Diversity

[Decker]

Anyone hear about members being told at their pharmacy`s they are having issues processing the prescriptions through the insurance claim process?

 

Members here at CAP are talking about that situation. It`s being said by our resident UAWD activist that members who are told they are on lay off will not receive SUB but president Fain is going to get the laid off members unemployment and strike benefit pay?  

 

Again, if this does happen then history will be made. 

[Decker]

Once again, experience has played a big part, Thank You Chuck Browning and the UAW/Ford negotiation team. Now bring it home Chuck.  

[cal50]

Kudos to both sides for continuing dialogue and hopefully reaching an agreement.

Although any strike is not a popular option the selective and precise targeted strike is better than shutting down the entire industry.

 

[Decker]

12 minutes land to take off

2 1/2 minutes of pep talk support

explaining how he walked the picket line many times since 1973 but this is a first as president

 

I'm sure everyone felt an even stronger feeling of support.....

[fuzzymoomoo]

26 minutes ago, Decker said:

12 minutes land to take off

2 1/2 minutes of pep talk support

explaining how he walked the picket line many times since 1973 but this is a first as president

 

I'm sure everyone felt an even stronger feeling of support.....

I’ve yet to see a single person who actually wanted him to come and countless who were just there for the camera 

[Decker]

Here CAP it is a mess, the strike committee chair (resident activist) seems not to have his act together. Which is becoming more apparent to more and more members. For years he runs to every picket line he hears of but never brought back any experience on how to schedule, set up or lead a strike. Imagine that, carry a picket sign and get in the news papers photo ops`s and give UAWD interviews  ain't all that it takes to lead a strike....? Sometimes talking the talk just ain't walking the walk. Then this is just rumors, when our activist heard his hero (just barely president) did what our activist was begging for, put CAP on strike, the strike committee chair/picket line expert needed smelling salts.  (just a rumor)

 

I will say what Ford released to the press Monday evening is being received well here at CAP but.... will it be enough for the just barely president and our resident strike committee chair/extremist? 

[Decker]

Oh for the record no the old long hair wasn't`t arrested by CPD Tuesday. The old long hair was stopping the traffic on Torrence right in front of the plant, when the 611`s and 625`s were being moved from DT lots to get the needed repairs. Oh yea the Teamsters are shipping units from the DT lots by the same car carriers as always. Oh yea again, be safe out on Torrence and if the extremist /strike committee chair does show up try to make sure someone knows CPR.... 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Decker

[fuzzymoomoo]

After this is over I never want to hear the phrase “hold the line” ever again. I don’t even want to hear Hold the Line by Toto ever again. 
 

I can’t put into words just how over all of this I am. 

[Decker]

23 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

After this is over I never want to hear the phrase “hold the line” ever again. I don’t even want to hear Hold the Line by Toto ever again. 
 

I can’t put into words just how over all of this I am. 

I can't  agree more but my preference. would be to never hear "stand up".... ever again. Especially if I`m standing up to watch Teamsters just keep delivering 611`s & 625`s.... but they`er in solitary with our standing up? Solidary, is getting kinda of wore out too. 

[Sparked1]

Fain really loves the theatrics; I'm over it all. Tired of hearing the same things coming out if his mouth with no real information. He reminds me of a YouTube/facebook/tictok "influencer". Stop the games and present the membership with a proposal.

[Decker]

We go from second rate embezzlers and federal day care residents to an extremism that wears an “Eat The Rick” T shirt on his book of faces preforming stage. 

Really… he wants a promise to make all the future battery plants, uaw plants. Dam Ford just tell him he’s the best and promise him all the make believe shit we wants to hear. 

[paintguy]

On 10/5/2023 at 7:31 PM, Decker said:

I can't  agree more but my preference. would be to never hear "stand up".... ever again. Especially if I`m standing up to watch Teamsters just keep delivering 611`s & 625`s.... but they`er in solitary with our standing up? Solidary, is getting kinda of wore out too. 

Trucks rolling in the South Suburbs as well. Thought Ford relocated the plant to a closed horserace track.

[Decker]

19 hours ago, paintguy said:

Trucks rolling in the South Suburbs as well. Thought Ford relocated the plant to a closed horserace track.

Yep they're moving both 611`s & 625`s back and forth to DT lots and to repair area`s.

 

I just wonder if our "Eat The Rick" T shirt wearing just barely president understands this aint Willy Clay's first rodeo. We go from strike them all to selecting certain facilities. All the while Willy Clay has the highest selling, highest profit units rolling off the KCAP. flat top at one every 76 seconds. 

