KISS with Belle

It’s devastating to see society lose skillsets. Recruitment and retention in the Automotive Industry is broken, and the old methods aren't working anymore because of the amount of corruption and incompetency of the management administrators of new vehicle manufacturer dealerships. Automotive service technicians failed to take ownership of our own growth and leadership and allowed outside pressures and internal agendas from the management administrators to control our prosperity. Policies, politics, complacency and egos have redirected our shared goals in the worst of ways. Now is the time to take control and invest in our mental, emotional and physical development so we can shape the next generations’s culture and training in our everchanging field of Automotive. Leadership isn’t about rank- it is about responsibility. This isn't the death of the Automotive industry, it is a wake up call.If we want people to become automotive service technicians, we can't spend all our time telling them why they shouldn't. But all too often, automotive service technicians and instructors only highlight the mental health effects, exhausting hours, low pay, and stress. Yes, these challenges are real-but when we reinforce the misery, we unintentionally market the job as something nobody would want.Recruitment becomes nearly impossible when the message is only hardship, sacrifice, and burnout. We need balance. The Automotive Industry is so much more, and we need to champion the beauty of what we do. When we share the meaningful side of the job like legacy, experience, knowledge and history, we inspire people to step forward, not away. The Automotive Industry is still trying to resolve the service technician “shortage” by dangling pay and benefits while ignoring mission, culture, and purpose but the best automotive service technicians aren't in it for a paycheck. They're here because this is more than a job. This is about service in public safety. It's about being part of something bigger than yourself like the greater good and that commitment is exactly what we've failed to protect. This dedication to our duty to secure public safety in our communities brings deep personal satisfaction that is meant to be protected from exploitation and corruption in the Automotive Industry. Recruitment is only half the battle. The Automotive Industry is bleeding good people because the shop culture is toxic, cliquey, and complacent. The best automotive service technicians don't leave for more money - they leave because they feel undervalued, unsupported, and stuck. Leadership sets the tone. Show up. Mentor. Build trust. Make the shop somewhere people actually want to come every shift. Invest in your live technicians and apprentices. Stop hazing and ghosting them through their training period, then acting surprised when they walk. Give them a mentor. Spend day one teaching, not just lube services they were hired to perform. Give them reasons to stay, not reasons to quit because the automotive service departments still possess the best jobs in the world but we have let that story get buried under all the noise. Start telling it again. Speak about the pride, the purpose, the family you find here. Stop letting cynicism run our narrative……New vehicle manufacturer dealerships are known Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations in the legal community for patterns of extortion and collusion. The new vehicle manufacturers and new vehicle manufacturer dealerships collude against the American people by raising in-door labor rates repeatedly by confirming with like brands’ rate hikes and collude against the Automotive Service Technicians by setting warranty and service contract labor guides to lower time values for a “discount”. We see more racketeering at the new vehicle manufacturer dealerships when extortion is used to keep the pay scales at lower rates or allow the technician to walk off the job with their reputation “damaged”…www.fireengineering.com

