It needs to be done. This is why unions exist - to stop abuse of employees. All this age discrimination and basic cutting benefits is outrageous. I left Ford in 2004 and did very well outside the company. It is very disturbing what I see on this page as well as from my friends still there.
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The Stamping engineers in VO tried this about 15 years ago. It fell flat on its face.
It is a matter of control. At least union brings somewhat somehow a bit of leverage. Without union it would be the wild west or the Tsarist Russia: No channel of communication, only talk with g-ns and bo--s.
It was tried in the 80’s at Ford’s Essex Aluminum Plt. In Windsor Ontario. Application was filed with the Ministry of Labour. Hearings for conducted to form a bargaining unit with the Teamsters. While the hearings were in progress , the NDP ( official Labour Party with the endorsement of big name unions ) was elected and Bob Rae became the Premier of Ontario. The application to join the Teamsters looked like a guaranteed deal in favour of the Salaried Employees. The Ford Motor Company threw everything they had at objecting to the application and even enlisted the help of their competition in the industry. A lot of behind closed doors meetings were held and Bob Rae sold out his Union affiliations by rejecting the application at the highest level of Provincial Government. Although it was never proven, it became obvious that he was bought or bribed by the Ford Motor Co. to reject the formation of a Union for Salaried Workers. Bob Rae’s Union roots were severely compromised and it was obvious that he was influenced by money. The true lesson here is that even the Pro-Union politicians will turn against the worker when they can smell money.
Finally Michigan is a right to work state, NO UNIONS. Please, where are you fellow Republicans MAGA Trumpers ? UAW must be disbanded, NO While Collar Union. Are you crazy ?
If you truly want to protect your jobs and your personal data, start a letter writing campaign to your representatives indicating that you are NOT ok with FoMoCo collecting, analyzing and profiting from your person data. Also indicate that your personal data should not reside in or be accessible from foreign soil. State that you want the same protections that Germany and Great Britain provide their citizens.
A letter writing campaign would be much more effective than unionizing.
One of the problems in FoMoCo plan is allowing non-US citizens access to sensitive US customer data. This is strictly forbidden with German and other European citizens (For example it is illegal for Ford of India to have access to German citizens sensitive data). FoMoCo is hugely fearful of the same laws being enacted in the USA. Witness Huntsmans arrival to the BOD.
BTW they already skirt European laws. They just haven’t been caught. A coworker reported the behavior to Ford GAO. “It was accidental” and controls would be adjusted when priorities allow. IMHO there is a feeling in the C-suite that the laws will be adjusted to accommodate existing and desired future behaviors.
For a long time Ford kept the salaried benefits better than the hourly, the exec reasoning was that the salaried would reason that there was no benefit to them to unionize as they would lose benefits. Been there, saw the power points. Then gradually the execs dialed back the benefits to everyone except themselves ( they continually dialed up their own benefits and gave themself lavish bonuses for reducing salaried costs). Now the salaried benefits are less than hourly (except for execs - LL5+ ).
At this point the execs feel they can off-shore most salaried jobs (theirs excluded), so salaried unionization would be futile. Their Board of Director “expert” is a professional at right-sizing (eliminating) US salaried workers. Again, been there saw the power points, the bullet points about employee retention with pensions is long gone, in their place are “Creating Tomorrow” bullet points. These have pretty verbiage ultimately boiling down to shifting to lower cost workers (off-shore and new college grads), and just enough older workers to train their replacements. Strategies exist to get higher cost workers to leave on their own (remove responsibilities they enjoy, deny job changes, switch floor plans to open call center type spaces, deny WFH, force movement to a new location, require that they spend time on training replacements and documenting everything they do, etc.)
Sorry but the Ford of old where we had each other’s backs is long gone.
Don’t count on long term employment with Ford. The Ford of Tomorrow doesn’t want you after 7 years. Been there saw the power points.
Apparently it isn’t as easy to unionize white collar workers as you’d think. Before Ford I worked at another medium sized company that was involved in similar shenanigans. Eliminating the jobs of people who were months away from full retirement, eliminating the jobs of people on sick leave, eliminating up to 40% of positions in some departments and making the remaining people work 60+ hours per week to make up for the shortfall, reclassifying positions so that salaries were maxed out and and workers could never get another raise… A union came in and started meeting with employees. This went on for months until there was a vote and the majority of white collar workers there voted to unionize. We were all thrilled but that was the end of it. No more meetings or communications, no union, no explanation, nothing. Management said the union had backed out but we always suspected something shady had happened behind closed doors.
Perfect definition of a dilemma
- Form a union and company goes bankrupt more quickly
- Don't form a union and company goes bankrupt slowly
Sorry Ford salaried employees- pain results to the employees are the same. Short term (up to 5-10 years????) benefits are probably better for the employees though. Long term (over 5-10 years????) - you are all smart enough to know how competition works -- it is one of the reasons Ford is in the position it is now. Japan was bad for the industry in the 80's. Well China is next - and it is coming fast. And guess what -- US taxpayers built up both countries industries via politicians, academics, and corporate elites that sold us out every time they had the chance. The "D's" and "R's" were always on the same page. They just divided us to entertain themselves - and we fall for it every 4 years. And it is much bigger than just the auto industry. Look at the current state of the chip industry for example. Or the garment industry. The steel industry. The list goes on and on. Only 2 billionaires (individuals with enough power to be heard - unlike any of us common folk) in the history of the US told you the truth. One in the 90's and one in late 2010 decade. The paid off media ridiculed them both and helped drive them away and keep the establishment in power. Any of us think we have it bad, wait until your kids get the final bills courtesy of all of us.
Final Ford Summary -- no company can compete with pathetic ownership/management.
@cdg I've said that for years. Every company is engaging in these criminal/discriminatory practices when it comes to lay-offs, particularly the older workforce. I've seen it at far too many places I have worked. White collar workers needs protections too.
Unions are the reason ford is in the situation it currently is in now. Their pension is ki----g the current workforce. And when they were working factory workers should not have been paid $30 an hours when the minimum wage was $5...
Calling out to the UAW or any union. The time is right to approach the salaried workforce. Quite honestly I think us salary just need a union to offer to organize and the response would be overwhelming.