Feb 23, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Here are some excerpts from a first drive review of the Nissan NV from trucktrend.com We briefly drove a pre-production 2500 HD high-roof with the V-8. This combination is expected to be the volume seller (estimated price $33,000). There will be side and rear glass packages and a 12-passenger version coming in about a year, but our pre-production tester had no glass behind the A-pillar. It's longer than the comparable Sprinter, but the standard roof height is similar to that of the E-Series. There's a lot of room up front, thanks to the pickup-like nose. That pushes the engine forward, out of the passenger area. The downside? Not everyone is going to like the styling. There are some cool features in the cabin, such as the passenger seat that can fold flat and serve as a work area. There are also a lot of storage cubbies throughout, including several above the sun visors, like you would see in an RV.
Wards Auto also sampled the NV. Here are some comments: A person used to softer-riding passenger cars will find a commercial vehicle like the NV uninspiring, perhaps even uncivilized. Its suspension is characteristically stiff and acceleration poky. The NV’s tip-in (acceleration from a stop) is not feeble by any means, but a short test drive of a V-6Chevy Express exhibits quicker feedback. Cargo volume is ample, with 234.1 cu.-ft. (6.6 cu.-m) for standard-roof models (Chevy Express is 267.3 cu.ft. in regular wheelbase) and 323.1 cu.-ft. (9 cu.-m) with the high roof. But the Sprinter’s specs show it has more space. Optional creature comforts, part of a technology package, include Bluetooth hands-free dialing, XM satellite radio and navigation with a rear view monitor. It’s a nice add-on but looks quaint when compared with Ford’s optional Work Solutions package, which, albeit pricey, includes a $1,400 in-dash computer and wireless mouse and printer, with the ability to access files stored in a remote personal computer. The NV also offers nothing that approximates the Chevy Express’ Access package, with side panels that open up, eliminating the need to climb inside. Still, winning business from fleet companies familiar with the established players will not be easy. Perhaps that’s why Nissan expects 60% of sales to come from small-business/personal-use buyers.
America’s freedoms need strong unions to survive
By Bob King
Doing justice does not mean trying to reduce the wages, benefits and standard of living of all workers in America. Doing justice to me means that everyone has an equal opportunity, and if they make the individual decision to work hard and live by the rules, then they will be able to live a middle-class standard of living and retire with dignity and maintain their middle-class standard of living. There are strong forces in America that preach the vision of scarcity, the vision of division and the vision of fear. They try to convince us that we are not a country gifted with great abundance; they try to convince us that there is not enough abundance to go around, so we had better be jealous of anyone who has more than we do. We had better try to take away from someone who has more than us and bring them down to our level of scarcity rather than trying to bring ourselves (and everyone else) up to their level.
Doing justice means guaranteeing all workers the right to collectively sit down with their employer and bargain fair wages and benefits that allow them to have and maintain a decent middle-class standard of living. It means giving workers a real voice in decision making in building the best product or providing the best service. The First Amendment gives all Americans the right to freedom of speech and association. For workers, these First Amendment rights are the right to organize and bargain collectively with their employer. The exercise of these rights dramatically reduced poverty and the exploitation of workers in the United States and created a far greater sharing of the wealth of this country. The exercise of these rights built the great American middle class. The forces preaching scarcity, division and fear have been working successfully to destroy the American middle class. They want workers to have less and less so the wealthiest can have more and more.
We all have a choice to make. Do we want an America of scarcity, division and fear, or do we want an America of abundance, common good and deep caring about one another? The believers in scarcity, division and fear have been singling out groups of workers. First, it was textile workers, then electronic workers, steel workers, auto workers and manufacturing workers in general. Their newest target is public sector workers: police, fire, teachers and government workers. We all should support public workers in having a decent middle-class standard of living. To dismantle this standard of living is not doing justice and is harming everyone in society.
For America to be great, we need to rebuild the great American middle class. To rebuild the middle class, we need to strongly support workers' First Amendment rights and support all workers in the right to sit down and bargain fairly and responsibly with their employers. There cannot be a strong democracy without a strong middle class. There cannot be a strong middle class without strong unions.
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