Nov.1, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• There is an announcement scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 3 at 11:05 am. It will be staged in the center of the plant at P-39 and guest speakers will include UAW Vice President Joe Ashton and GM Vice President of Labor Relations Cathy Clegg. Everyone is encouraged to attend this positive announcement.
• General Motors Co. today reported total sales of 186,895 vehicles in October, up 2 percent compared with October 2010. Retail deliveries were up 3 percent compared with the same month a year ago and accounted for 77 percent of GM sales. Deliveries to fleet customers were essentially flat. “Chevrolet led the way for GM in October driven by the continued success of the Cruze and Equinox,” said Don Johnson, vice president, U.S. Sales Operations. “Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac and GMC have all performed well this year, which has set the stage for our transition to a higher mix of 2012 model-year vehicles. Combined with the launches of several new fuel-efficient cars, including the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick LaCrosse eAssist, we are very well positioned going forward.” In October, GM’s year-over-year passenger car sales increased 4 percent, crossover sales decreased 1 percent and sales of trucks, which include full-size pickups, vans and SUVs, increased 2 percent. For the month, 2012 models accounted for 80 percent of passenger car sales and about half of truck and crossover sales. Highlights for October include double-digit sales increases for the Chevrolet Equinox, Camaro and Express, the Cadillac SRX, the Buick Regal and the GMC Terrain, as well as the continued success of the Chevrolet Cruze. In addition, Chevrolet dealers delivered more than 1,100 Volts for the vehicle’s best month to date, and GM remains on track to expand Volt availability to 2,600 dealers in all 50 states by the end of the year. The new 40-mpg Chevrolet Sonic also is building momentum, with sales of more than 3,800 units in its second month of launch. (Van sales came in at 7331, up 16.6% over October 2010)
• Oasis Car Wash and Detail of Wentzville is offering a GM employee discount. Just show your badge and receive $3 off of any car wash or $8 off of any express detail package. The car wash is located at 25 Jiffy Street near Dierbergs off of Wentzville Parkway. Phone number is 636-327-0420
Here is part one of a Bob King interview with Jeffrey Brown of National Public Radio:
JEFFREY BROWN: So when you came to the threshold issue in these negotiations, the thing you had to have to reach an agreement, is holding on to jobs more important now than negotiating higher wages?
BOB KING: Absolutely. No worker is secure unless you have got new product and new investments coming into their facilities. That was our highest priority and the priority that we made the most gains and the most success.
JEFFREY BROWN: And after so many members -- losing so many members in the last decades and after what happened a couple years ago, do you go into negotiations like this inevitably from a position of weakness? Or how do you feel going in?
BOB KING: No, I think that we -- you know, I think that we still have considerable leverage and power in the industry. I think that our view has changed, that we understand the people who have the most at stake in the long-term success of these companies is our membership. CEOs change, shareholders change, management changes, but our members are there. And their long-term security, their pensions, their health care, their economic security is tied into long-term success of the company. So we're focused on making sure that there's new product, new investment, good technology, highest possibility quality for the consumers. So our role has kind of shifted as we have gotten into more of a global economy and global competition.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, with this two-tiered wage system, with most of the new jobs coming in at lower wages, is that now the new normal for union workers, and is that dividing your members, two classes of workers, essentially?
BOB KING: Well, I'm really proud of our membership. The traditional members put the highest priority on raising the wages and benefits of the newer members. That's in the greatest spirit of solidarity. Traditional members got no base rate increase. The new members got $3.50 an hour. It's long been a value of the UAW that people doing the same job should make the same rate of pay. We had to deviate from that to save the companies. And this is the first contract where the companies are beginning to be healthy again. None of them are totally out of the woods, but they were in good enough economic shape to be able to do $3.50 base rate increases for the entry level. So we're really happy with that. We'd like to have seen more, but we thought that was financially viable for the companies, kept us competitive. And then, as you know, in the lump sums and the profit sharing, there are not two tiers. Everybody's treated the same. And so in actual annual income, we made tremendous improvements for the entry level.
JEFFREY BROWN: Well, I said you had to work hard to get members to ratify. In fact, you faced a fair amount of dissent along the way. You had lower ratification rates than historically. You had some important plants even reject the contract. So what do you say to workers who now say to you -- they say, look, we gave up a whole lot a few years ago, we don't seem to have gotten much back, and they're also seeing that the CEOs at the companies are still making a lot of money and complaining about it?
BOB KING: Well, CEO pay is going to be an issue. It has been an issue for the last 50 years in the U.S. Our country's out of whack with most places in the world. I think we have got to give shareholders and employees as shareholders more of a voice in CEO pay. That's a legislative issue, as well as a contractual issue. In no contract do you get everything that you want. Did we make substantial progress in this contract? We think absolutely we did, especially in product investment. We were very -- we were not concerned just about ourselves and our membership. We were concerned about our communities and getting jobs in America. We were very appreciative of the American taxpayer and President Obama for believing in the American auto industry, believing in American workers. And so we wanted to make sure that the number one priority in this was to create jobs in America. So there will be a lot of people in a lot of communities around America that are hired into middle-class jobs because of what we did in this contract.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
State of the Union October 28, 2011
Oct. 28, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Reminder to Skilled Trades employees: Starting Monday, Oct. 31, management will survey our skilled trades departments on their availability for weekends and holidays through the end of the year. This is only a survey. This does not lock you in nor does it prevent you from accepting later if you become available. This survey will allow management to properly schedule work pertaining to the rerate in order to have second shift to run on Jan. 3, 2012. If you have any further questions concerning this survey please contact your committeeman.
There has been some confusion about having unused vacation hours at the end of the year. To clarify, any unused vacation hours, either VP or VR, will be paid the first week of February, 2012. You do not need to use all of your vacation time as a result of the new National Agreement. However, any vacation time that is scheduled can only be cancelled by mutual agreement.
Here are some excerpts from a Bob King interview with the Detroit Free Press:
How meaningful is it that two years after GM and Chrysler's bankruptcy, these agreements will add jobs?
"President (Barack) Obama went out on a limb to support American companies and American workers and ... we came back in great style, and we are repaying the American taxpayers and repaying President Obama for his faith in us."
Were you worried about the vote at Ford, which ended up passing with 63% of workers voting yes?
Calling the vote "very rocky," King said: "If you take out the results from the first couple of plants, the percentage was really high."
Were your negotiations with Chrysler a disappointment compared with GM and Ford?
"I felt like at all three of them, we really did some good, creative problem solving. Chrysler's management is in a much tougher position in terms of cash, and so you would expect it to be more difficult."
Did GM CEO Dan Akerson's routine meetings with you make a difference?
"I think it made a big difference. I give Dan a lot of credit. Steve Girsky, Cathy Clegg -- their whole team. They really were open and transparent and worked together to solve problems."
Reminder to Skilled Trades employees: Starting Monday, Oct. 31, management will survey our skilled trades departments on their availability for weekends and holidays through the end of the year. This is only a survey. This does not lock you in nor does it prevent you from accepting later if you become available. This survey will allow management to properly schedule work pertaining to the rerate in order to have second shift to run on Jan. 3, 2012. If you have any further questions concerning this survey please contact your committeeman.
There has been some confusion about having unused vacation hours at the end of the year. To clarify, any unused vacation hours, either VP or VR, will be paid the first week of February, 2012. You do not need to use all of your vacation time as a result of the new National Agreement. However, any vacation time that is scheduled can only be cancelled by mutual agreement.
Here are some excerpts from a Bob King interview with the Detroit Free Press:
How meaningful is it that two years after GM and Chrysler's bankruptcy, these agreements will add jobs?
"President (Barack) Obama went out on a limb to support American companies and American workers and ... we came back in great style, and we are repaying the American taxpayers and repaying President Obama for his faith in us."
Were you worried about the vote at Ford, which ended up passing with 63% of workers voting yes?
Calling the vote "very rocky," King said: "If you take out the results from the first couple of plants, the percentage was really high."
Were your negotiations with Chrysler a disappointment compared with GM and Ford?
"I felt like at all three of them, we really did some good, creative problem solving. Chrysler's management is in a much tougher position in terms of cash, and so you would expect it to be more difficult."
Did GM CEO Dan Akerson's routine meetings with you make a difference?
"I think it made a big difference. I give Dan a lot of credit. Steve Girsky, Cathy Clegg -- their whole team. They really were open and transparent and worked together to solve problems."
Thursday, October 27, 2011
State of the Union October 27, 2011
Oct. 27, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Attention Skilled Trades employees: Starting Monday, Oct. 31, management will survey our skilled trades departments on their availability for weekends and holidays through the end of the year. This is only a survey. This does not lock you in nor does it prevent you from accepting later if you become available. This survey will allow management to properly schedule work pertaining to the rerate in order to have second shift to run on Jan. 3, 2012. If you have any further questions concerning this survey please contact your committeeman.
There will be a Suggestion Fair on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to promote use of the Suggestion program. There will be popcorn and a drawing for a big screen TV, but you need to have submitted a suggestion this year to be eligible. Now is a good time to submit your ideas in suggestion form either individually or as a team.
From the Education Committee: We are currently selling raffle tickets to raise funds for out committee. The tickets are for gift baskets (one male and one female) and are $5 each or 3 for $10. You can purchase them from any committee member up to 30 minutes before the drawing, which will be Monday, Nov. 28 at lunch time in the cafeteria. Thanks in advance for your support.
The UAW announced yesterday that the Chrysler tentative agreement was ratified by 54.8% of all voters. Over 60% of the production workers approved the deal while nearly 56% of skilled trades workers were opposed. In other Chrysler news, the company announced third quarter net income of $212 million, up from a net loss of $84 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 19 percent to $13.1 billion. The company ended the quarter with $9.5 billion in cash, down from $10.2 billion at the end of the second quarter. Chrysler's global sales were 496,000 for the third quarter, up 24 percent from a year earlier. There was no breakout of regional results, e.g. North American profits.
From TruckTrend: A new four-year United Auto Workers (UAW) union agreement has Ford reshaping its future truck production, as it gears up to move the F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks to a new plant while getting ready to introduce a new full-size van.
The F-650 and F-750 are currently manufactured in Escobedo, Mexico by Blue Diamond Truck, but after Ford and Navistar International end their partnership with the company in three years, production will move to the Avon Lake, Ohio assembly plant. The F53 motor home and F59 commercial stripped chassis will also join the F-650 and F-750 at the Ohio plant that also builds the E-Series van, which will be phased out over the next 10 years. Eventually replacing the E-Series van will be the Ford Transit -- a new full-size van that is based on a global platform. Both vans will be sold in the U.S. market until the E-Series is completely killed off, with production scheduled to start in 2013 at the Kansas City plant in Mo., which will also produce the next-gen F-150.
From Edmunds: One year after General Motors Co. shut down its Pontiac division for good, the company has managed to maintain – and even improve – its retention of former Pontiac owners, according to data analyzed by Edmunds.com., which shows that 39.9 percent of Pontiac owners who traded in for a new vehicle this year opted for another GM vehicle. This retention rate is eight percentage points better than GM’s retention rate of Pontiac buyers in 2010 – and represents the highest retention rate since 2007, when the rate also 39.9 percent. As a replacement, Chevrolet brand has been most responsible this year for retaining former Pontiac owners, with 28.1 percent of them choosing Chevy as their new brand. Outside of GM, Ford Motor Co. has been the biggest beneficiary of Pontiac’s demise. A year after Pontiac showrooms went dark, an estimated 9.4 percent of former owners jumped to Ford in 2011, but the rate is down from 2010’s 12.4 percent. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. and Toyota Motor Sales USA each have managed to conquest an estimated 7.4 percent of Pontiac customers, which for both brands is a lower rate than last year. When AutoObserver first reported the news of Pontiac’s demise in 2009, the percentage of people who traded their Pontiac for another Pontiac dropped to 16 percent, while at the time 50 percent of owners of other GM brands traded for another GM model, according to Edmunds.com data.
From the Wall Street Journal: In the last few years, Ford Motor Co. has written one of the great turnaround stories in American history. Now, however, the global economy's troubles and Ford's own weak position in Asia are becoming a drag on the auto maker's upward trajectory. On Wednesday, the second-largest U.S. auto maker reported a 2% drop in earnings, to $1.65 billion, even though revenue climbed 14%. It was hurt by a loss in Europe ($306 million), whose economy is hampered by the euro-zone debt crisis, and by rising and volatile prices for steel and other materials. In North America, Ford's costs for commodities, hedging, materials, warranty and freight costs increased by more than $1 billion compared to the third quarter of 2010. Ford is also paying a price for moving into China and India years after rivals like General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG. Heavy costs for developing vehicles for Asian markets and building plants in a bid to catch up left the company's Asian division with a loss of $43 million for the quarter.
Attention Skilled Trades employees: Starting Monday, Oct. 31, management will survey our skilled trades departments on their availability for weekends and holidays through the end of the year. This is only a survey. This does not lock you in nor does it prevent you from accepting later if you become available. This survey will allow management to properly schedule work pertaining to the rerate in order to have second shift to run on Jan. 3, 2012. If you have any further questions concerning this survey please contact your committeeman.
There will be a Suggestion Fair on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to promote use of the Suggestion program. There will be popcorn and a drawing for a big screen TV, but you need to have submitted a suggestion this year to be eligible. Now is a good time to submit your ideas in suggestion form either individually or as a team.
From the Education Committee: We are currently selling raffle tickets to raise funds for out committee. The tickets are for gift baskets (one male and one female) and are $5 each or 3 for $10. You can purchase them from any committee member up to 30 minutes before the drawing, which will be Monday, Nov. 28 at lunch time in the cafeteria. Thanks in advance for your support.
The UAW announced yesterday that the Chrysler tentative agreement was ratified by 54.8% of all voters. Over 60% of the production workers approved the deal while nearly 56% of skilled trades workers were opposed. In other Chrysler news, the company announced third quarter net income of $212 million, up from a net loss of $84 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 19 percent to $13.1 billion. The company ended the quarter with $9.5 billion in cash, down from $10.2 billion at the end of the second quarter. Chrysler's global sales were 496,000 for the third quarter, up 24 percent from a year earlier. There was no breakout of regional results, e.g. North American profits.
From TruckTrend: A new four-year United Auto Workers (UAW) union agreement has Ford reshaping its future truck production, as it gears up to move the F-650 and F-750 medium-duty trucks to a new plant while getting ready to introduce a new full-size van.
