Post by TonyV on Jun 6, 2011 23:04:51 GMT -5
National Ford Council
May 26, 2011
The National Ford Council met on Thursday May 26, 2011. The first topic of business was the
Equality of Sacrifice Grievance. Darryl Nolen reported that the grievance is moving forward
again with both the company, and the UAW back meeting at World Headquarters. The UAW has
made it very clear that this grievance will be resolved by the time contract negotiations begin.
Darryl introduced William (Bill) Karges who works as a lawyer for the UAW at Solidarity
House. Bill gave an overview from the beginning, and talked about how the arbitrator was
named. David Grissom from the National Academy of Arbitrators was requested by the UAW
and the company agreed. The UAW is very pleased with this arbitrator. Bill talked about the two
dates that were requested by the UAW for information. He has stayed in contact with Steve Kulp
from the Ford Legal Department discussing what the information that the UAW was requesting.
During this time of communication with Mr. Kulp, he replied to one of Bill’s notes that he would
no longer have the authority to make any decisions concerning the grievance, and from that pint
on it would be at UAW President Bob King and Ford Executive Vice President John Fleming’s
level. President King gave Mr. Karges the direction to move forward to which Mr. Kulp
basically said that he did not care what direction was given to Mr. Karges, but he was directed to
not make any decisions concerning the grievance or any information dealing with it as well.
The Arbitrator subpoenaed the desired info from the company, and finally the company agreed to
meet. The first available date was May 12, 2011. Once the meeting took place the company spent
the first three hours of the meeting arguing over the confidentiality agreement. Before they could
come to terms on the agreement, the financial person for the company left the meeting because
he had another meeting to attend. By the time that the UAW had a chance to even look at the
information there was no time to discuss any questions that the UAW had. At that point the
UAW took the information to review and came up with several questions for the company. The
information that the company gave was very general and the UAW has asked for more detailed
facts and figures and also has asked the company for another meeting. The UAW is waiting for
the company to respond on the next meeting. Currently, it is felt that we have two options. The
first option is; if the company does not provide the detailed info, the UAW would take the case
to the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). This is not the option that the UAW really wants
to go. The second option is; the UAW would sue the company for the detailed info that has not
been provided as of yet. If the company provides the info then neither option will be necessary.
This information brings us up to date with the grievance. The International UAW has committed
that this will be resolved by contract negotiations.
Joel Goddard Co-Chair National Negotiator came to the podium and introduced the 2011
National Negotiators, they are as follows: Scott Eskridge, DeWayne Walker, Mike Whited,
Bernie Rainy, Tony Richard, Larry Burdick, Tony Conchichio, Jerry Lawson, Dave Mason,
Junior Robinson, Mathew Barnett, Dan Weaver and Tommy Connits.
The 2011 Resolutions were presented by the Resolution Committee and a motion was made on
the floor to accept the resolutions and accepted unanimously.
Employee Special Services Program- Darwin Harris- Darwin reported that we are
experiencing a lot of stress across the board at our plants. We also have had two suicides at two
different plants. New diversity posters are coming soon.
Legal Services- From January 2010 to March 2011 the Legal Services have had 900 cases
dealing with everything from foreclosures, wills, as well as divorces and bankruptcies too. This
is being used frequently by retirees more so than active members. This is a huge benefit for the
membership. The average cost for each case was $346.
Continuous Improvement- Brett Foxx- Brett’s team reviewed the recent Team Leader survey
that went out company wide. What they found out first of all is the company did not realize that
there are over 1300 Team Leaders in the system. One thing that was discovered is the Team
Leaders spend 50% of their day covering either bathroom breaks or physical therapy. The
National Ford Department is working to put Team Leaders to 18 primary tasks. Brett said that
the effort is to allow the voice of the hourly employee to be heard.
Sourcing- Dave Berry- they have been working hard to utilize empty spaces in plants by insourcing
as much work as possible.
Health & Safety- Sean Coughlin, Gary Summerville and Donnie Hunter- Sean reported that
we have not had one single year without a fatality since 1919. Since 1973, UAW/Ford has lost
99 employees to which 50 of that number was Skilled Trades. Since 2005, GM has zero fatalities
and Ford has five, this is totally unacceptable. Currently Ford is at 2007 H&S data levels, and
Ford Motor Company is last in safety. They UAW/Ford have plans to roll out a new Safety
Operating System (SOS) in the very near future. This will have nine main components to press to
improve our safety. The Pre-Task Analysis (PTA) is a primary focus for the National Joint
Committee Health and Safety (NJHCS) as well as the new SOS.
