Johnson Controls to buy former Visteon plant in Saline

Watch out employees. JCI's philosophy "Mexico or Bust". Good luck to you all.

Well good job Jenny!!! Lots of people who complain about you have thier heads stuck in the sand (or elsewhere!!) and probably wond acknowledge this one.

laura wrote:

Watch out employees. JCI's philosophy "Mexico or Bust". Good luck to you all.

What does mexico or bust mean?

joe wrote:

<quoted text>What does mexico or bust mean?

There used to be over 1600 people employed by JCI in Holland. Now, maybe 500. Where did all the jobs go? TO MEXICO. Cheaper wages. I truly hope this doesn't happen to these people, but I would brace myself if I were them.

Maria wrote:

<quoted text>
Geez Laura, you are a fear-monger. Someone that thinks they know what they're talking about but has it all wrong. Holland used to have 0 people working at JCI, peaked at around 5000 in the year 2000, and now has probably around 3000. Yes, some jobs went to Mexico but it was not "JCI's policy" - it was high-labor-intensive product for which you can fit many into trucks. Because other companies already had this type of product being built in China or Mexico, JCI had only 2 real choices: Move the product to a lower-cost manufacturing country or sell it all. Because they kept the business, there are 100's of jobs in Holland to support that business (Engineering, Management, Support).
The product at the old Visteon plant supplies to East Michigan mostly, is more capital-intensive than labor-intensive, and it is not the kind of product that you can fit many in trucks, so moving it does not make sense.

Actually, I do know a little something on the subject since I was directly affected. JCI in Holland (formerly Prince) moved to Mexico for ONE reason. Cheaper wages produces higher profits for stock-holders and executives. That's it. They were profitable when they moved the business. Very profitable. They wanted more. I'm not a fear mongor. I don't have to be because all one has to do is look at Michigan manufacturing jobs. They're scarce to the point of being extinct. Maybe I was wrong with my numbers pertaining to how many employees JCI has(I guessed), but I'm not sure I'm wrong on the other issue at hand. If there is more money to be had by moving Visteon to another country, JCI WILL DO IT. Why pay people fair wage here when you can pay slave labor in other countries for pennies on the dollar? Common sense here. Oh and by the way, JCI has eliminated several research and development, engineering and other white collar jobs as well. I'm wondering if you work for JCI and haven't lost your job yet, or if you work for another company that justifies this kind of business practice.

Yeah, got it. They were profitable. Still are. Your reasoning is understood. Doesn't make it ethical. Cut a CEO's wages to be competitve. Not thousands of jobs. Your view is lost on me. Move on.

Laura, this bozo defending JCI sounds like one of JCI's puppets. He doesn't understand the idea that
this company is just trying to sustain itself the cheapest way possible and that he's working/managing his way out of a job....poor fool. He better have a backup job/plan! JCI has that effect on many employees remaining...not very many people retire from JCI....wink.

JCI has a knack for kicking the employees while they are down. It's not just moving jobs to Mexico. The philosophy of JCI is there is no amount of money that will ever be enough. I have seen them take one of the largest if not the largest service companies in California & turn it into a shell of itself. They have to meet a very high GP or will cut an account loose. Meanwhile the inability of JCI to stay competative because of constantly increasing costs to customers has cost a number of lost contracts & in turn lost jobs. They would rather lay off people than have to bring down their GP just a little bit to be competative. JCI thinks by name alone they can force their greed upon customers but the customers are not buying into their propaganda & instead are leaving to other service contractors. No job is safe when dealing with JCI, just look at the incredibly high turn over rate of management. Since being bought out by JCI 2 years ago we have had 5 different foreman, 4 different service managers, & 3 different branch managers. This is in one area, talk about stability.

we all know and fear our jobs going somewhere else. We do know its a possibility. we will have four years to try to deal with it,change it or find a new job. Saline is a UAW shop though I fear they will not do enough for us point being when a contract is reached we won't vote yes without job guarantees.

Here's a report on JCI workers in Mexico:
www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-sun_mexic...

