Strike update 1

The speaker talks about their experience being on strike at the Michigan Assembly Plant. They discuss the lack of communication from management and their frustration with the situation. They mention the support they have received and their hopes for a good deal from Ford Motor Company. They also express their desire for a better work schedule and higher wages. The speaker concludes by mentioning the weather and making light-hearted comments about it. Hey, good Friday afternoon to ya, um, yeah, it's Friday afternoon, goodness gracious, what am I doing here? 3 p.m., 3-0-1, I'm here, I ain't made anything in a while, you guys are my therapists, um, but what's been going on? Oh, well, for a week and a day, my plant's been on strike. Yeah, you know, one of those very first ones for Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, yeah, that was us, um, I was there Thursday night, about 9-30, there was word out already through, uh, Zoom calls and stuff that we were one of those on strike, and then it was after, uh, you know, after 9 o'clock, um, we were told 11 o'clock lunch, and then next thing you know, our team leader is telling us to text message, they took his radio away, and, uh, of course, like, why would they do that? Like, uh, apparently they, management probably doesn't want anybody on the radio, so they can be on the radio, and we won't know what's going on in the building, because, hey, we're walking out the door by midnight. Of course, silly me, I just had to say, are you farting in the radio again? What'd I tell you about that? So then, instead of 11 o'clock lunch, we were told, go out, you know, go home. And it was not just to go home, but we obviously knew by 10 p.m., we're on strike. That was it. So, I felt sorry for the first people that was on the ticket lines, because they were going to be there till 6 a.m. Ready or not, did you come ready for work? We knew a couple days before. Did you come prepared? I think they'll learn about it next time. Well, they already had it next time. That was yesterday. Anyway, um, so, we've been sticking around Facebook Live, listening to our union president, Sean. Don't you hate it when boogers do that? I do. So, um, we were out there, and we got a lot of support. My day was, my day and my fun's day was Sunday midnight to 6 a.m. I'm thinking, yeah, you would pick Sunday for me, but it could be worse. It could have been 6 a.m. to noon. I'd miss church. But then again, I would have to bring my Bluetooth speaker out there, probably my violin, and just have church on the ticket line. We've had some prayer warriors out there praying one time. I'll accept that prayer. But, um, you know, let's get off at 6 a.m., and, uh, anybody listening, there's Rocky's Family Dining out in Westland, Wayne Road. They open up at 6 a.m., and they're more than welcome to take anybody who just got off the ticket line that might have the munchies, you know, might want to do dinner, and then go home. But what I, my son and I did, we ate there, and then, uh, he parked his truck at my house that's on the way to our ticket place. So, I drove home. He got into his truck, went home. I showered, and got dressed for church. Picked up a friend and went to church, and then after church, I was invited to lunch. Good thing I had a small breakfast, and, uh, then I napped until bedtime, and then I went to bed. I was already in bed. It was convenient, and I woke up sometime Monday, and, uh, we've got enough people. That's all we need to do, but recently, if you haven't even heard yet, there's been progress made in Ford Motor Company in the deals. My fear is that this first one they're going to come up with is going to be a very good deal we should vote yes on, but the majority of people will vote no, because there's a lot of people hyped on voting no no matter what happens. Wait, what if the first one is really awesome? I'm certain we'll get legacy employees and people tied up in the union leadership. They'll say, yeah, you really want this one. Um, well, we shall see what they come up with. So far, it looks promising. Stuff that we gave up over 10 years ago, a long time ago, so that the company wouldn't have to go through bankruptcy to take a government buyout or bailout, and then we did that for the company. We don't like the stuff back that's supposed to be when the company became profitable. Surprise, surprise, surprise. The company is profitable again, and we don't like some stuff back. So, um, that's about where we're at now. Whoa, but now GM and and Chrysler are just doesn't seem to be serious enough. So this guy just told GM and Chrysler go for a walk, and it's not just any place, it's the parts place. And so now, when I get them right where it hurts, you ain't getting any parts. I'm going to get them and get them hard, because those of us who've been on strike need to, you know, we would like to get back to work. I want to get back to work. Um, but also, um, you know, keep your promises, boss. Just, you know, for me, keep your promises. I, I got my own opinion on that 32 hour work week. I don't like it. I'd rather have three crew working for 11 hour days, which ship premium that way. Um, three shifts working for 11 hour days, everybody would get a three days spent with the family. Except for the C crew, you get four days working and the equivalent of four days off. So you still get a Saturday night with your family, but you also get Tuesday, Wednesdays, Thursdays. And I prefer that, and it's the equivalent of production, two shifts working six days. That's, you just can't beat that. There's the production that's out there. There's the, uh, there's the people with time with their families and some good money coming in. Um, lately, you know, after, uh, after this COVID thing was over, you know, that there was people out there that, uh, companies that started offering more money for people to come to work for them. Because, you know, at first like flipping burgers, that's not a, uh, you know, that's not a living wage. Well, now they're offering living wages at the cost of having less employees there. I went to one McDonald's one time. There's a kiosk there. Like, no, no. Um, if you don't like kiosks, I don't like kiosks. Messed up on purpose. And just get some, excuse me, I'm having problems with this. You know, I go grocery shopping. There's a self-checkout thing. I got to look like the most idiotic person up there, but I'm getting somebody to go to work. When Meijer was open 24 hours, I insisted somebody open up a checkout lane for me. Because I told them if everybody uses the self-checkout, they'll need less employees. And now for these automotive places, um, I didn't, I should have looked it up beforehand and did my research, but I'm certain it's the automotive industry and, and the industrial revolution that brought a lot of people to America around 1900. My great-grandparents came here in the late 1800s. Um, they had to have seen the Statue of Liberty on the way in. And there's a lot of members of my family that was settled in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Michigan, especially because there was jobs here. And there was the American dream. There was, you know, everybody owned a house. There was a car in every driveway and, and some food and a pot on the stove. The American dream. You were free to express yourself. You're free to criticize the government. You're free to celebrate your religion. Freedom. And like President W. Bush said, this is freedom's home. So, uh, now I think, you know, that the automotive industry needs to, um, make, uh, they need to be great again. If I could use that cliche there, um, because when I got hired in, in 1996, we were told that, you know, this is the job that, you know, you can retire from, you can own a house and a car and maybe a boat and go on vacations and spend a lot of time with your family and, you know, into retirement and you'll be well taken care of. Henry Ford started the company 120 years ago and he paid his people, not just a living wage, but enough to be able to, enough to be able to buy what they built. And today, have you seen the prices of new vehicles? I have before they get to the dealership. When you work at the assembly factory, you get a chance to see that a lot of these vehicles, I can't afford to buy. And I've been there 27 years and the cost of living has been gone for years. And, uh, they raised, no, ain't had one. And we need to keep up. If we keep voting in these people in government that want to raise taxes and raise the price of groceries and everything, the world needs to keep up. Don't blame me, I didn't vote for them. So things are looking promising. People are still on the ticket line. A very dear friend of mine should be out there at four o'clock. I'm going to do things around my house, do a little bit of shopping, and I think I'll go pay her a visit. See how she's doing, see if she needs anything. What's the temperature going to be on that poor girl today? Oh, that's a map. I don't need a map. Come on, temperature. And happy Friday, everybody. Yeah, I'm looking at the, I'm looking at a weather app on my phone as I speak. Currently it's 79, it's going to go down to 56 tonight. She'll be out there till midnight. Let me see, days ahead. Oh, chance of rain, puts a 17% on Tuesday and Wednesday, highs in the 60s. So, hey, people, dress warm. They've got fire barrels out there over in the Wayne plant. And, you know, they was, before those showed up, they were talking about it. You know, can we have one? Can we have one? I thought, hey, why don't you guys barbecue? A lot of people love to cook and, you know, they love to barbecue. Bring out a barbecue grill and barbecue and have people bringing some meat. Going to keep warm, hanging around the barbecue grill. Snow is delicious, burgers and hot dogs and steaks and whatever. All right, 79 degrees. Don't think she'll need a blanket later on today. And the weather to make you feel better. Going to make you feel better right now. Currently in Death Valley, it's a little after noon. It's 90 degrees. Going to be up to 95 today. And, oh, it's going to be up to 103 on Monday. But the low is going to be 73, so it's the cuddle alert. Now, can I make you feel a little bit more better? Let's go to Antarctica. Somewhere in Antarctica, people actually want to live there. It's a minus 66 degrees after a balmy high of minus 62. And you might want to cuddle. It's going to be a minus 78 degrees. I really do believe that, you know, I'm looking at this and it's like 66 degrees, you know, after a high of minus 62, low of minus 78. Then it says, feels like. No. Anything below 20, you don't feel. It feels like it's a minus 88 degrees out there right now in Antarctica. Like, have you been exiled there? Some people, you know, they're on purpose. And, you know, there's scientists and stuff. Okay. Here it is. Here's my theory. Antarctica, as cold as. Anyway, the pressure is on. People have the money and give us, you know, reward us, reward us, make these automotive places a place that people want to stay and work. I can tell you from firsthand experience, I know that at times they'll have 100 people come into orientation. And by the end of orientation, many quit already, you know, over the hours of work. And