The F-650 and F-750 are currently manufactured in Escobedo, Mexico by Blue Diamond Truck, but after Ford and Navistar International end their partnership with the company in three years, production will move to the Avon Lake, Ohio assembly plant. The F53 motor home and F59 commercial stripped chassis will also join the F-650 and F-750 at the Ohio plant that also builds the E-Series van, which will be phased out over the next 10 years. Eventually replacing the E-Series van will be the Ford Transit -- a new full-size van that is based on a global platform. Both vans will be sold in the U.S. market until the E-Series is completely killed off, with production scheduled to start in 2013 at the Kansas City plant in Mo., which will also produce the next-gen F-150.
From Edmunds: One year after General Motors Co. shut down its Pontiac division for good, the company has managed to maintain – and even improve – its retention of former Pontiac owners, according to data analyzed by Edmunds.com., which shows that 39.9 percent of Pontiac owners who traded in for a new vehicle this year opted for another GM vehicle. This retention rate is eight percentage points better than GM’s retention rate of Pontiac buyers in 2010 – and represents the highest retention rate since 2007, when the rate also 39.9 percent. As a replacement, Chevrolet brand has been most responsible this year for retaining former Pontiac owners, with 28.1 percent of them choosing Chevy as their new brand. Outside of GM, Ford Motor Co. has been the biggest beneficiary of Pontiac’s demise. A year after Pontiac showrooms went dark, an estimated 9.4 percent of former owners jumped to Ford in 2011, but the rate is down from 2010’s 12.4 percent. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. and Toyota Motor Sales USA each have managed to conquest an estimated 7.4 percent of Pontiac customers, which for both brands is a lower rate than last year. When AutoObserver first reported the news of Pontiac’s demise in 2009, the percentage of people who traded their Pontiac for another Pontiac dropped to 16 percent, while at the time 50 percent of owners of other GM brands traded for another GM model, according to Edmunds.com data.
From the Wall Street Journal: In the last few years, Ford Motor Co. has written one of the great turnaround stories in American history. Now, however, the global economy's troubles and Ford's own weak position in Asia are becoming a drag on the auto maker's upward trajectory. On Wednesday, the second-largest U.S. auto maker reported a 2% drop in earnings, to $1.65 billion, even though revenue climbed 14%. It was hurt by a loss in Europe ($306 million), whose economy is hampered by the euro-zone debt crisis, and by rising and volatile prices for steel and other materials. In North America, Ford's costs for commodities, hedging, materials, warranty and freight costs increased by more than $1 billion compared to the third quarter of 2010. Ford is also paying a price for moving into China and India years after rivals like General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG. Heavy costs for developing vehicles for Asian markets and building plants in a bid to catch up left the company's Asian division with a loss of $43 million for the quarter.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
State of the Union October 25, 2011
Oct. 25, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint Manpower Team met their goal of identifying all 770 moves by the end of the shift on Friday. Now the hard work begins – start getting people moved. Operations that need long lead time for training have been identified and those employees will be moved or trained first. The employees coming into the plant now, the time for time entry level, the Fairfax returnees, the National Hire and the new hires will be used to replace these employees for their training. Training schedules are being developed now. Thanks for your patience.
There are still some issues that the National Parties are working through regarding entry-level pay raises. When these issues are resolved we will communicate the resolution. All raises will be retroactive to Oct. 3.
Here is this week’s build information: 34 E-26 vans; 558 cutaways; 516 slider doors; 98 15-pass vans; 107 diesels; 181 r/h door deletes; 56 brake deck spare tire; 78 exports; 228 Onstar; 190 Penske; 226 AT&T cng vans; 150 gov’t vans; 70% white vans.
Reminder: Team leader applications can be submitted by current or future workers in Trim, Chassis and Material through Wednesday this week with testing to be done on Thursday and Friday.
The November schedule is out. Friday, Nov. 11 is the only scheduled Friday. Per the new Local Agreement, any week with a Holiday will be a 40 hour week and management has the discretion to either work 3 days, 11 hours max or 4 days, 9 hours max. So with Veterans Day observation on the Nov. 14, the schedule that week is Tue. – 10.6, Wed. – 10.7, Thur – 10.7 and Friday off. Thanksgiving week schedule is 8.7 Monday through Wednesday.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Bake Sale on Monday. A total of $920 was raised that will be donated to the “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk in the Plant’s name. And thanks to everyone who purchased a shirt. Over $530 was also donated to “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer”.
Reminder – the walk is this Saturday at Forest Park in the Upper Muny Parking Lot at 9am. To register please go to: http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MSABC_FY12_FindAnEvent and search for Team “GM/UAW – Wentzville Assembly”.
From Automotive News: Workers at more of Chrysler Group's largest plants have voted to approve a tentative four-year labor contract between the company and the UAW, paving the way for ratification this week of the last Detroit 3 labor contract to be negotiated this year. The UAW is expected to announce final results by Wednesday morning. In the latest results, hourly workers at Chrysler's Toledo assembly complex voted Monday to approve the contract, officials at UAW Local 12 told The Toledo Blade newspaper today. Through Monday, nine Chrysler UAW locals voted in favor of ratification while five rejected it. An updated total of the votes has not been released by the UAW because the union did not want earlier results to influence locals voting later in the process. "Please do not post results on this page," an administrator for the UAW Chrysler Talks Facebook page requested of members. "There are smaller locals that will vote later and we do not want them to think that their vote does not matter." Voting ends today.
GM said it will invest $325 million in tools and equipment at the Warren Transmission facility in Warren, Mich. to support production of future electric vehicle components, creating or retaining 418 jobs. Timing for the project was not disclosed. The plant in suburban Detroit has 679 total employees, most of whom produce transmissions for the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia crossovers and the Chevrolet Malibu sedan. “We are very proud of the membership of UAW Local 909 whose hard work and dedication to building quality products is why this new electric drive unit module is being built in the United States,” said Joe Ashton, UAW vice president representing the GM Department. “These good paying, middle class jobs are very important for the State of Michigan and the Metro Detroit area. It is the UAW’s goal to increase employment at GM and show the world that we can compete with anyone.
From KansasCity.com: Ford Motor Co. executives, United Auto Worker members, and state and local officials gathered Friday on a hilltop in the Kansas City area to savor the company’s planned $1.1 billion investment and 1,600 new jobs that will be coming here. Company officials, at a news conference near the Claycomo plant, said the approval of a labor agreement this week allowed them to proceed with plans to add a second manufacturing line for the F-150 pickup truck next year, and bring in an entirely new product, the Transit commercial van, with work to start in 2013. Gov. Jay Nixon was enthusiastic. “Right here the rebirth of the American manufacturing industry began right now,” he said to loud applause. “This is our moment.” Nixon’s administration had put a priority on bringing more auto jobs to the state, including pushing through an incentive package for manufacturers who added employees. Missouri will benefit from one of the largest commitments from Ford for new investment and jobs. “They had the vision for their future,” said Jim Wells, director of UAW Region 5, which includes Kansas City. “I’m proud that Ford has brought these products to Missouri.” The Transit will now become the “workhouse” van for Ford in the U.S., replacing nearly all Econoline models.
From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint Manpower Team met their goal of identifying all 770 moves by the end of the shift on Friday. Now the hard work begins – start getting people moved. Operations that need long lead time for training have been identified and those employees will be moved or trained first. The employees coming into the plant now, the time for time entry level, the Fairfax returnees, the National Hire and the new hires will be used to replace these employees for their training. Training schedules are being developed now. Thanks for your patience.
There are still some issues that the National Parties are working through regarding entry-level pay raises. When these issues are resolved we will communicate the resolution. All raises will be retroactive to Oct. 3.
Here is this week’s build information: 34 E-26 vans; 558 cutaways; 516 slider doors; 98 15-pass vans; 107 diesels; 181 r/h door deletes; 56 brake deck spare tire; 78 exports; 228 Onstar; 190 Penske; 226 AT&T cng vans; 150 gov’t vans; 70% white vans.
Reminder: Team leader applications can be submitted by current or future workers in Trim, Chassis and Material through Wednesday this week with testing to be done on Thursday and Friday.
The November schedule is out. Friday, Nov. 11 is the only scheduled Friday. Per the new Local Agreement, any week with a Holiday will be a 40 hour week and management has the discretion to either work 3 days, 11 hours max or 4 days, 9 hours max. So with Veterans Day observation on the Nov. 14, the schedule that week is Tue. – 10.6, Wed. – 10.7, Thur – 10.7 and Friday off. Thanksgiving week schedule is 8.7 Monday through Wednesday.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Bake Sale on Monday. A total of $920 was raised that will be donated to the “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” walk in the Plant’s name. And thanks to everyone who purchased a shirt. Over $530 was also donated to “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer”.
Reminder – the walk is this Saturday at Forest Park in the Upper Muny Parking Lot at 9am. To register please go to: http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MSABC_FY12_FindAnEvent and search for Team “GM/UAW – Wentzville Assembly”.
From Automotive News: Workers at more of Chrysler Group's largest plants have voted to approve a tentative four-year labor contract between the company and the UAW, paving the way for ratification this week of the last Detroit 3 labor contract to be negotiated this year. The UAW is expected to announce final results by Wednesday morning. In the latest results, hourly workers at Chrysler's Toledo assembly complex voted Monday to approve the contract, officials at UAW Local 12 told The Toledo Blade newspaper today. Through Monday, nine Chrysler UAW locals voted in favor of ratification while five rejected it. An updated total of the votes has not been released by the UAW because the union did not want earlier results to influence locals voting later in the process. "Please do not post results on this page," an administrator for the UAW Chrysler Talks Facebook page requested of members. "There are smaller locals that will vote later and we do not want them to think that their vote does not matter." Voting ends today.
GM said it will invest $325 million in tools and equipment at the Warren Transmission facility in Warren, Mich. to support production of future electric vehicle components, creating or retaining 418 jobs. Timing for the project was not disclosed. The plant in suburban Detroit has 679 total employees, most of whom produce transmissions for the Chevrolet Traverse, Buick Enclave and GMC Acadia crossovers and the Chevrolet Malibu sedan. “We are very proud of the membership of UAW Local 909 whose hard work and dedication to building quality products is why this new electric drive unit module is being built in the United States,” said Joe Ashton, UAW vice president representing the GM Department. “These good paying, middle class jobs are very important for the State of Michigan and the Metro Detroit area. It is the UAW’s goal to increase employment at GM and show the world that we can compete with anyone.
From KansasCity.com: Ford Motor Co. executives, United Auto Worker members, and state and local officials gathered Friday on a hilltop in the Kansas City area to savor the company’s planned $1.1 billion investment and 1,600 new jobs that will be coming here. Company officials, at a news conference near the Claycomo plant, said the approval of a labor agreement this week allowed them to proceed with plans to add a second manufacturing line for the F-150 pickup truck next year, and bring in an entirely new product, the Transit commercial van, with work to start in 2013. Gov. Jay Nixon was enthusiastic. “Right here the rebirth of the American manufacturing industry began right now,” he said to loud applause. “This is our moment.” Nixon’s administration had put a priority on bringing more auto jobs to the state, including pushing through an incentive package for manufacturers who added employees. Missouri will benefit from one of the largest commitments from Ford for new investment and jobs. “They had the vision for their future,” said Jim Wells, director of UAW Region 5, which includes Kansas City. “I’m proud that Ford has brought these products to Missouri.” The Transit will now become the “workhouse” van for Ford in the U.S., replacing nearly all Econoline models.
Friday, October 21, 2011
State of the Union October 21, 2011
Oct. 21, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint Manpower Committee is working through the Par. 63b moves. They hope to have it done by the end of the shift on Friday. Just to give you an idea of how big this was, there were 326 Par. 63b moves and 444 backfill moves – 770 moves from 1030 people working in the plant. It has been a huge process. The time frame for making the transfers is being worked on now. Some transfers will happen sooner than others depending on the training necessary for that operation. On Monday, October 24, the 16 remaining employees from Fairfax who did not take the enhanced relocation ($30,000/3 year commitment) will be returning home. They will then be able to pick from the remaining jobs. The Entry Level employees who returned on the 17th will be able to pick their jobs next. After that, whenever National Hire people enter the plant, they will be able to pick from the remaining openings. The National Hire process is proceeding very slowly. Of the first 59 people offered, only 4 accepted. There is now another offer for 26 more people, who have until October 25th to decide. The National Hire process is going so slow that the corporation has made a decision to hire 85 new entry level employees. They are currently being given drug screenings and physicals. It will take 444 new people to be able to staff 2 shifts. So far they have 131. Also, Trim, Chassis and Material still have team leader openings so applications will be accepted Monday through Wednesday next week. All current or future employees of these departments are eligible to apply. Testing will be done next Thursday and Friday. Finally, we ARE working Wednesday, November 23. We were not allowed to change the Veteran’s Day holiday to the 23rd this year because the corporation and the UAW had not yet negotiated Veteran's day for this year. So we will be off November 14 and November 24 and 25.
Reminder: There will be a bake sale Monday to benefit “Making Strides for Breast Cancer”. It will be held at the Suggestions office beginning at 8 am and will run until it’s sold out. If you wish to donate any baked goods you can bring them in that morning and give them to Pat. Also, the “Making Strides for Breast Cancer” T-shirts are in. If you haven’t picked yours up see Kandi Kinsler in Material or call 2421.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: General Motors will build the diesel version of its popular Chevrolet Cruze at its Lordstown plant in 2013, company and union officials confirmed today. Early test builds of the vehicle could start next week. "The people in the plant made this happen," said Jim Graham, president of the United Auto Workers Local 1112 in Lordstown. "If they hadn't put their hearts and souls into this project, we never would have gotten the diesel." Some analysts are expecting a U.S. diesel Cruze that could top 50 miles per gallon, but that would require some changes from the model sold in Europe. GM uses a 2-liter diesel on that continent, an engine that tops out at about 43 miles per gallon on the highway.
