Hey Marc Cannon, do you even realize at what you just said when you say these guys "...weren't going lose anything..."?!?!?! Or are you just counting on your big fat bonus at the end which you think you're about to get?

Talking in fairness... greedyness... you name it. We all know this dealership's business is at halt. It is obvious that AutoNation is loosing a lot of money everyday while these guys are on the street picketing. Why don't AutoNation just leave these guys contract alone. Why don't AutoNation look at how much they're loosing now than trying to gain what's already given to their workers? That isn't very bright idea isn't it?

The technicians, and union, need to wake up. There is nothing but flat rate here in Florida and it works. The techs that know what they're doing make a good living. The worthless guys who couldn't fix a car to save their life are the ones that always cry about wanting a fixed salary. And, it sounds as if this Gary Jones is one of the worthless ones. AutoNation is the largest dealer group in the country. They may be hurting a little by this one dealer's cry babies, but they are still making money.

Realist
you can make good money working flat rate,you can work hard, sorry I
mean fast and sell all kind of stuff to a customer,even if they don't need it.Thats the best way to make a butt load of money under your program.Autonation is so dishonest to customers as well as employees it makes me sick to my stomach,but it also makes me stay strong on the pecket line.some day autonation will face a class action suit for there business practices.but until then a small group of techs and advisors will keep telling the public about how autonation treats there people and customers.we will keep telling people the truth about flat rate shops and how they work.We will tell them how flat rate work back in the good old days when cars were easy to fix and did not have close to the number of modules .computors and hundreds of miles of wireing harnest.we will keep explaining this subject matter to the public until we are blue in the face,by e mail ,snail male ,g mail,fricken carrier pidgin ,trust me the word will get out far and wide.

ps
flat rate works in Florida and it will work here
ALL YOU GOTTA DO IS RIPP PEOPLE OFF,WORK 15 HOURS A DAY WITH NO LUNCH AND WATCH THE MONEY ROLL IN

This is to the comment about Gary Jones. Gary is literally one of the best bmw techs in the Bay! To call him worthless is like me saying your dads a crackhead and shares dirty needles with his prostitute girlfriend. Its simply not try at all. So come up with something better than that. Or better yet come talk to us, Tell us how you feel Be a man! Come to daddy...

RAELIST
THE PEOPLE ON THIS THREAD ARE ANGRY AND TIRED OF HAVING THINGS TAKEN AWAY FROM THEM AND THERE FAMILIES.THINGS ARE HARD ENOUGH WITH FUEL PRICES MAKING EVERTHING GO UP,THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR AUTONATION TO DEVASTATE THE LIFE STYLE OF ITS EMPLOYEES WHO HAVE COME TO WORK EVERYDAY TO MAKE AUTONATION AS SUCCESFULL AS IT IS.
YES WE ARE ANGRY,BUT WE ARE ON LINE STATING FACTS,NOT BLASTING PEOPLE WE DONT KNOW ABOUT OR CAN NOT BE RESERCHED ON PUBLIC RECORD TO FIND OUT TRUE FACTS AND STATS.
YOU OBVIOUSLY DO NOT KNOW GARY JONES OR YOU WOULD NOT HAVE MADE SUCH AN IGNORANT STATMENT.I WORK DIRECTLY WITH GARY JONES, HE IS ONLY ONE OF THE HIGHLY EDUCATED PEOPLE IN THIS SHOP,THE BEST OF THE BEST TECHS AND ADVISORS CAME TO THIS STORE AFTER BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY AT THERE LAST JOBS,THAT STORE WAS HURT BADLY WHEN THEY LOST ALL THIS TALLENT,THIS PARTICULAR LOCATION NEVER REGAINED ITS NORMAL FLOW OF BUSINESS,THEY GET THE LEFT OVERS FROM OUR LOCATION.
SO PLEASE IF YOU DONT KNOW WHAT YOU TALKING ABOUT PLEASE STAY OFF THIS THREAD,MAYBE OPEN A MYSPACE ACCOUNT FOR YOURSELF TO PASS THE TIME
THANK YOU

Wow- the poor literacy skills for so many high tech employees. As an outsider it seems to me Autonation is actually losing nothing when they had nothing to begin with. The capital expense for the purchase spread over 200 million shares is very small. It is disappointing that in such an unstable economy that Gary Jones would take so many down a dead end road. I have seen the corporate stores such as Autonation close stores down and just absorb the franchise because they can. Then who is working. Time to suck it up and be greatful to be employed today, because you never know what comes tomorrow. They just bought the store and will bank when it starts full operations with or without the union employees. My bet is Autonation can holdout a little longer. You ever thought of working at the post office?

