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autowatcher
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Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 9:17 am Post subject: CHRYSLER STILL MAKING OTHERS FAMILY DECISIONS

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Just like the ETE's from BAP who left jobs for a chance and were tossed aside. THANK YOU UAW AND 1268 FOR THAT ONE.
Heres a article about how Chrysler employees will be forced to move to other plants or lose their jobs in a time where the automotive industry is at its weakest and uncertainty is always there. But we all voted on that contract. Glad Im out of there!!!!!!

Quote:

Choice hits Chrysler's laid-off workers
Sterling Hts. employees among first under UAW pact told to take out-of-state offers or risk losing jobs.
Eric Morath / The Detroit News

Hundreds of laid-off Chrysler LLC workers in Sterling Heights are facing the reality of the landmark UAW contract they agreed to last fall as they find themselves choosing between out-of-state posts and the possibility of permanently losing their jobs.

This week and last week, they received letters giving them just a few days to accept or decline a job at plants in Wisconsin or Illinois.

The workers at Chrysler's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant are among the first of several thousand across the country who likely will tackle the same difficult decision as Detroit's Big Three automakers attempt to empty their jobs banks and return laid-off workers to productive positions.

A stipulation in the agreements the Big Three reached with the United Auto Workers last fall allows the automakers to offer idled workers positions anywhere in the United States, rather than just within their region, as was true in the past.

If workers reject a certain number of offers -- four at Chrysler and General Motors Corp., two at Ford Motor Co. -- they can lose their jobs.

As the automakers trim their work forces through early retirements and buyouts in a bid to match production with declining demand for their vehicles, they are finding that some plants have hundreds of workers in the jobs bank, which means they are paid not to work, while other factories have open positions.

By asking workers to move or lose their jobs, automakers can clear the banks, an expensive employment protection program they set up in the 1980s to win UAW support for controversial efforts to make factories more productive. Workers in the jobs bank receive full pay. Reassigning workers makes good financial sense for the Big Three, which are fighting to return to profitability amid a shrinking domestic market.

"A jobs bank employee is the most expensive employee that you can have," said Fred Hubacker, a former Chrysler executive who is executive director of turnaround firm Conway, MacKenzie & Dunleavy in Birmingham.

In addition, once laid-off workers are placed elsewhere, the companies can fill remaining openings with new workers paid lower, second-tier wages. Those hires would receive about half the wages of current employees.

"They need to get people out of the jobs bank as quickly as they can ... (and) then have a huge emphasis of hiring tier-two workers," he said.
Four days to decide

Chrysler sent separate letters to Sterling Heights workers, offering them jobs in Belvidere, Ill., or Kenosha, Wis.

A letter addressed to jobs bank employees, obtained by The Detroit News, stated: "If an employee on Protected Status declines two such offers, he/she will be placed on layoff. Employees on layoff, who decline two additional offers will be placed on Formal Leave of Absence and will retain recall rights but will receive no pay or benefits."

Karie Davis was among the workers who received a letter. She was given four days to make a choice.

Davis took a transfer to the Belvidere Assembly Plant because she doesn't want to risk losing her Chrysler job, and the plant, about 65 miles west of Chicago, is closer to her Novi home and fiance than other outposts in the company's manufacturing operations.

"I don't want to go, but it seems that my chances of having a job there is better than having one here," the eight-year Chrysler veteran said, noting that the Belvidere plant makes more products and runs one more shift than Sterling Assembly.

Davis said she hopes her time in Illinois will be short -- if Chrysler offers her another buyout package, as the company did earlier this year, she'll take it.

The reassignment offers have so far been limited to Sterling Heights, Chrysler spokesman Ed Saenz said. He said the offers could extend to others elsewhere.

Chrysler Vice Chairman and President Tom LaSorda said this month that the automaker is relocating some workers around the country as those accepting buyouts and retirement plans depart.

Ford and GM are likely make similar transfer offers to their laid-off employees, but neither has done so yet.

Another round of buyout and retirement offers at GM closes May 22. After that it's expected that openings will be created, and some workers could receive reassignment offers, GM spokesman Dan Flores said. "Any employee movement will be handled in accordance with the UAW and GM national contract," he said.
Moving difficult

During a meeting this week at UAW Local 1700, which represents Sterling Assembly workers, union officials told workers they understood that moving would be very difficult, but encouraged them to consider the offers because it would keep jobs in the hands of higher-paid tier-one workers.

The offers could affect employees differently, as not all laid-off workers are in the jobs bank. Workers are typically placed first on layoff, for as many as 48 weeks, and then flow into the jobs bank. On layoff, workers receive 95 percent of their take-home pay.