From the Detroit News: Economists for General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. expect U.S. auto sales to increase in 2012 above the 12.5 million to 13.5 million forecast for this year. "We see growth in 2012 for one reason … vehicles are getting very, very old," Ford senior economist C. Jenny Lin said Wednesday at a gathering hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers. "We are still very positive about the U.S. auto industry recovery." The average vehicle in the U.S. is 10.6 years old, the highest in history. Automakers believe that signals pent-up demand for new cars. Between 1996 and 2000, Linn noted, the U.S. auto industry sold 96 million vehicles. Those cars and trucks are nearing the end of their lives. "A lot of people are deciding whether to repair their old vehicle — and the costs are getting higher," she said. "It's tradeoff mode." GM chief economist G. Mustafa Mohatarem also is forecasting a better 2012. But Mohatarem noted his boss, GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, told Automotive News last week that he expects "flattish" U.S. industry sales next year. "Dan's view is that we should be planning very conservatively — that so many things can and have gone wrong this year," Mohatarem said. "So many things can go wrong around the world that you can't plan on fundamentals driving this thing." Auto sales were up 10 percent in September, to an annual sales rate of 13.1 million vehicles. Mohatarem believes sales are growing not because of higher demand, but because Japanese automakers, whose production was interrupted by March's earthquake and tsunami, are recovering — albeit slowly. "It's depressing," Mohatarem said, "that people would rather put off buying that car because they can't get the Honda or Toyota." Mohatarem said based on U.S. population, the auto industry should be selling 16.5 million vehicles annually. "13 million is a deep recession sales low," he said, but added the U.S. could return to the 16 million range in 2014 or 2015.
From Automotive News: Anyone who's surprised by General Motors' recent decision to remain in the U.S. market for smaller pickups with a redesigned Chevrolet Colorado -- even as competitors flee the segment -- must not have been listening to Mark Reuss. For awhile now, GM's president of North America has been espousing his view of the U.S. pickup market. And it includes many shades of gray. Reuss sees ample "bandwidth" within the pickup segment that belies the industry's conventional wisdom: that full-sized pickups can be all things to all people. But Reuss believes "there's going to be a micro-segmentation of what the bandwidth is of a pickup truck," he said in an interview last week. "I see huge opportunity there," Reuss said. "There are a lot of people who still earn their living with these kinds of trucks. Within the Colorado, you're going to see some really attractive things from a duty cycle and fuel-economy standpoint that you may not be able to get on a bigger pickup truck."
From the Detroit Free Press: Initial voting among UAW members at Chrysler shows a mixed reaction to a proposed four-year labor agreement. Workers at plants in Belvidere, Ill., and Warren voted against the deal, while workers at an Indiana casting plant and salaried workers -- including engineers, designers and model makers -- approved it. The UAW's Chrysler department has not published a cumulative tally, but it is expressing concern. "Arbitration is not in the best interest of our membership," stated a posting Thursday on the UAW-Chrysler Facebook page. "An outside party would determine our ... agreement ... based on what an arbitrator may perceive as competitive wages from both domestic and foreign manufacturers.” If the agreement isn’t ratified, That would leave two options. The company and union could agree to stick to the agreement, and the arbitrator could impose it, without the signing bonus. Or either side -- more likely, Chrysler -- could decide to start the process again and submit data to the arbitrator in hopes of securing a better deal, said Kristin Dziczek, labor analyst of the Center for Automotive Research.
From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint Manpower Committee is working through the Par. 63b moves. They hope to have it done by the end of the shift on Friday. Just to give you an idea of how big this was, there were 326 Par. 63b moves and 444 backfill moves – 770 moves from 1030 people working in the plant. It has been a huge process. The time frame for making the transfers is being worked on now. Some transfers will happen sooner than others depending on the training necessary for that operation. On Monday, October 24, the 16 remaining employees from Fairfax who did not take the enhanced relocation ($30,000/3 year commitment) will be returning home. They will then be able to pick from the remaining jobs. The Entry Level employees who returned on the 17th will be able to pick their jobs next. After that, whenever National Hire people enter the plant, they will be able to pick from the remaining openings. The National Hire process is proceeding very slowly. Of the first 59 people offered, only 4 accepted. There is now another offer for 26 more people, who have until October 25th to decide. The National Hire process is going so slow that the corporation has made a decision to hire 85 new entry level employees. They are currently being given drug screenings and physicals. It will take 444 new people to be able to staff 2 shifts. So far they have 131. Also, Trim, Chassis and Material still have team leader openings so applications will be accepted Monday through Wednesday next week. All current or future employees of these departments are eligible to apply. Testing will be done next Thursday and Friday. Finally, we ARE working Wednesday, November 23. We were not allowed to change the Veteran’s Day holiday to the 23rd this year because the corporation and the UAW had not yet negotiated Veteran's day for this year. So we will be off November 14 and November 24 and 25.
Reminder: There will be a bake sale Monday to benefit “Making Strides for Breast Cancer”. It will be held at the Suggestions office beginning at 8 am and will run until it’s sold out. If you wish to donate any baked goods you can bring them in that morning and give them to Pat. Also, the “Making Strides for Breast Cancer” T-shirts are in. If you haven’t picked yours up see Kandi Kinsler in Material or call 2421.
From the Cleveland Plain Dealer: General Motors will build the diesel version of its popular Chevrolet Cruze at its Lordstown plant in 2013, company and union officials confirmed today. Early test builds of the vehicle could start next week. "The people in the plant made this happen," said Jim Graham, president of the United Auto Workers Local 1112 in Lordstown. "If they hadn't put their hearts and souls into this project, we never would have gotten the diesel." Some analysts are expecting a U.S. diesel Cruze that could top 50 miles per gallon, but that would require some changes from the model sold in Europe. GM uses a 2-liter diesel on that continent, an engine that tops out at about 43 miles per gallon on the highway.
From the Detroit News: Economists for General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. expect U.S. auto sales to increase in 2012 above the 12.5 million to 13.5 million forecast for this year. "We see growth in 2012 for one reason … vehicles are getting very, very old," Ford senior economist C. Jenny Lin said Wednesday at a gathering hosted by the National Association of Manufacturers. "We are still very positive about the U.S. auto industry recovery." The average vehicle in the U.S. is 10.6 years old, the highest in history. Automakers believe that signals pent-up demand for new cars. Between 1996 and 2000, Linn noted, the U.S. auto industry sold 96 million vehicles. Those cars and trucks are nearing the end of their lives. "A lot of people are deciding whether to repair their old vehicle — and the costs are getting higher," she said. "It's tradeoff mode." GM chief economist G. Mustafa Mohatarem also is forecasting a better 2012. But Mohatarem noted his boss, GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson, told Automotive News last week that he expects "flattish" U.S. industry sales next year. "Dan's view is that we should be planning very conservatively — that so many things can and have gone wrong this year," Mohatarem said. "So many things can go wrong around the world that you can't plan on fundamentals driving this thing." Auto sales were up 10 percent in September, to an annual sales rate of 13.1 million vehicles. Mohatarem believes sales are growing not because of higher demand, but because Japanese automakers, whose production was interrupted by March's earthquake and tsunami, are recovering — albeit slowly. "It's depressing," Mohatarem said, "that people would rather put off buying that car because they can't get the Honda or Toyota." Mohatarem said based on U.S. population, the auto industry should be selling 16.5 million vehicles annually. "13 million is a deep recession sales low," he said, but added the U.S. could return to the 16 million range in 2014 or 2015.
From Automotive News: Anyone who's surprised by General Motors' recent decision to remain in the U.S. market for smaller pickups with a redesigned Chevrolet Colorado -- even as competitors flee the segment -- must not have been listening to Mark Reuss. For awhile now, GM's president of North America has been espousing his view of the U.S. pickup market. And it includes many shades of gray. Reuss sees ample "bandwidth" within the pickup segment that belies the industry's conventional wisdom: that full-sized pickups can be all things to all people. But Reuss believes "there's going to be a micro-segmentation of what the bandwidth is of a pickup truck," he said in an interview last week. "I see huge opportunity there," Reuss said. "There are a lot of people who still earn their living with these kinds of trucks. Within the Colorado, you're going to see some really attractive things from a duty cycle and fuel-economy standpoint that you may not be able to get on a bigger pickup truck."
From the Detroit Free Press: Initial voting among UAW members at Chrysler shows a mixed reaction to a proposed four-year labor agreement. Workers at plants in Belvidere, Ill., and Warren voted against the deal, while workers at an Indiana casting plant and salaried workers -- including engineers, designers and model makers -- approved it. The UAW's Chrysler department has not published a cumulative tally, but it is expressing concern. "Arbitration is not in the best interest of our membership," stated a posting Thursday on the UAW-Chrysler Facebook page. "An outside party would determine our ... agreement ... based on what an arbitrator may perceive as competitive wages from both domestic and foreign manufacturers.” If the agreement isn’t ratified, That would leave two options. The company and union could agree to stick to the agreement, and the arbitrator could impose it, without the signing bonus. Or either side -- more likely, Chrysler -- could decide to start the process again and submit data to the arbitrator in hopes of securing a better deal, said Kristin Dziczek, labor analyst of the Center for Automotive Research.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
State of the Union October 19-20
There will be no State of the Union today and tomorrow due to SWE training assignment.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
State of the Union October 18, 2011
Oct. 18, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Correction: The revised schedule for December will have Friday the 23rdoff (thanks for paying attention).
• Reminder: Today is the last day to submit flu shot forms in the drop box in the cafeteria. Also, Union Meeting is tomorrow at 7:15 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after longest first shift line time. The Solidarity Committee will be serving hot dogs and chips after the meeting.
• There will be a bake sale Monday, Oct. 24 at Suggestions beginning at first break to benefit Making Strides for breast cancer. Bring any baked goods donations to Pat Workman prior to 8 am at the Suggestions office area.
• For the second time in its history, General Motors has sold more than 2 million vehicles in China in a calendar year, reaching the milestone today. On November 4, 2010, GM became the first global automaker in China to sell 2 million vehicles in one year. Demand in China this year for the Buick brand has risen 24 percent, Chevrolet 18 percent and Cadillac 73 percent. In addition, GM’s SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture sold its 1 millionth vehicle in China this year on Oct. 14 (through the end of September, GM has sold 1,902,172 vehicles in the US).
• From Automotive News: Consumers have shown a recent willingness to cross-shop outside their traditional habits, according to market monitors. Prodded and lured in one direction by such factors as inventory shortages at import leaders Toyota and Honda, and shooed in the opposite direction by disappearing brands such as Pontiac, Saturn and Mercury, some consumers find themselves unanchored. The billion-dollar question: Are they changing shopping patterns out of temporary inconvenience, or is a new attitude emerging in the consumer standoff between import and domestic brands? Compete Inc., an automotive market research firm in Boston, finds that the tendency of Japanese import-brand shoppers to cross-shop Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge has trended steadily upward since the first quarter of 2010. Similarly, J.D. Power and Associates reports that the percentage of auto shoppers who traded in an Asian import-brand vehicle and bought another one has declined slightly. Asian-brand loyalty dropped from a consistent 80 percent at the beginning of 2010 to 76 percent in third quarter 2011. "There is clearly a new sense of patriotism out there," says Adam Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Westbrook,Maine that has both domestic and foreign brands. "We can hear it when we talk to customers."
• General Motors will develop an all-new global family of small-displacement Ecotec gasoline engines over the next several years that will give customers in markets around the world improved fuel economy, higher quality, better performance and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The program could encompass more than 2 million engines a year by the end of the decade. The new global engine family will comprise a range of three- and four-cylinder engines – in displacements from 1.0L to 1.5L – engineered and manufactured in multiple regions for global use. They will feature lightweight design and advanced technologies such as direct injection, turbocharging and alternative fuel compatibility to provide customers with both efficiency and on-demand performance. The new engine family also will be designed to reduce noise, vibration and harshness, a common trait of smaller engines. Production is expected to begin mid-decade. The engines will be introduced in GM global vehicle programs across multiple vehicle architectures in various regions, through the end of the decade. Manufacturing locations and production timing will be announced later
• From the Detroit Free Press: Ford’s tentative four-year labor contract with the UAW is as good as passed. It would take a huge defeat by workers at the plants that have yet to vote to reverse the tide now supporting the deal. Voting concludes today. So far, 23,921 of Ford's 41,000 workers have voted. Of those, 62% voted in favor of the deal. So far, the biggest dissent from a Ford factory has come from Chicago, where 77% of workers voted no. Still, votes from workers at five plants with more than 8,900 workers have yet to be counted. About 5,000 work at two assembly plants in Louisville, Ky., where there is major opposition. Chrysler's 26,000 UAW-represented workers will begin voting today.
• Cars.com recently did two “SUV shootouts” comparing three-passenger-row crossovers under $37,000 and another crossover group priced under $29,000. For the $37,000 group the mission was to see which of seven vehicles could please their experts and a family of four with its combination of driving quality, features and family-friendliness. The goal in the $29,000 SUV Shootout was to pit nine of the most popular models against each other to see which one has the best combination of ride, room, family-friendly features and handling. The Chevy Traverse finished second in the $37,000 shootout, beating out the Ford Explorer, Toyota Highlander and Dodge Durango among others. It drew praise for its quiet smooth ride and nimble handling that made it feel smaller than it was. Testers also like the large interior, “bigger than a Tahoe”. In the $29,000 shootout, the Chevy Equinox came in first, topping the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4, and Honda Civic among others. Reviewers heaped praise on the Equinox: "For $28,500, this car is loaded with family-friendly features." Among them were dual fold-up DVD screens, a backup camera that could be viewed in the rearview mirror and the only powered liftgate in the group. "There's a real premium feel throughout the interior." And "the fit and finish go way above and beyond the others." "The Equinox is one of the most comfortable of the bunch from the driver's seat," another wrote. "For a four-cylinder, it's great," one said. "It's so much more substantial."
• Correction: The revised schedule for December will have Friday the 23rdoff (thanks for paying attention).
• Reminder: Today is the last day to submit flu shot forms in the drop box in the cafeteria. Also, Union Meeting is tomorrow at 7:15 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after longest first shift line time. The Solidarity Committee will be serving hot dogs and chips after the meeting.
• There will be a bake sale Monday, Oct. 24 at Suggestions beginning at first break to benefit Making Strides for breast cancer. Bring any baked goods donations to Pat Workman prior to 8 am at the Suggestions office area.
• For the second time in its history, General Motors has sold more than 2 million vehicles in China in a calendar year, reaching the milestone today. On November 4, 2010, GM became the first global automaker in China to sell 2 million vehicles in one year. Demand in China this year for the Buick brand has risen 24 percent, Chevrolet 18 percent and Cadillac 73 percent. In addition, GM’s SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture sold its 1 millionth vehicle in China this year on Oct. 14 (through the end of September, GM has sold 1,902,172 vehicles in the US).
