March 9, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: The investigation into the alarm system failure on Friday has been completed. The alarm system is currently fully operational. A test of the system was conducted three times on three different days. It functioned properly each time it was tested. Our skilled trades electricians on 2nd shift have inspected the main security console for problems. They have also inspected the amplifiers for the speaker system. An action plan has been developed in the event of a similar occurrence. Also, starting on March 16 at 10 am a plant wide test of the alarm system will occur. This test will be repeated every Wednesday at 10 am. If you don't hear the test, please notify management. A new alarm system is scheduled to be phased in over the next several months and will replace the old panels and speaker system.
From the Detroit Free Press: General Motors plans to add a second shift worth about 900 to 1,000 jobs to its Detroit-Hamtramck plant late this year, as the automaker prepares to ramp up production of its Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric car. Current plans have second-shift workers arriving for training late this year and starting production in earnest in early 2012, plant manager Teri Quigley told the Free Press Tuesday on the sidelines of an event recognizing the facility as a Michigan Clean Corporate Citizen. The timing for adding the shift could change as GM continues to weigh its Volt production schedule amid rising oil prices. GM is seeking to build more than 25,000 Volts this year, up from the original target of about 10,000, CEO Dan Akerson has said. Executives are debating a decision to produce 120,000 Volts annually starting next year, well above the current estimate of 45,000. The Detroit-Hamtramck plant, which is also slated to help the Fairfax, Kan., factory build the next-generation Chevrolet Malibu when it debuts next year, is expected to stop producing the aged Buick Lucerne and Cadillac DTS sedans this year.
From the Detroit News: A top auto analyst says General Motors Co. may resume paying dividends in 2013. Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital, said he doesn't expect GM to pay shareholders until it fully funds its pension plans. GM said last month its U.S. plans are underfunded by $11.5 billion; it invested $6 billion in cash and stock in its pension plans last year. GM spokeswoman Noreen Pratscher declined to comment, but referred to GM's recent earnings presentation in which CEO Daniel Akerson said he expects the Detroit automaker to take "meaningful steps" toward fully funding the pensions in 2011. Separately, thousands of creditors of "old" General Motors — the part of the company that was left behind in bankruptcy — are on track to receive shares in the reborn automaker around April 1 as partial compensation. At current trading prices, creditors could receive around 35 cents on the dollar, but the final amounts won't be known for months.
From Automotive News: To break into the commercial van business in the United States, Nissan North America Inc. plans to do something it rarely does: attack Detroit head-on. That is because there is no way around it. When it comes to workhorse vans -- those large, boxy cargo vehicles favored by house painters, electricians and florists -- there are really only two players: Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. Ford and GM together controlled 96 percent of the U.S. full-sized commercial van segment in 2010. Daimler AG holds the remaining fragment with the Sprinter van, which has variously shown up as a Dodge, a Freightliner and now a Mercedes product. As it launches the NV this month at about one-fourth of its 1,100 U.S. retailers, Nissan says it is up for the challenge. The source of its confidence? Nissan's van is a new design, while Ford's and GM's vehicles are using older van platforms. "I will admit that I was skeptical when I heard Nissan was getting into the segment," says Harry Criswell, a third-generation Chevrolet dealer from Gaithersburg, Md., and a Nissan dealer for the past three years. "But they've done this right. They went out and heard every complaint the owners of vans had, and then they fixed them all." Criswell, whose multi-franchise Criswell Automotive sells about 470 Chevrolet Express vans a year, says he believes the NV will take away a little of that business -- "But more than likely, it will take business away from the Sprinter," he speculates. "They're both tall vans. "The Express is a good van, and people like it," Criswell adds. "But they haven't done all the creature-comfort things that Nissan has done. They just haven't faced the competition." Nissan faces another obstacle. Work-van buyers tend to be price sensitive -- especially large fleet buyers, where Nissan hopes to get 40 percent of its volume. And skimping on comfort features can save money. One automaker source who asked not to be named said he had been negotiating recently with a large parcel delivery company to buy a fleet of new commercial vans. The fleet operator allowed its drivers to choose between two feature options: automatic window controls or air conditioning.
Chrysler unveiled their “big announcement” yesterday at the NTEA commercial truck show in Indianapolis. What was it? A cargo version (which has been available for years) of their Dodge Caravan now badged as Ram. With a gutsier V6 and flat aluminum load floor, the van aims to do battle with the Ford Transit Connect. No pricing or volume information was available.
From Automotive News: A global human rights organization wants Ford Motor Co. to compensate a worker injured on the job at one of Ford's Chinese suppliers and to inspect the supplier's factory. According to a report released by the Pittsburgh-based Institute for Global Labour & Human Rights, several Chinese workers were maimed when factory managers disabled critical safety equipment at the Dongguan Yuwei Plastics and Hardware Products Co. in Dongguan, China. The report, called "Dirty Parts/Where Lost Fingers Come Cheap: Ford in China," says that 80 percent of the factory's production is for Ford. In March 2009, a worker's hand was crushed in a stamping machine, the report says. The worker, who was making parts for export to Ford, lost three fingers. The report says management instructed the worker to turn off the infrared safety monitoring system so he could work faster. It says there were at least four similar serious injuries at the company over the last several years. Injured workers often were fired later. "Ford should not be complicit in the payment of below subsistence wages and the suppression of local and internationally recognized worker rights standards," Charles Kernaghan, director of the Institute, wrote in the report.
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