Ford Invests $200 Million, 1,200 New Jobs at Illinois Plants (ContributorNetwork)

This Wednesday, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced that Ford Motor Company will be expanding its operations in Illinois and bringing more opportunities for residents and the state's economy.

* Ford Motor Company will be investing $200 million into expanding its Chicagoland facilities, specifically on the city's far south side at its assembly plant and at the company's Chicago Heights stamping plant.

* The company's investment will also help create approximately 1,200 jobs at its facilities in Chicago and Chicago Heights.

* Currently the assembly plant produces several Ford models, including the Explorer, Taurus, and Lincoln MKS.

* Gov. Quinn commented on the importance of Ford's decision to expand in the state, "Creating jobs for Illinois workers is our number one priority. This investment package not only will help create 1,200 new jobs and boost the local economy, but it will ensure the next generation of Ford vehicles are built by Illinois workers - the best workers in the world."

* Additionally, the expansion will also help support the automaker's launch of new police interceptors, specifically a sedan and an SUV.

* In order to support more jobs and the launch of producing new police interceptors at its assembly plant in Chicago, Ford will be adding a third shift for its workers and production.

* The Wall Street Journal reported that on the same day, Ford Motor Company and the United Auto Workers ratified a new labor contract that will affect 41,000 of the company's workers.

* "I want to thank Governor Quinn for his continued strong support of Ford," said Mark Fields, Ford Motor Company's president of The Americas. "The state's investment package is a critical component in helping support our investment in Illinois and in creating additional jobs."

* Similarly, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has continued to work with Ford on expanding its operations in the Windy City, especially since his inauguration this past May.

* Mayor Emanuel also spoke about Ford's decision today by saying, "I am pleased that Ford is making this additional investment in Chicago and creating 1,200 high-paying jobs for the City's hard-working, dedicated workforce. Ford's increased presence in Chicago bolsters our economic competitiveness and demonstrates that Chicago is a city on the move where businesses are growing and creating new opportunity."

* The automaker's decision to expand its stamping plant in Chicago Heights will also count for 400 more jobs.

* Fields added, "I want to thank Mayor Emanuel and his team for working on key infrastructure issues that will support Ford's increased production in Chicago and new jobs."

Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.

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56 Percent: The Most Troubling Number About Occupy Wall Street (ContributorNetwork)

A recent poll has shown that far more people are in agreement with the Occupy Wall Street movement than are opposed to it, even though it remains, going into its fourth week on October 14, a vaguely unfocused and amorphous demonstration against a number of things wrong with America and its government. In fact, according to the Time poll, the protest movement has a favorable rating of 54 percent (as opposed to a 23 percent unfavorable rating). However, even though a majority of Americans agree with those holding signs saying "We Are The 99%" and many of its positions -- such as prosecuting corporate executives responsible for the financial meltdown and raising taxes on millionaires -- 56 percent of the poll's respondents said they believe that the demonstrations will have little impact on American politics in general.

In short, most believe that, although the movement is viewed primarily as a positive entity, its impact will be marginal at best. The government -- and Wall Street -- will continue unabated, as it were. As they were.

That should be even more reason for those who are part of the 99 percent -- ostensibly, those whose income is less than a million dollars per year and the greater part of Occupy Wall Street -- to stand with those that are already demonstrating. The status quo remains static due to inaction and continued silence, and a populist movement is only as powerful as the sum of its individual components and their message. The organizers of Occupy Wall Street are fully aware of this -- as are their opposers.

Since its inception in late September, Occupy Wall Street has grown from a small protest in New York to a nationwide movement, with other "Occupy" protests springing up from Boston to Dallas, Tampa to San Francisco. And as the movement's message of being fed up with government inactivity that favors the rich and powerful, a stagnant economy with a limited jobs market, and a top-down economic system that has exaggerated the gap between the haves and the have-nots over the past couple decades, resonated with more and more individuals, the idea has developed to take the message global on October 15.

At the same time, most corporate controlled media ignored the small protest at first, but as the number of protesters grew (as did their list of grievances) and the demonstrations spread across the country, not only did major media begin covering their individual and collective stories, but those opposed to their message began to sound off as well. Fox News Channel, which had been instrumental in the national organization and rapid dissemination of the (so-called grassroots) tea party's conservative message, painted Occupy Wall Street as a disorganized bunch of anti-capitalists and author Ann Coulter compared them to "Nazis." Rush Limbaugh called them "commies," a White House-driven liberal conspiracy. Even Eric Cantor, Republican House Majority Leader, echoed the Fox New charge and called the protesters a "mob."

