State of the Union August 15, 2011

August 15, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

Union Meeting is this Wednesday, Aug. 17 at 1pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.

At the start of today, there were roughly 1100 vans lehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifft of the 2011 model year. Build out should be around 6:30 Wednesday morning off of K-line. Body shop will be building the first 2012 this morning. With that in mind the weekly build information will reflect the first 1307 vans of the 2012 model year scheduled for this week: 192 15-pass vans; 87 slider doors; 697 Enterprise rent-a-car; 226 OnStar; 29 government vans; no E-26 or exports.

From Automotive News: In the week after Standard & Poor's downgraded U.S. government debt, credit remained both available and affordable for the auto industry. But even as automakers say they'll stay the course on production and sales for the rest of the year, consumer confidence remains a big worry. "Consumer confidence is pretty fragile right now," Don Johnson, General Motors' U.S. sales chief, told analysts last week. "It's been ebbing and flowing throughout the year." But, he added, "We know that there is continuing pent-up demand in the market." Tom Doll, COO of Subaru of America, said the market plunge "appears to be an overreaction to the downgrade. At this time, we do not believe this is going to have any impact on our sales or production plans," Doll said. Mike Jackson, CEO of AutoNation Inc., the nation's largest dealership group, agrees, citing the pent-up consumer demand that should have the industry on the right track in the fourth quarter. "By October I think things will be booming," Jackson said. "It's all based on need." Ford Motor Co. and GM said they are sticking by their full-year sales projections. Spokesman John Stoll said that Ford still expects U.S. industrywide sales to "come in at the lower end of the 13 to 13.5 million range, including medium and heavy-duty vehicles."

From the Wall Street Journal: The Obama administration has put on hold plans to sell the rest of its stake in General Motors Co. because the auto maker's shares have slumped this year amid turbulence in the stock market, people familiar with the situation said Tuesday. The U.S. Treasury aimed to sell more of its 26.5% stake in GM by August or September. But GM stock for months has remained stuck below $30, and Wall Street's recent gyrations have made the market's future course uncertain. As a result, the Treasury is unlikely to move forward with a sale of shares until later this year, at the earliest, these people said. So far this year, GM stock is down 31%. Shares of rival Ford Motor Co. are down 35% year to date.

From Automotive News: With a big lift from its Fiat partner, Chrysler Group's Ram truck brand is moving beyond its core pickup truck business into commercial vans. The first entry will be the Ram CV cargo van, a panel van without rear windows. The Ram CV is a version of the Dodge Grand Caravan minivan that has been reworked for cargo use and rebranded as a Ram. These vehicles have been sold in the past as Dodge Caravans. Following that, more commercial vans are on the way for Ram from Italian partner Fiat. Ram is planning its own version of the Fiat Doblo, a Ford Transit Connect-sized small commercial van, and a larger commercial van to replace the Mercedes-built Dodge Sprinter. The Sprinter disappeared from Dodge dealerships after Fiat assumed control of Chrysler in 2009. The new large van is also likely to appear in 2013 as a 2014 model. Between Fiat and its Iveco commercial vehicle unit, Chrysler has two large commercial vans to choose from: the front-drive Fiat Ducato and rear-drive Iveco Daily. The most likely engines for the van are diesels. Diesels equipped the Sprinter, and Fiat has an array of diesel engines in its European commercial van fleet.

From the Detroit Free Press: General Motors is recalling certain 2012 model year Buick LaCrosses and Chevrolet Impalas in the United States and Canada over two separate defects related to steering. GM is recalling 4,293 LaCrosses, including 4,077 in the United States, because of an incorrect calibration of the StabiliTrak electronic stability system. A malfunction in the system could cause it to “falsely activate, resulting in sudden changes in the vehicle handling and deceleration,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This could “result in a crash without warning.” GM said today it knows of no crashes or injuries related to the defect. Separately, GM is recalling 11,905 model year 2012 Chevrolet Impalas, including 10,334 in the United States, to check for faulty installation of the power steering hose. GM said a wrongly placed hose could be damaged and “spray fluid onto hot parts of the engine creating potential for a fire.” The company said it knows of no crashes or injuries related to the steering hose problem, and that the condition was discovered at its Oshawa Assembly Plant in Ontario, Canada. The 16,198 owners affected by the recalls of both vehicles are being sent notifications this month.
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From UAW Gimme Five: The war on collective bargaining goes on, this time at Verizon. Despite making $19.5 billion in profits and paying out $258 million to its top 5 executives in the last four years, Verizon wants to take back more than 50 years of collective bargaining and destroy middle class jobs. Verizon has refused to move from a long list of nearly 100 concession demands. CWA and IBEW have taken the unprecedented step of striking until Verizon stops its Wisconsin-style tactics and starts bargaining seriously. Verizon’s demands include: freeze pensions for current workers and eliminate them for future workers, allow contracting out and offshoring of more jobs, slash sick leave, completely gut health care plans for current and retired workers, and eliminate disability payments for injured workers.
How You Can Help: Adopt Verizon Wireless stores to picket and leaflet. Download the leaflet at cwa-union.org/Verizon, Sign our petition at cwa-union.org/verizongreed.