State of the Union March 25, 2010

 From the UAW website: American Axle and Manufacturing Inc. violated the job security clause in its agreement with the UAW and must make whole the workers affected by its 2009 decision to outsource work to Mexico, an arbitrator has ruled. The decision, issued Wednesday by umpire Paul E. Glendon, found that the company violated the terms of its 2008 National Agreement with the union when it moved its 8.25 axle production to its facility in Guanajuato, Mexico. "This is a major victory for these workers, and we're very gratified that the umpire upheld our strong outsourcing language reached in the 2008 agreements," said UAW President Ron Gettelfinger. "Our American Axle members went on strike for three months in part to win this measure of job security." Glendon ordered the parties to determine the exact number of workers affected by the outsourcing, how many were laid off because of the improper outsourcing, and how much those workers are due in wages and benefits. American Axle had claimed it retained broad discretion about what products to make and where and when to produce them. The company also claimed the contract language merely required it to keep its tooling and equipment on hand in Detroit to produce the 8.25 line if it decides to do so. This argument, Glendon wrote, "constitutes mere grasping, ingeniously but unconvincingly, at semantic straws. It clearly and categorically committed to produce the specified 'Product Programs' at the designated plants, not merely to keep tools and equipment that might be used for that purpose."
•    From the Detroit Free Press: GM plans to make another round of $1.19-billion loan payments to the U.S. and Canadian governments next Wednesday, the company said yesterday. GM is expected to release its fourth quarter financial results from last year soon. Thursday, industry analyst Eric Selle of J.P. Morgan Chase estimated in a note to investors that GM could post $2 billion in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the fourth quarter. He also said GM’s enterprise value in 2011 could be $67 billion.