Go Fish! (An Observation About The Automobile Bailouts In The Us) Poem by Joe Rosochacki

The Big Three are asking for bailouts,
The Union says they are done with concessions,
The Big Three CEO’s have private jets,
I see the progressions.
When I was younger then now I grew up in the area of Dodge Main,
On the south side of Hamtramck,
Where Chrysler would pay their workers for their vacations,
Yet hire temporary workers to build cars,
In essence they put in $1.75 for every dollar spent into the cost of the car.
I used to pass by the Bershire Inn in a DSR bus,
On Joseph Campau, the main drag,
(I worked downtown at Grinnell’s) ,
Where women of the night at day and afternoon,
There were three shifts at Dodge Main if I may add,
And the bottles of Annie Green Springs and Kessler were overflowing in the trash bins,
Now I wondered what shape the workers were in.
Having drank their lunch and dinner,
Now wonder that the American cars in the seventies and eighties were the pits.
Anyway,
That was then, this is now.
In 2005, the UAW had reached an agreement with the Big Three on Job Banks,
Now is this desperate state of the economy the Big Three are mulling over,
They are about to renege on a contract for Shame, you say.
Job Banks were created to not “lay-off” workers,
Let me clear up this up a bit.
The United Auto Workers union is in talks with some of Detroit's big three automakers to put an end to the infamous 'job bank' - a program that allows laid off factory workers to report to work and play cards,
read the newspaper,
and maybe do a little volunteer work while continuing to be paid full wages and benefits.
No wonder Daimler got out.
I don’t think Toyota,
or Honda,
would agree to this,
That is why they headed out,
like a fetus,
they’re heading to the Southern States,
The Detroit area they would have to miss.
In 2005, there was story that blew this one out,
strike three at the bat,
Ken Pool is making good money. On weekdays, he shows up at 7 a.m. at Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Truck Plant in Wayne,
signs in,
and then starts working
- on a crossword puzzle. Pool hates the monotony,
but the pay is good:
more than $31 an hour, plus benefits.
'We just go in and play crossword puzzles,
watch videos that someone brings in or read the newspaper, ' he says. 'Otherwise, I've just sat.”
Imagine that!
(I wonder if Toyota and Honda had this plan for their workers? NOT.)
But that was yesterday but today is now,
Pool hated monotony,
But will he give “non-job” up?
Not according UAW President Ron Gettelfinger,
Even as Detroit's Big Three teeter on collapse,
United Auto Workers President Ron Gettelfinger said Saturday that workers will not make any more concessions and that getting the automakers back on their feet means figuring out a way to turn around the slumping economy.

So I say that until the Big Three and UAW workers get a plan,
The government should not get involved,
As far as conceptual vehicle goes,
Better start liking the YUGO’s.

Now the Big Three are headed to Washington again,
They have ditched their private planes,
Most of them made the road trip in hybrids,
Some peolpe think it will never be the same. The UAW will renegotiate the contracts with the Big Three,
Job Banks will be no more, Because there is nothing for free,
Renegotiate or majority of members will hit the unemployment lines,
The Big Three had shown out the door.
Gettelfinger has to have union dues to pay his salary,
He needs workers to work,
He uses the strength of the union as a tool.
But as the old saying goes, “His mother didn’t raise a fool.”

The Senate has rejected a bill to bail out the Big Three.
Among the problems that Senate has is with the UAW,
not allowing concessions for reduced pay,
The executive office is in limbo,
There is good indication,
That Big Two of the Big Three will have to know,
GM and Chrysler, Are liable to secure bankruptcy protection.

The union walked out on GM,
The time is closing on them,
Who knows what plants will close,
May GM streamline it’s makes and models, who knows.

GM is considering bankruptcy, It has pursued government loans but the writing is on the wall,
It is hemorrhaging cash by the ton,
The UAW got what they asked for now there are behind the eight ball.
The CEO of GM, Rick Wagoner, resigned yesterday,
Obama’s White House will it’s way,
My question is are the investments banks CEO’s and especially,
AIG’s CEO and many others have be a “sacrificial lamb”,
Many Americans they say “Already, I am”.

(3-30-09)