mrballsonya

Evidently you haven't been part of the UAW very long. If it were up to FoMoCo and FoMoCo alone, then yes, management wouldn't move any capable employee, they'd only move the parasites..... and then they'd be moving them right out of the door. However, since Ford currently is still a predominantly Union based company, and they try to adhere to the UAW based contract mandates, such as "Recall rights, Return to base unit rights, Zone rules, Seniority rights..etc". Almost all the moves are solely due to the UAW job bid process and seniority hierarchy. It's far from a perfect system, but it's the best system that our brain trust could come up with. If it were up to Ford, we'd all be replaced with Chinese Robots purchased from Wal Mart. If the UAW controlled the system, a 95 year old with 75 years seniority would be "Our Main Man", and 3 guy's would be required to replace a light bulb. Both sides of the cause could make a pretty good argument. Unfortunately for us, industrialized globalization has made the UAW's argument much less valid. We (the UAW) must become much more realistic, and start to embrace the idea that we are totally expendable. We're simply a commodity or more than likely a liability.. depending on our membership and their work ethic, devotion, and maybe sense of entitlement. It's us against the World. It's time to man up, just like our fathers and Grandfathers did in the world wars. No more protecting the incapable, weak, or lazy. We currently, just aren't competitive. There are too many factors weighing us down. We're all dealing with incompetent management, nepotism, favoritism, meaningless UAW appointed positions, and uncompetitive health and Safety regulations....... Dead weight every where,...... on both the management and hourly side. Unless we adapt and change as a Company, we'll have only ourselves to blame for our failures. Accountability is a hell of a thing.... a thing that most "Ford Lifers" just don't understand.

Let's hope brotha'... I Know Ford stock has been mighty kind to my Tesphe account this past year and a half. But having a permanent Job somewhere, sure would be the icing on the cake. We certainly seem to have some nice products coming out in the next couple of years. If we can just keep taking advantage of the competition's missteps and continue to build a quality product, I think sales will only increase. But that's where all the warm and fuzzy crap comes to a screeching halt for us mechanical tradesmen. I personally feel that Ford has a very bright future, but unfortunately it doesn't involve us. I can't speak for all the Mechanical trades, but I know that Ford doesn't seem to be replacing Millwrights that have retired or taken buyouts. Buildings that once required 40 millwrights to maintain, have only gotten older and more decrepit, yet somehow now only require 10 millwrights. I do think the increased sales will create openings, but not for tradesmen. Reporting Live from Purgatory, Mr. Ballsonya..... BlueOvalNews.

Yes they do. Unfortunately brainwashed people also, "think" that they're making intelligent choices. Keep drinking this type of "You tube" swill, and you'll soon be the proud owner of a slap chop, a Snuggie, a very rare... limited edition Obama dinner Plate and 100 acres of Ocean front property in Billings, Montana. If it's on the "internets" its got to be true, right? Page 8, sec. 10... Rupert Murdoch, in conjunction with Bill O'reilly, Sean Hannity, the Fox News Network and all HMO's.... direct the Sheep to a You tube video that they helped to produce. Page 21, sec. 7.... The Sheep are in utter awe of something that's known as a Power Point presentation. Page 37, Sec. 9, the sheep get really angry when they see their Flag being flown upside down, underneath an obviously inferior Mexican Flag. Page 62, sec. 11, the sheep are now thoroughly incensed, their dander is up and they start to look at different federal buildings at which they should plant their collective Manure in front of. Page 79 sec. 2 The Flock is now in total revolt. They're so convinced that the Government is planning on taking away their Guns, granting illegal Foreign Sheep health care, and letting Natalie Holloway's killers go free, that they just lose all sense of cognitive reasoning. Page 84, sec. 8... the sheep have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker. Page 99 sec. 8..... Rupert Murdoch laughs diabolically, as he strokes his evil cat while contemplating how easy it was to manipulate the minds of American sheep. Page 110. sec 8.... the mindless sheep become corporate shills and start to spread the word of the half-truth, to all the other sheep. Page 122, Sec 8. a new "pro-corporate" regime is put back into office, and the sheep are ordered to go back to their tents and drink the Red Kool Aid.

I have know Idea, but we're still in the process of tearing out old stuff (although some new stuff is being installed simultaneously). If I were to guess, I'd say early next year. BTW, it's a great looking small car..... Kudos to Ford's Upper Management. I haven't bought a Ford in 9 years, the New Focus might just end that depressing streak.

