Nov. 9, 2010 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: To clarify last Friday’s statement regarding bidding on jobs: While I said "all" members can bid on the job openings, this would exclude anyone who has recently bid on a job and has not been on it for 6 months or anyone who has done a team-to-team transfer less than 90 days ago, per the local agreement.
There will be a Women’s Committee meeting Thursday, Nov. 11 after first shift at the Union Hall.
Members of the Civil Rights Committee are selling raffle tickets to raise money for this year’s Martin Luther King scholarship fund. The first drawing will include a 47-inch LCD television as a 1st prize; 2ndprize is a laptop netbook computer; 3rd prize is an I-reader. Tickets will be $10 or (3) for $25. Thanks for your continued support.
UAW/GM Lifesteps will be in the cafeteria next week. On Tuesday 11/16 and Wednesday 11/17 the hours are 8 am – 11 am and 2 pm – 5 pm. On Thursday 11/18 the hours are 9 am – 11 am and 2 pm – 4 pm. Screening for cholesterol and glucose will be done. You can do these tests with or without fasting.
From Automotive News: General Motors is dropping the GM Goodwrench car mechanic brand in the United States as the company moves to redirect the marketing emphasis around its four core vehicle brands, the company announced. The long-standing Goodwrench brand -- used by GM dealers to promote vehicle repair and maintenance services -- will be replaced by Chevrolet Certified Service, Cadillac Certified Service, Buick Certified Service and GMC Certified Service, GM said in a statement released Monday evening. GM marketing chief Joel Ewanick wants the vehicle brands, not corporate, to be the stars of GM, and that includes service and repairs, said one source familiar with the new campaign.
From the Detroit News: More than one in five licensed drivers will soon be 65 or older, the National Transportation Safety board said. Their number will nearly double, from 30 million today to about 57 million in 2030, according to the Government Accountability Office. Smarter cars and better designed roads may help keep them behind the wheel longer. But eventually most people will outlive their driving ability — men by an average of six years and women by an average of ten years.
Laws needed to protect the ‘American Dream’ By Bob King
When you think about the "American Dream," you think of home ownership. Owning a home is something most Americans take great pride in, whatever the location or square footage. Foreclosures are destroying that dream. The financial foundations upon which the dream rested have become shakier than a house built on the San Andreas Fault. Millions are faced with giving up their home. Indeed, some homeowners took out questionable mortgages on homes they couldn't afford. Conned by predatory lenders eager to sell loans with the highest fees, they were told they could afford those adjustable rate mortgages — the bank approved it, right? But when rates increased, they could no longer fool themselves. Others looked at their entire financial picture, made a prudent decision with a fixed-rate loan on an appropriate home, figured they would maintain a steady job and income, and bought their piece of the dream. After Wall Street's reckless ways destroyed our economy, many ended up jobless, surviving on unemployment checks or under-employed. When you replace a decent-paying union job and good benefits with a Wal-Mart job, something has to give — like their piece of the dream. Others had medical issues, and huge bills, that wrecked their finances. Health care reform came too late for them.
Issues persist
Lenders weren't shy about making questionable loans and haven't been shy about calling in their markers. There could be 3.5 million foreclosures this year on top of the 2 million in both 2009 and 2008, according to Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize-winning economist who has studied the foreclosure crisis and called for a moratorium.
"It makes no sense in our economy to be creating homeless people, throwing people out of their homes, disrupting the education of their children, undermining communities and … having these empty homes," Stiglitz told "Democracy Now. Cary Leahey, an economist at Decision Economics in New York, recently said the large numbers of foreclosures, which usually sell at huge discounts, depressing other home values, are killing economic recovery. "If you believe you can't have a vibrant economy without a vibrant housing market, then you have to deal with the foreclosure problem," he said.
What to do
The choice is this: We can add to our nation's ever-growing underclass of poor or we can deal with the foreclosure problem and give Americans a hand up — not a hand out. Lenders must play their part in digging us out. It's why the UAW supports community leaders calling on Chase Bank to halt home foreclosures in Detroit. With so many foreclosures, thousands of mistakes are being made, says Vanessa Fluker, a mortgage defense attorney in Detroit. It's also why we support enacting state and federal legislation to prevent foreclosures by having a court set an affordable amount for a family to stay in their home — but not for free, as opponents suggest. Some financial institutions will resist, even though many were recipients of federal bailout money. And you'll hear the usual carping from conservative pundits and lawmakers who love to blame the little guy for getting in over his head.
Lenders knew this bubble would burst. They owe it to the nation to be part of the foreclosure solution and help citizens once again believe in the American Dream.
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