Sept. 8, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
There will be a CAP Committee meeting and a Union Label Committee meeting today after first shift at the Union Hall.
From Automotive News: General Motors plans to begin courting investors for its initial public stock offering immediately after the Nov. 2 midterm congressional elections, two sources familiar with the plans told Reuters. GM's roadshow is to begin Nov. 3 and last two weeks, the sources said. The IPO is expected to be priced on Nov. 17 and debut Nov. 18, they said. They cautioned that the plans were still being completed and could change based on how U.S. stock markets perform.
From the Detroit Free Press: Joe Ashton, 62, (UAW Vice President and head of the GM department) spearheaded the UAW's crucial effort to add numbers by organizing more than 6,000 casino workers in Atlantic City, N.J. One of those casinos even ratified a contract -- the first for the casino workers. Now, Ashton has responsibility for another UAW priority: negotiating a new General Motors contract next fall. "Right now, my approach is, 'General Motors is going to be successful,' " Ashton said. Still, "what I hope to accomplish is to negotiate a contract that is beneficial to our members and also continues to make the company competitive." Ashton has been a part of the UAW since 1969, when he joined the 3,000-member Local 1612 in Philadelphia. At 27, he became president of the local. "It was an experience that helped me throughout life," he said. "At that age I really wasn't prepared ... but I hope and think that I grew into the job."
In a bid to match Ford in the in-car technology race, On-Star will offer subscribers the “chance to have their Facebook and text messages read to them. Users will also be able to use voice commands to respond to Facebook and text messages” according to the Detroit Free Press. (experts are predicting that soon you’ll be able to actually speak real-time to another person).
Jobs, Justice and Peace Part 3
Rebuild America by investing in our cities, infrastructure, industry and people
In the midst of this crisis, we have an opportunity to rebuild our industrial economy on a more just and sustainable basis. Investing in revitalized cities, modern infrastructure, “green” industries and workforce skills is an investment in our country’s future.
Upgrade and modernize our nation’s infrastructure, with special attention to the needs of urban areas. From the levees that failed to protect the people of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina to the catastrophic bridge collapse in Minneapolis to the time lost each day traveling over congested and potholed freeways, the human and economic cost of neglecting our nation’s infrastructure is painfully clear. Repairing our 20th century is a massive undertaking in and of itself – but we need to do even more, and build an infrastructure for the 21st century and beyond. The oil spreading over the Gulf of Mexico this spring and summer dramatized the need to invest in buildings, transportation systems and technologies that will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Investments in infrastructure create jobs directly and immediately, but they also increase our long-term productivity and competitiveness – and, if guided by goals of energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, will help us address the challenge of global warming.
Retool manufacturing facilities to make the products of the future. Infrastructure repair and modernization will spur demand for a wide range of manufactured products, from solar panels to rail cars. So will the broader push for greater energy efficiency in our homes, our appliances and our vehicles. At the same time, manufacturing plants stand idle, and skilled manufacturing workers count the weeks until their unemployment benefits end as they search desperately for work. Smart public policies can end this disconnect by providing loans and other incentives to retool and reopen existing manufacturing facilities, and training to qualify workers for the jobs in green industries.
Ensure fair trade. We can’t continue to allow an unlevel field to drain jobs out of our country. A global race to the bottom hurts workers in the developed and developing worlds alike.
Rebuild America by guaranteeing justice for workers
Our economy is suffering not just from a shortage of jobs, but also a shortage of justice. The two are entwined. When workers’ rights are respected and the benefits of rising productivity are shared equitably, economic growth has a solid foundation. When they are not, economic growth is weak and unsustainable. The financial crisis that has so devastated our economy was, at bottom, the result of a lack of justice that led income gains to flow disproportionately to those at the top.
There is no better way to reduce poverty, no better way to keep families in their homes, no better way to strengthen our tax base, no better way to ensure that the jobs of the future are good jobs – than through the right to organize and bargain collectively.
No comments:
Post a Comment