The God I worship is... paycheck. Paycheck is a fantastic God, He Provides me with actual, tangible benefits, and material goods. Paycheck keeps my offspring fed, clothed and sheltered. Without Paycheck, I'd be destitute. I used to worship god, but no matter how hard I prayed, or how many touchdowns I scored, I just couldn't move my 7 person family out of my refrigerator box. Once I started worshiping Paycheck, I was healed, enlightened, and my family was housed .. Hallelujah. Paycheck makes you work for his faith, but once you really believe, and work real hard, he will take care of you. I'm sorry if this post is offensive to those that have "real" faith. If you're true Christians then I know you'll pray for my heathen ass. Please realize though, in my mind, your prayers hold the same value as that drunk street person that lives on Michigan and Trumball, you know the one.... the one that spews incoherent nonsense, as you drop change in his cup. Why didn't you people acclimate to cooler gods like Zeus, or Odin? Those Guys could kick the hell out of Jesus' ass. Odin was a bad Mofo, and had way better stories written about him than either Jesus or Muhammad.... So why all the love for Christianity and Islam. I think, I'm going to start the church for Loki, and the later day Norse saints. I can write as good of a story, as anyone else. If my story is good enough, will you start blindly obeying me? If you do, maybe I'll start writing better stories, some of which will involve parting lake Michigan. I might even write a story about shooting lasers down on the sodomites, or maybe I might reign Godzilla down on all the nonbelievers. Follow me.... Listen to me... Give me all your money. Every Sunday I'll be more than happy to take your money, and also your self respect . What a great racket, I love religion. Praise god, allah, odin, zeus, buddah, jesus, whatever. They're all the same entity, simply figureheads for the manipulators to take advantage of the weak minded. I worship fairy dust, Goblins, Dinosaurs, Fred Flintstone, snowcones and Paycheck. All Hail Paycheck.... Loki and the church of later day washed up Norse God saints and others.

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/200...ies+Ford+worker ".....Ronald S. Cassady, 54, a resident of Eden Lane, died of “multiple blunt force injuries.” ..... doctors at University Hospital declared Cassady dead at 9:24 a.m., five minutes after arriving at the hospital......A police spokesman, Dwight Mitchell, said an I-beam had slipped from a fork lift and struck a man in the head and chest." R.I.P. Very, very sad news. With all of our required safety and lockout classes, I sometimes get lulled into a false sense of security about how safe everything is. Unfortunately it takes a tragic accident like this, to bring me back to reality and realize just how dangerous our jobs really are. My deepest condolences to his family, friends and coworkers.

Triple the debt huh? I assume you're referring to the annual budget and not the National Deficit (debt).

WIXOM seems to be a pretty good bet. With the "renewable energy park" supposedly taking over there, it would seem a battery plant would be a natural sibling to Clairvoyant Energy's solar panels and Xtreme Power's wind farm battery packs. Pure speculation on my part, but If the energy park really does come to fruition, this homer is betting on Wixom.

Not entirely true. I remember hearing from some of the "oldtimers" that I worked with in the past, that Ford did indeed match stock for hourly employees back in the seventies or eighties. I have no idea of the exact time frame or the details of the match, but according to them they took full advantage of it.

I heard a Chinese Company purchased the Ypsi plant. Rumor has it, they intend on producing Soylent Green there. Purportedly the Chinese Government had been looking around for years, for a place where they could finally take advantage of their biggest asset, and at the same time detriment..... people. :eek5: http://www.cinemagia.ro/trailer/soylent-gr...sul-verde-3675/

I don't think any production photos have been released yet for the Explorer, but here are some of the explorer concept. Has Ford ever announced intentions to continue the Expedition and Navigator beyond the current body style?

Here's a photo of a previous generation of explorer And here's one of the Next Generation explorer

Yes... how'd you guess?

Did any of you naysayers even read the proposed contract revisions? The new product guarantees, were almost completely worthless. I understand Ford needing the latitude to put "market condition" stipulations in the language, but then it's not really a REAL "product and job guarantee" is it? How many legally binding contracts include easily defined benefits for one party, and highly exploitable, easily manipulated details for the other? If there are any, I bet they're few and far between. Would you sign a 2 year lease on a house that guaranteed the bank $3000 a month, but then had contractual stipulations in which the bank reserved the right to change terms at any time... "due to market conditions"?

I'm still trying to figure out some way to blame all of this on Wal Mart. Luckily, even if I can't find a link between this debacle and Wal Mart, there are still 100 other reasons to never shop there. B)