My best guess
Sorry, no inside info here, but it seems to me there was more smoke than fire on this "City sells out ACH workers" story.
Obviously there were some conversations held about the future of that property. My guess is that Ford already had decided that the plant would be closed and someone in the city -- I wouldn't point any fingers because it could have been anyone or any number of people -- said how about just giving the city the property.
Why in the hell would the city want the property?
For any number of reasons, including as the site for a new industrial facility, as part of the River Raisin battlefield project, as part of the wildlife refuge -- reasons of all kind. They probably wanted to get their claws into it before Homrich got his into it.
My guess is there was no evil intent on the city's part. It was just a how can we make the best of a bad situation thing.
If they played anything wrong, it probably was that they didn't take a stronger posture with Ford. They together with the union might have leveraged something.
My guess is the union would have done all kinds of things to keep that plant open mainly because the work force over the years usually made some kind of concessions when jobs were threatened.
Bottom line is the union wasn't right and the city wasn't right in this.
The real question will be what really will happen to the property? Would anyone connected with the city lay claim to it after this controversy?
Obviously there were some conversations held about the future of that property. My guess is that Ford already had decided that the plant would be closed and someone in the city -- I wouldn't point any fingers because it could have been anyone or any number of people -- said how about just giving the city the property.
Why in the hell would the city want the property?
For any number of reasons, including as the site for a new industrial facility, as part of the River Raisin battlefield project, as part of the wildlife refuge -- reasons of all kind. They probably wanted to get their claws into it before Homrich got his into it.
My guess is there was no evil intent on the city's part. It was just a how can we make the best of a bad situation thing.
If they played anything wrong, it probably was that they didn't take a stronger posture with Ford. They together with the union might have leveraged something.
My guess is the union would have done all kinds of things to keep that plant open mainly because the work force over the years usually made some kind of concessions when jobs were threatened.
Bottom line is the union wasn't right and the city wasn't right in this.
The real question will be what really will happen to the property? Would anyone connected with the city lay claim to it after this controversy?
posted by The Observer at 1/08/2008 12:27:00 PM
3 Comments:
Both Roundabout and Alacajun make sense when they opine. There is no advantage to keeping a large plant open when it is on the ropes using only a little of the floor space. The main cost of the converters is the honeycomb interior. All that Monroe was doing was stamping a stainless shell and assembling the units.
This equals close to no benefit or added valus at Monroe. The real cost of the converter is in the platinum family of metals in the honeycomb interior. Given Monroe Ford’s long history of costly metal theft involving copper and nickel, I would not trust them with real precious metals.
Gee Anon. This rant you had about the Smiths (there are over 600 in the phone book) is like something out of the Lord OF The Flies. Kill the Pig kill the pig the chant goes on.
If you wish to see a real bung hole, look in the mirror. The opening might be in the middle of your forehead.
Making assumptions to what happened is not what is at issue. City leaders need to be transparent when it comes to issues like this one. Union and Ford issues aside, the citizens of Monroe should demand to know exactly what transpired regarding this issue. The fact that we are all left to guess is unacceptable and should not be tolerated. I hope the new mayor and council will take the opportunity to give us the facts. I for one will take the mayor at his word that he will improve communication under his tenure. This is a golden oppportunity to do such and communicate to the citizens (many of whom are losing their jobs on this issue) what exactly the city did regarding this issue. Anything less is not acceptable. If the fate of 1400 jobs in this community cant warrent a factual response then you can have no faith to be told the truth about anything. No blame should be placed on the city if they acted appropriatly. Thats exactly why the city should have no problem giving us the truth. I for one know that when theres smoke theres fire. even if its a small one. One match can start a forest fire Mr. Observer!!! Do the right thing Mr. Mayor and New Council. Start being transparent and accountable to the people that elected you, even if the truth hurts.
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