The comment above me thinks hes the editer of the mountain view voice. Gary Jones is not taking anyone anywhere. If you were in our situation you would have done the same thing. Its funny How you target one guy for your scape goat. Its all Gary doing. When you know autonation is to blame. The contract Is crap & wasnt hard to go on strike!
Check out DESTROYAUTONATION.COM

Unfortunately, we will all see who succeeds. I'm sure the other area highline stores are enjoying the business. To Autonation it's just another store that may be missing some revenue, but the other 300 stores have the opportunity to pick up the slack. We may not like having pay cuts, benefits lost, etc., but its better to be gainfully employed. I have worked for a corporation that has cut my pay plan every year the past five years, but I suck it up and perform at a higher level and have increased my personal earnings each of those years. When do employees realize they actually are in more control of what they earn than the employer?

Rj you sound bitter
Sounds like your good at sucking things up. sounds like you have been sucking for the last for years.
If you keep on sucking things up,pretty soon you will be working for free.Sounds like an autonation managment job right before they give you the axe.

Hey, RJ, seems like you have a very low self worth. That is why you keep taking pay "adjustments" after you were hired at one salary. They keep adjusting your salary (like a shell game) five times, but don't worry, they wouldn't adjust it a 6th time. But have no worries, we will fight for you and stand up against AutoNation, Walmart, Sonic and companies like them while you hide under your desk. I know you hate unions, but I don't hate you I just pity you. So when your house is on fire and that lazy union firefighter comes to the rescue and puts his life on the line to save your pitiful house and save your pitiful life, tell him you think he is lucky to have a job.

People have negative comments about whats going on. Those people dont understand why we are fighting. The automotive industry as a whole has taken a down turn over the last couple years from an employee stand point. We are fighting not just for ourselves but for every automotive tech and service writer out there. This down turn is due largely in part to the big corporations purchasing and taking over independently owned dealerships. The corperations take over. Post profits to shareholders. Shareholders in turn purchase more stocks. When more stocks are purchased, more dealerships get purchased. After 300+ dealerships are owned and profits have reached their peak and dont increase anymore, the corporation has to show share holders that their company still has an increasing profit margin every year. To show increasing profits year after year the employees get pay cuts year after year(RJ?). Pay cut after pay cut. Pay cuts are fine to some people. But if you were an employee and found out your yearly pay cuts were going straight into the CEOs' pockets would that be okay with you? The bleeding has to stop. That is why we fight.

So this explains all the people on the corner today with the signs. Consider working for an indie. Will probably make better money and have higher job satisfaction. No need to work for big corporate greed. Try a small shop that builds clientel based on solid work and high quality!

I have to say that I support what they are doing 100%. It makes me sick to hear that these companies ask people to take pay cuts, but mean while the CEO's are getting richer. There is something truly wrong with the system in this country when this happens and all these guys get is a slap in the hand. I say keep up the fight and I hope you win.

I will continue to honk my horn when I drive by. I support you all 100%!

I saw your protests, but I couldn't read any of the signs, or figure out what you were protesting until I found this article....

I suggest better signs....

I was also going to buy a new car...was thinking a Mini...but I couldn't get help there at the BMW place, so I got a VW instead...not really sure if that was due to your stike or not.

I have been reading the signs for three weeks and had no idea what the strike was about. Get rid of that stupid rat and make better signs, otherwise people will assume that you guys are the [word removed].

We elected Gary Jones to inform us as to what was going on during negotiations and our union to lead us. They're both doing a great job but it's too bad that Autonation isn't. When all we have proposed to us is thousands of dollars in takeaways it was easy to vote 66 - 0 in favor of going on strike. Nobody wins in a strike, not us, not Autonation and not our customers. But none of us can afford to work for the proposed losses. If RJ could suck it up he was probably already promoted to a level of incompetence before being demoted several times. We hope to resolve this for our customers but if this turns badly we will move on as good techs for BMW are appreciated elsewhere if not at Autonation. The good techs built this store and the good techs can tear it down. This was Autonations contract that drew the good techs and built the huge dealership you now see. Sad that they lost sight of quality work and only care about how fast can you hack that job out and we'll reward you for it. See Ya

We will stay out on the street for months if thats what it takes .
Mean while we will keep exposing autonation for the theves that they are.I agree we need better signs to let the public know why we are out there.Also we will be getting more extensive media exposure. we were hopeing this would have taken a better turn,but it seems autonation reps want to keep displaying total ignorence and incompetence at the bargaining table.If this is what they want ,the gloves are off .
LETS DO THIS THING

AutoNation should die and I hope all you skilled BMW mechanics and service advisors get jobs without AutoNation!!! [Remainder of post removed by Mountain View Voice staff.]

