| Nearly 80% of UAW workers ratify pact with Ford 11/18/07
United Auto Workers members have ratified a historic four-year contract with Ford Motor Co. that sets lower pay for some newly hired workers and puts the company's huge retiree health care debt into a UAW-run trust. The UAW, which represents about 54,000 workers at Ford, said Wednesday that 79 percent of those voting favored the pact. Workers at General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC already have ratified similar deals, with the contract winning at Chrysler by only a small margin. Unlike the other two automakers, there was no strike at Ford. The landmark deals have been praised by the companies and union for protecting jobs while at the same time cutting labor costs to make the struggling automakers more competitive with their Japanese rivals. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said the union negotiated a contract with Ford that protects wages, benefits and seniority rights and provides income and secure health care for retirees.
Rural Bulletin Survey Results: Snapshot…
We received 362 responses from Rural Bulletin readers within the timeframe (more came in afterwards). Of these 185 were from people living in rural areas, 66 from people in small towns and 94 from people in cities. Our thanks go to you all. How you receive it: just under half the respondents received Rural Bulletin by email, and slightly under half were sent it by mail. A small number downloaded it from Rural Women New Zealand’s website. .
Rockland districts deal with vermin
Schools and vermin have been uneasy companions for generations, much to the annoyance and disgust of humans. Infestations of ants, mice, bees, wasps, rats, flies, cockroaches, centipedes, millipedes, silverfish, spiders, beetles, bats and other creatures that are attracted to food, damp cement, old wood and crumbling masonry appear regularly wherever old buildings with cafeterias exist. Such has been the case with Clarkstown North High School's recent problems with roaches and other critters. But most people are first introduced to school vermin issues through a letter home that says that head lice have been discovered in their children's elementary school. Such was the case during the past month in at least two of Rockland's eight public school districts, though representatives from all eight said they saw isolated cases of head lice every fall, this year included.
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