ATTENTION: BERKELEY HONDA CUSTOMERS!

Do you want a kid out of technical school or a Honda-certified mechanic working on your car?

As of June 1, 2005, the Doten family sold their dealership after 40 years in Berkeley. The service , department employeesmechanics, service writers, detailers and parts technicianshave been represented by the Machinists Union (IAM Local 1546) and Automotive Teamsters Local 78. We've gotten decent wages and benefits that have enabled us to work at this shop for an average of 20 years and to live in this community. We think of each other as family, and we think of you our customers as family as well. We value your trust.

The new owner here told us that he would recognize the union. In a spirit of cooperation, we asked him to honor our old union contract, with a one-year freeze in wages, giving us time to negotiate a new contract. He refused. We asked him to maintain the current staff for a period of 100 days before making any rash decisions about which employees to keep or terminate. He refused.

For example: he replaced Nat Courtney, a 31-year employee and Honda-certified top technician with a mechanic who just graduated from technical college and does not yet possess a journeyman card or his own tools. He replaced Doten's most experienced parts technician with a friend of his. He re-hired only one of our experienced service writers. None of the employees who clean and detail cars have been rehired - your cars are being sent off-property for this work.

Why did all this happen?

The new owner does not want talented and experienced technicians, who happen to be strong union members, working in this shop. In an effort to buy off the few mechanics he re-hired, the new owner offered them big raisesbut at the same time, dropped our good union pension plan.

All of Doten's service department employees, whether rehired or not, have decided that the new owner's actions are just plain wrong. They have discriminated against us because we are union members, and they fired several of us who are close to retirement. We are filing unfair labor practice charges against them at the NLRB. We are here on the curb to protest this company's illegal actions and hope you will support us.

How you can help

For your driving safety, please take your car to Honda of Oakland or Honda of El Cerrito.

Don't patronize Berkeley Honda until this is resolved.

Call Berkeley Honda (510-843-3704) and tell them to respect their longtime employees.

We appreciate your concern and cooperation. We hope this is over soon. Thank you.
Sincerely,

The members of IAM Local 1546 and IBT Local 78 who worked for you at Doten Honda