Incompetency and corruption are very troubling concerns in the Automotive Industry. The hierarchy of the fixed operations department within new vehicle manufacturer dealerships is faulty with problems starting with the necessary credentials in management. Most of the time the fixed operations directors come from the sales departments with little to no experience in parts or service departments of new vehicle manufacturer dealerships. The parts and service managers the fixed operations director oversees sometimes has education and limited experience in the departments they supervise. The parts and service consultants that are managed have little to no education or experience in the field and it shows. Management administrators would rather gift jobs to those who are not truly deserving like their family and friends than hire adequate staff to fill the roles needed. Due to the incompetence and corruption, it is literally the blind leading the blind with the only truly knowledgeable and experienced personnel being the service technicians.The service technicians are able to inspect the vehicles, recommend repairs, source and order parts, and service and repair the vehicles without engaging with abrasive egos and bravados. Reminiscing of the past reminds us of the tremendous consequences that we face as automotive service technicians and how we can overcome incredibly difficult conditions, scenes, and scenarios when we foster an environment of learning, education, training, and growth instead of one full of ego and bravado that inhibits us from learning from our mistakes or inhibits us from reaching our full potential.  This is a philosophy that allows us to challenge our status quo in the name of having the best possible outcomes for both clientele and automotive service technicians in the new vehicle manufacturer dealerships. The service technicians are seeing a decline in knowledge and credentials in the management administrations of the new vehicle manufacturer dealerships and have had enough of the incompetency and corruption from the consultants, managers, and directors. It has gotten to a point where independent service and repair shops and larger aftermarket facilities like Carvana are adopting Artificial Intelligence softwares to handle the parts and service consultants’ job descriptions with absolute success. By replacing the parts and service consultants, the fixed operations departments have achieved ultimate efficiency without human error due to their incompetence and corruption from lack of experience and education in the field. Clientele are now able to communicate directly with the service technicians providing the repairs necessary to get their vehicles on the road without forfeiting pay to incompetent consultants, managers and directors. It is only a matter of time before new vehicle manufacturer dealerships adopt Artificial Intelligence software to lower dependency on directors, managers and consultants in fixed operations departments at the new vehicle manufacturer dealerships. To resolve such concerns, consultants, managers and directors need more education and experience in the field to earn their salaries at the facility or else. The Automotive Industry must be regulated to ensure Artificial Intelligence softwares do not take control of our transportation needs at the new vehicle manufacturer dealerships and independent service and repair shops. Service technicians are realizing the incompetence and corruption of the consultants, managers and directors is affecting their pay because they lack the experience and education necessary to explain the service and repairs needed to get the vehicle back on the road safely. The service technicians now realize they are being shorted pay and demand equity and equality with regard to their pay scales in comparison to the consultants, managers and directors…

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention scientists’ Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report dated December 15 of 2023, “the 2021 suicide rate among United States persons of working age is approximately 33% higher than it was 2 decades ago. In 2021, a total of 37,602 persons (17.8 per 100,000 population) of working age (16–64 years, employed or unemployed) in the United States died by suicide, a rate increase of approximately 33% since 2001. To guide suicide prevention strategies among the working-age population, CDC analyzed 2021 suicide deaths by industry and occupation.”“Data from 49 states, excluding Rhode Island, were used to calculate suicide rates by sex for all major and detailed industry and occupational groups. Major industry and occupation groups with the highest suicide rates included Automotive service, installation, maintenance and repair technicians.” It’s no secret many individuals choosing the blue collar trades are born into disadvantaged and sometimes dysfunctional families and communities that leave them seeking calmness and focus by working with their hands. Unfortunately, it’s a mistake to choose a blue collar trade because little do they know that the blue collar trades like Automotive are hardly protected with unions to provide a decent living suitable for an American laborer. The lack of unionization in blue collar trades like Automotive contributes to suicide by failing to provide adequate training to promote each other into specialties, job security, a decent work-life balance, an outlet for stress, and protections from exposure to toxins. The long hours, low job control, financial insecurity and toxic chemical exposure are enough industry stressors to unionize over and yet, many Automotive service technicians fail to see the power of numbers in the field can potentially prevent such inadequacies in the form of unionization or at the minimum policy changes from within. The new vehicle dealership management administration couldn’t care less about the Automotive laborers and now label the lack of service technicians as a “shortage” instead of holding themselves accountable for the missing workers in the field. The Automotive Industry is facing a serious decline in service technicians and the vehicle manufacturers have yet to hold themselves accountable too for the incompetence found in their engineering: no engineer has thought of working on their newly-designed vehicles because if they did, we service technicians wouldn’t see half of what we do in a service bay. The new vehicle manufacturers and engineers instead short Automotive service technicians their service times and expect them to live off the minimal when the service technicians deserve more pay for their time. The vehicle manufacturers and new vehicle manufacturer dealerships are constantly finding new ways to take advantage of the Automotive laborers and we have had enough. While they are busy finding ways to take advantage of us, we are busy investing in the company by purchasing the best tools, showing up to work in best and poor conditions, and having can-do attitudes no matter the cost to our personal safety. If we do not see the policy changes from within then let this podcast start the movement to instigate policy change in legislation and beyond in America’s legal systems. Many of us Automotive service technicians have been posting on social media about the latest developments in our trade with no real impact. It is now time to write, speak and submit to our legal infrastructure in America to make the necessary changes in our blue collar trade with hope for the next generation of laborers that willingly choose Automotive. Sussell A, Peterson C, Li J, Miniño A, Scott KA, Stone DM. Suicide Rates by Industry and Occupation — National Vital Statistics System, United States, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2023;72:1346–1350. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7250a2

