Re: Ford to end second shift at suburban St. Louis plant

[Waistline2@xxxxxxx]

In a message dated 9/8/2004 3:56:00 PM Central Standard Time, cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

 

>CB: Yea, Shaniece was telling me that in a recent layoff at Ford Romeo Engine, the people were covered by job bank for a long period<

 

 

Comment

 

The "contract" between the auto companies and the UAW are extremely complex and one is required to literally have a background in law to understand their totality. I have no such background.

 

The other course is to know someone that has been within the system for a decade or two and understand the history of the various agreements . . . and is willing to walk you through them.

 

The "Job Bank Program" and BEL (Base Employment Level) was initially designed to ensure continuous wages to everyone within the industry with at least 10 years seniority and protect those with little seniority. One of the features of the Job Bank Program . . .  in the event of a layoff . . . is that the higher seniority workers can elect to be laid off first  . . . and receive 40 hours wages (minus work related expenses) . . . by agreeing to work in various non auto related fields.

 

This way the low seniority workers who may not qualify for the Job Bank Program or other protections that say require at least one year on the job . . . are able to keep working. Workers with 20 year seniority and up are basically immune to layoff and in the event of a planting closing have the option of relocating and eventually bumping the lower seniority workers.

 

Nevertheless . . . in absolute terms an incredible downsizing of auto is underway. The last contract negotiations with DaimlerChyrsler (September 2002) contain . . . as does all contracts . . . a complex of subtle changes in the agreement designed to eliminate roughly 10,000 workers on the basis of being discharged for attendance violations . . . during the life of the agreement.

 

Then there is GIS (Guaranteed Income Stream) . . . which covered the workers at Jefferson North . . . when the plant was rebuilt under the Coleman Young administration. GIS guarantees a worker with say 15 years seniority roughly 85% of his 40 hour pay forever . . . that is for as long as the duration of a layoff occurs. I knew several guys that collected GIS for about three years.

 

These various program are basically funded by diverting wages and manipulating wage increases. Example . . . two cents an hour will be diverted (X's 80,000 union members) into the Job Bank Fund. Hundreds of millions of dollars . . . times . . . two years . . . three years and even five years . . . are manipulated.

 

Auto has not experienced a major and radical downturn is twenty years . . . although there has been up and down spikes. The system has not faced any challenges like 1979/1980 through 1984/86. I could not conceive of a 17 million new vehicle annual market back in the early 1980s.

 

Much of the actual agreements and their working is contained in supplementary documents . . . under the screen.

 

In the Chrysler system the BEL Program has been gutted and compromised by Nate Gooden . . . who heads up the Chrysler division. Nate is a rat and horrible poker player. BEL mandates that the company maintain a base employment level throughout the entire system and at individual plants. Each contract year a "snap shot" . . . a picture  . . . of the workforce is taken  . . . "freezing" or establishing the actual size of the workforce.

 

Nate Gooden has allowed the company to wiggle out of maintaining the agreed upon base employment level . . . because he really believes this helps the company and his status. Half the guys in the Company  . . . at the higher rung of the ladder . . . considers Nate a fool because their employment level exists as a ratio with ours.

 

Nate playes horrible poker but played a decent political hand that took him to the top from the standpoint of real politics.  He bolted from the black caucus within the UAW back in 1976 and supported Stephen Yockich for regional director . . . which earned him the scorn of 90% of the black unionists. Nate come out of the Dodge Truck Local and this was during the strike wave period when the fucking Warren County Judge came to the plant gate escorted by police and gave mutherfuckers time (as in jail) . . . on . . . the spot for defying the back to work order.

 

We went fucking bershek and insisted that this was not a conflict involving the fucking state. The Company pleaded ignorance and said "this is not our doing." (this of course was not a black strike but involved the entire workforce.)

 

You know what we did of course. The next day we leafleted the plant and city with a screaming headline that said . . . :"Here Comes The Judge." This was during the Flip Wilson era of comedy. (Locally there was a popular record being played called "Judge U sho is Fucky." This is funny man. A line in the record went . . . "I didn't do it your Honor . . . I didn't do it Judddddggggge. Judge U sho is funky, yo honor judge . . . U sho is funkieeee."

 

:"Here Comes The Judge" was followed up with the "Funky Judge.")  

 

Who in the hell could have predicted that almost twenty years later Yockich would end up president of the UAW and pull Nate up . . . when Jack Lakowski died unexpectantly. It is questionable whether or not Nate can fucking read. And he is not the exception to the rule.

 

Industrial concentration has played itself out as the center of a doctrine of combat. If you make it to twenty years in auto you more than less sitting on easy street. The only problem is that  . . . "livin on e-z street hard." When the downturn hits your ass is out and everyone first start selling their boats . . . then the second car and then the house . . . then the wife and nowadays the husbands . . . and the more enlightened workers look for revolutionary groups to give their children to . . . because its against the law to sell them. :-)

 

I remember something in history about Ford St. Louie . . . because Chrysler got some plants their and it had a powerful workers movement of which a section went over to the Black Workers Congress years ago. I forget what it was that I remembered.

 

Melvin P.