Excerpt:

When Jose Enrique Morales, 35, was hired at the Johnson Controls plant in Puebla six years ago, he was unfamiliar with such details. He thought his life had turned around. He was working for a foreign company in the auto industry, which is considered a step up by most Mexican workers. And he liked training new employees.
Morales worked at a large, modern-looking plant, one of 90 parts supply firms that serve a massive Volkswagen facility nearby.
The job at Johnson Control's was a huge advance. His father died when he was a youngster, and his illiterate mother could never find a decent-paying job, let alone a steady one. The oldest of five, at 12 years old he began selling fruits and vegetables.
But after a few years at Johnson Controls, Morales noticed that his pay and benefits were barely growing. Yet he did not speak up. "I am not a man of words. I am a patient man," he explained.
Then last June he went to a union meeting where he and others raised some questions: Why hadn't they seen their contract? Why do they rarely see union officials? Why haven't they received better pay increases?
These issues were on their minds because they had been talking about forming an independent union at the plant.
That day his colleagues joked that he would be fired soon.
A month later that's exactly what happened to Morales and five others who spoke up. Morales and some of the fired workers say they were told by a company official that they had been let go at the union's request. Johnson Controls officials declined to comment on the firings.
Meanwhile, Aldaberto Romero Corona, a union shop steward at Johnson Controls, called the workers' complaints "a lie and a half." Most workers at the factory are satisfied with their salaries, he said, and the union contract is "competitive" for the area.
While workers have been campaigning against his union, they've been allowed to continue working, Romero noted.
He also said negotiating labor contracts is a complex dance in a once-impoverished area of Mexico, a reality constantly underscored by companies' threats that they will simply go elsewhere for cheaper labor.
"What we try to do is arrange things so the source of employment continues in this area," Romero said. "Strikes are not productive."
So, too, Joaquin Martinez, manager of the 900-worker, 11-year-old plant similarly discounted the notion his employees might be unhappy. Workers can attend school after work at the plant. There is a support program for female workers, who make up half of the workforce. And turnover and absenteeism rates are less than 1 percent, he said.
But he would not discuss workers' salaries, which, according to the union, range from $88 to $120 a week. Nor would he say what percentage of workers are employed as temporary help, except to say it is "not a high percentage."
Nor did he think competing in Mexico is so difficult.
"When I talk to people in other countries, it is a matter of weather and language. That's the difference," he said.
The day Morales returned to his small, two-bedroom apartment in a government project to tell his wife and three children that he had been fired from his $90-a-week job, a sudden fear swept his wife, Sandra, who earns a little money through part-time jobs.
He looked for other work, but couldn't find any. They pawned his wife's jewelry and sold a television set and stereo and borrowed money from relatives.
In October, the United Auto Workers union began paying $450 a month to Morales, who has been organizing the Johnson Controls workers lately on behalf of an independent union. The UAW also wrote to Johnson Controls, saying it should not have bowed to the Mexican union's demands to fire the workers.
"I did the right thing," Morales said. "I just want my children to live better than me."

JCI Spent Thousands of Dollars and Flew out People From Wisconsin to Fight The IAM Union Because they were deeply Concerned about our money being used for union dues.They Paid us to watch presentations,strike footage and even a spanish translator with a nice Mercedes Benz and wireless headsets for every spanish speaking employee.Plus Management Flooded us daily with pages of anti-union propaganda to the point of harassment.If we went over eight hours at the meetings they paid us sick time instead of overtime. When the union won,they didnt bid for the the contract again.

I worked for Chrysler for over 20 years at a seating plant in Ontario Canada.The plant was very profitable employing 1500 people until Johnson Controls took over the operations from the Chrysler Corp.Immediately they held plant meetings saying the status quo would be maintained and there would be no loss of jobs.Within 6 years the number of employees dwindled to 500 as Johnson controls took more and more of our work to other plants.Finally in 2001 they closed the plant saying it was economically unsustainable and moved the rest of the jobs to Mexico.During our years with Chrysler we were the number one plant in North America sewing leather seating for years .The closure of the plant affected thousands of people in our small city .They managed to suck the life out of a once very efficient and profitable plant so they could make more money on the back of Mexican workers by paying them cheap wages.

i can't give out my name because i work at the saline plant. i swear if my job gets sent to mexico and i lose my shitty apartment and cheap car, i'm going down to mexico to set fire to all their plants. because this is bullshit. i could care less about cheaper labor I NEED MY JOB TOO ASSHOLES. This won't stop until every company has left and every city in the U.S. is now a ghetto and our people starved. Then we can ask them are you happy now?

I worked for JCI for 10 years from 1994-2004. I was there at the end of the PRINCE years and saw a dramatic shift in the culture and attitude of management and employees. I know Ed Prince would have been grieved at what happened to his company. He was all about serving the community and providing opportunity for people to grow and develop. I left voluntarily to pursue a "higher calling" and have no regrets.