March 25, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
•From Chairman Mike Bullock: On the final day of the convention the discussion centered around health and safety issues and social responsibility. Our Union has made enormous gains in the area of health and safety, but there is more that needs to be done to ensure that all employees return home to their families the way you left. We have experienced two major injuries in the last week here at Wentzville. A greater emphasis needs to be put on preventative measures and safeguards to ensure they are not repeated. We as UAW members have a social responsibility to give back to our communities. One way this can be accomplished is through the "GimmeFive Mobilization Program". This program was developed to recruit and engage members to organize, build power and win justice for our Union and community. Our challenge is to show the public that the Union movement is a vital leader for economic change. Learn more about GimmeFive at GimmeFiveUAW.org.
The proposed resolutions for the 2011 Collective Bargaining were overwhelmingly approved by the delegates. After the convention was adjourned Dan Howell and myself participated in a march in Downtown Detroit to the Bank of America. Six Banks, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, GoldmanSachs and Morgan Stanley together paid income tax at an approximate rate of 11% of their pre-tax US earnings in 2009 and 2010. Had they paid the 35% they are legally mandated to pay, the federal government would have received an additional $13 billion in tax revenue. This would cover more than 2 years of salaries for the 132,000 teacher jobs lost since the economic crisis began in 2008.
Our actions were able to shut down Bank of America and the financial district of Downtown Detroit for about 30 minutes on Thursday.
•Management has informed the Union that they have secured enough parts inventory to keep the plant operating through April 28th. This has been an improvement over the last two updates when management told the Union March 31 and then April 11th. The corporation continues to look for alternative suppliers to provide parts necessary to keep them running. All this is tentative and subject to change as production needs are evaluated. Management has released the April schedule. April 8, 22 and 29 are off Fridays, with the 29th due to the limited parts availability. April 5th, the schedule reflects line time of 9.3, to be able to accommodate our members the ability to vote in the local elections per Missouri state law section 115.639, "any person entitled to vote at any election held within this state shall, on the day of such election, be entitled to absent himself from any services or employment in which he is then engaged or employed, for a period of three hours between the time of opening and the time of closing the polls for the purpose of voting, provided that request shall be made of such leave of absence prior to the day of election". All this is tentative and subject to change.
•Earthquake update: No new schedule changes or statements from GM. Bloomberg reported that Shreveport (Chevy Colorado) was idled so parts could be diverted to Fairfax (Chevy Malibu). Nissan has restarted their 5 Japanese assembly plants using existing parts, but reports significant issues with 40 suppliers as well as a key engine plant. Honda has extended the downtime at two assembly plants into next week. Honda has 10 suppliers within 25 miles of the damaged nuclear plant that may take weeks to reopen. Ikuo Matsuhashi, a Goldman Sachs analyst, said that much of the supply concerns in Japan and abroad involve the semiconductor industry. Damage to a manufacturing facility owned by Renesas Electronics Corp. may preclude deliveries for two and a half months. Renesas is one of the largest suppliers of chips used in navigation products, power windows and seats, engines and digital instrument panels. Michael Robinet, an analyst at IHS Automotive, said a prolonged disruption of supplies of Japanese auto parts could halt global vehicle output by as much as 35 percent. The forecast assumes a disruption in supplies lasting 12 weeks that would spread far beyond Japan's auto sector, leading to lost production of 5 million light vehicles worldwide. "I look at that as the worst-case scenario if it lasts that long," said "The best case could be better," he said. "It's very early. But we've never seen anything like this before." In an odd twist that illustrates just how complicated things could get, Ford is telling dealers to stop taking orders for certain colors of paint like Raven Black because the pigment supplier is located in the quake zone.
•From MSNBC: Now that electric-powered Nissan Leafs have been driven by the first owners for several weeks, Nissan's claimed 100-mile range is being tested in reality. The result? Reports of Leafs running out of juice and stranding drivers with little warning. Although the details in the complaints on the MyNissanLeaf forum differ, the common thread in each is the Leaf suddenly paring back the estimates of its range in the middle of a trip, ending in a brief "turtle" mode — marked by an orange turtle icon on the Leaf's dash — followed by the car shutting down to prevent battery damage. "Went from 17 to -- to turtle to dead in about 5 miles. 2.3 miles from dealer. 4.2 miles from home,” wrote one Leaf owner. Another owner suffered a similar experience, leaving the Seattle airport last month for a 15-mile drive home with the Leaf reporting enough power for 26 miles: "Around downtown the range is down to 8 miles (still plenty to get home, which was by then 5 miles away). At the ship-canal bridge it went into turtle, I barely got off the freeway. 2 Mile from home and after about half the distance it told me I would have from the airport, i.e. 13 actual miles driven, it went dead. I actually managed to drive 400 yards in turtle mode. 10:30 pm, wife and screaming kids in the car (which was blocking the right lane of a busy road), just came back from the east coast, cars zooming by and honking, several near misses.” Nissan provides complimentary towing to Leaf owners for just such events. In the Seattle case, the operators who took the tow-truck call asked if the Leaf just needed a jump start.
No comments:
Post a Comment