Jan. 24, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Correction: Some copies of the State of the Union from Friday, Jan. 21 said that the long February weekend for the VAP Make-A-Wish raffle was the third weekend. That is incorrect. As it stands now, the long weekend is the 4th weekend, or the weekend of Feb. 25, 26 and 27. Since that Friday is tentatively scheduled off, the winners will have the vehicles for 5 days beginning Wednesday, Feb. 23.
From the Detroit News: Small businesses spent big last year to replace their aging cars and trucks, another indication that the auto industry is rebounding. General Motors Co. said Friday that Chevrolet sales to small businesses shot up 36 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010 over the year earlier, outpacing the brand's overall performance. Ford Motor Co. does not specifically track sales to small companies, said George Pipas, a market analyst for the Dearborn automaker. But he said Ford's sales to businesses that buy work vehicles rose more than 70 percent last year. Most businesses buy pickups and cargo vans, according to GM. "A lot of companies have reached a point where the existing trucks they have need to be replaced," said Ron Childress, a commercial truck sales manager at Ed Rinke Chevrolet Buick GMC in Center Line. "In fact, we're stocking more trucks this year just because we believe 2011 is going to be a much better year than 2010."
From the Detroit Free Press: Ford Motor Co. plans to announce year-end financial results Friday and is poised to report a profit for 2010 of about $8 billion excluding onetime charges -- the automaker's biggest annual profit in a decade. Ford usually announces how much annual profit-sharing checks will be that day. The checks, expected in March, could give the local economy a $240-million boost, said David Sowerby, economist and chief portfolio manager for Loomis Sayles. Bernie Ricke, president of UAW Local 600, said the checks will be "fairly significant and more than we've seen in several years."
From the Detroit News: General Motors Co. is expected to announce a major investment Monday to increase truck production at its Flint Assembly plant, adding a third shift and more than 650 jobs, according to sources familiar with the plan. The plant in economically ravaged Flint, builds big trucks, such as the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. It employs about 2,000 hourly and salaried workers. GM hourly workers on layoff would be eligible for the jobs added at Flint Assembly. The sources didn't have details on the amount of the investment, or exactly how the money would be used. GM officials declined to comment Friday. Gov. Rick Snyder is scheduled to visit Flint on Monday, but a spokeswoman for the governor declined to divulge details.
From the Wall Street Journal: Even as organized labor's share of America's public and private work force continued to slide last year, unions appeared to be growing in one place, among government managers and high-paid workers. The moves come as union membership as a whole continues to slide in the U.S., both in the public and private sectors. Union members accounted for only 11.9% of the work force in 2010, the Labor Department reported Friday, down from 12.3% in 2009 and far below the peak of 28.3% hit in 1954. The 7.6 million government workers in unions made up more than half of the 14.7 million workers in the U.S. who belonged to a union last year, with the state and local government sectors among the most heavily unionized in the economy.
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