• From Automotive News: Consumers have shown a recent willingness to cross-shop outside their traditional habits, according to market monitors. Prodded and lured in one direction by such factors as inventory shortages at import leaders Toyota and Honda, and shooed in the opposite direction by disappearing brands such as Pontiac, Saturn and Mercury, some consumers find themselves unanchored. The billion-dollar question: Are they changing shopping patterns out of temporary inconvenience, or is a new attitude emerging in the consumer standoff between import and domestic brands? Compete Inc., an automotive market research firm in Boston, finds that the tendency of Japanese import-brand shoppers to cross-shop Chevrolet, Ford and Dodge has trended steadily upward since the first quarter of 2010. Similarly, J.D. Power and Associates reports that the percentage of auto shoppers who traded in an Asian import-brand vehicle and bought another one has declined slightly. Asian-brand loyalty dropped from a consistent 80 percent at the beginning of 2010 to 76 percent in third quarter 2011. "There is clearly a new sense of patriotism out there," says Adam Lee, chairman of Lee Auto Malls in Westbrook,Maine that has both domestic and foreign brands. "We can hear it when we talk to customers."
• General Motors will develop an all-new global family of small-displacement Ecotec gasoline engines over the next several years that will give customers in markets around the world improved fuel economy, higher quality, better performance and reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The program could encompass more than 2 million engines a year by the end of the decade. The new global engine family will comprise a range of three- and four-cylinder engines – in displacements from 1.0L to 1.5L – engineered and manufactured in multiple regions for global use. They will feature lightweight design and advanced technologies such as direct injection, turbocharging and alternative fuel compatibility to provide customers with both efficiency and on-demand performance. The new engine family also will be designed to reduce noise, vibration and harshness, a common trait of smaller engines. Production is expected to begin mid-decade. The engines will be introduced in GM global vehicle programs across multiple vehicle architectures in various regions, through the end of the decade. Manufacturing locations and production timing will be announced later
• From the Detroit Free Press: Ford’s tentative four-year labor contract with the UAW is as good as passed. It would take a huge defeat by workers at the plants that have yet to vote to reverse the tide now supporting the deal. Voting concludes today. So far, 23,921 of Ford's 41,000 workers have voted. Of those, 62% voted in favor of the deal. So far, the biggest dissent from a Ford factory has come from Chicago, where 77% of workers voted no. Still, votes from workers at five plants with more than 8,900 workers have yet to be counted. About 5,000 work at two assembly plants in Louisville, Ky., where there is major opposition. Chrysler's 26,000 UAW-represented workers will begin voting today.
• Cars.com recently did two “SUV shootouts” comparing three-passenger-row crossovers under $37,000 and another crossover group priced under $29,000. For the $37,000 group the mission was to see which of seven vehicles could please their experts and a family of four with its combination of driving quality, features and family-friendliness. The goal in the $29,000 SUV Shootout was to pit nine of the most popular models against each other to see which one has the best combination of ride, room, family-friendly features and handling. The Chevy Traverse finished second in the $37,000 shootout, beating out the Ford Explorer, Toyota Highlander and Dodge Durango among others. It drew praise for its quiet smooth ride and nimble handling that made it feel smaller than it was. Testers also like the large interior, “bigger than a Tahoe”. In the $29,000 shootout, the Chevy Equinox came in first, topping the Ford Escape, Toyota RAV4, and Honda Civic among others. Reviewers heaped praise on the Equinox: "For $28,500, this car is loaded with family-friendly features." Among them were dual fold-up DVD screens, a backup camera that could be viewed in the rearview mirror and the only powered liftgate in the group. "There's a real premium feel throughout the interior." And "the fit and finish go way above and beyond the others." "The Equinox is one of the most comfortable of the bunch from the driver's seat," another wrote. "For a four-cylinder, it's great," one said. "It's so much more substantial."
Monday, October 17, 2011
State of the Union October 17, 2011
Oct. 17, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Welcome back to the remaining 25 laid off employees that reported today. Next week the remaining 16 return from Fairfax that took the basic relocation. There has been 59 Extended Area Hire employees accepted transfers to Wentzville. They will report on November 7. The seniority dates for these employees are from 1/7/85 ( 6 of these) to 2/14/2000. The corporation has given approval to hire 85 people off the street. They are being called now for Drug and Physical screening. They will tentatively be reporting October 31. The total need for the start up of 2nd shift is 444 employees. The union has requested of the company to change the off Friday in December. Currently the off Friday is December 16. The union requested the company to change the off Friday to December 23. Management has agreed. This will require us to work 3 Fridays in a row, but I thought it better to have the day off before the Christmas Holiday period.
• Union Meeting is this Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7:15 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.
• Reminder: The deadline to submit your form for flu shots is tomorrow. You can turn them in at the cafeteria in the designated drop box. Drawing will take place Wednesday and shots will begin on Thursday by department.
• Here is this week’s build information: 33 E-26 vans; 605 cutaways; 351 slider doors; 219 r/h door deletes; 181 15-pass vans; 118 diesels; 335 Onstar; 57 exports; 28 brake deck spare tire; 100 Penske; 71.9% white vans.
• From Bloomberg: Ford Motor Co. (F) may have dodged its first nationwide strike in 35 years and secured labor peace while the United Auto Workers adds thousands of new members. UAW members at Ford went from voting 53 percent against the proposed contract on the morning of Oct. 14 to 62 percent in favor by yesterday at 8:30 p.m. New York time. The union said 14,845 members at Ford had cast ballots in favor of the labor deal while 9,076 voted against. Ford’s 40,600 U.S. hourly workers will conclude balloting tomorrow. The latest voting results “improve the likelihood of passage, as remaining plants would have to be over 60 percent opposed,” said Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital. The UAW was preparing for its first national strike at Ford since 1976. It would have cost Ford $273 million a day in lost revenue and $71 million in daily variable profit, Johnson said. Even bigger, he said, would have been the loss of reputation for failing to reinvent U.S. auto competitiveness. Like General Motors Co. (GM)’s agreement, Ford’s was judged to be cost-neutral.
• From Automotive News: General Motors plans to shift some production of its Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain from the factories that now assemble the popular crossovers to another plant to alleviate tight supplies, CEO Dan Akerson told Automotive News. Akerson said GM is considering its former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., to take on added production of the crossovers, which are now made at the automaker's plants in Ingersoll and Oshawa, Ontario. Akerson also said GM is considering options for extra production of its hot-selling Cruze compact. The car is made at GM's Lordstown, Ohio, plant, which has been running three shifts and Saturday overtime shifts. Akerson did not say which plant could get the added Cruze production. GM officials previously have said that its Lake Orion assembly plant in suburban Detroit would be the overflow plant for the Cruze. In September 2010, it took the unusual step of transporting Equinox bodies built at CAMI about 125 miles to Oshawa for final assembly. Akerson said that arrangement has been an effective stopgap, but it's not a permanent solution. "We've got to fix that. We can't run like that forever," Akerson said. "We've got to bring it to other plants" within the next 12 to 24 months, he said. "We've looked at Spring Hill and we've looked at other plants, too." Akerson's comments are GM's first in public about what might be assembled at Spring Hill since the plant emerged as a centerpiece of the company's new four-year labor contract approved by UAW workers last month. The union said GM agreed to spend $419 million and add about 1,700 jobs at Spring Hill to build two "mid-sized vehicles." Akerson said that GM likely would use Spring Hill as a spillover plant to produce various high-demand vehicles. Idled in 2009 amid GM's bankruptcy restructuring, the facility is one of GM's most technologically advanced factories. "If we open Spring Hill, we're not going to go in there and say 'We're going to produce a couple hundred thousand of one [vehicle] in there,'" Akerson said. "It'll be because we go in and produce 50,000 of this, 25,000 of that." Canadian Auto Workers President Ken Lewenza said GM officials have not confirmed whether they plan to produce some crossovers at Spring Hill. He said he would like assurances that, if GM sends production elsewhere and demand for the crossovers later drops, output would be curtailed at the overflow plant, and not the Canadian facilities.
• From the Detroit Free Press: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into complaints of engine compartment fires that could affect 36,000 Mini Cooper "S'' models from the 2007 and 2008 model years. The federal safety agency said in documents posted on its website that it has received 12 complaints of fires. Five of the blazes destroyed the cars. Eight fires happened when the engines had been shut off. No injuries have been reported, NHTSA said in documents posted during the weekend. The agency says there's an increasing trend of fires, with most of the complaints coming in the past year. NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation on Oct. 11 and will try to find the cause of the blazes. Depending on the findings, a recall could be ordered. The fires could affect "S'' models of the Mini Cooper, Cooper Clubman and Cooper Convertible, the agency said.
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Welcome back to the remaining 25 laid off employees that reported today. Next week the remaining 16 return from Fairfax that took the basic relocation. There has been 59 Extended Area Hire employees accepted transfers to Wentzville. They will report on November 7. The seniority dates for these employees are from 1/7/85 ( 6 of these) to 2/14/2000. The corporation has given approval to hire 85 people off the street. They are being called now for Drug and Physical screening. They will tentatively be reporting October 31. The total need for the start up of 2nd shift is 444 employees. The union has requested of the company to change the off Friday in December. Currently the off Friday is December 16. The union requested the company to change the off Friday to December 23. Management has agreed. This will require us to work 3 Fridays in a row, but I thought it better to have the day off before the Christmas Holiday period.
• Union Meeting is this Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 7:15 am, 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.
• Reminder: The deadline to submit your form for flu shots is tomorrow. You can turn them in at the cafeteria in the designated drop box. Drawing will take place Wednesday and shots will begin on Thursday by department.
• Here is this week’s build information: 33 E-26 vans; 605 cutaways; 351 slider doors; 219 r/h door deletes; 181 15-pass vans; 118 diesels; 335 Onstar; 57 exports; 28 brake deck spare tire; 100 Penske; 71.9% white vans.
• From Bloomberg: Ford Motor Co. (F) may have dodged its first nationwide strike in 35 years and secured labor peace while the United Auto Workers adds thousands of new members. UAW members at Ford went from voting 53 percent against the proposed contract on the morning of Oct. 14 to 62 percent in favor by yesterday at 8:30 p.m. New York time. The union said 14,845 members at Ford had cast ballots in favor of the labor deal while 9,076 voted against. Ford’s 40,600 U.S. hourly workers will conclude balloting tomorrow. The latest voting results “improve the likelihood of passage, as remaining plants would have to be over 60 percent opposed,” said Brian Johnson, an analyst at Barclays Capital. The UAW was preparing for its first national strike at Ford since 1976. It would have cost Ford $273 million a day in lost revenue and $71 million in daily variable profit, Johnson said. Even bigger, he said, would have been the loss of reputation for failing to reinvent U.S. auto competitiveness. Like General Motors Co. (GM)’s agreement, Ford’s was judged to be cost-neutral.
• From Automotive News: General Motors plans to shift some production of its Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain from the factories that now assemble the popular crossovers to another plant to alleviate tight supplies, CEO Dan Akerson told Automotive News. Akerson said GM is considering its former Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn., to take on added production of the crossovers, which are now made at the automaker's plants in Ingersoll and Oshawa, Ontario. Akerson also said GM is considering options for extra production of its hot-selling Cruze compact. The car is made at GM's Lordstown, Ohio, plant, which has been running three shifts and Saturday overtime shifts. Akerson did not say which plant could get the added Cruze production. GM officials previously have said that its Lake Orion assembly plant in suburban Detroit would be the overflow plant for the Cruze. In September 2010, it took the unusual step of transporting Equinox bodies built at CAMI about 125 miles to Oshawa for final assembly. Akerson said that arrangement has been an effective stopgap, but it's not a permanent solution. "We've got to fix that. We can't run like that forever," Akerson said. "We've got to bring it to other plants" within the next 12 to 24 months, he said. "We've looked at Spring Hill and we've looked at other plants, too." Akerson's comments are GM's first in public about what might be assembled at Spring Hill since the plant emerged as a centerpiece of the company's new four-year labor contract approved by UAW workers last month. The union said GM agreed to spend $419 million and add about 1,700 jobs at Spring Hill to build two "mid-sized vehicles." Akerson said that GM likely would use Spring Hill as a spillover plant to produce various high-demand vehicles. Idled in 2009 amid GM's bankruptcy restructuring, the facility is one of GM's most technologically advanced factories. "If we open Spring Hill, we're not going to go in there and say 'We're going to produce a couple hundred thousand of one [vehicle] in there,'" Akerson said. "It'll be because we go in and produce 50,000 of this, 25,000 of that." Canadian Auto Workers President Ken Lewenza said GM officials have not confirmed whether they plan to produce some crossovers at Spring Hill. He said he would like assurances that, if GM sends production elsewhere and demand for the crossovers later drops, output would be curtailed at the overflow plant, and not the Canadian facilities.
• From the Detroit Free Press: The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into complaints of engine compartment fires that could affect 36,000 Mini Cooper "S'' models from the 2007 and 2008 model years. The federal safety agency said in documents posted on its website that it has received 12 complaints of fires. Five of the blazes destroyed the cars. Eight fires happened when the engines had been shut off. No injuries have been reported, NHTSA said in documents posted during the weekend. The agency says there's an increasing trend of fires, with most of the complaints coming in the past year. NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation on Oct. 11 and will try to find the cause of the blazes. Depending on the findings, a recall could be ordered. The fires could affect "S'' models of the Mini Cooper, Cooper Clubman and Cooper Convertible, the agency said.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
State of the Union October 13, 2011
Oct. 13, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• There will be a Women’s Committee, Veterans Committee and CAP Committee meeting today after first shift at the Union Hall.
• From the Chaplaincy Committee: “Happy Sweetest Day!”
• Tomorrow is the “Occupy St. Louis Rally”, which will be held at Kiener Plaza (7thand Market). UAW Region 5 wants you to “join your Union Brothers and Sisters to Rally for the 99%, the working class!” Sign in is at 3 pm, with the rally starting at 3:30 pm and the walk beginning at 4 pm. Remember to wear your UAW shirts.
