.

 

Never start a new sentence with AND. You should of just combined the two sentences together. example: I understand more about international relations that you ever will and I (Capitalize) can guarantee I have more education than you, old timer (old timer two words). I think you better got back to school, skip International Relations, and take English 101.

You graduated with all those honors yet you work on a factory floor? Arent you kinda over qualified to be an hourly factory rat? Ive noticed your talent for teaching proper sentence structure and punctuation maybe you should teach an english class. Sounds like we grew up on the same side of town as far as schools and such. Maybe you are a bit of an elitist seeing how you seem to talk down to others on here. Wow a masters degree and working on the shop floor...thats what I would call over qualified...unless you are a liar..Hmmm?? The original post i responded to you were crying about Ford investing money into the asian market. If you have the education you say you do then you would realize that Ford is BEHIND its rivals in that market(which is the fastest growing in the world) and is trying to play catch up. If you have a valid point to make about that then I would love to hear it but it seems you would rather correct peoples punctuation and sentence structure than make a VALID point that is on par with the subject being discussed.

[kcman23]

Old timer, I am young, I graduated Magna Cum Laude in International Relations and graduated with a 3.8 with a Masters Degree in Science Administration/Labor Relations. I grew up on the nice side of town and went to one of the best school districts in the area., beating out most districts of top 100 schools in the area. The school, I believe, got a 94% this year.

 

Never start a new sentence with AND. You should of just combined the two sentences together. example: I understand more about international relations that you ever will and I (Capitalize) can guarantee I have more education than you, old timer (old timer two words). I think you better got back to school, skip International Relations, and take English 101.

I think you better got back to school :shades: