amanda

When my car gets repo'd sometime very soon, I will be thankful b/c I am actually helping another country.

Bright-Side

The bright side to this is we can help our neighbors in other Countries. None of these Great American Icons are American anymore. Why would they come back? I'm not going to list all things here, but take a look at Fords Video linked to this article http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070822/AUTO01/708220407&imw=Y. . They all stated they needed the bailout to survive. Now GM wants to buy Chrysler. Ford now states they don't need the bailout. Think of the $ for employment compensation if we tax the ---- when they bring the products into the U.S.

wondering

Thanks for the info guys. I figured it was a rumor but with everything going on you just never know. I'm interested to see how this all plays out .. whether or not Freightliner will ever recover with this economy like it is. I have serious doubts about it. Guess we'll all just have to wait and see.

S

Luke you hit the nail on the head. All you people that think a union will help your company and you need to use this as a very painful learning expierance.Non union companies will be very apprehensive of hiring union Freightliner employees.Unions in America these days are considered lazy, poor quality,and always wanting more, more, and more until they run a company in the ground to where they can't compete in the US anymore. That is why your jobs are going to Mexico! Wish you had that vote back huh?

EX UNION MEMBER

JUST A RUMOR, THE MANAGEMENT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE UNION GETTING IN FREIGHTLINEER, AND ALOT OF THE EMPLOYEES THAT WERE IN THE UNION HAVE GOTTEN OUT OF IT, THE MEMBERSHIP IS NOT THAT STRONG NOW!!

Watching It Unfold

No. The management had nothing to do with getting the union in the Cleveland plant. The workers voted them in and if you ask most of them, they regret it. It's been nothing but a big joke since the so called "strike". The union is suppose to help the working man/woman. Not this one. They help the people that get fired for bad time, get their jobs back. So they can rack up more bad time.

FordTough

Wanna Race?

luke

DC, its real simple. If you are a Union Man a non union company WILL NOT hire you. They do not want to put up with the BS.

Carly

no one will hire "US" because of the potential to be called back. Who wants to spend money on the training of a new employee and then have them quit because Freightliner called them back? I made $24 hr at Freightliner and I know I wont find that anywhere else. I have had several interviews and have told them that I will work for $10 hr and will not return to Freightliner if called back. I guess it isnt a chance that a company is willing to take.

wondering

I had heard that the management at Freightliner was just as involved in getting the union in there as those who voted it in. This came from a Freightliner employee. Is it true or just another rumor??

DC

I may be one of the few people in this area that has never worked for Freightliner. I feel terrible for every person that this, and every other lay off has affected and my thoughts are with them. I did want to ask, why former Freightliner employees are being rejected from possible jobs because they are from Freightliner? Why is that a liablity? I am sure that while employed there everyone got a lot of work experience and skilled training? I would think that would be an asset for a future job.

ROS

Ford trucks are great, but with gas prices jumping all over the place, they can't give those trucks away. Everything else Ford makes is crap. It's bad business for Ford to be so reliant on one line of vehicles (trucks). Toyota and Honda have been so successful because they keep up with what's practical and what the market demands. The government should let them fail, re-organize, and maybe they'll start making cars that people want and can afford to buy.

FordTough

apparently you have never driven a Ford.

ROS

I'll sell my Honda or Toyota when the American made car is a better or at least an equal deal. As of today, there is no comparison.

Shelia

I was layed off in June, went back in Aug, and will get layed off in this round. I just wondered what people are doing that were layed of in June. Where are you working? What kind of jobs are out there?

M.A.R.

ATTENTION ALL FREIGHTLINER EMPLOYEES, GET RID OF OUR UNION,OUR LAZY REPS WHO DON'T WANT TO WORK JUST SIT UP IN THE UAW OFFICE AND GOSSIP AND THE REST OF THE UNION SO CALLED BIG SHOTS (SHOP CHAIR, PRESIDENT, AND ALL THE REST) AND MAYBE THERE WILL BE A POSITIVE TURNAROUND FOR US.

'Bout to be Homeless

It's the nature of the beast. The economy is at it's lowest in years. Not the mention that the union has made a mochery of the Cleveland plant. They strike, they don't strike. They get fired and start this big Freightliner 5 march that NO ONE attends. That's your problem. Get the UAW out of there and you might get somewhere.

JT

Unskilled $30.00 an hour labor employees said "we want a union, more money, better perks, and so on". Freighliner said " we want cheaper costs, better workers, and less BS".....the end result is real simple. You find a $9.00 an hour job and try to pay off your bills while we move our company South to Mexico and profit. This has been going on for years. Pillowtex voted in a union and all the lintheads cheered....then they were all unemployed!!!!

BabyD

a lot of us knew this was coming because they were video taping us do our jobs, they said it was standard work procedures for your specific job, but we know they were going to translate everything we said to spanish and show them the videos on how to do our jobs in mexico. Freightliner wasn't building a $300 million plant in mexico just to build a few trucks they are getting ready for mass production of the Cascadia trucks that they told us only cleveland would be building "our flagship truck"!

Research!

Without the supporting votes of a Republican controlled House and Senate at the time the free trade agreement was signed, Clinton couldn't have passed it! Who sold who under our noses??

said it, mean it

A friend once told me that UAW stands you "You Ain't Working". How true! How true!

Localyokel

We got sold on these free trade agreements with all the promises of cheaper goods. Well, we got the goods and other countries have our jobs and money. You can thank Clinton for that. We need to press our current lawmakers to revisit this issue and pay attention when they start getting cozy with foreign powers. Clinton sold us to China right under our noses.

S

This is a sad fact but true....most companies are very afraid to hire you when you come from a union plant. They are afraid you will bring the thoughts with you of the union and try to get it started in their plant.

sh

To Mr. Union Man: It really doesnt matter if management makes 10 million $s a day and has 30 Benz cars. That will never ever ever change, all Senior Management gets perks. Thats why their in charge and Senior Execs!!! You are a typical Union Man alright worrying about what the Top Dog is doing and always think hes trying to beat you down. Lets get the facts straight since you called me out. Unions are for LAZY people nothing more. I know union people and most sit around talking about what they can get by with without getting fired. LAAAAZY people thats it! What you should do is be glad the boss has a Benz & maybe you could have a job! There is no place for a Union in todays work force, I mean you have Obama. That will cure everything anyway.

Dan

May I ask where you are working? I have not been able to get a job b/c of the fact that I am laid off from freightliner. Even though I have told potential employeers that I would not be going back to freightliner, they still wont hire me.

Tim

I left Freightliner because I saw this coming. I was hired in 97,left last year right before the layoff. Found a first shift job close to the house, doesnt pay as much to be sure but is much, much more stable. The first thing that was brought up when they found out where I was working( and I cant blame them at all) was recall rights. They told me to get a job there I had to give my recall rights up( quit) and not wait to be laid off. I was informed that I was not going to be hired on trained to work on their equipment and techniques if I was going to run back to Frieghtliner when business got better( if ever). No brainer.... Its not going to get better, perhaps for a while but it will ALWAYS come down to final cost. The mexico plant can produce a truck thousands of dollars cheaper and with the same warranty....more profit. Guys and gals Frieghtliner IS NOT a American owned company, they do not care WHERE the trucks are built, just how much the cost of building the trucks is... I had very high hopes when the union came in( I signed a card way before it was voted in) but in looking back I see the mistake( a stupid one at that). The unions in the US are best suited for american owned companies. What keeps a foreign owned company in the US ? Simple..the skills that have to be there for the job. Think about this!!!...... The only thing the union can do( that is helpfull) is lock production in a certain plant. We had the chance to lock production in Cleveland of the P3 and it was blown by stupid ignorant or just plain greedy people( You Know who you are). It is too late to point fingers and I will not name names but we had the chance to lock it in and have a job for the life of the contract and it was squandered away. WHY? When all the awards were being given to mexico for this and that wasnt there any worry why? When the american companies started running fleets from mexico why didnt anybody(Union) do anything? I was horrified!! This whole union thing has left a very bad impression on myself that will last forever. The pro union guys and gals can go ahead and flame their hearts out but everybody knows that it could have done much better but it for sure failed in the points it was brought in for. JOB SECURITY!!!! Who cares if you get a signing bonus when production is allowed anywhere the company wants?? For petes sake, tell your union reps to lock production in next time and forget about some silly signing bonus. Take a cut if you have to but lock production in at your plant. Thats the only security that a union can provide. I am afraid its to late in cleveland, mexico is going to build all trucks that freightliner provides( besides special fleets, military and the like) Face it, learn from it, dont let it ever happen again. Any skills you can learn you take with you when you leave...Learn all you can most importantly the ones that take much time to master. Dont be afraid of taking a paycut, it is going to happen, job security is the most important thing you can get. All in all I made good money while I was there but most important I learned skills there that got me the job I have now. Good luck to all of you.

S

The best thing for the Freightliner employees should do is throw the union out of their plant. Then the management would know that you are serious about keeping your jobs. Now in America there is no place for a union in the work place, maybe 50 years ago it was. It is true a lot of jobs are going to Mexico, I too lost a job a few years back because it was sent to Mexico. I still travel there with my new company and see all the American companies that have went south. You hear people talk about cheap labor in Mexico, well I can say for sure that the Mexican workers receive between 70 cents - 1.00 per hour for most of the jobs we have lost in our country. Now you tell me how will we ever compete with this when we have these unions in our plants that just keep wanting and wanting more. This is just my opinion, but Freightliner employees this union will leave you out in the cold when they close your plant.

Union Man

All these Post about the workers and the Union. If Freightliner moves to Mexico, it is for Greed and increasing the bottom dollar. America workers are some of the best workers around, living in a free Democratic Society, so why not have a voice in the workplace also. For those that read this post, did you know that the Management Team at Freightliner was awarded FREE Mercedes Benz Vehicles a day after the last layoff. The gas is also paid for, so is Freightliner hurting so bad that they must attack the workers on the floor. The workers on the floor that builds the product didn't even get a turkey for the holidays and had to pay for their own Xmas party. Things you don't know from the outside looking in, thats why the employees at the plant feel they deserve their share of fair wages and benefits. Next time you ride by the plant and see all those shiny Mercedes Benz cars, they were purchased with the laidoff workers blood and sweat and given to Suit and Tie non-working manager. As long as the company can give away free Top of the line cars to the people that don't work, then the Union needs to grow stronger and stronger. And to the Idiot that says Mexico doesn't have Unions; they do, but the Labor wages are just so cheap. Do you research before you post, because you never know when a PRO-UNION, American Pride worker is reading. Sell your Toyota or Honda and support the American Worker or there want be a Free America. That's the only way to reduce the Unemployment Rate.

Mike

I'd like to see them lay off in Mexicio instead of Cleveland; but why should they since our costs are much higher, and our attendance levels have been pathetic. Unfortunately, the market conditions can not support a second shift in Cleveland. I'm not 100% convinced CTMP will never be shut down because of NAFTA, but anyone who thinks we are being shut down right now because of Mexico has a very narrow view of the current situation. CTMP can produce more trucks than any other plant on the continent. Closing our doors will create many more hardships for the company than they need, once the market turns around. Saltillo can be expanded, but if we work together as a team after the layoff and after the recall, maybe CTMP will stay open. We were the best plant in the company when I first started there in '99, we need to get back to basics and return to that level of production, in order to have any hope of protecting our future.

Len

As a laid off Freighliner employee, my families insurance ended Dec 31. Our family went to the Doctor on Dec 30 just for the heck of it! Oh, we can get COBRA and continue our insurance,,, it only cost $1600 per month. I know that my family cant afford that. And I also know that I will not find a job making what I made at Freightliner. By the Way... the mexico plant is almost complete.

sh

Everyone on this post is making me sick. You do realize Mexico doesnt have big powerful UNIONS telling the EMPLOYER what to do dont you? Why in the world would Freightliner stay in the USA and fight UNION battles? I hate to say it but you are getting what was coming. Samething with the auto industry. They make 75.00 bucks an hour and make crappy products. Next job you get dont listen to Union Bosses or their reps and you might keep it. Samething happened to textiles, furniture and everything else. Also thank your beloved Mr. Clinton for NAFTA.

Concerned Taxpayer

Freightliner is not a joke. It's one of the highest paying employers around. Not to mention the benefits. Look around you. Don't you watch the news? We are in a recession and Freightliner is not immune to it. Business is business. The jobs are not going to Mexico, they're just going away. There's no money in the economy. No one can afford to buy trucks or anything else right now.

Larry

I was laid of in June and was hoping to get called back, but I guess I wont be going back now. It is sad that people are losing their jobs at so many different places. There is no work to be found, believe me, I have tried. My unemployment ends in Feb..... then what??

G

Just go ahead and close your doors....You don't want hard working Americans! We are tried of waiting!

Billy Evans (rockwell)

Wow who would have thought.....OH thats right it's all going to mexico where they (freightliner) has a $300 million dollar plant at does the President elect know thats why they are laying off. OH well I quess we all we live off the Goverment thats what they want any way aint it.

FD

Why did Freightliner build a plant in Mexico? We knew this was coming. All of our jobs are going out of the country. Pray for all of the family's that will be effected by this, and all the other layoffs due to jobs being sent out of the USA.

Gin

How can they be sorry for the families when they can't even imagine what most families are going through. Their employees are facing their worst fears right now! Feeding their children, providing shelter. Well Frieghtliner, why won't you shut down the Mexico plant and put the US citizens back to work. I guess they failed to mention that US citizens don't mean enough to them! It's a sad thing for hard working citizens who pay their taxes and try to live right have to face this. I hope the CEO's get hit hard by this! I know they won't feel the pinch of the economy. But God has something in store for them! I am not saying that closing the Mexico plant will save everyone's jobs but it will help some who have invested everything including faith in Freightliner!