Sept. 16, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com


From Chairman Mike Bullock: As you know, an extension has been agreed to in national negotiations, and talks are ongoing. I have had no conversation with the International Union about the status of negotiations and the information I’m getting is from the UAWGMNOW.com website. This information is direct from VP Joe Ashton. I received the following message this morning: “ I am happy to inform our membership that we are getting very close to a framework for an agreement that will bring our negotiations to a successful conclusion. Labor agreements of this magnitude undergo numerous changes and revisions as the language becomes finalized. I am very optimistic that the negotiations process is entering its final stage. The members of your local unions who were elected to the UAW GM National Negotiating Committee have been instrumental in bringing your issues from the shop floor to the bargaining table. I would like to thank you, the membership, for your wisdom in sending such an outstanding team to represent you. I truly believe that a settlement is within reach.”
Any speculation by the media is just that – speculation. Regarding local negotiations, we are meeting and have also agreed to extend our deadline. Several issues have been resolved while several more still remain.
Finally, our “dancing robots” will be going on tour. Fairfax, whose open house is next week, has asked (begged) to have the robots featured there, so they will be heading west along with electrician and ace programmer Richard Smock.

Reminder: This year’s SOS “Support Our Soldiers” motorcycle ride and rally will be Saturday Sept. 17. Registration begins at 9:30 am at the Union Hall with last bike out at 11 am. Cost is $20 per bike, $5 per passenger and $5 for each extra hand. Proceeds go to Operation Homefront and Operation Undergarment. You can contact Steve Melson at 636-262-1234 or Judy Guzdial at 636-373-0730 for any questions.

Rather than give you the most recent stories from the various media outlets regarding national negotiations (and there isn’t anything worth repeating anyway), here are some more comments from UAW Vice President Joe Ashton on the uawgmnow website: “The press continues to simultaneously speculate and speak with authority about the terms of the agreement. However, as many of you know, their interest is to spark controversy in order to sell papers or increase viewership… We are going to remain true to our traditions while providing you with as much information as possible once a settlement is reached and has been approved by the UAW-GM Council. We ask that you be patient once a tentative agreement is announced as we will need some time to print the materials that the UAW-GM Council will review. We will be posting those materials on the www.uawgmnow.comwebsite after the Council hasapproved the tentative agreement.”

From Automotive News: The Ram brand will get a commercial van based on the Fiat Ducato large paneled van, supplier sources said at the Frankfurt auto show. Chrysler plans to build 30,000 a year in Mexico, the sources said. Chrysler already builds Ram heavy-duty pickups in Saltillo, Mexico. The van will fill a hole in Chrysler Group's commercial vehicle business that was created when the company stopped selling the Dodge Sprinter vans, produced by Mercedes-Benz, after the DaimlerChrysler divorce in 2009. Ram brand spokesman David Elshoff had no comment on the plans. The Ducato-based van is likely to arrive in 2013. It will be the larger of two Fiat-based commercial vans in the Ram portfolio. On Sept. 9, Fiat and its Turkish joint venture, Tofas Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi, said they had signed a memorandum of understanding on a seven-year deal to supply the Ram brand with 190,000 units of a smaller van based on the Fiat Doblo. The Doblo-based model will compete with the Ford Transit Connect, which also is made at a Turkish factory.

As mentioned in yesterday’s State of the Union, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne was upset that Bob King had chosen to focus on negotiations with GM at Chrysler’s expense. This snub resulted in a terse letter from him to King that many of you have probably read, and has driven much speculation about what it really means. Tom Walsh of the Detroit Free Press takes a swing at it: “Puzzled observers of the quadrennial bargaining ritual were trying Thursday to decipher answers to these two questions: Is there a dangerous problem lurking here, an impasse that could scuttle UAW-Chrysler talks and send the two sides to binding arbitration on key economic issues? Or is this just a fleeting moment of Sergio being Sergio, the imperial globe-trotting CEO tossing a hissy fit because King didn't drop everything to meet as soon as the Chrysler chief jetted into town from the Frankfurt Motor Show? It's tempting to shrug off Wednesday night's letter as a bit of bluster and theater from Marchionne. It wouldn't be the first time he has traded barbs with a UAW leader. In early 2009, as the terms of the Chrysler rescue were being jawboned, Marchionne lectured King's predecessor Ron Gettelfinger on the need for autoworkers to accept a "culture of poverty" instead of a "culture of entitlement," according to former federal auto task force chief Steven Rattner's book "Overhaul." Rattner and others have also cited episodes of Marchionne spewing colorful epithets at both UAW leaders and his own Chrysler executives. Still, it would be unwise to dismiss Marchionne's letter, in which he said that he and King failed Chrysler's workers by not finalizing a deal before the expiration date of the old pact, as mere posturing. For example, if the UAW strikes a deal first with GM on wages and benefits, that could hurt Chrysler's leverage if it was threatening to force arbitration on an issue such as health care co-pays. Make no mistake, forcing key issues to arbitration could be just as harmful as a strike. It would almost certainly trigger lawsuits and might take 12-18 bitter months to resolve. Perhaps Marchionne is merely making noise to ensure that Chrysler is not an afterthought to the UAW in these talks. "I know we are the smallest of the three automakers here in Detroit," he wrote to King, "but that does not make us less relevant. Our people are no less relevant."