• From Automotive News: GM said yesterday that it will launch an all-new TrailBlazer mid-sized SUV in Thailand early next year, with plans to roll it out elsewhere in Southeast Asia, in the Middle East and in South America. It will be unveiled at the Dubai International Motor Show, Nov. 10-14. GM officials wouldn't say whether there are plans to sell the TrailBlazer in the United States. The new vehicle will be built on GM's new rear-drive, body-on-frame platform for mid-sized trucks, the same underpinnings as the next-generation Chevy Colorado pickup that was launched last week in Thailand. The new TrailBlazer "probably wouldn't have a natural spot" in Chevy's U.S. lineup, said Jim Hall, principal of automotive consulting firm 2953 Analytics Inc. in suburban Detroit. It would be sandwiched between the Chevy Equinox and Traverse crossovers. That could change, Hall said, if the Equinox shrinks a bit in size when GM remodels the popular crossover, which isn't expected until at least 2015. "I'd never say never," Hall said about the prospect of GM selling the new TrailBlazer in the United States. "There's always the chance that it could find a sweet spot in the market." In a statement, GM said the new TrailBlazer "will combine the hauling and towing capability of an SUV with the ride comfort and efficiency of a crossover."
• Here are some of the terms of the Chrysler tentative agreement: $3500 signing bonus (2 installments), $500 annual performance bonus, $500 annual quality bonus, up to $1000 annual upside bonus based on achieving world class manufacturing metrics, $300 annual perfect attendance bonus, unlimited office visits at $25 copay, profit sharing based on 85 percent of Chrysler Global Modified Operating Profits before interest and special payments (formula same as GM - $1 billion profits = $1000 payout).
• Voting continues on the Ford tentative agreement, with the Sterling Heights axle plant (around 2200 workers) voting 66% yes while the Chicago assembly plant (around 2300 workers) voted 77% no. At Sandusky (630 workers) 57% voted yes. The UAW Ford department posted this on their facebook page: "Vice President Settles has advised the membership during informational meetings that if the agreement is not ratified, he will ask the International Executive Board to authorize a strike. If so, he will then give 72-hour notice to the company that we intend to strike."
Flu Shots
We have received flu shots for distribution to regular active hourly and salaried GM Wentzville employees. There are limited quantities available so if you are interested in receiving a flu shot please complete the attached form and place it in the box located in the cafeteria from Thursday, October 13, 2011 to Tuesday October 18, 2011. Only one form per employee will be allowed. Individuals who submit more than one form will not be considered. The deadline to submit your form will be October 18, 2011. Selected participants will be notified. When flu shots are available, they will be administered to those employees selected during breaks and lunch periods. If additional supplies become available we will select additional employees from the original submission.
• There will be a Women’s Committee, Veterans Committee and CAP Committee meeting today after first shift at the Union Hall.
• From the Chaplaincy Committee: “Happy Sweetest Day!”
• Tomorrow is the “Occupy St. Louis Rally”, which will be held at Kiener Plaza (7thand Market). UAW Region 5 wants you to “join your Union Brothers and Sisters to Rally for the 99%, the working class!” Sign in is at 3 pm, with the rally starting at 3:30 pm and the walk beginning at 4 pm. Remember to wear your UAW shirts.
• From Automotive News: GM said yesterday that it will launch an all-new TrailBlazer mid-sized SUV in Thailand early next year, with plans to roll it out elsewhere in Southeast Asia, in the Middle East and in South America. It will be unveiled at the Dubai International Motor Show, Nov. 10-14. GM officials wouldn't say whether there are plans to sell the TrailBlazer in the United States. The new vehicle will be built on GM's new rear-drive, body-on-frame platform for mid-sized trucks, the same underpinnings as the next-generation Chevy Colorado pickup that was launched last week in Thailand. The new TrailBlazer "probably wouldn't have a natural spot" in Chevy's U.S. lineup, said Jim Hall, principal of automotive consulting firm 2953 Analytics Inc. in suburban Detroit. It would be sandwiched between the Chevy Equinox and Traverse crossovers. That could change, Hall said, if the Equinox shrinks a bit in size when GM remodels the popular crossover, which isn't expected until at least 2015. "I'd never say never," Hall said about the prospect of GM selling the new TrailBlazer in the United States. "There's always the chance that it could find a sweet spot in the market." In a statement, GM said the new TrailBlazer "will combine the hauling and towing capability of an SUV with the ride comfort and efficiency of a crossover."
• Here are some of the terms of the Chrysler tentative agreement: $3500 signing bonus (2 installments), $500 annual performance bonus, $500 annual quality bonus, up to $1000 annual upside bonus based on achieving world class manufacturing metrics, $300 annual perfect attendance bonus, unlimited office visits at $25 copay, profit sharing based on 85 percent of Chrysler Global Modified Operating Profits before interest and special payments (formula same as GM - $1 billion profits = $1000 payout).
• Voting continues on the Ford tentative agreement, with the Sterling Heights axle plant (around 2200 workers) voting 66% yes while the Chicago assembly plant (around 2300 workers) voted 77% no. At Sandusky (630 workers) 57% voted yes. The UAW Ford department posted this on their facebook page: "Vice President Settles has advised the membership during informational meetings that if the agreement is not ratified, he will ask the International Executive Board to authorize a strike. If so, he will then give 72-hour notice to the company that we intend to strike."
Flu Shots
We have received flu shots for distribution to regular active hourly and salaried GM Wentzville employees. There are limited quantities available so if you are interested in receiving a flu shot please complete the attached form and place it in the box located in the cafeteria from Thursday, October 13, 2011 to Tuesday October 18, 2011. Only one form per employee will be allowed. Individuals who submit more than one form will not be considered. The deadline to submit your form will be October 18, 2011. Selected participants will be notified. When flu shots are available, they will be administered to those employees selected during breaks and lunch periods. If additional supplies become available we will select additional employees from the original submission.
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
State of the Union October 12, 2011
Oct. 12, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Correction: Body shop job openings are posted at column DD-31.
• There will be a Women’s Committee and Veterans Committee meeting Thursday, Oct. 13 after first shift at the Union Hall.
• From the UAW: Just eight days after reaching a tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co., the UAW reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler Group LLC today, completing its third agreement with domestic automakers in a month. “Less than three years ago, Chrysler was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as our nation was thrown into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said UAW President Bob King. “This tentative agreement builds on the momentum of job creation and our efforts to rebuild America by adding 2,100 new jobs by the end of the agreement in 2015 to communities left in turmoil in the wake of the country’s economic collapse.” King added. “This tentative agreement, coupled with the new agreements at General Motors and Ford bring more than 20,000 new jobs to communities across America,” said King. “Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy. Through collective bargaining and working together with the domestic automakers, we have shown that cooperation and collective bargaining work,” King added. The UAW Chrysler proposed agreement also includes $4.5 billion of investment to produce new models and upgraded vehicles and components by 2015, all of which will be invested directly into retooling and upgrading plants.
• From the Detroit News: Michigan plants were the first to turn down Ford Motor Co.'s tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, vote results showed Tuesday. But many do not see the rejection as a harbinger of the contract's fate. Members of UAW Local 900 who work at Michigan Assembly and Wayne Integrated Stamping barely defeated the tentative four-year agreement by 56 votes of 2,582 cast. Some parts depots across the country also have voted on the deal, reached Oct. 4. Together, they bring the total to 50.1 percent of production workers favoring the agreement, but 45.2 percent of skilled workers voted yes, according to the Ford-UAW Facebook page. The two groups vote separately. There are 58 Ford locals. Voting must be done by Tuesday. At Ford, "We remain optimistic that the tentative agreement will be approved," said spokeswoman Marcey Evans. UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles, in a weekend interview, said "there is no doubt in my mind this contract is going to pass."
GM CEO Dan Akerson gave his first on-the-record discussion as CEO with a newspaper's editorial board (the Detroit Free Press). Here are his comments on the new UAW contract and future labor costs:
"I tried to establish a relationship with (UAW President) Bob King and (Vice President) Joe Ashton. To put it in nautical terms, if you're at sea, there are very defined rules of the road. And as long as everyone follows them, you'll avoid a collision. I didn't want to have that metaphoric collision. So I thought that if we met frequently, got to know each other on a personal level and expressed what our goals were, so we could identify areas of potential conflict, we could potentially avoid them.
"(Previous GM CEO) Ed Whitacre told me he was the only CEO who ever visited Solidarity House, and that was for 15 or 20 minutes. I spent a lot more time down there this year. I thought as a sign of a new era in industrial relations, you have to go down and show that you're willing to extend the hand. ....What's important, that they recognized and that management recognized, is that we actually need one another. ... We had to align our goals and objectives. ...
"I was reviewed in the Washington Post as, 'This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.' I said that we had to have our compensation aligned with business objectives. And my statement was, 'If we do well as a company, then the union should share in our prosperity.' They're members of the team. They may be represented, but they're members of the GM family. And we got that.
"I didn't want to see any structural increases, that if things turn down in this turbulent world, that they should be getting raises when management's not getting anything. I wanted a quality component to their compensation because it's a component of management's compensation. ... And I thought that was enlightened on Bob King's and Joe Ashton's perspective to accept that. ...
"I also wanted to facilitate their agenda to bring jobs to America. We want the United States to do well, too. ... It's not a commitment, hard and firm. If there were a deep recession, then we have to -- but clearly, we look at our production plans around the world and the cadence of new product introductions, and we thought it made sense.
"I thought it came out equitable on both sides. I thought it represents a new industrial era, that in fact this company has to get all of its human resources aligned."
On future labor costs
Increasing the number of tier-two workers "is important in relative terms. We've got to feather this in. It can't be a flash cut -- that wouldn't be fair to our employees. But over time, we've got to feather this in and have a comparable cost of labor with transplants in the U.S., or else we're not going to be competitive.
"There has to be some trust on both sides of the table. We're not trying to hurt anybody. We're trying to stay strong. So over time, as part of the labor contract, we would buy out some of our more senior employees and some of the skilled trades. We don't need to get there tomorrow. ...
"We'll get there, but we don't need to be punishing. We need to recognize that our employees have a right to a certain set of expectations, and we will be competitive over time."
• Correction: Body shop job openings are posted at column DD-31.
• There will be a Women’s Committee and Veterans Committee meeting Thursday, Oct. 13 after first shift at the Union Hall.
• From the UAW: Just eight days after reaching a tentative agreement with Ford Motor Co., the UAW reached a tentative agreement with Chrysler Group LLC today, completing its third agreement with domestic automakers in a month. “Less than three years ago, Chrysler was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy as our nation was thrown into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said UAW President Bob King. “This tentative agreement builds on the momentum of job creation and our efforts to rebuild America by adding 2,100 new jobs by the end of the agreement in 2015 to communities left in turmoil in the wake of the country’s economic collapse.” King added. “This tentative agreement, coupled with the new agreements at General Motors and Ford bring more than 20,000 new jobs to communities across America,” said King. “Together with the jobs created in suppliers and other businesses supported by auto manufacturing, a total of 180,000 jobs will be added to the country’s battered economy. Through collective bargaining and working together with the domestic automakers, we have shown that cooperation and collective bargaining work,” King added. The UAW Chrysler proposed agreement also includes $4.5 billion of investment to produce new models and upgraded vehicles and components by 2015, all of which will be invested directly into retooling and upgrading plants.
• From the Detroit News: Michigan plants were the first to turn down Ford Motor Co.'s tentative agreement with the United Auto Workers, vote results showed Tuesday. But many do not see the rejection as a harbinger of the contract's fate. Members of UAW Local 900 who work at Michigan Assembly and Wayne Integrated Stamping barely defeated the tentative four-year agreement by 56 votes of 2,582 cast. Some parts depots across the country also have voted on the deal, reached Oct. 4. Together, they bring the total to 50.1 percent of production workers favoring the agreement, but 45.2 percent of skilled workers voted yes, according to the Ford-UAW Facebook page. The two groups vote separately. There are 58 Ford locals. Voting must be done by Tuesday. At Ford, "We remain optimistic that the tentative agreement will be approved," said spokeswoman Marcey Evans. UAW Vice President Jimmy Settles, in a weekend interview, said "there is no doubt in my mind this contract is going to pass."
GM CEO Dan Akerson gave his first on-the-record discussion as CEO with a newspaper's editorial board (the Detroit Free Press). Here are his comments on the new UAW contract and future labor costs:
"I tried to establish a relationship with (UAW President) Bob King and (Vice President) Joe Ashton. To put it in nautical terms, if you're at sea, there are very defined rules of the road. And as long as everyone follows them, you'll avoid a collision. I didn't want to have that metaphoric collision. So I thought that if we met frequently, got to know each other on a personal level and expressed what our goals were, so we could identify areas of potential conflict, we could potentially avoid them.
"(Previous GM CEO) Ed Whitacre told me he was the only CEO who ever visited Solidarity House, and that was for 15 or 20 minutes. I spent a lot more time down there this year. I thought as a sign of a new era in industrial relations, you have to go down and show that you're willing to extend the hand. ....What's important, that they recognized and that management recognized, is that we actually need one another. ... We had to align our goals and objectives. ...
"I was reviewed in the Washington Post as, 'This guy doesn't know what he's talking about.' I said that we had to have our compensation aligned with business objectives. And my statement was, 'If we do well as a company, then the union should share in our prosperity.' They're members of the team. They may be represented, but they're members of the GM family. And we got that.
"I didn't want to see any structural increases, that if things turn down in this turbulent world, that they should be getting raises when management's not getting anything. I wanted a quality component to their compensation because it's a component of management's compensation. ... And I thought that was enlightened on Bob King's and Joe Ashton's perspective to accept that. ...
"I also wanted to facilitate their agenda to bring jobs to America. We want the United States to do well, too. ... It's not a commitment, hard and firm. If there were a deep recession, then we have to -- but clearly, we look at our production plans around the world and the cadence of new product introductions, and we thought it made sense.
"I thought it came out equitable on both sides. I thought it represents a new industrial era, that in fact this company has to get all of its human resources aligned."
On future labor costs
Increasing the number of tier-two workers "is important in relative terms. We've got to feather this in. It can't be a flash cut -- that wouldn't be fair to our employees. But over time, we've got to feather this in and have a comparable cost of labor with transplants in the U.S., or else we're not going to be competitive.
"There has to be some trust on both sides of the table. We're not trying to hurt anybody. We're trying to stay strong. So over time, as part of the labor contract, we would buy out some of our more senior employees and some of the skilled trades. We don't need to get there tomorrow. ...
"We'll get there, but we don't need to be punishing. We need to recognize that our employees have a right to a certain set of expectations, and we will be competitive over time."
