Jan. 19, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Reminder: Union meeting is today at 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.
From Bloomberg News: Ford Motor Co. plans to invest $400 million and build a new model at its factory in Claycomo, Missouri, after moving production of the Escape small sport- utility vehicle to another state. All 3,750 hourly workers at the plant will be retained, Marcey Evans, a Ford spokeswoman, said today in an interview. Missouri lawmakers met in special session last year to grant Ford tax breaks after the company said it would begin manufacturing the Escape at a Kentucky factory this year. Ford may build the full-size Transit van, now sold in Europe, on a new assembly line at the plant near Kansas City, Missouri, said Michael Robinet, a consultant with IHS Automotive in Northville, Michigan. Evans wouldn’t confirm the new model. The plant will continue to build Ford’s F-150 pickup, she said. “Bringing the Transit to Kansas City gives Ford more flexibility to meet new fuel-economy and emissions standards with a more efficient, light commercial vehicle,” Robinet said in an interview. “The Transit has been a star of Ford’s fleet in Europe for years. The new Transit was designed for global markets.” Ford will continue to offer its Econoline full-size commercial van in the U.S., in addition to the Transit and the compact Transit Connect van, Robinet said. Econoline sales are likely to decline substantially as Ford introduces the full- sized Transit to U.S. commercial buyers, he said.
From the Wall Street Journal: Azure Dynamics Corp., an electric- and hybrid-vehicle maker, said it has received an order for 600 hybrid-electric delivery vans from Purolator Courier Ltd., the Canadian logistics and delivery company. The order should help to triple the company's revenue this year over 2010 and will make Azure the dominant player in the U.S. for medium-duty commercial vehicle hybrids, said Scott Harrison, the company's chief executive officer, in an interview. Mr. Harrison said the order is believed to be the largest order for this size of commercial hybrids by a single company. Azure also has begun delivering all-electric versions of Ford Motor Co.'s Transit Connect van this month. The company has orders for 150 of the electrified Transit Connects so far. Azure takes the body of the vans from Ford and integrates an electric drive system. Purolator's order of 600 vans, based on a Ford E450 chassis, will be spread out over three years, with the majority of the first 200 coming later this year, and then proceeding with 200 the following two years. Azure said the hybrids improve fuel economy by 40% over the existing models in the fleet.
Part three of UAW President Bob King’s speech to the Automotive News Congress:
We have reached out to the non-union auto companies in a spirit of respect to ask that they agree to these principles. We hope that they do, and if so, we look forward to engaging their employees in a free, democratic election process free of acrimony, tension, fear and discord. If employees make a free choice not to join the UAW, we will of course respect that decision, and hope that in the future we will make a better case for the importance of a union for all autoworkers. If the employees do vote to unionize, the UAW will add value and do everything within our power to make the company competitive and successful.
We will closely examine the responses of the non-union companies to this outreach. Actions speak louder than words. A company cannot truthfully say that it respects the right of its employees to organize and at the same time hold mandatory meetings condemning and misrepresenting the UAW. A company cannot truthfully say that is respects the right to organize and at the same time suggest that it would close a plant if employees vote to unionize. A company cannot truthfully claim to respect the right to organize and at the same time tell the employees that a unionized company cannot survive in a competitive environment or that the UAW would jeopardize their benefits. A company cannot truthfully claim to respect the right to organize and at the same time separate out, harass and pressure union supporters.
Why do we propose these principles instead of using the NLRB election process? The National Labor Relations Board election procedures are outdated and ineffective. American labor law simply does not provide a fair framework for union elections. Companies can intimidate, threaten and coerce employees with impunity. There cannot be a fair vote when workers are afraid of losing their jobs. There cannot be a fair vote when workers can hear only one side. There cannot be a fair vote when union supporters are routinely harassed, disciplined, and in some cases even fired. There cannot be a fair vote when supervisors pressure workers one-on-one. There cannot be a fair vote when management can delay the process indefinitely.
There is nothing ethical or moral about the fear-mongering, intimidation and coercion that are a routine part of NLRB elections. Anyone familiar with how union election campaigns take place in this country knows that the single dominant factor in a worker’s decision is fear. The Labor Board election process is fatally, hopelessly flawed.
We intend to hold companies accountable to allow their employees to freely and democratically choose whether or not to join the UAW. There is no more pressing issue of social justice than the right of workers to organize unions. Freedom of association is a global human right. It is the First Amendment right of workers. Free and independent unions are an essential feature of a democracy. It is the sacred mission of the UAW to hold corporations accountable for respecting this right, both in the United States and around the world. Without the right to organize and bargain there will be no strong, sustainable middle class. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The right to organize and bargain collectively creates the important balance of power between workers and global corporations!
If a non-union automaker violates workers’ democratic rights and rejects these principles, we will commit the entire resources of our union to expose this company’s anti-democratic behavior. We will not stand quietly by while a foreign corporation treats Americans as second class citizens. We will not stand quietly by while a corporation threatens workers for trying to organize a union. We will not stand quietly by in the face of a concerted assault on the middle class and on the institution of collective bargaining
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