Officials at the meeting said if a worker who is laid off but not in the jobs bank rejects a relocation offer, it would not count as one of the four declines. Chrysler's Saenz would not comment on how a rejection would affect a laid-off worker outside the jobs bank.

Several Sterling Assembly workers said they could not uproot their families to take a job in another state. They said it would be difficult to sell their homes in Michigan's housing market but also conceded that finding a job in Metro Detroit would not be easy.

"For all the people who couldn't take the buyout, this is a way to force them out," said Joe Kavanagh, a plant worker from Monroe.

Having less than a week to choose, he said he couldn't make the decision to pull his children out of school and move out of state. Per the contract, Chrysler offers up to $30,000 in relocation costs, if a worker gives up his or her seniority.

Kavanagh will wait and hope a position opens at a nearby factory. "If I went somewhere else, I'd be the lowest on the roll and first one out the door," he said. "It's too risky."

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080510/AUTO01/805100346

Jeep Girl
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Posted: Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: CHRYSLER STILL MAKING OTHERS FAMILY DECISIONS

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autowatcher wrote:

WHAT!?!?!?

You AGREED to a TEMPORARY position!!!!!
I'm sorry, but I'm tired of hearing how the ETE's were SCREWED out of a job.
When I received a PERMANENT job at Chrysler I knew that it was only as good as my seniority and the market it prevailed in.
NOTHING is permanent. Especially when you sign a contract stating that it is not.
While I don't agree with the Company and Unions work ethics, I understand it, and believe that they represented themselves honestly and compeletely.
Next time you agree to something, read it before you sign it.

Those in Michigan that are currently being offered jobs: we signed a contract stating that anyone laid off or in a job bank would be given a set number of times to deny a permanent move to another facility. If the market dictates that a certain plant will cease to exist, the company has no other option than to move its employees to a place that can utilize them.
This happens in companies all over the world. Not just at Chrysler.

psdoffsnc61206
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Posted: Wed Jun 18, 2008 12:24 am Post subject:

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Jeep Girl

You can believe what you want, but I'm here to tell you they did not represent themselves honestly or completely. I quit my job on wednesday because I was told if I did not start on monday I would loose the opportunity to work for chrysler. Monday they gave me the bullshit two year contract. Honest,complete? I think not! Yes I did understand the contract, but only after I had been SCREWED. I am not whining, but rather enjoing my 6 month vacation while you are sweating your ass off in that hell hole they call bap.

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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 8:01 pm Post subject:

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Gee, I'm sorry. Were you a permanent employee of The Chrysler Corporation prior to that contract they made you sign on Monday?
You obviously couldn't have been a part-timer or vacation replacement by the way that you say you were owed a job and screwed out of it.
Part-time employment does not mean that your job continues forever. Heck, even being a full time employee doesn't mean I'll have a job on Monday.
Feel free to sit at home and collect unemployment.
I'm pretty confident that Chrysler called you back to work and you turned it down because you'd make the same from the state.
If I thought BAP was a hell hole, I wouldn't be working there. As far as sweating....that's called WORK. Get use to it. You'll be doing it for years to come...or you'll be living on food stamps.

psdoffsnc61206
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Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 11:26 pm Post subject:

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Jeep Girl

When chrysler called me on wednesday to tell me I had to show up monday for orientation, i asked them "does this mean if I show up on monday and tuesday for orientation I have a job?" they said yes. Now being as I did not buy my application, was not refered by anyone, and the media said chrysler was hiring, yes I assumed that this was a regular job just as any other I had been employed by. I did not not say chrysler screwed me out of their job, but the one I had for 6yrs. Had I been told this was a temporary job any time in the 10 hours of testing, I would have never considered it. As I am sure you know life's bills are not temporary.
You think you know more than you do because chrysler has not called me back. I only hope that I trashed my attendance enough the last two months there that they will not call me back.
And as far as work goes, I am used to it. I have never collected unemployment in my 42yrs and I started working full time at 17. I AM CONFIDENT THAT I HAVE WORKED MUCH HARDER THAN YOU STANDING ON LINE PUTTING PARTS ON A CAR.
I do not care if you think bap is not a hell hole, because I know it is.
HAVE A NICE DAY!

igotquestions2
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:09 am Post subject:

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you have every right to be pissed off. people like jeep girl dont know what actually was said during that orientation. once you leave a job then they switch the contract on you, well there isnt much you can do after the fact. why didnt they offer the ete agreement right away? because they needed to fill the shift and fast and they knew that many wouldnt accept that offer. why leave a job for something that is temporary. its all after the fact but people made decisions with their lives based on was said in those initial few weeks. then you come in and dont get any hours because the place cant run. BAP is simply a half assed, mismanaged maker of low quality, lets get them out the door autos. all the bullshit when you come in, stories about strict quality measures blah blah. COME ON! i watched shit go out the door on a daily basis that never should have. and then i go to the lots and look at issues and there they are plain as day, nothing done! This companies best asset is its ability to lie about anything and everything to spin news in their favor. Sure being positive and keeping moral is good however there comes a point when you have to state the truth. Real car companies, by that I mean Toyota and Honda, respect their employees and establish a mutual faith in one another. They arent trying to screw the worker over every time they turn around. Jeep Girl can debate all she wants but the majority opinion of those that have left BAP is, well, anger. The sales are bad enough without creating more bad PR. And thats what they are gonna get from me! I used to enjoy reading the comments on here but there are fewer and fewer. Not much left to say is there.