 

My son is a regional logistic`s manager for Swift, he's been asking every CDL since the first of Oct. with tractors & anything that will haul F series trucks from you guessed it the Ford truck facilities to grab the bonus money. We got talking about this subject because he said Ford dealers are contracting storage lots all over the southeastern states and parking the F series units. I counted 127 high end F series Fords in a vacant lot at 600 west & RT 30 central Porter Co. Every last one has Carrie Ford dealership plates on them. I passed three other lots with the F series products filling every square foot. Chesterton, Lake Station and Lowell dealerships are leasing space too. My son said and it's not like I didn't`t believe him but when getting the works done today at Ford of Valpo I asked and it was the same as my son had stated, Ford is filling every lot and storage area to reach a 100 day supply of, you guessed it the highest profit best selling product in the dealership procession. 

 

100 day supply hmm while our t shirt waring just barely president is doing the rally thingy at CAP and listening to all the praise of how good he's doing..... every 76 seconds the cash register rings in Willy Clays office. Hmmm

Edited October 8, 2023 by Decker

[Decker]

Finally ..... the cash register has stopped ringing at Willy Clays place. KTP Finally 

[Decker]

Dam... this could be an extended vacation. Thanks Giving or Christmas on the picket line,  who knows, could be. 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Decker

[fuzzymoomoo]

1 hour ago, Decker said:

Dam... this could be an extended vacation. Thanks Giving or Christmas on the picket line,  who knows, could be. 

I’ve said it multiple times in the other thread. The only way this ends is through arbitration and a contract forced on us by a third party. 

[Decker]

39 minutes ago, fuzzymoomoo said:

I’ve said it multiple times in the other thread. The only way this ends is through arbitration and a contract forced on us by a third party. 

I agree with you completely. 

[Decker]

Hmmm it seems our IUAW just barely president may be just like his predecessors.

 

"Fain's annual salary of $347,389 places him in the top 5% of earners in his home state of Indiana where, according to a Forbes analysis, individuals whose salary exceeds $192,928 per year are in the top 5%". 

"If Fain's new salary as president matches his predecessor, former UAW President Ray Curry, his union income increased to $267,126 and his overall salary — including what he earns from the non-profit UAW Chrysler Skill Development & Training Program — increased to $454,385, a salary that would make him a top 1% earner."

 

Hmm not all rank and file are happy with the just barely president... 

"In an open letter to Fain sent Tuesday, the Mack Trucks Workers Rank-and-File Committee demanded the UAW bump striking workers' pay to $750 a week and that leaders including Fain should accept a pay cut taking their salary to the same level as strikers."

"President Fain, if you are unwilling to meet these demands, which correspond to the demands of the membership, then you should step aside and turn over control of the union to the rank and file," the workers wrote to Fain. "It is, after all, we who have the 'final say.'" 

"To our fellow autoworkers in the Big Three, we call on you to take up this fight yourselves and not allow your strike to be sabotaged by the UAW leadership," the open letter continued. "We have launched our strike in defiance of the apparatus, and we call on you to do the same."

 

Then there his fiancé that is getting a check from Chrysler/Stillance. In stead of a general holifield  do we have a colonel fain??? 

LM-2 reports can be real interesting if you know where to look.   

Edited October 16, 2023 by Decker

[hllywd]

On 10/15/2023 at 8:40 PM, Decker said:

Hmmm it seems our IUAW just barely president may be just like his predecessors.

 

"Fain's annual salary of $347,389 places him in the top 5% of earners in his home state of Indiana where, according to a Forbes analysis, individuals whose salary exceeds $192,928 per year are in the top 5%". 

"If Fain's new salary as president matches his predecessor, former UAW President Ray Curry, his union income increased to $267,126 and his overall salary — including what he earns from the non-profit UAW Chrysler Skill Development & Training Program — increased to $454,385, a salary that would make him a top 1% earner."

 

Hmm not all rank and file are happy with the just barely president... 

"In an open letter to Fain sent Tuesday, the Mack Trucks Workers Rank-and-File Committee demanded the UAW bump striking workers' pay to $750 a week and that leaders including Fain should accept a pay cut taking their salary to the same level as strikers."

"President Fain, if you are unwilling to meet these demands, which correspond to the demands of the membership, then you should step aside and turn over control of the union to the rank and file," the workers wrote to Fain. "It is, after all, we who have the 'final say.'" 

"To our fellow autoworkers in the Big Three, we call on you to take up this fight yourselves and not allow your strike to be sabotaged by the UAW leadership," the open letter continued. "We have launched our strike in defiance of the apparatus, and we call on you to do the same."

