State of the Union February 21, 2011

Feb 21, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

From Chairman Mike Bullock: Seven of the 24 members to be recalled for the partial crew on second shift in body shop will be coming back tomorrow. That will make the seniority date to hold the plant 6-19-2000. Also, the expansion of prime time vacation will result in the recall of all of our laid off traditional members as well as over 40 entry level members sooner than they otherwise would have been.

The sale of raffle tickets for the use of a VAP vehicle raised $2137 for this year’s Make-A-Wish dream!! Another great example of the generosity of this workforce! The winners, in order, are: Bobby Cox (chassis); Virgil Dohack (trim); Les Shelby (skilled trades); Rich Funken (skilled trades); Renee Watson (body); Susan Spillane (quality); and Juan Saldana (quality). There will be a bake sale Monday, Feb. 28 at the Suggestions office to raise money for this year’s dream.

From Automotive News: General Motors’ fleet business grew 21 percent in 2010 and will rise again this year, the head of GM's fleet sales said. Brian Small, general manager of GM Fleet and Commercial Operations, would not predict fleet sales growth for GM this year, but said he expects industrywide fleet sales to grow 8 to 10 percent in 2011. Fleet sales include sales to rental companies, commercial customers and government agencies. Last year fleet customers bought 28 percent of the 2.2 million vehicles GM sold, up from 25 percent of GM's 2.1 million sales in 2009, according to data compiled by the Automotive News Data Center.

From the Detroit News: Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into nearly 44,000 Toyota Highlander hybrid vehicles over concerns their engines can stall and fail to restart. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a notice posted on its website Saturday that it had opened a preliminary investigation into 43,941 2006 Toyota Highland hybrid SUVs after receiving 32 complaints. NHTSA said 21 of the incidents occurred at speeds of 40 miles per hour or more; 26 reported that the vehicle could not be restarted or that it was towed to the dealership. Toyota has had other problems with engines stalling. In August, Toyota recalled 1.33 million 2005-2008 Corolla and Matrix vehicles in North America for stalled engines.