New Buyouts in January

[deflep1]

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News both reported last week in an interview with Mark Fields, Head of North American operations, that because Ford wants to hire up to 8,000 new hires in the next 4 years, a new round of buyouts would occur between January and March. These would be separation buyouts for non retirement eligible employees.(Different buyouts then the 100k skilled & 50k production now being offered) No mention of the amount being offered. In this bad economy, I don't see many workers taking the offer, whether it's 30, 50, or even 100k. I don't have the link for the article (my computer won't copy the links correctly most of the time anyway), but it will be on both those sites, someone can post it. They really want to replace the $28 an hour people and aren't afraid to admit it!

[Bowie]

I doubt $150,000 would be enough, let alone $50,000. Mr. Fields is obviously living in a state of delusion.

[2911screwed]

I doubt $150,000 would be enough, let alone $50,000. Mr. Fields is obviously living in a state of delusion.

 

Offer people 200k after taxes to get them out and they will leave.. many people hate working for this fucked up company. Otherwise people ain't going anywhere you dope Fields. Yet another example of low ball offers to make the company more at their bottom line.

 

Invest the money to get people out so they leave for Christ sake.

Edited October 24, 2011 by 2911screwed

[FANTASTICFORD]

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News both reported last week in an interview with Mark Fields, Head of North American operations, that because Ford wants to hire up to 8,000 new hires in the next 4 years, a new round of buyouts would occur between January and March. These would be separation buyouts for non retirement eligible employees.(Different buyouts then the 100k skilled & 50k production now being offered) No mention of the amount being offered. In this bad economy, I don't see many workers taking the offer, whether it's 30, 50, or even 100k. I don't have the link for the article (my computer won't copy the links correctly most of the time anyway), but it will be on both those sites, someone can post it. They really want to replace the $28 an hour people and aren't afraid to admit it!

 

Mark Fields should take a buyout, I'm sure Ford can hire a college grad to do his job for a lot less!

[FiredMotorCompany]

Just got inside info, a new buyout in march will

Be 2.3 million dollars and you must leave company buy

March 25th.

It is limited to the first 8,000 people who sign up.

Sign ups will start at 12am March 1st.

 

I know a cleaning worker in the glass house. She saw a paper on Mark field's desk. The start date of the buy-outs is February 30, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[2 seater]

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News both reported last week in an interview with Mark Fields, Head of North American operations, that because Ford wants to hire up to 8,000 new hires in the next 4 years, a new round of buyouts would occur between January and March. These would be separation buyouts for non retirement eligible employees.(Different buyouts then the 100k skilled & 50k production now being offered) No mention of the amount being offered. In this bad economy, I don't see many workers taking the offer, whether it's 30, 50, or even 100k. I don't have the link for the article (my computer won't copy the links correctly most of the time anyway), but it will be on both those sites, someone can post it. They really want to replace the $28 an hour people and aren't afraid to admit it!

 

I searched all of the Ford articles I could find on the Detroit Free Press going back 3 weeks, I didn't see it, if anybody does please post it.

[madime39]

I searched all of the Ford articles I could find on the Detroit Free Press going back 3 weeks, I didn't see it, if anybody does please post it.

 

http://detnews.com/article/20111020/AUTO01/110200432/Ford-CFO--Deal-should-ensure-investment-grade-status

[deflep1]

http://detnews.com/article/20111020/AUTO01/110200432/Ford-CFO--Deal-should-ensure-investment-grade-status

Thank you for posting it. This is the first time I remember any of the big 3 announcing a buyout months in advance, but now lowering labor costs shows strength for our earnings, as opposed to the previous buyouts which screamed "We are losing money, please leave."

[1993Stang]

Thank you for posting it. This is the first time I remember any of the big 3 announcing a buyout months in advance, but now lowering labor costs shows strength for our earnings, as opposed to the previous buyouts which screamed "We are losing money, please leave."

What? Seriously the company will not be hiring 12,000 new bodies. If 8,000 leave and 8,000 people are backfilled you get the same number of employees regardless if they are new or not. Backfill is backfill period. Are the supplemental employees that are now full-time non temporary workers included in the new hires?? Fields admits that $400 was lost to each employee if the new profit plan would of been implemented. Similar to salaried?? Not even close!! As we said there is a 12K cap period, end of story!!

[2 seater]

Thank you for posting it. This is the first time I remember any of the big 3 announcing a buyout months in advance, but now lowering labor costs shows strength for our earnings, as opposed to the previous buyouts which screamed "We are losing money, please leave."

 

 

These are the same buyouts that are in the contract, they just wont have the "packages" ready to offer until January. This is nothing new.

[Fatso]

I know a cleaning worker in the glass house. She saw a paper on Mark field's desk. The start date of the buy-outs is February 30, 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

I hope she grabbed a $50 fancy pen off his desk while she was at it!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[FiredMotorCompany]

Fatso, if you add comments within a quote, PLEASE use bold-parentheses-different color or SOMETHING that differentiates YOUR comments from mine.

