Election Section

My name is Michael Cook and I am a business representative and a member of the Machinists Union that represents the bargaining unit employees at Berkeley Honda, formally Jim Doten Honda. I appreciate Mr. Lubeck’s exercise of freedom of speech with his editorial published in the July 15-18 edition of the Berkeley Daily Planet. He did, however take some liberty with the truth on several issues. Mr. Lubeck knew when he was hired that he was replacing a service writer that had been working for Jim Doten Honda for many years. Mr. Lubeck started work on June 1. He only worked alongside some of the mechanics that are walking the street. He never worked alongside any of the mechanics that were not hired; therefore he has absolutely no idea of what their abilities, training, or certifications were then or are today. However, he did watch as four Honda Top Tech or Master Tech award banners were taken down from display in the service drive because they were no longer working at Berkeley Honda. Not one of the Wyotech students that were hired to replace mechanics with as much as 31 years of experience has qualifications that exceeds even the least qualified mechanic in the old Doten crew. Mr. Lubeck watched several Wyotech students get fired because of mistakes that resulted in destroyed transmissions and loose wheels. Our members talked to the customers that had those problems and no amount of denial on his part will make that truth go away.  

Indeed the Wyotech students that are hired by other employers in union shops are placed in the Apprenticeship Program for four years and watched carefully to turn them into journeyman mechanics. They do become good mechanics when properly trained over a period of time.  

Mr. Lubeck has no idea what the union’s healthcare package consists of since he has never seen the package, but he is somehow an expert on the comparison of the plans. He is simply not informed. Nor am I, as I have yet to compare the plans as I am patiently waiting for the necessary information from the employer. He totally misrepresented the employer-implemented single Employer Profit-Sharing plan contribution amount. The employer offered to make contributions of $300 dollars a month into an untested high-risk plan that only vests after three years. Only the union’s Defined Benefit contribution was $465.97 for senior journeyman techs. Since 1993, the employees have been diverting wages into the increases in pension contributions. Literally, the employees have been earning every cent of that contribution. 

Mr. Lubeck attempts to speak about the union’s pension plan that he apparently knows nothing about. The plan assets exceed $1.2 billion dollars. Last year was the first year since 1957 that the plan has experience un-funded liability as a result of Federally mandated calculations. This is not a high-risk single employer pension plan like others that have been the news lately. The 5 percent employee realization he speaks of is actually the defined monthly benefit that members enjoy from the total contributed during their career. Compare 60 percent annual return on investment as a benefit with any 401(k) or other pension plans to realize the true value of our pension plan and that the fund management has been exceptionally good for a very long time and it took an unprecedented downturn in the economy that has lasted longer that any other in this country’s history to give our pension plan a minor and resolvable problem. Mr. Lubeck should look at his 401(k) in the last five years to see what has happened to his assets. Nobody lost benefit money in our pension. When and if Mr. Lubeck gets educated as to the facts and finds out just how good this plan is compared to the fantasy that he believes to be truth now, he will be absolutely tickled that he may have a chance to participate.  

If this employer was indeed concerned about the customers of Berkeley Honda, he would have accepted the offer made by this union when he first opened that would have ensured a smooth transition, good training and apprenticeships for any new hires and would have given him a chance to find out just what the true qualifications of the journeyman mechanics, parts technicians, and service writers and detail department were before he made decisions based on information as fallacious as Mr. Lubeck was repeating for his employer’s benefit in his letter to the editor.  

Instead the new owners made the decision to save money by hiring cheap help and expanded profits without ever considering what it would mean to the Honda owners of Berkeley in terms of safety and reliability of their vehicles or to the families of the highly qualified, union-represented employees that were not hired simply because they were represented by and believe in the Machinists and the Teamsters Union. 

Berkeley Honda will be a good place to have your car repaired as soon as they learn how to respect people before coveting profits and stop disseminating fallacies by hiding behind uninformed employees. 

Michael S. Cook is a proud member of the Machinists Union.