Quality- Reggie Mills & Brock Roy- Reggie reported out that the Quality Coaches are coming
out to each of the plants to focus on quality. It was recommended that the QSC’s, Quality Reps
and the Bargaining Units walk the floor looking at quality concerns together. Also, it was
recommended that the QSC’s report to the Building Chair on a regular basis. A question was
asked about the company constantly over- riding the AIS boxes. Reggie and Brock asked for data
on how often this is happening, and also they said that anytime these boxes are turned off the
QSC and Quality Rep is to be notified. They also told the council that every location is to have a
Vehicle Concern Rep.
Benefits- Bob Rebecca- Bob reported out about the Special Age 65 Benefit. Currently this
benefit has processed over 2100 requests and the $76.20 monthly benefit should have all requests
processed by July of 2011. This was driven by UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles. The
transition of NESC being run by outside contractor ACS is moving along as scheduled. Currently
the VEBA, Health Care, TESPE and most recently Pensions are currently under ACS. It is law
that the VEBA be ran by an outside contractor.
Job Security- Mike Gieger- As of November 2007 we had 51,413 members, currently we have
38,613. There are 328 members out on Indefinite Lay-Off (ILO). Also, we have 404 Skilled
Trades working in production. Mike reported out that the SUB Fund and the Job Security Fund
remains very strong.
UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles Report- The first thing that Vice President Settles talked
about was the importance of the upcoming strike vote. This brought strong support from the
council. Jimmy talked about the future of the UAW, and the importance of organizing. He
reminded the council that 30 years ago we were 160,000 strong. He gave a lot of credit to
President Obama for what he has done for the automobile industry. He told us that it is very
important for our future to keep Obama in office. At this point he talked about the upcoming
negotiations and how proud he is of the National Negotiators. He has great confidence that they
will do a great job for our memberships. In closing, he talked about the Equality of Sacrifice
Grievance. The mentioned the crazy money that Alan Mulally has received and the sacrifices
that the hourly workforce has made. He said that the company has made many delays, and the
reason why is they are concerned with the grievance. He said: “they should be”. He told the
council that originally the company wanted to work something out on the grievance, and VP
Settles told them that he wanted Ford Motor Credit back into the Profit Sharing formula. The
company refused to do it. So, Jimmy said there will be no deal! Our National Negotiators will
officially begin on July 18, 2011 with the kickoff handshake on July 28, 2011.
May 26, 2011
The National Ford Council met on Thursday May 26, 2011. The first topic of business was the
Equality of Sacrifice Grievance. Darryl Nolen reported that the grievance is moving forward
again with both the company, and the UAW back meeting at World Headquarters. The UAW has
made it very clear that this grievance will be resolved by the time contract negotiations begin.
Darryl introduced William (Bill) Karges who works as a lawyer for the UAW at Solidarity
House. Bill gave an overview from the beginning, and talked about how the arbitrator was
named. David Grissom from the National Academy of Arbitrators was requested by the UAW
and the company agreed. The UAW is very pleased with this arbitrator. Bill talked about the two
dates that were requested by the UAW for information. He has stayed in contact with Steve Kulp
from the Ford Legal Department discussing what the information that the UAW was requesting.
During this time of communication with Mr. Kulp, he replied to one of Bill’s notes that he would
no longer have the authority to make any decisions concerning the grievance, and from that pint
on it would be at UAW President Bob King and Ford Executive Vice President John Fleming’s
level. President King gave Mr. Karges the direction to move forward to which Mr. Kulp
basically said that he did not care what direction was given to Mr. Karges, but he was directed to
not make any decisions concerning the grievance or any information dealing with it as well.
The Arbitrator subpoenaed the desired info from the company, and finally the company agreed to
meet. The first available date was May 12, 2011. Once the meeting took place the company spent
the first three hours of the meeting arguing over the confidentiality agreement. Before they could
come to terms on the agreement, the financial person for the company left the meeting because
he had another meeting to attend. By the time that the UAW had a chance to even look at the
information there was no time to discuss any questions that the UAW had. At that point the
UAW took the information to review and came up with several questions for the company. The
information that the company gave was very general and the UAW has asked for more detailed
facts and figures and also has asked the company for another meeting. The UAW is waiting for
the company to respond on the next meeting. Currently, it is felt that we have two options. The
first option is; if the company does not provide the detailed info, the UAW would take the case
to the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). This is not the option that the UAW really wants
to go. The second option is; the UAW would sue the company for the detailed info that has not
been provided as of yet. If the company provides the info then neither option will be necessary.
This information brings us up to date with the grievance. The International UAW has committed
that this will be resolved by contract negotiations.