 

Then there his fiancé that is getting a check from Chrysler/Stillance. In stead of a general holifield  do we have a colonel fain??? 

LM-2 reports can be real interesting if you know where to look.   

This is the first I've read of this. For all of Fain's chest thumping and "if one strikes we all strike" bloviating, I'm not a fan of the tactics. Fain is hurting Ford significantly more than the others despite acknowledging that Ford has submitted the best offer so far. But I'm getting screamed down by the younger generation who say they voting no unless we get everything. They act like we gave him a mandate when only 11% voted and he won by 0.4%. Word on the street is Fain wants Stellantis to be the one to settle. If true then he needs to set aside his own personal agenda because he now represents all of us.

[Decker]

I`m not to clear on this drive (membership demand) for a guarantee for all electric facilities to be unionized.

 

First the IUAW hasn't been to successful in getting the votes in the resent past when it comes to any auto manufacturing facilities voting to join the UAW. Is this membership demand a disguised  membership drive? Then there's the little discussed part of this so called membership demand, "right to work" laws. Ford in Tennessee could go all in with this membership demand but, the new facility (in 4 or 5 years) would have to adhere to the state laws governing labor. Does Fain understand that?

This so called membership demand would still be a choice of the EV facility employees. Again why is this a membership demand? Why dose`t Fain just throw big money at the organizing appointed staff and try to do what's  been tried many times before? Instead holding the membership hostage for?

 

Then the young members have been sold this all or nothing grand standing radical sales pitch, for sure a lot have been over come by the book of faces influencer. Talking with members on the line some have no idea of the fact there has always been two sides to every story coming from these negotiation periods. It was brought up that the "company' owes the retires, health care. The faces of many on the picket line was total disbelieve, when the facts are stated about VEBA. Members like so many either don't want to know or have no clue of what our union agreed too. A few contracts ago all three companies sold the health coverage of all retired members. A huge amount of cash & stock was paid too? The IUAW and yes the membership voted on something that most believed the PR from the likes of Jimmy Settles and the rest or didn't`t have a clue of what was going on, jumped on this transaction. Then there's the members that really didn't`t care anything about VEBA. The companies had a big bucket of money that they dangled in front of past IUAW board members and the temptation was overwhelming. Just a little background on the selling of retirees health care coverage, in just 2022 the VEBA paid administration fees of over five million. Any guesses of who some of the people are that receive administration checks from VEBA? Any guesses to the IUAW members who would not be for this membership demand? In steps, our just barely president, with membership demands. What kind of business deal would make the companies want to take back, be given back this complete retirees health care coverage?  IUAW going to refund all the cash & stocks? This is just one big legal logistical & costly nightmare. Membership Demand???

 

There's a close to a majority in our membership that have seen these less than favorable agreements like this retirees healthcare coverage, that was presented as the next great thing just to become a new twist and rebrand as a membership demand by Fain.

Fain, a IUAW "Chrysler" Department Administrative Assistant ($160K plus a year) for the last ten years. Any guesses on why Chrysler is lagging in the fire & brimstone cremains?  

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Decker

[Decker]

One other statement by the just barely president,

 

“It’s not the UAW and Ford against foreign automakers. It’s autoworkers everywhere against corporate greed. If Ford wants to be the all-American auto company, they can pay all-American wages and benefits. Workers at Tesla, Toyota, Honda, and others are not the enemy — they’re the UAW members of the future.”

 

The "future" UAW members? An egotistical individual who got elected and has "the" plan to get the memberships numbers to increase? How many times have you heard of any organization attempt to get people to joint and be turned down but keep spending money to try and try again? Marysville is a great example. (100% American Labor) How bout a plan to just show the benefits of your club Fain and if those future members see the benefits are better, then they will come knocking on the UAW door. It's pretty human nature to want to join, be apart of and most will do so when seeing the benefit of being a member. Maybe in one of your cremains you could quote from the book of comparisons? Compare, show data of our wages and benefits to Tesla, Toyota, Honda and other facilities here in the United States. In one of those fire and brimstone things hell maybe give a cermain, with touching on a comparison of your plan and benefits compared to Europe's members? 