What was once America’s pride and joy has become the punchline to a bipartisan joke. The politicizing of the American Automotive Industry has stagnated its growth almost beyond repair as the public remains apprehensive to invest. Even those that are already involved in Automotive struggle to invest further by either handing down their knowledge with an apprentice or their child, purchasing the latest equipment, or enrolling in the new series of licenses and certifications at the local college with ASE or the Bureau of Automotive Repair… and Let’s not forget the latest technology will be near impossible to diagnose in the aftermarket since the manufacturers install security systems preventing access. This lack of investment the media and the business community have labeled as a shortage of Automotive Professionals is blamed upon the “unwilling” general public. However, automotive industry veterans will share that it is so much more than the cost associated with such interest in the passion for power. Automotive Professionals are not rewarded for the risk taken and now it is becoming evident in the turn-around time to receive a vehicle from servicing. The vulnerability of the Automotive Industry must be explored beyond the community Facebook groups. Real change must happen to salvage what is left. The lack of respect for the trades has cost America its identity. Our heritage is at stake as labour shortages and inflation control our fast lifestyles. What most families cherish and pass down generationally has been robbed as tradesmen have ceased the sharing of knowledge. The Automotive Industry has placed itself in jeopardy due to the lack of attentiveness of their sources of labour. At this point, the entire workforce is discouraged and has accepted the end of the Automotive trade. We must dedicate ourselves to preserving the American Automotive Industry by providing protection to the Professionals of Automotive from the dealerships and the corporate vehicle manufacturers. As I enjoy my family in quiet and solitude, surrounding myself with the innocence and beauty, I feel guilty. In a time when women choose to sell themselves online in one portion of the world while other women are tragically stripped of their basic rights to an education in the other, I cannot help but wonder: if not now, when. If not me, who? I realize the further a society drifts from the truth the more it will hate those who speak it. I understand I will be hated for what will come out of my mouth, but if you want something you have never had, you will have to do something you have never done. I am forever grateful for the encouragement and support I have received throughout my automotive career. I have been blessed with many opportunities to witness the best craftsmanship in the industry. I’ve always been asked how and why automotive. I have never taken my birth in the United States for granted. I know how lucky I am to be an American woman every time I get behind the wheel. I have the privilege my very own ancestors did not as females: the respect of males. God bless the USA. I am blessed in America as a woman with my freedom to enjoy my sexuality and passions.. I have been blessed with colleagues who respect my sexuality on and off site. Thank you all for accepting me rather than condemning me. I am forever grateful for the men in my life who sacrificed their own cultural beliefs with regards to women in the workplace and shared their passion for automotive with me. I realize many women do not have the chance at such a rewarding lifestyle. I now also realize that the American Automotive Industry is not progressing in a manner in which I would want my own children involved and this epiphany scares me even more. I sacrificed my personal life in ways I was not prepared for because of the demands of the blue collar hustle. With such insights of equity and the toxicity within the American Automotive Industry, I pray for change by sharing it.

Humanizing the workforce in the Automotive Industry with a podcast and a prayer. It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness. American culture is at stake due to lack of interest in the Automotive Industry. Unlike other blue collar trades, we are not protected or provided the benefits to reward the risk of investing our futures. Time is of the essence as our socioeconomic landscape continues to shift into the unknown without the proper support amongst the workforce. Exposing the many facets within the American Automotive Industry will be the catalyst for change. The small private communities on social media dedicated to such topics are not meant to educate but rather express grievances and consequent low morale. Luckily, this space will remain hopeful because I am. As our infrastructure collapses, we welcome a new era of protections in the midst of chaos.