SCREW AUTONATION...THEY ARE KILLING GOOD COMMUNTIES!!! WHOEVER THOUGHT OF THIS IDEA SHOULD BE DRAGGED ONTO EL CAMINO REAL, BUCK NAKED, WITH A SIGN THAT SAYS "I RIP YOU OFF"!!!! LET THESE GUYS DO WHAT THEY DO...FIX CARS! WELL! IT'S SAD TO SEE A COROPRATE GIANT COME ALONG AND START CALLING THE SHOTS! IF AUTONATION REALLY WANTED TO MAKE MONEY...TRY STARTING WITH THE VERY FIRST THING YOU NEED TO KNOW IN BUSINESS...EMPLOYEE AND CUSTOMER SATISFACTION!!! [Removed by Mountain View Voice staff]

We need to keep the public presure on autonation by exposing the unsrupulus business practices.
This is going to take a while so STAY TUFF [Portion removed by Mountain View Voice staff -- Striker do not use our Web site to threaten people -Don Frances]
To those of us out on the streets
stay strong this is going to take months.
keep on using the internet and media to get our word as far out there as possible.
I want to thank you people that have stayed out there in the sun and the cold for my family and my well being,I also would like to thank the people from other locals who have dropped by for a few hours to walk with us and brought us food and drinks.Also to the young girl who brought us boxes of ice cream on one of the hottest days out there.

Thank you very much

Regardless of the signs, people shouldn't pre-judge the situation until they fully know what is going on. Go research it more to find out what it's really about. Furthermore, all this hatred towards each other will not help the situation. People are just making it worse by blaming each other on these posts.

I have family out there standing with friends and co-workers that are being an example to prove that they will not settle for pay cuts, medical cuts, etc. from a company that makes billions every quarter. In this community and the other communities around, the cost of living is expensive and these men and women are standing up for their rights to live here. They have not done anything wrong, and are hardworking people. To settle is like a slap in the face. To say that people around the country don't get paid as much and they should be happy with what they have and what autonation is suggesting does not fully understand the situation. Go educate yourselves on the matter before judging other's actions.

Best wishes to you all at BMW & Mini...I support you all!

Thank You Supporter,you understand the situation!

Well from what I understand you are now calling your own people scabs. Yup everyone thats right.. Some of the strikers went back to work and the one's that didn't are now calling them scabs. SIMPLY AMAZING. Sounds like they are working for a living and feeding the family again. Sounds like they are once again paying taxes like the rest of us. WOW. The government is wanting to raise taxes and cut healthcare. Maybe we should go on strike. LOL. Just kidding im gonna just keep going to work even though my pay has been cut and my benefits have been trimmed I am smart enough to know that my company (large company) is just trying to stay above water. Im ok taking a cut to retain a job. Well good luck both sides I hope you all get what you are after

Technically, you guys are AutoNation employees. Where do you think the money for your paycheck comes from? DOes it say UNION of blah blah at the top of your paycheck? All the Union provides is guarantee 40 hour a week check even when you worked on a project for 50 hours on a 10 hour job, so so bennies, oh and 100 screw ups before a lousy employee is terminated. Now that's what I call good work ethics! NOT!

Hey AutoNationRocks...

You and your corporate asses are taking over the business and "re-drawing" the contracts of these workers of Mountain View BMW/Mini. If AutoNation ia such a great corporation, then whey change anything? They were selling an upwards of 150+ vehicals a month, then we you guys came....oops. Not even 70. I hope no one works for your company and you burn in hell!

Dear F-AutoNation - Exactly!!!!! We are in a recession here. You stated yourself 150 sells per month down to 70 or even less. It's not the company, it's the economy!!!!! Everwhere you look, sells are down at least 40%. If you hope that no one works for the company then why encourage people to fight to work there?

to answer the columm on top,he said called scabs on your own people and he took a big cutted from his company.i can say this how you feel when your own people stick a knife on your back and your boss stick his shaft to your end.only a rat can take that.not a human being.