 

Unfortunately it's still all about IUAW income building. What's the next CON CON going to see? Amendment # UpUpUP for 3, 3 1/2 or more hours a mouth? "The chant will be build back better the strike found".  The organizations that never have membership drives are the ones so many try to be apart of. Let the organizations actions sell itself. 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Decker

[Decker]

Listened to our leader and I guess on one hand Ford isn't being fare but on the other hand the leader wants GM & Stalantis to come up to Fords offer? I did pick on the $3 increase in the LIB, I think. Not sure would that $3 be across the board for any retiree? Or just future retirees? I hope it is across the board because we have retirees the went out 10 or 15 years ago and their LIB could really use a $3 increase. ( $3 X 30years isn't much more a month) As for the 401K increases Ive done a little comparing. Here in my area that 9plus percent Fords offering is above average, expect for the trucking/legistics they are even a little higher matching percentage. Swift does a dollar plus an hour worked  into the drivers 401K. But hell some of the drivers are logging the max behind the wheel and getting a mileage bonus too. Steel miles are close but a little higher at some with restrictions. BP is a little better but again with restrictons. All in all it is relative I guess, work in a facility and bank a buck an hour or literally live in a truck cab for a little more. The key word for the 401K members is "work". More hours more dollars in the 401K. 

 

Work....that seems to be key everywhere but here at CAP the members are.... well...ummm not feelin the celebrity thing much anymore. The smilin for WGN or WLS is gettin old I guess. The activists aren't stomping around chanting much and for sure I`ve not seen one "Eat The Rich" T shirt on the news.  CAP is living up to its reputation,  Strike Captains late or no shows. Assigned picket duty umm can I make up my day this week, next week? Then there are the members that are seeing a clearer picture about the money. Strike for six weeks and get a 6K signing bonus.... put that on a balance and see what adds up. Then I saw an interview on CNN (yea I know CNN) seems a few members are wondering just what our leader is doing. One sermon is fire & brimstone about electric facilities and the next sermon nuttin? 

 

I`m completely understand the union ideology, always have and always will. But, like all ideologies it takes a leader or leaders to have the knowledge and the experience to pass the ideology on to the followers, membership, with guildence. As for our union ideology it is sprinkled with all sorts of just plain human nature. From the resent thieves to our current democratic socialist leaning just barely leader it seems to be something different than the unionizing of the working class to more of just another big corporation. 

 

Here's to our corporate IUAW, just barely, democratic socialist backed president, (Rah Rah) you got my attention, hell I will say your the best thing since sliced bread just get a grip, do some listening to Chuck, and get that tentative agreement. Ahh can you imagine the book of faces live feed with a tentative agreement. 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2023 by Decker

[Decker]

It wasn't`t ten minutes after the book of faces announcement when the .... that's bull shit, what happened to 40%, we haven't got anything for 3 or 4 contracts and of course the "our work is worth way more that this offer".  

 

Then the texts and calls from the worried members that have honest concerns. You know the members that come in, do their operation and can be counted on. We talk and I let them know that getting what has been presented at this point is just as Chuck stated more than we have received in multiple contracts. I am no different than most members at this point when it comes to details but, then what I have heard and the informaion that will be put on line later this week will be what I and the membership will need to have to make an educated decision on the TA. 

 

If your a member that lives for the shop floor rumors, bull shit talk or the "I heard or they said" then run with the "our work is worth way more".... but for those members that get real tired of listening to the rumor mongers, (that get everything wrong) get as much info as you can. Then make a trip to the hall and vote. Hopefully information and common sense will make for good decisions for the next four years. Good Luck to us all. 

 

[fmco76]

Mr.Decker, we don’t know all the details about the agreement yet, but do you think you owe Mr. Fain an apology? He has done more for the membership in his short tenure than the last 5 presidents combined.

[Decker]

A disagreement or in my case a dislike of a mans methods isn't a need to apologize for my views or opinion. Fains approach and statements changed over time from eating the rich to a more business approach in his statements and methods should there be an apology for his realization of the situation? 

 

I can't judge the last five IUAW presidents by the negotiations Fains UAW/Ford team has just completed. The last two for sure and possibly three IUAW presidents put the bar really low for the membership in almost every aspects. Two for sure paid for their complete dishonest and disrespectful methods they put in place. Then if one looks at the picture in a wider view than just the focus on the IUAW president there were more players in the selling out of the membership. Fain at this point (with very few details) can definitely take the success of the IUAW Ford Department`s results as credit as his leadership.

 

I and many members are concerned with Fains earlier approach. The radical approach and to appease the democratic socialist support he gained through his campain may be something that could come back to haunt him. There are many members that are stating the 40% or a no vote... that's what was promised. Fain put in place that frame of mind, I think it may be an even bigger part of his method and approach to undo. 

 

fmco76 only results will prove out methods. My views and opinion are something that have yet to change. Fain, the next Reuther? 

A great step forward sometimes is based on everything but, where the people, organization and/or the membership were currently at. One last thing fmco76 the membership may have forgot and some may have no knowledge of the fact, of those that helped sell the situation our union was in prior to Fain. Reuther did unit, Fain may get there.