I had an interesting day. About 2:30 this afternoon, I received a call from someone I did not expect: A reporter. This reporter was calling from one of our local television stations, WTVO Channel 17, and she was calling about the contract situation at Chrysler. She wanted an interview. Now naturally, I was pretty confused as to why she was calling me. I have been pretty vocal at the Local Union's message board, but I have been one of many, so why I was singled out wasn't immediately apparent. Then I remembered Stephanie Pearson. Stephanie is my buddy Erik's wife, and she works for the station. She heard they were doing a story, thought of my situation, and recommended the reporter call me. Man, am I glad she did. Up to today, there has been virtually no coverage of our situation in the local media at all. I never thought I'd be the one talking to the press, but I guess all my obsessive info gathering and reading about this contract actually payed off. The reporter's name is Kimberly Nelson, and I have to give her credit. She did a great job on the story. In the small amount of time they had, she not only mentioned my specific situation, but also highlighted the many serious flaws in this proposed contract. I was really happy with the story. Here's a link to the story on their webpage, along with a video.
As I'm writing this, the results from other ratifications votes are slowly starting to trickle in. As of right now, two more local unions have REJECTED this contract. This is really amazing stuff. We're looking at history right now. To my knowledge, no international agreement has ever been rejected en masse by the rank and file. This thing may not be over yet.
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