When the government raises taxes and cuts health care that money is for the economy, and is used to benefit all of us. When a corporation cuts wages and health care just so the CEO can make even more money, that should be considered a crime. For example, cut out just 50 cents of wages to 25000 employees...the corporation will get an extra $100,000 a day. That 50 cent wage reduction will add up to an extra 1.2 million dollars at the end of the year. Use that $1.2 million to buy another dealership, and do the same thing year after year, to employee after employee. Pretty soon you'll own hundreds of dealerships that the employees actually paid for. People need to wake up. Look at Autonations increasing revnue along with employee pay cuts every year and you will see a pattern.

To AutoNation Rocks! So you mean that doing a job in ten hours and charging the customer fifty hours is a good work ethic. Doing jobs like that are what has given the automotive industry a black eye and why people do not trust automotive dealerships. The flat rate system is inherently dishonest to the customer and the employee. If you really knew how to fix cars and not just replace parts, you wouldn't make such a foolhardy comment.

thank you to mountain view bmw and mini strikers.i understand your fight.not only for yourselft but for all techs and employee and future techs out there.i'm with you guys 100%.america needs you not a loser.

To Union Worker. You need to re-read the comment. I'm saying you as a tech is milking a job!!!! A job PAYS 10 hours and you as a tech can spend 10, 20, 30, 40 maybe 50 hours to complete and the Union is ok to protect this kind of work.......a lot of you are like this, a lot of you are not. Just remember that when you get your guaranteed yearly increase from the Union regardless if you are an A+ tech or even the shittiest tech man has ever seen, everything else gets increased along with that, and I'm talking your monthly Union dues, benefits, work fee, ect. Flat rate is not about being dishonest to the customer or the employee, flat rate is about being proficient. If you as an employee feels dishonest about that, you should find another profession.

AutoNation took over the company at least 3-4 years ago. You were either hired on as an Alison or AutoNation employee and just your luck, there was a Union contract involved......If AutoNation, or any other corporate american company is so awful, then why fight to work there?

Its a shame that soon the internal employees ,like sales people and casheirs,car porters and detailer will be getting laid off losing there there pay and medical.
The real shame is the 3 advisors that crossed the line will remain in there positions because autonation wants to make a statment.The statment they are hoping to make is that the strikers are getting weak.The strkers are stronger that ever and have commited to support each other for as long as this takes.
Mean while the scabs are coming to the dealership everyday and getting about 1500.00 a week for doing absolutely nothing.
Autonation needs to do the right thing and put us all back to work by giving us a fair contract that does not change our life styles to the point of struggleing to make a honest living.
Listen autonation reps,Obviously we are not going to give up the strike,You need to come back to the table with some realistic numbers.We are all losing money on both sides ,but more important we are losing customers and business that will never be back.you are not going to wait us out,We can not afford to work for you losing this much money.What will happens is we will move on and you will not be able to replace us with qualified people in order to run the store.
Bottom line,Get back to the table
and lets get back to work before this strike gets to far and we all lose things we cant get back.

NO MATTER HOW YOU WANT TO PAINT FLAT RATE,IT IS DISHONEST TO THE TECH AS WELL AS THE CUSTOMER.UNDER FLAT RATE YOU ARE FORCING A TECH TO WORK AS FAST AS HE OR SHE CAN TO MAKE THERE PAY CHECK . WHEN THINGS GET SLOW OR YOU NEED TO MAKE UP TIME ON A BAD JOB, THING START GETTING SOLD BY TECH THAT ARE NOT REALLY NEEDED,MANAGMENT KNOWS THIS BUT THEY TEND TO TURN A BLIND EYE BECAUSE MONEY IS MONEY .
IT NOT BECAUSE THE TECH IS A BAD PERSON ,ITS BECAUSE THIS THE SITUATION THAT AUTONATION HAS PUT THEM IN.
SO DRESS UP FLATE RATE ANY WAY YOU WANT,iT IS BAD FOR EVERYONE EXEPT AUTONATION WHO IS MAKING MONEY OFF OF THE TECHS LOSS OF WAGES AND THE PRODUCT THAT IS SOLD TO THE CUSTOMER WHEN THEY DONT NEED IT
KEEP TURNING A BLIND EYE AUTONATION

