Sept. 30, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From President Dan Howell: Local 2250 is hosting a canvass drive for U.S. Senate candidate Robyn Carnahan Saturday, Oct. 2 at 235 Jungermann Road. Robyn and her field director Tim Ryan will be there to brief us and give us areas to work. We ask everyone to show up about 9:30 am. We will only need about 2-3 hours of your time. Our target area, St. Charles County, also falls within Ken Bierman’s district. Ken currently holds a State House seat. If you have any questions or if you want to volunteer call Mike Melson at 314-808-0793.
From Bloomberg: Ford Motor Co. will seek to negotiate United Auto Workers union labor rates that match those of U.S. rivals General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC, Chief Financial Officer Lewis Booth said. “On negotiations next year, we expect to stay competitive,” Booth said today at a conference in Paris. “The UAW leadership recognizes the need to keep us competitive with our domestic competitors.” Ford workers last year rejected concessions, including a ban on some strikes until 2015, that workers at GM and Chrysler accepted in advance of their bankruptcies. Ford workers agreed to concessions in March 2009 that included forgoing bonuses and cost-of-living raises. Ford said those givebacks cut its labor costs by $500 million a year.
Hyundai is recalling nearly 140,000 2011 Sonata sedans to fix a steering defect that is described by the NHTSA: "On some of these vehicles the steering column intermediate shaft universal joint connections may have been either improperly assembled or insufficiently tightened." This comes on the heels of an announcement in August by NHTSA of an investigation of the Kia Soul for loose or decoupling steering columns (Kia is part of the Hyundai automotive group)
Part 3 of Bob King interview on back:
Q: If you paid a visit tomorrow to the BMW plant in (South Carolina) and you got an opportunity to get two minutes with workers to tell them why they should join the UAW, what's the pitch?
A: I think the pitch is look at the success at Ford. Look at the success at General Motors. We are building the highest quality; we're building with the greatest productivity, and we are doing it because of membership involvement. We have a real voice. Members in Chicago felt secure to really fight against their immediate management, saying you're screwing this up on quality. Somebody in the BMW plant, I don't think, would have the security to do that.
I think that ... if it wasn't for the UAW, I don't think government would have intervened at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler.
The Department of Energy loans -- that was originally a UAW idea. Nissan benefited, a lot of other people benefited, but that was a UAW idea.
Q: It is pretty clear that the car companies have an ally in the White House. ... But I wonder if from your perspective, it looks quite the same. Do you have the partner you need in Washington?
A: We never have had somebody who is as sensitive or caring about ... working people as much as President Obama is. But he certainly does not agree to do everything labor wants.
Q: Are the people who tell me that the Democratic Party and the labor movement are going to shift most of their resources to the Supreme Court elections, if Virg Bernero doesn't close a lot of distance in the next couple of weeks, misinformed?
A: I'm not in that camp. I'm sure there are people who feel that way. ... I really believe that we can win.
There is nobody in Michigan or Ohio, in my mind, that shouldn't be voting for President Obama and the Democrats. Our two states would be dead if he hadn't saved the industry. And I believe that you don't give up because it's tough or because you're behind. You keep fighting and pushing, and we can come back.
Q: You have a lot of anger and frustration in your own rank-and-file and ... you had a little bit of that blowback when you tried at Ford to get the same deal that GM and Chrysler had agreed to. How tough is it going to be to sell to the rank-and-file who may want a return to what they had a little faster than what you feel you can give it to them?
A: When you get into 2011 bargaining, there will be a lot more at stake. I'm very confident in our local leaders and our members. Given the facts, they will make the right decisions.
I think the biggest (part at Ford) was the (no) strike clause, not understanding why was it necessary to do the no-strike clause. And No. 2 was Alan Mulally's bonuses. They killed us. ...I meant to give this to Alan. In my car I have this block a member made in the plant. It's a big wooden block and it's got a million-dollar bill and Alan's picture on it. I'm fine where I'm at. You remember when he said that? And at the end it has this huge screw. UAW members getting screwed.
They felt the injustice of it. And it wasn't right. ...
To Alan's credit he took a $600,000 pay cut. He more than made up for it with stock options but that was a board decision too. It wasn't his decision. And I think there is a real problem in the United States, a philosophical and political viewpoint. Shareholders should have a voice in this. Shareholders don't have any voice in setting executive salaries. And I think that is wrong. So I guess that is a multipronged approach.
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