then some people, when they get on the floor, within an hour, they walk out the door. I can't do this. I can also tell you from 27 years experience that you can be on a job and then there'd be a job available. Somebody retired, somebody quit. You know, once they're on a rally, but somebody dies, there's a job opening. And it's up for bids within the plant first. You got seniority, you get first bids for taking it. Then you go down the seniority list. I had somebody sign up for a forklift driver job. And I asked them, what's your seniority? And he goes, July. And I says, usually that pause is followed by a year. You know, like what year? Oh, this past July. Oh, well, I'm July too, but 1996. So if I signed up for that job, he definitely won't get it. But company loyalty, hang in there. You'll get your time, you'll get respect, and you'll have a chance to bump over to another job. And my one fear is this push for electric vehicles. We had somebody on the picket line last night. I went to go see some friends. And this guy was the representative for my area out here in Westland. He represents this place here. And I said, oh, great. Let me tell you about this. This push for electric vehicles. Yeah, we're all trying to keep up with Tesla. Think about it. I says, so between here and Mackinac Island, how many electric chargers are there on the way up there? He goes, well, yeah, we need to work on that. I says, how long does it take to charge your car to go? And if it sits without being charged, how long is that going to last? So like you go on vacation, you go to Mackinac Island, you spend a couple days up there. There's not enough, you know, up there for you to have your car fully charged up for the next day to go somewhere. You're just going to spend your vacation worried about charging up your car. And then I says to him, what these redundants, these people that want to, you know, they want this clean energy. Hey, college kids, you want clean energy? Here's what you do. You go to college and take up engineering. These electric cars, why ain't there solar panels on the roof of the car to charge up the battery so you don't need to plug it in anywhere? In my combustible engine vehicular, you know, the alternator charges up my battery so that the next time I go to start it, it's going to start. Why can't we have alternators in the wheel wells of these electric vehicles? So the only thing you need is just a little bit of oomph to get the thing started, and then as you're rolling, it charges up your battery for you. So no matter where you park it, you've got a full charge. See, these kids need to take up engineering instead of whatever classes they're taking. Yeah, there's some pretty weird college courses out there, and I know they need, like, a half credit or something, and they just take something right off the bat. But, you know, you do a, perform a job interview, and you ask a guy, can you speak any other languages? He says, Klingon, you know they wasted their time in college, and they probably got a outstanding debt, and they want it paid off for free and everything. Like, no, not when you take some stupid college courses like Klingon or getting dressed or climbing trees, and yes, there's actual college courses in America for that. I looked it up. Oh, boy. In effect, strange college courses. Weird college majors from sources across the web. Fermentation science, bagpiping, bakery science, Canadian studies, puppet arts, adventure education, comics, citrus. Yeah, that pays a six-figure salary a year. What's your major name? Citrus. Citrus. Citrus. Citrus. Citrus. Citrus. Citrus. What's your major name? Citrus. Floral management, golf course management, music, park engineering, costume technology, bowling industry, comedy, eco-gastronomy. You've got to be really good at comedy. Exercise science, entertainment design. Yeah, I think these are actual college courses you can major in. Kids, you're taking up the wrong one. What you really need to do is take up engineering, design more of these solar panels so they can become less expensive. I told this representative of mine, I just walk between friends, church, work, grocery shopping. I go into one, two, three, four. I drive through six cities within a month to do things. And I mentioned some ones that got some high incomes like Livonia and Plymouth. And I says, you know how many houses I see with solar panels? Two. And actually, he says there's a limit of amount of places that can have solar panels. I said, well, I live in a low-income neighborhood. Nobody here can afford solar panels. So kids, take up engineering to make these things more affordable. And while you're at it, get a job and combine your income with other like-minded people and buy solar panels for places like nursing homes, you know, so that any kind of blackout will still have heat, electricity, and air conditioning and stuff like that. That's what you really need to be taking instead of getting dressed. Anyway, the picketing is still going, and it's still going strong. And I want to just thank everybody who will come out and support. And then there's people who, like myself, it's not even my shift. I'm going to go to a parts place. It's not even that I work for, and it's not even my shift, and I'm going to go support some people. So have fun. Thank you for the support. And maybe one day when things get all right with the automotive industry, you get in there, and you be given the same promises, but we want promises kept. And as I tell everybody out there, you know, what do you think will happen next? I just say, oh, stay tuned. So everybody, stay tuned, and I gotta go.