 

BTW, she picked up two.

 

 

And NO ONE picked up on February 30, 2012?

 

I'm so disappointed.

[2 seater]

Fatso, if you add comments within a quote, PLEASE use bold-parentheses-different color or SOMETHING that differentiates YOUR comments from mine.

 

BTW, she picked up two.

 

 

And NO ONE picked up on February 30, 2012?

 

I'm so disappointed.

 

 

Its probably because the cleaning lady at the glass house less credibility than a date that doesn't exist. LOL

[FiredMotorCompany]

Its probably because the cleaning lady at the glass house less credibility than a date that doesn't exist. LOL

 

Too true.

[KCAPFINAL]

one question does this cleaning lady read speak English :happy feet:

[2 seater]

one question does this cleaning lady read speak English :happy feet:

 

LOL!

[Fatso]

I dont know if she speaks english but our kids better learn Spanglish!

[FiredMotorCompany]

I dont know if she speaks english but our kids better learn Spanglish!

 

I think that comment was in the "Red Zone". If such continues, I am bound to report such language to my supervisor for investigation of behavior by Ford employees that is prohibited by company policy regarding Diversity.

[KCAPFINAL]

I think that comment was in the "Red Zone". If such continues, I am bound to report such language to my supervisor for investigation of behavior by Ford employees that is prohibited by company policy regarding Diversity.

[itsmeuaw]

The Detroit Free Press and Detroit News both reported last week in an interview with Mark Fields, Head of North American operations, that because Ford wants to hire up to 8,000 new hires in the next 4 years, a new round of buyouts would occur between January and March. These would be separation buyouts for non retirement eligible employees.(Different buyouts then the 100k skilled & 50k production now being offered) No mention of the amount being offered. In this bad economy, I don't see many workers taking the offer, whether it's 30, 50, or even 100k. I don't have the link for the article (my computer won't copy the links correctly most of the time anyway), but it will be on both those sites, someone can post it. They really want to replace the $28 an hour people and aren't afraid to admit it!

Yes, your membership dues paid union representatives were out in force beating the bushes and trying to sell this dog of a deal to the good folks on the shop floor.

 

You can always rely on a visit from the “leadership” at election time and contract time. This time they are selling fear and falsehood on their visit.

 

The first item on their agenda is to fear arbitration. Arbitration is one of the oldest forms of resolution to a dispute. Parties go to a non-biased arbitrator to solve their disagreements peaceably. If Marchionne felt he could get a better deal in arbitration than he got from Union Brother Bob King, he would be there in a nanosecond. No self respecting arbitrator would give you anything less than what the UAW and Chrysler had already agreed upon.

 

Number two, they say arbitration is a prolonged process. We may have to wait a bit to get that $1750 before taxes signing bribe, but we just might get a better deal. There is nothing preventing the UAW from going back to the bargaining table to demand more, if we vote this down.

 

Number three, they say this deal is “good” for the Skilled Trades. Any reading of the Skilled Trades Rationalization language proves otherwise. This contract is designed to eliminate skilled trades workers.

 

Number four, they say Chrysler-Fiat does not have 27 billion cash on hand. Yes it does. Autoworker Caravan didn’t make this up... The Automotive News Europe reported it on October 12th! The company can afford to pay us a fair wage.

 

Number five, they say you should beware the radicals. UAW President Walter Reuther was called a “radical” in his day and he was labeled the “most dangerous man in Detroit” by corporate suck ups of his time. Brother Reuther would go on to raise the wages and working conditions of millions of Americans, and the unconventional idea of industrial unionism caught on pretty good.

I have yet to have a supervisor pressure me to vote for a bad agreement. But I’ve seen two International Reps, our current Local President, and a number of local officials try to strong arm this contract.

 

Now, I don’t think asking for a fair agreement makes us overpaid, under worked, or greedy. We are not getting international rep pay, or routinely logging 7 days a week, 12 hours a day paychecks to make ends meet.

 

I just think we need a raise in base pay for everyone, real COLA in our hourly rate, and Skilled Trades workers need protection from Sergio’s plan to cut their numbers. We can’t wait for 2015.

Call me “radical”.

 

Alex Wassell, UAW Local 869

Pdf Version

 

CHRYSLER CONTRACT LOWLIGHTS

Pdf version

 

AUTOWORKER CARAVAN LOWLIGHTS

 

CHRYSLER OCTOBER 2011

 

This contract has NO FAIRNESS. We ALL deserve better.

 

There is a lot of “NO” in this contract:

 

NO parity with General Motors or Ford.

 

 We get $1750 upon ratification. The other $1750, only “when the company achieves financial stability,”is misrepresented as a ratification bonus—we might not get it at all.