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
State of the Union October 11, 2011
Oct. 11, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Second Shift Update – We are now in the process of filling job openings for team leaders and open operations within each department from those remaining in the department (not transferring out). Here are the details:
o All team leader applicants have been assessed but it appears there will be a shortage of team leaders in each department. Therefore, team leader applications will be accepted from Oct. 24 through Oct. 26, with testing on Oct. 27 & 28.
o 63b transfers are now closed. If you applied and your seniority will allow you to hold the department you applied for, you will be offered the transfer (there can be no refusal).
o All departments are leveling jobs by seniority with 1st and 2ndshift employees who remain in the departments. All primary job openings have been indentified and consist of those operations opened due to 63b transfers, shift preferences or any other primary opening. These jobs are open for bid to everyone in that department who remain by seniority. Secondary bids will be offered to group members during team meeting. We hope to have all of this accomplished by this Friday.
o A list of the job openings are available for you to view at the following locations: Stamping – column SA30; Body – column W27; Trim – trim trailer columns B/C37; Chassis – column B50; Quality – audit room; Final – column C60; Material – trim office at column N31. SOS sheets will be available for each opening (along with details on request).
o Monday, Oct. 17 we hope to give employees 63b transfer notices and choice if you have multiple applications in. You cannot be guaranteed choice of shift on 63b transfers – seniority will determine that.
We are moving quickly because we are trying to afford everyone in the plant the ability to go to the job of your choice before any transfers arrive. Thanks for your patience.
• The signing bonus will be paid on this week’s paycheck.
• From Automotive News: UAW President Bob King told local union leaders today that the UAW and Chrysler Group are still apart on a new labor agreement, a source familiar with negotiations said. King told the group he hoped an agreement could be reached by Wednesday and asked them to remain in Detroit, another source told Reuters. A UAW spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment, but the UAW's Chrysler bargaining team, on their Facebook page, said contract talks are continuing. "We are asking for a show of solidarity, as our negotiators continue to work diligently on a tentative agreement," the posting said. Chrysler and the UAW are apart on several economic issues, including the size of a signing bonus. Chrysler wants to be able to hire an unlimited number of entry-level workers through 2019 as the carmaker brings new products to U.S. factories, two sources have told Automotive News. Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said in recent days that the recent GM and Ford deals are too rich for Chrysler, which had to pay about $2 billion in debt service over the past two years for its government bailout loans. Ford's 41,000 hourly workers have begun voting on ratification. If a deal cannot be reached at Chrysler, UAW negotiations will be subject to binding arbitration. That's a risky prospect for the UAW because compensation at the transplant automakers, which tend to pay their workers less than the Detroit 3, would have to be considered in any arbitration decision. "Progress has been made. However, key issues are still being discussed," General Holiefield, head of the union's Chrysler department, said in comments on the UAW's Facebook page on Friday. "Your negotiators are as anxious as I am to attain a tentative agreement and bring home a contract that delivers the respect and dignity that our membership deserves."
• From the Detroit Free Press: The UAW and Chrysler are pushing toward a new labor agreement as tensions rise between Fiat, which owns Chrysler, and an Italian union that fears Fiat could shift production from Europe to North America. Fiom, Italy's largest metalworkers union, is planning a one-day strike Oct. 21 at all Fiat factories to protest what it sees as Fiat's gradual reduction of production in Italy. "We are striking to make Fiat stay in Italy," Maurizio Landini, the head of Fiom, told Fiat's union delegates in Rome on Saturday, according to Reuters. Chrysler already builds the Fiat 500 minicar in Mexico. Future Dodge and Chrysler vehicles will share their underpinnings with some Fiats. Last week, Fiat withdrew from the Italian employers' group Confindustria. Marchionne said a labor deal Confindustria signed with the Italian unions on Sept. 21 put Fiat at a disadvantage by weakening legislation meant to make it easier to hire and fire workers.
• More Automotive News: Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC are accused of misleading advertising in complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by the Made in the USA Foundation. The California-based group claims the automakers are using misleading ads to market certain vehicles as made-in-the-United States when they are not. The foundation said it filed a complaint against Chrysler for its television and print ads for the Chrysler 300 in which the automaker uses the tagline "Imported From Detroit." The Chrysler 300 sedan is assembled in Brampton, Ontario, and often includes a Mexican-made engine, according to the foundation. Ford also faces a complaint from the foundation because of a radio ad for the mid-sized Ford Fusion. The foundation says Ford claims the Fusion is an American car in the radio spots. "The Fusion is made in Mexico and is not an American car," the foundation said in a statement Monday. "The Ford ad misleads and confuses the public and we have asked the Federal Trade Commission to stop the ads."
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Second Shift Update – We are now in the process of filling job openings for team leaders and open operations within each department from those remaining in the department (not transferring out). Here are the details:
o All team leader applicants have been assessed but it appears there will be a shortage of team leaders in each department. Therefore, team leader applications will be accepted from Oct. 24 through Oct. 26, with testing on Oct. 27 & 28.
o 63b transfers are now closed. If you applied and your seniority will allow you to hold the department you applied for, you will be offered the transfer (there can be no refusal).
o All departments are leveling jobs by seniority with 1st and 2ndshift employees who remain in the departments. All primary job openings have been indentified and consist of those operations opened due to 63b transfers, shift preferences or any other primary opening. These jobs are open for bid to everyone in that department who remain by seniority. Secondary bids will be offered to group members during team meeting. We hope to have all of this accomplished by this Friday.
o A list of the job openings are available for you to view at the following locations: Stamping – column SA30; Body – column W27; Trim – trim trailer columns B/C37; Chassis – column B50; Quality – audit room; Final – column C60; Material – trim office at column N31. SOS sheets will be available for each opening (along with details on request).
o Monday, Oct. 17 we hope to give employees 63b transfer notices and choice if you have multiple applications in. You cannot be guaranteed choice of shift on 63b transfers – seniority will determine that.
We are moving quickly because we are trying to afford everyone in the plant the ability to go to the job of your choice before any transfers arrive. Thanks for your patience.
• The signing bonus will be paid on this week’s paycheck.
• From Automotive News: UAW President Bob King told local union leaders today that the UAW and Chrysler Group are still apart on a new labor agreement, a source familiar with negotiations said. King told the group he hoped an agreement could be reached by Wednesday and asked them to remain in Detroit, another source told Reuters. A UAW spokeswoman could not be immediately reached for comment, but the UAW's Chrysler bargaining team, on their Facebook page, said contract talks are continuing. "We are asking for a show of solidarity, as our negotiators continue to work diligently on a tentative agreement," the posting said. Chrysler and the UAW are apart on several economic issues, including the size of a signing bonus. Chrysler wants to be able to hire an unlimited number of entry-level workers through 2019 as the carmaker brings new products to U.S. factories, two sources have told Automotive News. Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said in recent days that the recent GM and Ford deals are too rich for Chrysler, which had to pay about $2 billion in debt service over the past two years for its government bailout loans. Ford's 41,000 hourly workers have begun voting on ratification. If a deal cannot be reached at Chrysler, UAW negotiations will be subject to binding arbitration. That's a risky prospect for the UAW because compensation at the transplant automakers, which tend to pay their workers less than the Detroit 3, would have to be considered in any arbitration decision. "Progress has been made. However, key issues are still being discussed," General Holiefield, head of the union's Chrysler department, said in comments on the UAW's Facebook page on Friday. "Your negotiators are as anxious as I am to attain a tentative agreement and bring home a contract that delivers the respect and dignity that our membership deserves."
• From the Detroit Free Press: The UAW and Chrysler are pushing toward a new labor agreement as tensions rise between Fiat, which owns Chrysler, and an Italian union that fears Fiat could shift production from Europe to North America. Fiom, Italy's largest metalworkers union, is planning a one-day strike Oct. 21 at all Fiat factories to protest what it sees as Fiat's gradual reduction of production in Italy. "We are striking to make Fiat stay in Italy," Maurizio Landini, the head of Fiom, told Fiat's union delegates in Rome on Saturday, according to Reuters. Chrysler already builds the Fiat 500 minicar in Mexico. Future Dodge and Chrysler vehicles will share their underpinnings with some Fiats. Last week, Fiat withdrew from the Italian employers' group Confindustria. Marchionne said a labor deal Confindustria signed with the Italian unions on Sept. 21 put Fiat at a disadvantage by weakening legislation meant to make it easier to hire and fire workers.
• More Automotive News: Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Group LLC are accused of misleading advertising in complaints filed with the Federal Trade Commission by the Made in the USA Foundation. The California-based group claims the automakers are using misleading ads to market certain vehicles as made-in-the-United States when they are not. The foundation said it filed a complaint against Chrysler for its television and print ads for the Chrysler 300 in which the automaker uses the tagline "Imported From Detroit." The Chrysler 300 sedan is assembled in Brampton, Ontario, and often includes a Mexican-made engine, according to the foundation. Ford also faces a complaint from the foundation because of a radio ad for the mid-sized Ford Fusion. The foundation says Ford claims the Fusion is an American car in the radio spots. "The Fusion is made in Mexico and is not an American car," the foundation said in a statement Monday. "The Ford ad misleads and confuses the public and we have asked the Federal Trade Commission to stop the ads."
Monday, October 10, 2011
State of the Union October 10, 2011
Oct. 10, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Here is this week’s build information: There are no E-26’s; 196 slider doors; 389 cutaways; 18 15-pass vans; 121 diesels; 74 r/h door delete; 87 exports; 66 brake deck spare tire; 19 Onstar; 332 compressed natural gas (CNG) vans for AT&T; 154 Enterprise rent-a-car; 90.9% white vans.
• From Bloomberg: General Motors Co. is delaying plans to add a second shift at the factory that makes Chevrolet Volt electric cars. The company said Friday it has found ways to make one shift more efficient, so it can produce the same number of cars as two shifts. Spokesman Chris Lee says GM still will add 300 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant -- but not a second shift -- by the end of this year to make more Volts. A second shift will be added, though, but not until the last half of 2012, when the plant starts building the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan in addition to the Volt. "This decision will significantly reduce costs, and has no impact on the plant's ability to make 60,000 Volts and Amperas," Lee said in a statement. "This approach is just a more efficient way to make the same number of vehicles." GM engineers figured out a way to clear several bottlenecks that were slowing down the Volt plant and increase its assembly-line speed, the company said. GM plans to add more than 200 jobs when the second shift arrives next year. The plant, which straddles the border between Detroit and the enclave of Hamtramck, now has about 1,000 workers. GM said in May that it would get another 2,500 jobs when second and third shifts are added. In addition to the Malibu and Volt, the plant is expected to build the new version of the Chevrolet Impala, a large front-wheel-drive sedan, for the 2013 model year. GM has said it will invest $69 million for equipment at the plant. The plant stopped making two other big cars at the factory, the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne, in June. To accommodate the increased Volt production, GM will add a second shift at a plant that assembles Volt battery packs. The plant in Brownstown Township, Mich., south of Detroit, got 30 more workers who will start making battery packs this month, Lee said.
• From Automotive News: UAW and Chrysler negotiators continued bargaining this morning on a new wage and benefit agreement covering 23,000 workers ahead of a meeting today with union officials. "UAW Chrysler Negotiating Team is up and working," the union bargaining team said on its UAW-Chrysler Facebook page at about 5:00 a.m. local time. "It will get done, and it will get done right," the UAW bargaining team said on Facebook page Sunday morning. "If it takes a few more hours, a few more days, a few more weeks, your team will still fight on." If the UAW fails to reach a new labor accord with Chrysler Group by Monday, local union representatives called to Detroit will hear about "the dangers of going to arbitration," said a source familiar with negotiations.
Collective bargaining critical for America
By Bob King
The UAW recently reached agreements with both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. that will create thousands of good jobs for American workers.
Working with the UAW, these companies agreed to bring production jobs back from Mexico, China, Japan and other nations — welcome news for communities from Tennessee to Indiana, Missouri to Michigan. These agreements illustrate the critical and positive role that collective bargaining plays in strengthening our middle class.
When the UAW bargaining teams sat down with management, their primary goal was jobs — to protect the jobs of our members; bring jobs back to the United States; and create new jobs. These agreements call for the creation of 6,400 more jobs at GM and 12,000 jobs at Ford.
Since each auto manufacturing job creates or supports another 10 jobs in other businesses, the two agreements at Ford and GM are helping to create nearly 170,000 jobs for Americans. The new investments in American plants and the transfer of work from factories abroad to our own communities will lift local economies during these difficult times.
In recent years, the right wing has demonized the process of collective bargaining. While targeting public sector workers, they have also attacked the right of private sector workers to organize and bargain. The right wing view is that bargaining is destructive to our economy or even un-American. Nothing could be further from the truth. Collective bargaining created the American middle class in the first place, and if we are to restore our middle class, it will be through expanding bargaining throughout our economy.
Collective bargaining is the vehicle through which working people have a voice at work. Too often without countervailing input, executives make decisions based on short-term profit seeking, not on what's best for the company or our nation, in the long term. No one has a stronger self-interest in the success of the company than the workers. CEOs come and go, often with lucrative golden parachutes; managers pursue their own career advantages; stockholders buy or sell to make the most money; but the workers are here for the long-run and have the most at risk if the company fails.
Through collective bargaining, workers have a check and balance on short-term corporate profit-seeking. This balance benefits not only workers but also our communities and even the company's shareholders.
Collective bargaining works. The UAW has demonstrated that by giving workers a voice, we can create jobs, rebuild the American manufacturing sector and restore the American middle class.
• Here is this week’s build information: There are no E-26’s; 196 slider doors; 389 cutaways; 18 15-pass vans; 121 diesels; 74 r/h door delete; 87 exports; 66 brake deck spare tire; 19 Onstar; 332 compressed natural gas (CNG) vans for AT&T; 154 Enterprise rent-a-car; 90.9% white vans.
