St.Thomas workers won’t get jobs: union

[Peter]

http://www.thestar.com/business/auto/article/987293--st-thomas-workers-won-t-get-jobs-union

[SC Cheesehead]

http://www.thestar.com/business/auto/article/987293--st-thomas-workers-won-t-get-jobs-union


"More than 400 Ford workers at the company’s doomed assembly plant in St.Thomas, who anticipated an employment lifeline from the company’s operation in Oakville, are facing a gloomy future after finding out there are no job openings there.
They want to transfer from the St. Thomas plant when it closes in September but not enough employees at the Oakville complex or other Ford locations have indicated an interest in retiring or leaving the company to make room for them despite incentives...

[A union spokesperson] said the best way for Ford to address the situation is to increase investment here or add a third shift at the Oakville plant. Ford planned a third shift there a few years ago but lower projections for demand prompted the company to cancel the shift and almost 1,000 jobs."



Co-worker's don't want to give up their jobs, demand for cars remains relatively soft, and Ford doesn't need extra capacity, but they're supposed to "create" jobs for these folks... :shake:

http://www.google.com/url?source=imgres&ct=img&q=http://elitetrack.com/images/blog/ostrich_head_in_ground_full.jp g&sa=X&ei=v_XKTebJPIOBOsOCmd0H&ved=0CAQQ8wc&usg=AFQjCNEu_QhLMN_eLxV7c_ClJ1 2SsSDCKA

[tbone]

Don't you know that Ford is the "Department of Employment Security"?

[tbone]

And a large portion of the people whining and complaining don't even own a Ford product, or even a domestic one!

[Mercguy04]

That sucks

[1 Bad Merc]

Never received a buyout offer/incentives when I got laid off. I got told dont let the door hit me on the way out and they added a little extra on the last paycheck by paying me for my two week vacation time!

It sucks and I do feel for them and their families (as I just went through it) but they are going to get a hell of a lot more then most people. They should take the money and run.

[Canadasvt]

As an employee at the Oakville plant, it does not look good for the ones from St.Thomas wishing to get transferred over to here. We still have people that were transferred from Windsor engine on lay off.

[sailsmen]

Welcome to the USA New Economic Model where in only 45% need to work and for every 6 non-gov't worker there is one Gov't Worker.:D

Reminds me of when I was young and I heard these stories about the USSR.;)

"I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR, yeah

Been away so long I hardly knew the place
Gee, it's good to be back home
Leave it till tomorrow to unpack my case
Honey disconnect the phone
I'm back in the USSR
You don't know how lucky you are, boy
Back in the USSR"



http://www.mercurymarauder.net/gallery/data/500/medium/0015.jpg

[SC Cheesehead]

As an employee at the Oakville plant, it does not look good for the ones from St.Thomas wishing to get transferred over to here. We still have people that were transferred from Windsor engine on lay off.

Agreed, but with the sluggish economy, and soft demand for new cars, I had a hard time trying to comprend the CAW president's vision for addressing this:

"Lewenza said the best way for Ford to address the situation is to increase investment here or add a third shift at the Oakville plant. Ford planned a third shift there a few years ago but lower projections for demand prompted the company to cancel the shift and almost 1,000 jobs."

I wonder, is Ford in the business of producing cars, or serving as a make-work company?

I sincerely hope things pick up and that jobs can be added as demand increases; until then, hang in there guys.

[rayjay]

I went the early retirement route last year. Many that worked my job and for NYS in general did. It was supposed to help avoid layoffs. The then governor lied to us and still layed off thousands. Imagine that, a lying politcian, whats this world coming too... :eek:
I made out ok as did my friends that did the ERI, emptied our shift, but it stinks for the people laid off. They still have a 20% vacany rate. One of the reasons people work government jobs is for the job security. Looks like that, along with decent pensions have now gone out the window. Work 41 years and retire at 1/2 pay as a cop. OT does not count towards pension and they have to pay in more. Now they wonder why they can't fill positions. People already on the civil service test list are saying no to interviews. "You got a burglary you say? Well we don't have anyone at the moment. I'll take your information and put you on the list."

[Bigdogjim]

Ah! We blame the "Goverment" but we have done this to ourselvs by by paying attention.

I feel for the workers that are going to be displaced. They should try working for a "private firm" (like a bus company) :)

[vtwoodsman]

Being "Profitable" isn't good enough. The new model: Let's be "Obcenely Profitable" !
Back in 2002 I was laid off (with several thousand others) by an international (US Origin) technology company that had excellent annual profits, but that wasn't good enough. U.S. employees were laid off, and engineering/manufacturing jobs and products were transferred to the Pacific basin where labor costs were miniscule. The CEO and Board of Directors were rewarded with millions in salary and stock options. The stock holders were rewarded with increased value of the common stock. The laid off engineers/technicians/line workers were rewarded with "have a nice day".

[Rockettman]

I personally believe North America as a whole, is just getting to a position that with increases in population; imigration; and companies always looking to "source-out" to cheaper countries and replacing people with robots, that the jobs to people ratio is changing drastically.
I mean, one day, there plain and simply, just won't be enough jobs for the number of people.

[SC Cheesehead]

Being "Profitable" isn't good enough. The new model: Let's be "Obcenely Profitable" !
Back in 2002 I was laid off (with several thousand others) by an international (US Origin) technology company that had excellent annual profits, but that wasn't good enough. U.S. employees were laid off, and engineering/manufacturing jobs and products were transferred to the Pacific basin where labor costs were miniscule. The CEO and Board of Directors were rewarded with millions in salary and stock options. The stock holders were rewarded with increased value of the common stock. The laid off engineers/technicians/line workers were rewarded with "have a nice day".

Define ""Obcenely Profitable." This is a term thrown about so often but no one bothers to define what's "reasonable" vs. "obscene."

Responses from a wide cross-section of people to various polls indicate 8% to 10% profits are considered reasonable, yet the oil industry typically generates around 4% profitabilty and are vilified for making "windfall" profits. :rolleyes: Industry in general operates on 6% - 8% profit margins.

"The CEO and Board of Directors were rewarded with millions in salary and stock options." This is another statement often bantered about, but I rarely see figures accompanying the statement to support it.

It's not just lower labor rates that make off-shoring attactive. More often than not, US businesses are moving off shore to escape the onerous regulatory and tax burdens in this country. The US has the highest corporate tax rate of any developed country in the world; trying to escape that isn't "greed", it's plain old common sense...

As for stockholders, who do you think comprises the majority of them? If you hold any investments or are part of a retirement fund, odds are pretty high that the "engineers/technicians/line workers" to whom you refer are among them.

[rayjay]

The government could lower taxes and encourage companies to stay here if we could get some "issues" here under contol that cost so much. Such as all the freebies for the illegals, bums, degenerates and generational welfare rat breeders which are encouraged by the government's "it all otae, we take care you" attitude. :bs: no one ever gave me anything. :mad2:

[Bigdogjim]

It's not just lower labor rates that make off-shoring attactive. More often than not, US businesses are moving off shore to escape the onerous regulatory and tax burdens in this country. The US has the highest corporate tax rate of any developed country in the world; trying to escape that isn't "greed", it's plain old common sense...


Well if the US tax is so high then tell please why GE paid little or no tax to the USA with over 5 billion in profit?

[SC Cheesehead]

Well if the US tax is so high then tell please why GE paid little or no tax to the USA with over 5 billion in profit?

Uhhh, they've got friends in high places...:rolleyes:

http://frontpagemag.com/2010/04/15/ges-big-brother/

http://gillreport.com/2011/01/what-is-the-obama-general-electric-connection/