Joel Goddard Co-Chair National Negotiator came to the podium and introduced the 2011
National Negotiators, they are as follows: Scott Eskridge, DeWayne Walker, Mike Whited,
Bernie Rainy, Tony Richard, Larry Burdick, Tony Conchichio, Jerry Lawson, Dave Mason,
Junior Robinson, Mathew Barnett, Dan Weaver and Tommy Connits.
The 2011 Resolutions were presented by the Resolution Committee and a motion was made on
the floor to accept the resolutions and accepted unanimously.
Employee Special Services Program- Darwin Harris- Darwin reported that we are
experiencing a lot of stress across the board at our plants. We also have had two suicides at two
different plants. New diversity posters are coming soon.
Legal Services- From January 2010 to March 2011 the Legal Services have had 900 cases
dealing with everything from foreclosures, wills, as well as divorces and bankruptcies too. This
is being used frequently by retirees more so than active members. This is a huge benefit for the
membership. The average cost for each case was $346.
Continuous Improvement- Brett Foxx- Brett’s team reviewed the recent Team Leader survey
that went out company wide. What they found out first of all is the company did not realize that
there are over 1300 Team Leaders in the system. One thing that was discovered is the Team
Leaders spend 50% of their day covering either bathroom breaks or physical therapy. The
National Ford Department is working to put Team Leaders to 18 primary tasks. Brett said that
the effort is to allow the voice of the hourly employee to be heard.
Sourcing- Dave Berry- they have been working hard to utilize empty spaces in plants by insourcing
as much work as possible.
Health & Safety- Sean Coughlin, Gary Summerville and Donnie Hunter- Sean reported that
we have not had one single year without a fatality since 1919. Since 1973, UAW/Ford has lost
99 employees to which 50 of that number was Skilled Trades. Since 2005, GM has zero fatalities
and Ford has five, this is totally unacceptable. Currently Ford is at 2007 H&S data levels, and
Ford Motor Company is last in safety. They UAW/Ford have plans to roll out a new Safety
Operating System (SOS) in the very near future. This will have nine main components to press to
improve our safety. The Pre-Task Analysis (PTA) is a primary focus for the National Joint
Committee Health and Safety (NJHCS) as well as the new SOS.
Quality- Reggie Mills & Brock Roy- Reggie reported out that the Quality Coaches are coming
out to each of the plants to focus on quality. It was recommended that the QSC’s, Quality Reps
and the Bargaining Units walk the floor looking at quality concerns together. Also, it was
recommended that the QSC’s report to the Building Chair on a regular basis. A question was
asked about the company constantly over- riding the AIS boxes. Reggie and Brock asked for data
on how often this is happening, and also they said that anytime these boxes are turned off the
QSC and Quality Rep is to be notified. They also told the council that every location is to have a
Vehicle Concern Rep.
Benefits- Bob Rebecca- Bob reported out about the Special Age 65 Benefit. Currently this
benefit has processed over 2100 requests and the $76.20 monthly benefit should have all requests
processed by July of 2011. This was driven by UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles. The
transition of NESC being run by outside contractor ACS is moving along as scheduled. Currently
the VEBA, Health Care, TESPE and most recently Pensions are currently under ACS. It is law
that the VEBA be ran by an outside contractor.
Job Security- Mike Gieger- As of November 2007 we had 51,413 members, currently we have
38,613. There are 328 members out on Indefinite Lay-Off (ILO). Also, we have 404 Skilled
Trades working in production. Mike reported out that the SUB Fund and the Job Security Fund
remains very strong.
UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles Report- The first thing that Vice President Settles talked
about was the importance of the upcoming strike vote. This brought strong support from the
council. Jimmy talked about the future of the UAW, and the importance of organizing. He
reminded the council that 30 years ago we were 160,000 strong. He gave a lot of credit to
President Obama for what he has done for the automobile industry. He told us that it is very
important for our future to keep Obama in office. At this point he talked about the upcoming
negotiations and how proud he is of the National Negotiators. He has great confidence that they
will do a great job for our memberships. In closing, he talked about the Equality of Sacrifice
Grievance. The mentioned the crazy money that Alan Mulally has received and the sacrifices
that the hourly workforce has made. He said that the company has made many delays, and the
reason why is they are concerned with the grievance. He said: “they should be”. He told the
council that originally the company wanted to work something out on the grievance, and VP
Settles told them that he wanted Ford Motor Credit back into the Profit Sharing formula. The
company refused to do it. So, Jimmy said there will be no deal! Our National Negotiators will
officially begin on July 18, 2011 with the kickoff handshake on July 28, 2011.