• From Bloomberg: General Motors Co. is delaying plans to add a second shift at the factory that makes Chevrolet Volt electric cars. The company said Friday it has found ways to make one shift more efficient, so it can produce the same number of cars as two shifts. Spokesman Chris Lee says GM still will add 300 workers at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant -- but not a second shift -- by the end of this year to make more Volts. A second shift will be added, though, but not until the last half of 2012, when the plant starts building the 2013 Chevrolet Malibu midsize sedan in addition to the Volt. "This decision will significantly reduce costs, and has no impact on the plant's ability to make 60,000 Volts and Amperas," Lee said in a statement. "This approach is just a more efficient way to make the same number of vehicles." GM engineers figured out a way to clear several bottlenecks that were slowing down the Volt plant and increase its assembly-line speed, the company said. GM plans to add more than 200 jobs when the second shift arrives next year. The plant, which straddles the border between Detroit and the enclave of Hamtramck, now has about 1,000 workers. GM said in May that it would get another 2,500 jobs when second and third shifts are added. In addition to the Malibu and Volt, the plant is expected to build the new version of the Chevrolet Impala, a large front-wheel-drive sedan, for the 2013 model year. GM has said it will invest $69 million for equipment at the plant. The plant stopped making two other big cars at the factory, the Cadillac DTS and Buick Lucerne, in June. To accommodate the increased Volt production, GM will add a second shift at a plant that assembles Volt battery packs. The plant in Brownstown Township, Mich., south of Detroit, got 30 more workers who will start making battery packs this month, Lee said.
• From Automotive News: UAW and Chrysler negotiators continued bargaining this morning on a new wage and benefit agreement covering 23,000 workers ahead of a meeting today with union officials. "UAW Chrysler Negotiating Team is up and working," the union bargaining team said on its UAW-Chrysler Facebook page at about 5:00 a.m. local time. "It will get done, and it will get done right," the UAW bargaining team said on Facebook page Sunday morning. "If it takes a few more hours, a few more days, a few more weeks, your team will still fight on." If the UAW fails to reach a new labor accord with Chrysler Group by Monday, local union representatives called to Detroit will hear about "the dangers of going to arbitration," said a source familiar with negotiations.
Collective bargaining critical for America
By Bob King
The UAW recently reached agreements with both Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. that will create thousands of good jobs for American workers.
Working with the UAW, these companies agreed to bring production jobs back from Mexico, China, Japan and other nations — welcome news for communities from Tennessee to Indiana, Missouri to Michigan. These agreements illustrate the critical and positive role that collective bargaining plays in strengthening our middle class.
When the UAW bargaining teams sat down with management, their primary goal was jobs — to protect the jobs of our members; bring jobs back to the United States; and create new jobs. These agreements call for the creation of 6,400 more jobs at GM and 12,000 jobs at Ford.
Since each auto manufacturing job creates or supports another 10 jobs in other businesses, the two agreements at Ford and GM are helping to create nearly 170,000 jobs for Americans. The new investments in American plants and the transfer of work from factories abroad to our own communities will lift local economies during these difficult times.
In recent years, the right wing has demonized the process of collective bargaining. While targeting public sector workers, they have also attacked the right of private sector workers to organize and bargain. The right wing view is that bargaining is destructive to our economy or even un-American. Nothing could be further from the truth. Collective bargaining created the American middle class in the first place, and if we are to restore our middle class, it will be through expanding bargaining throughout our economy.
Collective bargaining is the vehicle through which working people have a voice at work. Too often without countervailing input, executives make decisions based on short-term profit seeking, not on what's best for the company or our nation, in the long term. No one has a stronger self-interest in the success of the company than the workers. CEOs come and go, often with lucrative golden parachutes; managers pursue their own career advantages; stockholders buy or sell to make the most money; but the workers are here for the long-run and have the most at risk if the company fails.
Through collective bargaining, workers have a check and balance on short-term corporate profit-seeking. This balance benefits not only workers but also our communities and even the company's shareholders.
Collective bargaining works. The UAW has demonstrated that by giving workers a voice, we can create jobs, rebuild the American manufacturing sector and restore the American middle class.
Friday, October 7, 2011
State of the Union October 7, 2011
Oct. 7, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: The local agreement passed with 82 % production in favor and 61% skilled trades in favor. I want to thank you for the strong “yes” vote and your support throughout this process. We have now secured the future of this plant for many years to come and will have a legacy of leaving it in a better position than when we arrived.
• With the revelation in the tentative agreement with Ford that the full-sized Transit van will be built in Kansas City and the Econoline will only carry on in cutaway form, the question becomes – what’s the timeline? According to examiner.com, 2200 Kansas City workers have been told that they will be temporarily laid off beginning in April next year for retooling in preparation for the launch of the Transit. However, no launch date was mentioned. The conversion will occur on what is now the Escape line (which is moving to Louisville) as the F-150 will still be produced there. Total investment is estimated at $1 billion, so it would seem that there will be quite a bit of construction. Regarding the Econoline, a lengthy article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer does not reveal an end to production date, saying only that it would cease “sometime during the contract’s duration”. Nor was a launch date for the replacement medium duty and motorhome chassis (currently built in Mexico) given.
• Information: If you want to check on the status of a referral, call 1-800-973-1465. There are no plans at this time for a second round of referrals. Also, to look up your GM paystub go to this website: https://ipay.adp.com. You will need to register to be able to use this website and the initial password to get the process started is: gm1-pay. Under the terms of the new national agreement, you will no longer receive a paper stub in the mail beginning next year, so you will need to use this website to view your paystubs.
• From the Detroit Free Press: General Motors has agreed to help pay half the cost of repairing faulty gas gauges in potentially hundreds of thousands of its model year 2005-2007 Chevy Trailblazers, Buick Rainiers, GMC Envoys and Saab 9-7s. The agreement to repair the problematic gauges was made to settle an investigation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which began a probe into the issue earlier this year. In April, NHTSA opened an investigation into nearly 900,000 vehicles that could have bad gas gauges – causing drivers to unexpectedly run out of fuel, resulting in an engine stall and possible crash.
• From Edmunds: The fact that GM intends to sell a next-generation midsize pickup – much less build it in the U.S. – is a notable strategic gamble given the segment’s astounding sales decline. The midsize truck market has been on a steady and precipitous slide since 2000, when, according to Edmunds.com data, more than 1 million midsize pickups were sold. By last year, midsize pickup sales plunged by nearly 75 percent to 264,206. Midsize-pickup market share in the U.S. hit a high mark of 8 percent in 1994, but was just 2.3 percent last year. It didn’t help when the once-compact pickups grew to be seven-eights-sized little brothers to fullsize pickups. When product developers decided that bigger would be better, even for “compact” pickups, they unwittingly erased much of the appeal of compact pickups’ smaller footprints and appreciably better fuel economy. And midsize pickups were selling at average transaction prices similar to the entry end of the fullsize range, while their fuel-economy advantages became negligible. As GM gears up to return a new version of an aging nameplate to a fading segment, chief rival Ford has yet to openly reverse what appears to be commitment to staying out. Ford’s midsize Ranger line – in continuous production since its launch in 1983 – is, for now, gone. There is no 2012 Ranger and the truck’s Twin Cities, MN, assembly plant will close as scheduled at the end of this year, said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans. Meanwhile, Chrysler Group LLC’s Ram division ended production of its midsize Dakota in August.
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: The local agreement passed with 82 % production in favor and 61% skilled trades in favor. I want to thank you for the strong “yes” vote and your support throughout this process. We have now secured the future of this plant for many years to come and will have a legacy of leaving it in a better position than when we arrived.
• With the revelation in the tentative agreement with Ford that the full-sized Transit van will be built in Kansas City and the Econoline will only carry on in cutaway form, the question becomes – what’s the timeline? According to examiner.com, 2200 Kansas City workers have been told that they will be temporarily laid off beginning in April next year for retooling in preparation for the launch of the Transit. However, no launch date was mentioned. The conversion will occur on what is now the Escape line (which is moving to Louisville) as the F-150 will still be produced there. Total investment is estimated at $1 billion, so it would seem that there will be quite a bit of construction. Regarding the Econoline, a lengthy article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer does not reveal an end to production date, saying only that it would cease “sometime during the contract’s duration”. Nor was a launch date for the replacement medium duty and motorhome chassis (currently built in Mexico) given.
• Information: If you want to check on the status of a referral, call 1-800-973-1465. There are no plans at this time for a second round of referrals. Also, to look up your GM paystub go to this website: https://ipay.adp.com. You will need to register to be able to use this website and the initial password to get the process started is: gm1-pay. Under the terms of the new national agreement, you will no longer receive a paper stub in the mail beginning next year, so you will need to use this website to view your paystubs.
• From the Detroit Free Press: General Motors has agreed to help pay half the cost of repairing faulty gas gauges in potentially hundreds of thousands of its model year 2005-2007 Chevy Trailblazers, Buick Rainiers, GMC Envoys and Saab 9-7s. The agreement to repair the problematic gauges was made to settle an investigation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which began a probe into the issue earlier this year. In April, NHTSA opened an investigation into nearly 900,000 vehicles that could have bad gas gauges – causing drivers to unexpectedly run out of fuel, resulting in an engine stall and possible crash.
• From Edmunds: The fact that GM intends to sell a next-generation midsize pickup – much less build it in the U.S. – is a notable strategic gamble given the segment’s astounding sales decline. The midsize truck market has been on a steady and precipitous slide since 2000, when, according to Edmunds.com data, more than 1 million midsize pickups were sold. By last year, midsize pickup sales plunged by nearly 75 percent to 264,206. Midsize-pickup market share in the U.S. hit a high mark of 8 percent in 1994, but was just 2.3 percent last year. It didn’t help when the once-compact pickups grew to be seven-eights-sized little brothers to fullsize pickups. When product developers decided that bigger would be better, even for “compact” pickups, they unwittingly erased much of the appeal of compact pickups’ smaller footprints and appreciably better fuel economy. And midsize pickups were selling at average transaction prices similar to the entry end of the fullsize range, while their fuel-economy advantages became negligible. As GM gears up to return a new version of an aging nameplate to a fading segment, chief rival Ford has yet to openly reverse what appears to be commitment to staying out. Ford’s midsize Ranger line – in continuous production since its launch in 1983 – is, for now, gone. There is no 2012 Ranger and the truck’s Twin Cities, MN, assembly plant will close as scheduled at the end of this year, said Ford spokeswoman Marcey Evans. Meanwhile, Chrysler Group LLC’s Ram division ended production of its midsize Dakota in August.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
State of the Union October 6, 2011
Oct. 6, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: Today's message from the Plant Manager was something this membership has known for 2 weeks so I didn't see a need personally for me to get on the TV to tell you what you already know. You're smarter than that.
MORE 2ND SHIFT NEWS
Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for shift preferences and Par. 63b transfers. As of today this is the date to hold days in the following departments. This date could change if any employees rescind or apply for a shift preference. This date could also change when and if we get any extended area hire transfers who may want to stay on days and their seniority date is better than this date:
Chassis - it takes 2/09/2000 to hold days
Trim - it takes 8-30-1999 with last 4 of 5000 to hold days
Material - it takes 4/22/1985 with last 4 SSN of 9800 to hold days
Body - it takes 4/22/85 with last 4 SSN of 2200 to hold days
Paint - see the Business Manager
These dates are all tentative, and could change up or down.
Reminder: The ratification vote on the tentative local agreement is today. Polls will be open from 4 am to 7 pm. Informational meetings will be held at 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time.
From the benefits department: Employees will not be able to put the $5000 signing bonus in their PSP accounts.
New incentives are out for GM products. Extended cab and crew cab Silverado and Sierra pickups now have a total of $6505 in cash back for 2011 models (regular cabs are $6005). Here is a pricing example on a tuck in inventory at Cox & Cohea here in Wentzville: Silverado Crew Cab LT – 5.3 V8; 6-speed auto; 2wd; power seat, windows, door locks w/remote keyless entry; leather wrapped steering wheel w/radio controls; dual zone auto a/c; e-z lift locking tailgate; aluminum wheels; cruise & tilt; dual power heated osrv mirrors; uplevel split bench seats w/lumbar & locking storage; stabilitrak; xm radio with cd, usb port and 3 months free; bluetooth for phone; locking rear differential; trailering package; Onstar w/6 months free; side impact and head curtain airbags. This truck stickers at $34,125 and can be yours for $25,731.
GM released more details about the Chevrolet Colorado, which is launching this week in Thailand. Here are some of the highlights (actual production version pictured below):
o The 2.8-liter 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine is rated at 180 horsepower and 346 lb.-ft. of torque with an available six-speed automatic transmission. The 2.5-liter turbo diesel engine is rated at 150 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque.
o In a first for a Chevrolet pickup truck, the Colorado offers LED-illuminated tail lamps on high-level models.
o Segment-leading front- and second-row shoulder room, headroom and seat height.
o The use of LED backlighting in the instrument cluster and HVAC controls in Chevrolet’s trademark “Ice Blue” illumination.
o The regular cab has 16 storage locations, while the extended cab has 19 and the crew cab has 30.
o Seats feature flat-woven cloth fabric or optional leather on high-end models with matching instrument panel inserts. They carry sculpted edges and have dual-density foam construction. A front vinyl bench seat is available on base models.
o Convenience features like auxiliary power, auxiliary plugs and USB connectivity are standard across the range.
From Chairman Mike Bullock: Today's message from the Plant Manager was something this membership has known for 2 weeks so I didn't see a need personally for me to get on the TV to tell you what you already know. You're smarter than that.
MORE 2ND SHIFT NEWS
Tomorrow is the last day to sign up for shift preferences and Par. 63b transfers. As of today this is the date to hold days in the following departments. This date could change if any employees rescind or apply for a shift preference. This date could also change when and if we get any extended area hire transfers who may want to stay on days and their seniority date is better than this date:
Chassis - it takes 2/09/2000 to hold days
Trim - it takes 8-30-1999 with last 4 of 5000 to hold days
Material - it takes 4/22/1985 with last 4 SSN of 9800 to hold days
Body - it takes 4/22/85 with last 4 SSN of 2200 to hold days
Paint - see the Business Manager
These dates are all tentative, and could change up or down.
Reminder: The ratification vote on the tentative local agreement is today. Polls will be open from 4 am to 7 pm. Informational meetings will be held at 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time.
From the benefits department: Employees will not be able to put the $5000 signing bonus in their PSP accounts.
New incentives are out for GM products. Extended cab and crew cab Silverado and Sierra pickups now have a total of $6505 in cash back for 2011 models (regular cabs are $6005). Here is a pricing example on a tuck in inventory at Cox & Cohea here in Wentzville: Silverado Crew Cab LT – 5.3 V8; 6-speed auto; 2wd; power seat, windows, door locks w/remote keyless entry; leather wrapped steering wheel w/radio controls; dual zone auto a/c; e-z lift locking tailgate; aluminum wheels; cruise & tilt; dual power heated osrv mirrors; uplevel split bench seats w/lumbar & locking storage; stabilitrak; xm radio with cd, usb port and 3 months free; bluetooth for phone; locking rear differential; trailering package; Onstar w/6 months free; side impact and head curtain airbags. This truck stickers at $34,125 and can be yours for $25,731.