To AutoNation Rocks, you obviously do not understand the whole concept of the flat rate system and how it impacts the consumer and the technician. You say that a tech takes 50 hours to complete a job that is on the books for 10 hours. Do you really think the tech did this on purpose? You said that he milked the job and on a regular guaranteed salary, the tech would still get his 40 hour pay. Just think about this! The techs still have to document and account for all of their overage on each job. This isn't something that can be swept under the rug. We have foreman and managers that screen and monitor all of the repair orders. As a technician that was 40 hours over the job, you would look very bad unless their was special circumstances. In any event, the customer doesn't get charged for unseen events during the repair. Plus, when you go to the service center for a repair that has flat rate, they still do not charge you an hourly charge. They charge you by the job. So when you ask them how many hours this job will take, they will tell you we charge you by the job and then they turn around and tell the tech you have 3 hours for the job. If you don't see that this has many loopholes against the tech and customer, then you are blind to your own concept. Flat rate systems are as if you were self-employed. If they want independent contractors then I should set the price of the job not AutoNation. They have the best of both sides if I take 10 hours to do a 5 hour job. They do not pay me the extra 5 hours, but if I take 5 hours to do a 10 hour job AutoNation collects the extra 5 hours and the customer has potentially been overcharged by 5 hours.
AutoNation does not want to accept the risk of being in business and paying an employee for the time they are at work. Hmm, so that sounds like all employers should only pay for the actual work produced by the employee no matter how long you are there. Who sets those standards??? You are so self-centered that you cannot believe that we are fighting for everyone involved. Read through these comments to understand what is really going on in the workforce.
AutoNation hires people at one salary and after you are on the job a few months, they restructure your salary. This is illegal!!!!But you now work here and what are you going to do. You can do nothing and keep accepting those "Pay adjustments", or you can stand up for your rights! I guess you would think the latter is a troublemaker. Right!

Get back to work you lazy bums.....stop whining and get back to work. You have gotten your nice california suntan and it's time to get off that union vacation and get back to work. So you don't have 38 paid holidays and 16 paid sick days anymore....Well guess what neither does anyone else. Unions breed lazyness. If your a great tech or service advisor you would not be walking the street. you would be working. So maybe your not that great. thats ok too. just go get a job somewhere else that is union because you need that protection due to your lack of skills and your being lazy.

Dear Unionworker - you lost me at "To AutoNation Rocks" Again, I ask if Auto Nation is such a craphole place to work at, then why are you fighting to work there?

Peace and chicken grease!

If I have a BMW/Mini in Mountain View - where do you all recommend I get service from now?

If I want to buy a new BMW/Mini - is this a good time to get a good price? (and have less money go to the dealership) Any tips?

I've seen this time and time again..AutoNation finds good service dealers and take them over with their new system. It's BS, and if you know anything about customer relations, you will soon find that the customer makes or breaks you!!! This is sales...Not rocket science!

Dear AutoNation Rocks, I'm not surprised you got lost! Try reading the second paragraph SLOWLY!
And to YOUR FRIEND,
Calling us names makes you look very immature. You heard somewhere that unionworkers are lazy and now you take it as gospel. As if anybody that is not in a union isn't lazy. Please don't respond since you are embarrassing yourself.

Hey union learn how to spell. Please. If you all are so gifted why do you have the lowest BMW CSI scores in the Bay Area. You've been at the bottom for years.

First you have lost the flat rate arguments, and then you moved on to why we are fighting to work at BMW of Mountain View and you have lost that argument also. So now you are blaming the union for low CSI scores as if AutoNation has no part in this. Being that you seem to know all this, you must be from within. Hmmmm??? Is AutoNation paying you a flat rate for this post?

You do not need to be consintrating on the spelling of words or grammer on this thresd,
you are only making an ignorent attemp to insult and divert the attention off autonations ill business pratices.you sound like management,your time would be better served by trying to start some meaningfull dialog instead of childish coments that are not constructive.We need to find out ways to come back together not tear each other down.We do not need insults and threats like we were all used to getting from Brian Nelson.His methods are long out dated and will not work anylonger.We beleive he is one of the reasons we went out on strike beside the abvious contract offer.Brian should have tried to talk to us in a non confrontail manner instead of being agressive and hard to comunicate with ,unless you are in the small group of people that he has created.
Lets consintrate on forward movement instead of old school ignorents.