State of the Union August 24, 2010

August 24, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

From President Dan Howell:
The UAW is in the process of rolling out the GimmeFIVE program both regionally and locally. Briefly, this program is designed to sign up and encourage members to volunteer five hours in various activities such as voter registration and other election initiatives, community charity work, and labor related activities like boycotts and strike support. If you are already doing volunteer work, you can receive credit if it is an approved organization – and if not we can seek to get the organization approved. This program will hopefully raise public awareness of the positive things the UAW does. There will be more information as this is rolled out through our local Union organization. You can also go to www.uaw.organd click on the GimmeFIVE link at the right.

If you and your spouse work for General Motors, one of you can declare coverage for the Legal Services Plan for both of you for tax purposes (you pay taxes on the imputed income value of the plan). To provide notice of dual coverage or to delete or reinstate coverage, call 800-521-7818, ext. 517 and indicate you are calling regarding dual Plan coverage. Deadline is Sept. 24.

From Automotive News: Federal regulators have upgraded an investigation of as many as 1.2 million Toyota Corollas for possible engine stalling. Consumers have filed 1,101 complaints about Corollas and Corolla Matrixes for 2005-07 models, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing on its Website. “The engine can stall at any speed without warning and not restart,” NHTSA said in describing the problem. In a March 2 letter to NHTSA, Toyota official Chris Santucci in Washington said, “Toyota does not believe that the alleged defect creates an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety.” (sleep tight Toyota owners)

More Automotive News: It's a puzzling refrain heard across the industry. While most dealers and automakers struggle with soft sales, many dealers say they could sell many more vehicles if the automakers would produce them. A handful of hard-to-get vehicles, such as the GMC Terrain, accounts for much of the problem. And many of the complaints are from General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group dealers. Those automakers are determined to boost profits with lean inventory. In an Automotive Newsinformal online survey last week, 73 percent of the 244 dealer respondents, representing nearly all brands, reported they had too few new vehicles in inventory. And 77 percent of those respondents said they thought they had lost vehicle sales as a result.
International Union UAW

From the International Union UAW: On Aug. 24, UAW President Bob King will join the Rev. Jesse Jackson, founder and president of the Rainbow Push Coalition, elected officials and community leaders on a statewide bus tour in advance of the Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace march on Aug. 28, which stops at two Detroit-area auto plants. The Rebuild America: Jobs, Justice and Peace campaign calls on national leaders to:

Rebuild America by enacting industrial and trade policies that will create jobs, encourage manufacturing in America and put workers first.

Enforce the law regarding workers' rights, civil rights, industrial regulation, and creation of fair and just educational, economic and health policies.

End the ongoing wars in the Middle East and redirect the war budget to rebuilding America.

Also, the campaign focuses on home foreclosures and calls for a moratorium on the practice that forces hard-working Americans from their homes while at the same time bailing out Wall Street executives and paying them million-dollar bonuses. "UAW members and their families are proud to be a part of this massive campaign to refocus our national priorities on jobs, justice and peace," said King. "Every community has in some way witnessed the affects of the nation's economic meltdown on working men and women. We need industrial and employment policies that work to keep jobs and manufacturing in the United States. Workers need to earn decent wages to provide for their families and help keep their neighborhoods and communities viable."