From Chairman Mike Bullock:
Management requested of the union to approve three more production Fridays over and above the 12 that are already scheduled between September 7 and December 23, 2010. The union has agreed to this proposal. The three additional Fridays, 9/24, 11/5, and 12/17 will be tentatively scheduled as 8 hours.
The scheduled Fridays will be September 10,17,24, October 1,8,22,29, November 5,12,19, December 3,10,17.
Management has agreed to add one additional employee per group leader’s area in trim, chassis, body, paint, final, quality, and material. These 24 additional employees will allow more or our membership excused time off during the “off peak” period.
This decision does not come lightly. I want to thank you for your input and your patience in resolving this important decision. Keeping more of our members working has been the primary goal of this committee, now all we need is additional orders to secure our 2nd shift.
Here are van sales numbers and industry results for July:
2010 2009 Change Share
Ford Econoline 8649 7792 +11% 52.1%
GM 7272 5471 +33% 43.8%
Ford Transit 2633 417 +531%
Mercedes Sprinter 684 --- 4.1%
(click for larger image)
Part 2 of UAW President Bob King’s speech:
At Ford, GM, and Chrysler, we have already demonstrated this new vision and achieved important, dramatic improvements in quality. We now produce the highest quality vehicles in the world. In productivity we have made just as important and dramatic improvements achieving billions of dollars of annual cost savings and global competitiveness. We achieved global best in quality and productivity by working in creative partnership with management using innovative problem solving discipline.
When it became necessary for the companies to consolidate, we took a strong proactive role in making sure that quality did not suffer from the workforce reductions and churning. At Ford, for example, the UAW raised strong concerns about quality and persuaded management to work together aggressively on quality training and discipline to process and as a result quality not only did not suffer, it actually improved even when 30,000 members left Ford and 30,000 members had to learn new jobs! We also launched a joint UAW Ford Lean Suppler Optimization Team, through which we were able to find millions of dollars of annual savings in numerous supplier facilities. We also began to work as a team on long-term product development, contributing to finding ways to keep costs down and find workforce solutions to efficiently produce innovative products. As the auto industry moves towards green technology and electrification, we are committed to contributing our creativity, our initiative and our dedication to the new world of cars of the future.
And we are not just global leaders in quality and productivity; we are working together and setting new standards in attendance and knowledge driven workforces. Highly trained certified black belts and Quality Operating System Operators — hourly UAW members — drive quality in our products.
I truly believe that employers would be wise to re-examine their instinctive resistance to the notion of unionization, and consider some of the advantages of a positive, productive relationship with a union. Unions can and should play a positive role — and the results show the UAW is doing exactly that! Union workers feel secure enough to speak up when they have an idea of how to improve a process. Unions improve morale and reduce absenteeism. They support, rather than obstruct, accountability from both management and the workforce. The UAW of the 21st century is a force for innovation; we are committed to the success of the employers who are our partners. Making the best product or providing the best service at the best price is a primary mission of the union in the interests of our members.
The UAW and our members have a moral obligation to our customers to build the best vehicles at the best price. Our first loyalty is ultimately to our customers. If we have to we will fight for the highest quality and highest customer safety for the customer as strongly as we fight for our own safety and well being!
This commitment to fundamental change is not just a tenet of the new administration, but is permeating the entire culture of the union. I can tell you that there is no group of people more committed to the success of the auto industry than the union and our members. Our members know that the success of their employers is in their own essential long-term interest. They won’t be jumping ship to grab onto a golden parachute. They are in this for the long haul. They are ready, willing and able to do what it takes to make their companies successful.
So the keywords of the 21st-century UAW are flexibility, innovation, quality, teamwork, productivity, continuous cost-savings, and respect. The rigid demarcation between management and labor that was so entrenched in the old model is discarded. Layers of management can be eliminated because the workers are dedicated to managing their own processes.
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