Xerxes12

It depends on whether you are renting or buying. The taxes are high in Cook and Will counties in Illinois and Lake county Indiana is becoming more expensive. Like most metro areas, the collar suburbs have the best schools but the taxes reflect the services. CraigsList is a good source for rentals, but you need to maybe look for something short-term until your co-workers can help. The plant has probably a 50/50 mix of Hoosiers and Illinois residents. Good Luck!

I agree with your analysis. As a former tradesman at CAP, I've heard and read that the pressure is on and management is making things uncomfortable for the employees at CAP. But if I was still at CAP, I would resist the temptation to take a buyout if the only reasons are fear of the plant closing or the leverage of one shift only! The fact that the company has spent considerable amounts on the plant's infrastructure recently and the efficiency of running multiple shifts lead me to believe that they are using fearmongering tactics to persuade employees to take a buyout before the March 18th deadline. If you leave now, there are not many good paying jobs in the Chicago area and unless you can retire or are absolutely sure of obtaining a college diploma AND a good paying job afterwards, I would wait to make any decision.

Names? Like Bill Ford or Alan Mullally. Anthony is still there! I said good bye to him before I jumped ship last June.

What is his name? Or don't you know.

When are you going to be grateful for $14/hr? After you lose your job? Where will the $14/hr people live? At home with mommy and daddy? With gas going up to $4/gal and more and no public transportation to the plant, will all these low wage employees have to carpool from the less expensive neighborhoods and boonies? There is no way that $14/16 an hour jobs can support an even lower middle class lifestyle in the Chicago Metro area!

You shouldn't have had a thought, now this simple thread has been hijacked again!! See original query below! I just received a letter telling me that my insurance will no longer cover my Allegra D (or the generic version). So I now will have to pay $125 a month to get this, Thanks Ford!!! I was just wondering if anyone else has received letters saying something is no longer covered and if you cared to share it with us so that we are not taken by surprise if we ever need it. This post has been edited by CAPlineWORKER: Jan 2 2008, 11:55 AM

You will need an attorney to read your health insurance benefits! I just spent some time talking to BCBS of Michigan about $1000 worth of denied antibiotics ( arrestin ) for a root scaling and deep cleaning done by a periodontist. I use my dental benefits rarely and still had $1100 left in 2007, yet they denied the claim but paid it 6 years ago and admitted that as a "Ford" employee it is not covered but other plans cover the drug. My dentist said they had sent in a predetermination and BCBS said they didn't so it looks like a legal battle is imminent. The bottom line is we must constantly review our benefits and ask for as much info as possible before getting prescriptions or procedures done. Don't get sick! and ask our union what else did we give up in our last contract and this current contract that we are not aware of so we won't be surprised when we are denied.

Disgusting and childish behavior won't let the thread be about? damn I forgot what it was! oh now I know! I regret having to scroll through pages of childish insults to read about buyouts and whether we are satisfied with our decisions.

Maybe my decision to leave would have been different if I had been bounced around to four plants. I wouldn't have moved to another state if CAP had closed. Pension won't be worth squat in five years? What are you going to have when you're 62?

Thanks for explaining to DTP that leaving as a retiree from Ford does not equal retirement. I gambled on taking the money and working elsewhere or sticking around and working at a company that was possibly leaving North America. With my 36k retirement and benefits, I have a cushion, but the 100k years as a tradesman look like a thing of the past. As a Union Pacific employee, I can opt out of their health insurance, so they are paying me $100/mo. instead of deducting $150 or more /mo. I plan on working for 8-10 more years and hoping my health holds up. Keep posting Whosure, you seem to be right on the money with your op-eds!

Do any of the ex-employees wish they had stayed? I still wonder if I made the right decision when I took the $35k and retirement. Can't change the decision, but can't help thinking that maybe we weren't given honest info from the company and the union. Seems that a lot of this new contract was negotiated before the buyouts were offered. I now work for the Union Pacific where a two tier wage system has been in effect for some time. New employees at the UP can never achieve wage parity with the employees that worked for the CNW railroad, so the UP encourages the oldtimers to leave and rumors of buyouts are heard. Sounds a lot like Ford to me. :reading: :stats:

I consider myself a centrist, conservative on fiscal matters and more liberal on personal matters, and I end up taking this test and finding all the major dems are the same! ( Mitt Romney had a 30 ) All of our politicians are saying whatever they need to get elected, then when they make it to Washington, it's the same old song and dance. Reminds me of the UAW!! Joe Biden Score: 35 Bill Richardson Score: 35 Hillary Clinton Score: 33 John Edwards Score: 33 Barack Obama Score: 33

No way!!! I was a millwright on days in Body.

No shit!

What would Ron Paul do?