 

 We get only $500 a year “inflation protection” which is less than the $600 Christmas bonus we lost in 2009. We might get another $500 for quality, but “no award will be paid if Chrysler Group LLC determines that targets were not met.” An “audit score adjustment factor” would give workers in some plants up to $1000, but only if they achieve a bronze or higher WCM score (not likely in the next four years).

 

 Profit sharing? Chrysler can make up to $1.25 billion in operating profits—a long shot considering the company claims to have “lost” $254 million in the first half of 2011—before we get a cent.

 

 In other words all but $3750 depends on “metrics” that we have no say in and minimal control over.

 

NO repayment of past losses! $3750 does not begin to compensate us for the concessions of 2009—“suspensions” of raises, bonuses, holidays and more that were supposed to be temporary—that cost eachworker a minimum of $9000. Bonuses that average less than $1000 per year do not make up for the thousandsof dollars we will have lost at the end of our Chrysler career if we allow the “suspensions” to be transformed into permanent losses.

 

NO end to two-tier pay. Raises for “entry level” workers—UAW sisters and brothers like everyone else—leave them at least a $9 an hour behind “traditional” employees and their pay can still barely support a family. There are no commitments to make Temporary Part Time workers permanent. TPTs and Summer Vacation Replacements do not count towards the 25% cap on “entry level,” which does not even go into effect until 2015. Even if some entry level workers are moved into the “traditional” pay bracket they will not get traditional benefits. All these tiers lower wages for everyone in the long run and keep us all “divided and conquered.”

 

NO COLA or improvement factor raises—“traditional” pay is frozen for another four years. We have not had a raise since 2006. Are we paying the same for food, gas and utilities as we did in 2006? Time-and-ahalf only after 40 hours.

 

NO guarantees that there will be 2100 new jobs; any new jobs will be 100 per cent second tier. New jobs will be offset by reduction of jobs in skilled trades. Language that made the company fill attritional openings has been deleted. A new loophole—“market related volume declines” has been added to the toothless moratorium on plant closings and spinoffs. The UAW workforce at Chrysler could be even less than 26,000 by 2015.

 

NO end to forced transfers of workers on indefinite layoff—without “closed plant” status they still lose their seniority. Laid off workers run out of SUB after 26-52 weeks. The job bank is gone.

 

NO let up in the decimation of skilled trades. The company will continue cutting skilled trades to the bone through outsourcing, combining and eliminating classifications (“rationalization”), and dumping more trades work on production through Autonomous Maintenance. Lines of demarcation will be a thing of the past. Two thirds of all skilled positions could be eliminated at Chrysler, Ford and GM if they follow the pattern of GM’s totally restructured Lake Orion assembly plant.

 

NO lost holidays returned. We did not get back Easter Monday and lost the “floating holiday” (the one Friday before Labor Day that was in the last contract) and July 5, 2013 (the Friday after Thursday, July 4, which we would have off with pay in previous contracts).

 

NO restoration of relief time cut in 2009, which amounts to roughly 25 hours per year. Six to eight minutes per day now cut for Alternative Work Schedule/Flexible Operating Pattern workers.

 

NO $700 Christmas bonus for retirees and pensions are frozen for four years.

 

NO bereavement for same-sex partners.

 

NO change to the inhumane combined attendance and tardiness procedure. One occurrence removed now, and then 4 more years under the gun.

 

NO end to AWS and FOP, with some crews having their regularly scheduled 10-12 hour days on weekends for straight time. Dundee and Trenton only won—after Dundee voted to strike—relief from changing shifts from week to week. The company can impose AWS or FOP on a plant without local union approval.

 

NO fairness in overtime: “the Local Unions and local plant managements may negotiate local agreements for the purposes of equalizing team based”—not by rotation or seniority anymore—“overtime hours or overtime opportunities in the same department and classification and on the same shift.”

 

AND NO, Fiat-Chrysler is not broke. Cash reserves of Fiat and Chrysler have been combined and the company is sitting on a pot worth $27 billion. Car sales are up and market share has increased. Chrysler’s hourly labor costs are $7-9 less than Ford, GM and Toyota. The Treasury loans have been paid in full ahead of schedule, drastically lowering lending rates. And they did not “lose” $254 million. When the bosses borrowed money to pay off the Treasury there were servicing fees. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase, and their cohorts got half billion bucks. We got a button! We are forfeiting everything we thought we could get back if we vote yes.

 

Many of us are understandably worried about what we could lose if we vote no and the contract goes to arbitration. There is no predicting how the arbitrator would rule or how long it would take. We are on unchartered waters. We don’t know what might weigh in on the ruling. There are the GM and Ford patterns, and there’s Fiat's 27-billion-dollar cash reserve, but Chrysler claims by itself it has only $10 billion. An anti-union arbitrator might try to squeeze more givebacks.