State of the Union August 16, 2010

August 16, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
State of the Union will return on Wednesday.

Union meeting is Wednesday, Aug. 18 at 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.

Reminder: There will be an informational meeting Tuesday, Aug. 17 at the Union Hall covering the Worker-to-Worker and Region 5-Gimme 5 programs. The meeting will be 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.

The Women’s Committee is asking that any golf teams for the tournament Aug. 28 be entered today so they can work on arrangements for dinner. The tournament is a 3-person scramble with a 1:30 pm shotgun start. The cost is $70 per person or $210 per team and includes dinner and beer after the tournament, which will be held at Bear Creek in Wentzville. Entry forms are at the entrances.

Apparently not content with catching would-be suicide jumpers with nets, Apple supplier Foxconn is attempting to get ahead of the curve. According to Secutimes.com, Foxconn is requiring applicants to its Zhengzhou factory in central China to undertake psychological evaluations and stress tests, job seekers are saying. The test comprises 70 questions, including evaluations of the effects of sleep deprivation, depression and loneliness, the Chinese newspaper said.

From Automotive News: Mazda Motor Co. is recalling more than 200,000 Mazda3 and Mazda5 vehicles from the 2007-2009 model years because of faulty power-assist steering pumps and pipes. The recall comes after NHTSA opened an investigation in June into power steering failures in the Mazda3 from the 2007-2009 model years. NHTSA received 33 complaints of power-assist steering failures in Mazda3 vehicles from the 2007-2009 model years, and loss of steering control was reported as the cause of three crashes, according to NHTSA investigation documents.

Wall Street Journal article about new GM CEO Dan Akerson on back:

Part one:

Last fall, some General Motors Co. directors were surprised when they learned that the car maker had lost more than $1 billion betting on Korean currency earlier in 2009, just before the company slid into bankruptcy-court protection. In a meeting, one of the directors, Daniel Akerson, demanded an explanation from then-Chief Executive Frederick "Fritz" Henderson. The loss, in Mr. Akerson's view, was a serious issue, especially because it had happened when GM's top executives were supposed to be hoarding every dollar they could find.
"I said, 'Look, we just lost $1 billion and I'm asking you how this happened,' " Mr. Akerson recalled asking Mr. Henderson, speaking in his first interview since he was named to the GM CEO post Thursday. "It was a little bit disturbing that a remote part of the organization could make a bet of that magnitude and no one on the board or senior management was aware of it," he said. After the tense exchange, GM's finance executives were required to give updates on risk-management moves to several directors, giving the board a larger role in what had previously been management's job. In the weeks that followed, Mr. Akerson and other board members became increasingly critical of Mr. Henderson, and on Dec. 2 Mr. Henderson resigned.
Now, Mr. Akerson is about to take the top job himself. GM Chairman Edward E. Whitacre Jr., who succeeded Mr. Henderson, is set to give up the CEO post to Mr. Akerson on Sept. 1. A former telecommunications CEO with a reputation for tough, decisive leadership and colorful language, Mr. Akerson will face the task of keeping GM on the course Mr. Whitacre has charted in the last nine months, and selling the company to Wall Street as it prepares for an initial public offering of its stock.
"The board was criticized before for doing nothing," Mr. Akerson said. "As a board member, I have the responsibility to ask questions. As I become management, I want a board that challenges me, that challenges management." The IPO is a crucial step not only for GM but for the U.S. government, which is hoping to recoup most or all of the $43 billion of GM shares it holds.
For the government to recoup its investment, GM must achieve a stock market value of $70 billion—10 times GM's market capitalization before it headed into Chapter 11, and at least $30 billion more than the market value of Ford Motor Co. After slashing its debt, shedding brands and shuttering plants in bankruptcy, GM is now making money—it reported $1.3 billion in net income for the second quarter. Ford, by contrast, earned $2.6 billion.