BrianLaws
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:28 am Post subject:

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Hey igotquestions2 - Sorry you lost your job with BAP.

igotquestions2
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:46 am Post subject:

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hey Brian, dont be, i am very happy no longer being there. i actually like to believe in the products i am helping to produce. couldnt do that at BAP. You people think we are upset about the actual job at BAP, thats not it, at least for me. many of us wouldnt have even started there had the company been honest to begin with. but ya i know we signed that agreement, yes i can read, so thats our problem. the thing is i have worked elsewhere in the industry and actually know how its supposed to be in an auto plant, not like at your facility. Sure you can fool the newbies with the bullshit since they have never worked in that environment. I am just glad to be done with that place. Trying to give some warning about Chrysler's fate but nobody seems to buy it. Thats ok, believe until the end.

just another ete
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:02 pm Post subject:

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psdoffsnc61206 wrote:

Maybe you should quit hoping, they are still calling back and I also screwed up my attendance due to the fact that I have an 84 mile round trip for 14.00 an hour, I got comfortable thinking no call back, well wrong, they called me at a C-7

igotquestions2
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Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 12:30 pm Post subject:

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so tell them no.

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Posted: Fri Jun 27, 2008 12:43 pm Post subject:

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The entire ordeal for the hiring, deception and dishonesty of the hiring of the ETE's has been well documented both on this site, in the papers and on TV. For those that still think it was a cut and dry, we knew what we where getting into, Must still have there blinders on. Its done, its in the past, and we cant undo it. There was merit for a lawsuit, for the actions of both Hiring firm and Chrysler, but alot of outside factors basicly ruined that chance.

Every ETE had a choice to make once they found out what laid before them. Yes, circumstances where diffrent for each one, and even though they quit jobs, they had a choice to stay or go. This was my first union job, so I was not as privy to the internal workings of it. I was always raised and brought to belive that the hard workers, the ones that do the best work, show up every day, and make themselves needed got the jobs. Unforantly thats not the case in a union shop. So alot of good working people that should have stayed ended up getting let go.

I am not going to get into a huge debate on seniorty and stuff, people have veiws and opinion on it, but its the system in place, so no need to argue about it. It is what it is.

I just hate that people are so dead to the fact that 1000 people from this area got a raw deal, and people act like we asked for it, or that we should just buck up and accept it and move on.

I still have alittle hope that one day I might return there, I think I worked hard enough, and did a good enough job that I earned a postion there. I was called back for the 14.00 119 day job and told them no. It made no sence as far as income, time spent away from family and gas spent to get to work. My unemployment has never stopped or I have never gotten even a blip on the radar for stopage. The 119 day job is my definition temp work, and you dont have to accept temp work.

But back to the core of the issue, The company is still playing with peoples lives. As eveident by the article above. 20-30 years ago, this would most likely have never happened, But the UAW does not have the power it once held over the Big three. Federal and State laws mimic many of the rules and benifets that the Union fought hard to get many years ago. Companies offer medical and vacations at about any large bussiness these days. Most companies have adopted HR staff that follow a commonly accepted Attendance and behavior policies, that may not be as good as the UAW's, are light years ahead of what they where even 10 years ago. Most jobs in the area that require some form of skill or education are paying more than your normal job, not at the UAW level, but more than the standard national income levels.

So the benifiets of the UAW are slowly being errorded away as other companys and the nation as a whole raises there employee standards to a acceptable levels. The UAW numbers are down to a all time low. The jobs have been simplified so much, and the system so refined that If and when (and I strongly belive we will see this day within the next 10 years) the Big three does away with using UAW work, that it will be able to hire off the street and train and be back up and running within a short time frame.

If the ETE experiment (and I do belive it was just that) taught us anything, is that there is people out there that will work for a much lower paying wage than a full time UAW person. That it does not take long to train mass amounts of people to do the jobs, and the company can control alot more than the UAW and it's works would like to think. And in the grand scheme of things, the publics perception of Unions as a whole has diminished alot over the years, the outcry fromt he nation if the big three was to walk away from the UAW would be no where as large as it would have been say 30 years ago.

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