Needless to say, Fox News (whose shows are produced, owned, and operated by millionaires) and Limbaugh (a multi-millionaire world unto himself) and Cantor (a multi-millionaire representative from the state of Virginia) see the status quo as a good thing. They are part of the 1 percent that Occupy Wall Street sees as holding too much money and power at the expense of the other 99 percent of the people.

The truth of the matter is: The demands of the protesters would do little to affect the lives of the 1 percent, even if they managed to have a major impact on future legislation solving wage disparities and social inequalities. In the end, the demands are being made to alter the system that relegates the 99 percent to forever being 99 percent or living an existence just a couple of paychecks short of being homeless or without the basic necessities of life. The rich will remain rich, regardless. In the nation with perhaps the highest standard of living in the world, the fact that so many are out of work or working underpaying jobs or working two or three jobs to make ends meet is a shame unto itself. That so many feel the need to rise up and say something about is indicative that laws, regulations, and conditions will have to improve to make the plight and the number of opportunities for upward mobility of the 99 percent improve as well.

But resistance to those improvements is guaranteed. Unfortunately, so is the idea that all the efforts of the protesters will go for naught, the status quo unshaken. And the most troubling aspect of it all: The idea that millions of individuals working in popular concert attempting to eliminate the socioeconomic and sociopolitical disparities that now exist within the American way of life will have little effect.

That 56 percent of Americans believe that the movement will have little impact is a sad testament to how ingrained the the idea of the intractableness of the government and inertia within prevailing socioeconomic systems have become. And if that number does not add resolve to the populist movement to endure until they effect positive change in the lives of the millions of people who comprise the 1 percent, then that same 56 percent will assuredly be correct about the impact of the 99 percent.

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UAW and Chrysler to Continue Negotiations Through the Weekend (ContributorNetwork)

The UAW gave a clue as to the state of its negotiations with Chrysler on Friday by calling local union leaders to a meeting to be held in Detroit on Monday. Word of the upcoming gathering reached media outlets that evening, leading to widespread speculation the union and the last remaining holdout of Detroit's Big 3 were getting closer to a deal. By late Saturday, neither UAW President Bob King nor Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne had confirmed that was the case.

If the two factions are nearing a contract agreement, it would be sooner than expected, given the reported difficulties they faced during negotiations last month. Talks between the sides were widely reported to have faltered in mid-September, although King and Marchionne deny that they ceased completely.

Here are some of the key points in the ongoing negotiations between Chrysler and the UAW.

* GM was the first of Detroit's Big 3 to negotiate a new contract deal with the UAW. That deal was finished in late September, and voted on by GM's UAW workforce a week later. Ford completed its contract negotiations last week, and that company's workers will begin voting on their agreement deal this week.

* Traditionally, Detroit's Big 3 have had individual contract deals with the UAW that closely mirror each other. Marchionne said at the beginning of negotiations that Chrysler's workers should not expect that to be the case this time.

* Marchionne has repeatedly highlighted the fact Chrysler has not rebounded as solidly as GM and Ford since the economic crash and the company's subsequent bankruptcy and government bailout. On Friday, he called the new contract agreements the UAW had been able to negotiate with the two other Detroit automakers "overly generous."

* Most of the points of the proposed new contract agreement between Chrysler and the UAW were supposedly settled some time ago. But King reportedly turned his focus to completing negotiations with GM in September when talks with Chrysler stumbled over health care cost-sharing and the use of entry-level workers.

* Those two issues, along with the question of signing bonuses, appear to be the hold-ups in the latest round of negotiations as well.

* Through the terms of the 2009 government bailout, the UAW is prevented from initiating a strike against Chrysler should the union's terms not be met. The only other option left to the two parties if an agreement cannot be reached is that of binding arbitration.

* King and Marchionne have said they don't want to use that option, although sources close to Marchionne have reportedly said the CEO will go that route if necessary. It is thought that doing so could potentially save Chrysler money but may well sour workers' relationship with the company.

* King and Marchionne confirmed that negotiations between the UAW and Chrysler are expected to continue straight through the weekend.

Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in politics and public issues.

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