Sept. 15, 2011 online at
From Chairman Mike Bullock: Thanks to everyone who helped make yesterday’s Open House a big success. We had over 7000 people attend despite the lousy weather. It was good to see all the smiles on workers’ faces between 8 and 9 am when you got a chance to see what was going on. If we could get just a third of our visitors into GM products it could make a big difference. I’m told that over 500 people took part in the ride-and-drive even though the rain limited participation, which could lead to hundreds of potential sales. The “UAW and the One Day Wonders” band did a great job of entertaining our guests and creating a festive atmosphere.
Regarding national negotiations, a message from Joe Ashton was posted on the uawgmnow.com website that reads: “On Wednesday, September 14, the UAW and General Motors agreed to extend the expiration of the National Agreement. Talks between the parties are continuing and we are hopeful that an agreement can be reached soon. While we have made significant progress, we have not been able to secure a new agreement that we would recommend for ratification. We will continue to bargain in good faith and represent the UAW-GM membership to the best of our ability. As soon as we reach a tentative agreement, we will post a statement at the uawgmnow.com website. At the 1947 UAW Convention, UAW President Walter Reuther summed it well, “while the road will be rough, we can meet the test.” We appreciate your patience and continued support.” As soon as we get word that there is a tentative agreement we will let you know.
Finally, the Wentzville Board of Aldermen passed a resolution last night that would exempt property taxes for 10 years for an estimated $290 million in upgrades to the plant. Apparently GM representatives told the city that the proposed investment would be much higher than that. All around it was a great day for us.
From the Detroit Free Press: Talks between the UAW and General Motors resumed this morning at 10 a.m. after both sides paused at 1:15 a.m. short of reaching a tentative agreement. Negotiators had hoped to reach a GM deal by midnight Wednesday, people familiar with the talks had said. The union had chosen GM as its lead automaker to negotiate, as UAW President Bob King concentrated on GM talks on Wednesday.
That decision irked ChryslerCEO Sergio Marchionne, who had flown back from Germany Tuesday night to meet with King, planning to finish the contract on Wednesday. After shuttling between GM and Chrysler since Labor Day, King is now focused on settling with GM first. Extending contracts beyond a deadline – in this case 11:59 p.m. Wednesday -- is typical for UAW negotiations. Since 1990, the UAW has taken an average of 3.7 days past the contract expiration to announce the first deal with a Detroit automaker, according to Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor and industry group for the Center for AutomotiveResearch. The Detroit Three have so far bargained with the UAW for about seven weeks. In 2007, the union took more than two months to reach a deal at GM, 2.5 months at Chrysler and more than three months at Ford.
Open House feedback: There was a great article about the Open House by Lisa Brown of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. While she was here she was very impressed with everything and everyone she saw. Camera crews and reporters from channels 2, 4 and 5 were also here and ran stories on their news programs. We will get a compilation of those stories to run on the monitors. Here are some of the comments from our visitors yesterday (from as far away as Brentwood, Tennessee and Detroit) who signed the guestbook:
o “Thanks. It was amazing.”
o “Bring on the jobs!”
o “We loved it! So American and makes us proud!”
o “God bless the USA!”
o “Awesome! God bless all you workers!”
o “Made in America – forever!”
o “Loved it! Hope I can work here someday.”
o From a grade schooler – “If I worked here I would love my job! Cool!”
o Another young boy – “Wow! GM is cool!”
Many people commented that they would like to see open house events more often. Virtually every comment was positive.
From the Tennessean: Local and regional union officials, Spring Hill plant workers and retirees said they were optimistic, if not confident, that their main goal for the negotiations — the reopening the vehicle assembly line — would be included in a pact. “I hope Spring Hill will get some good news out of the negotiations, but that’s all I can say about that right now,” said Mike Herron, chairman of UAW Local 1853 at Spring Hill. The plant hasn’t closed completely. There are about 1,100 hourly workers still employed there making GM’s popular four-cylinder engines, as well as body panels and plastic parts for a number of vehiclesassembled at other plants. A $500 million upgrade of the engine production facility is under way, which will add about 500 jobs over the next few months. “Job security is what we need most,” Herron said. “We’ve seen how devastating it is to this community to have (lost) a product. There is a multiplier effect. There are seven to 10 jobs created outside the plant for every new job we get in the plant.
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