GM released more details about the Chevrolet Colorado, which is launching this week in Thailand. Here are some of the highlights (actual production version pictured below):
o The 2.8-liter 4-cylinder turbo diesel engine is rated at 180 horsepower and 346 lb.-ft. of torque with an available six-speed automatic transmission. The 2.5-liter turbo diesel engine is rated at 150 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of torque.
o In a first for a Chevrolet pickup truck, the Colorado offers LED-illuminated tail lamps on high-level models.
o Segment-leading front- and second-row shoulder room, headroom and seat height.
o The use of LED backlighting in the instrument cluster and HVAC controls in Chevrolet’s trademark “Ice Blue” illumination.
o The regular cab has 16 storage locations, while the extended cab has 19 and the crew cab has 30.
o Seats feature flat-woven cloth fabric or optional leather on high-end models with matching instrument panel inserts. They carry sculpted edges and have dual-density foam construction. A front vinyl bench seat is available on base models.
o Convenience features like auxiliary power, auxiliary plugs and USB connectivity are standard across the range.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
State of the Union October 5, 2011
Oct. 5, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: I want to thank everyone who came to the informational Q and A meetings yesterday. A lot of good information was shared from both sides. Two things the Joint Manpower committee is going to change:
o First: Team Leader applications are going to be frozen after the end of the shift TODAY. If you have any desire to be a team leader in the department you are currently in, your application must be in by the end of the shift today. The committee wants to make offers to those employees who want to be team leaders before the Par 63b offers. We will know the cutoff seniority date for Team Leaders in your department and when you are told you can hold Team Leader classification you will then be able to withdraw your Par 63b or Team Leader application before the cutoff on Friday end of shift if you so desire (remember there is no refusal if your offered).
o Second: The big question again, "can I hold days in my department?" I will have an updated seniority date in all the departments by the beginning of the shift on Friday, to help with your decision. I will calculate the shift preferences we have received as of Thursday end of shift in that calculation. Again, there is no guarantee that the date to hold days will not change again because of the addition of National Hire employees that we may receive.
Management has officially requested 404 National Hires. We don't know how many will accept or what their seniority date is until they get here.
There have been questions from the Highlight letter yesterday for the tentative Local Contract:
Alternative Work Schedule:Settled on the basis: In preparation of holiday week scheduling the parties will jointly discuss the options available for the scheduled working days. We will jointly establish a 3 day 11 hour max or a 4 day, 9 hour max schedule for those affected 4-day weeks. During holiday weeks that contain more than one scheduled day off, our production schedule will not exceed 9 hours per day.
• Reminder: Ratification vote will on the Local Agreement will be tomorrow. Polls will be open from 4 am to 7 pm. Informational meetings will be held at 7am, 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time. The Shop Committee recommends you vote “yes” on this agreement as the final step to secure a new product and the future of this plant and this membership for many years to come.
• There will be a televised announcement from Chairman Mike Bullock and plant manager John Dansby tomorrow morning at the beginning of day shift.
• Here are the September results for the van segment:
2011 2010 Change Share
Ford Econoline 8711 8711 +2.8% 44.7%
GM 8402 6156 +36.5% 43.1%
Mercedes Sprinter 1779 804 +121% 9.1%
Nissan NV 607 --- --- 3.1%
Ford Transit connect 2611 3571 -26.9% ---
• Taking a look at field supplies, while overall net stock was up 829 units, the increase in sales resulted in a drop to a 50 day supply versus a 61 day supply in August. Specifically, cargo vans accounted for virtually all of the increase, while cutaway supplies declined. Passsenger van supplies are still very lean with an 18 day supply for the Chevy and total supplies of only 679 units.
• According to the UAW/Ford agreement highlights, the Avon Lake, Ohio plant will only build cutaway versions of the Econoline when the full-size Transit comes aboard in Kansas City. No timeline was given, but that will leave our van and the (anemic) Nissan NV as the only body-on-frame full sized vans available in the US.
• Stop the presses! Consumer Reports has given the coveted “Recommended” designation to the Chevy Volt and not the Nissan Leaf. CR praised the Volt’s “instant acceleration”, fuel economy, quiet ride and crash test performance. Never content to let a GM product off the hook, they had to find something to criticize – rear seat accommodations, poor visibility and reduced EV range in cold weather (which is akin to complaining about lower mpg going uphill).
• From Automotive News: General Motors is taking more steps to boost production of the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain at the Canadian assembly plant that makes the popular crossovers, GM and a union official said today. GM is adding as many as 100 workers and will adjust the assembly line speed at its CAMI Automotive Inc. plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, said Dan Borthwick, president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 88, which represents workers at the plant. GM of Canada spokeswoman Faye Roberts confirmed the plans to add as many as 100 workers at the plant "to meet demand for the hot-selling Equinox and Terrain." The move will increase production by more than 50 vehicles a day, to more than 1,100, Borthwick said in an e-mail to Automotive News. The plant has been running three shifts and Saturday overtime shifts for nearly two years to meet high demand, Borthwick said
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: I want to thank everyone who came to the informational Q and A meetings yesterday. A lot of good information was shared from both sides. Two things the Joint Manpower committee is going to change:
o First: Team Leader applications are going to be frozen after the end of the shift TODAY. If you have any desire to be a team leader in the department you are currently in, your application must be in by the end of the shift today. The committee wants to make offers to those employees who want to be team leaders before the Par 63b offers. We will know the cutoff seniority date for Team Leaders in your department and when you are told you can hold Team Leader classification you will then be able to withdraw your Par 63b or Team Leader application before the cutoff on Friday end of shift if you so desire (remember there is no refusal if your offered).
o Second: The big question again, "can I hold days in my department?" I will have an updated seniority date in all the departments by the beginning of the shift on Friday, to help with your decision. I will calculate the shift preferences we have received as of Thursday end of shift in that calculation. Again, there is no guarantee that the date to hold days will not change again because of the addition of National Hire employees that we may receive.
Management has officially requested 404 National Hires. We don't know how many will accept or what their seniority date is until they get here.
There have been questions from the Highlight letter yesterday for the tentative Local Contract:
Alternative Work Schedule:Settled on the basis: In preparation of holiday week scheduling the parties will jointly discuss the options available for the scheduled working days. We will jointly establish a 3 day 11 hour max or a 4 day, 9 hour max schedule for those affected 4-day weeks. During holiday weeks that contain more than one scheduled day off, our production schedule will not exceed 9 hours per day.
• Reminder: Ratification vote will on the Local Agreement will be tomorrow. Polls will be open from 4 am to 7 pm. Informational meetings will be held at 7am, 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time. The Shop Committee recommends you vote “yes” on this agreement as the final step to secure a new product and the future of this plant and this membership for many years to come.
• There will be a televised announcement from Chairman Mike Bullock and plant manager John Dansby tomorrow morning at the beginning of day shift.
• Here are the September results for the van segment:
2011 2010 Change Share
Ford Econoline 8711 8711 +2.8% 44.7%
GM 8402 6156 +36.5% 43.1%
Mercedes Sprinter 1779 804 +121% 9.1%
Nissan NV 607 --- --- 3.1%
Ford Transit connect 2611 3571 -26.9% ---
• Taking a look at field supplies, while overall net stock was up 829 units, the increase in sales resulted in a drop to a 50 day supply versus a 61 day supply in August. Specifically, cargo vans accounted for virtually all of the increase, while cutaway supplies declined. Passsenger van supplies are still very lean with an 18 day supply for the Chevy and total supplies of only 679 units.
• According to the UAW/Ford agreement highlights, the Avon Lake, Ohio plant will only build cutaway versions of the Econoline when the full-size Transit comes aboard in Kansas City. No timeline was given, but that will leave our van and the (anemic) Nissan NV as the only body-on-frame full sized vans available in the US.
• Stop the presses! Consumer Reports has given the coveted “Recommended” designation to the Chevy Volt and not the Nissan Leaf. CR praised the Volt’s “instant acceleration”, fuel economy, quiet ride and crash test performance. Never content to let a GM product off the hook, they had to find something to criticize – rear seat accommodations, poor visibility and reduced EV range in cold weather (which is akin to complaining about lower mpg going uphill).
• From Automotive News: General Motors is taking more steps to boost production of the Chevrolet Equinox and GMC Terrain at the Canadian assembly plant that makes the popular crossovers, GM and a union official said today. GM is adding as many as 100 workers and will adjust the assembly line speed at its CAMI Automotive Inc. plant in Ingersoll, Ontario, said Dan Borthwick, president of Canadian Auto Workers Local 88, which represents workers at the plant. GM of Canada spokeswoman Faye Roberts confirmed the plans to add as many as 100 workers at the plant "to meet demand for the hot-selling Equinox and Terrain." The move will increase production by more than 50 vehicles a day, to more than 1,100, Borthwick said in an e-mail to Automotive News. The plant has been running three shifts and Saturday overtime shifts for nearly two years to meet high demand, Borthwick said
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
State of the Union October 4, 2011
Oct. 4, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee will be having a meeting in the tour holding room on Tuesday, October 4 at 3:30, 4:30 and after day shift at 5:30 to answer any further questions you may have. Also, the seniority date to hold Trim if no one transferred to second shift is 4-14-1986 and the date to hold Chassis is 9-26-1994.
• Ford and the UAW have reached a tentative agreement. Details are still coming out, but news outlets are reporting that the signing bonus is $6000 and there will be $1500 annual inflation protection payments in lieu of COLA. There were no wage increases negotiated for traditional employees. There will also be attrition packages of $50,000 for production and $100,000 for skilled trades who are retirement eligible. The agreement also secures more than 12,000 jobs, including 7,000 previously announced - 6,250 hourly and 750 salaried - and 5,750 new jobs that will be added by the end of 2012 and pay an entry-level wage, starting at $15.51 an hour. Among the product announcements is the commitment of the Transit van to the Kansas City plant and a medium duty vehicle and frame for the Avon Lake plant that currently assembles the Econoline. It is unclear if the Econoline will still be built at that facility but there has been speculation that the Transit in all its variations will replace the Econoline.
• From Bloomberg: Automakers, while beating estimates for industry sales, reduced spending on incentives for U.S. customers in September by 3.5 percent to an average of $2,653 per vehicle, according to Autodata Corp. Ford Motor Co. cut spending on discounts and promotions by 6.6 percent from a year earlier to an estimated $2,845 per vehicle, Autodata said Monday in an e-mailed statement. Chrysler Group's incentives fell 5.7 percent to $3,425. Nissan Motor Co. reduced discounts by 5.7 percent to $2,748. Industrywide light-vehicle sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 13.1 million in September. That's the fastest pace since April's 13.2 million and exceeds the 12.8 million rate that was the average of 14 analysts' estimates. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which returned to full output last month for the first time since Japan's tsunami in March, boosted incentive spending during the month. Honda increased spending by 6 percent to $2,337 per vehicle. Toyota raised incentives 5.5 percent to an estimated $2,238, Autodata said. General Motors Co. raised incentives 1.9 percent to $3,289 per vehicle. Through September, industrywide average spending on U.S. incentives fell 9.6 percent to $2,498 per vehicle.
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: The Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee will be having a meeting in the tour holding room on Tuesday, October 4 at 3:30, 4:30 and after day shift at 5:30 to answer any further questions you may have. Also, the seniority date to hold Trim if no one transferred to second shift is 4-14-1986 and the date to hold Chassis is 9-26-1994.
• Ford and the UAW have reached a tentative agreement. Details are still coming out, but news outlets are reporting that the signing bonus is $6000 and there will be $1500 annual inflation protection payments in lieu of COLA. There were no wage increases negotiated for traditional employees. There will also be attrition packages of $50,000 for production and $100,000 for skilled trades who are retirement eligible. The agreement also secures more than 12,000 jobs, including 7,000 previously announced - 6,250 hourly and 750 salaried - and 5,750 new jobs that will be added by the end of 2012 and pay an entry-level wage, starting at $15.51 an hour. Among the product announcements is the commitment of the Transit van to the Kansas City plant and a medium duty vehicle and frame for the Avon Lake plant that currently assembles the Econoline. It is unclear if the Econoline will still be built at that facility but there has been speculation that the Transit in all its variations will replace the Econoline.
• From Bloomberg: Automakers, while beating estimates for industry sales, reduced spending on incentives for U.S. customers in September by 3.5 percent to an average of $2,653 per vehicle, according to Autodata Corp. Ford Motor Co. cut spending on discounts and promotions by 6.6 percent from a year earlier to an estimated $2,845 per vehicle, Autodata said Monday in an e-mailed statement. Chrysler Group's incentives fell 5.7 percent to $3,425. Nissan Motor Co. reduced discounts by 5.7 percent to $2,748. Industrywide light-vehicle sales ran at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate of 13.1 million in September. That's the fastest pace since April's 13.2 million and exceeds the 12.8 million rate that was the average of 14 analysts' estimates. Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co., which returned to full output last month for the first time since Japan's tsunami in March, boosted incentive spending during the month. Honda increased spending by 6 percent to $2,337 per vehicle. Toyota raised incentives 5.5 percent to an estimated $2,238, Autodata said. General Motors Co. raised incentives 1.9 percent to $3,289 per vehicle. Through September, industrywide average spending on U.S. incentives fell 9.6 percent to $2,498 per vehicle.
Monday, October 3, 2011
State of the Union October 3, 2011
Oct. 3, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Your shop committee reached a tentative Local Agreement late Friday. We will be putting together highlight handouts today and hope to hand them out starting Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We believe that once you see what we have accomplished you will be very pleased with the contract. The shop committee will be having informational meetings on the Local Contract Thursday at 7am, 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time. The polls will be open from 4am to 7 pm on Thursday to vote.
About second shift staffing: An agreement with Management pursuant to Document 70 has been made to freeze all Paragraph 63b applications and shift preference applications as of the end of the shift on October 7. Any employee who wishes to transfer to another department needs to have their Par. 63b application on file in personnel by the end of shift October 7. The October 7 deadline also includes any employee who wants to withdraw any Par. 63b applications on file. Any applications received after this date will not be honored until January 3, 2012 .This will allow the Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee the ability to facilitate everyone getting to their choice of department and shift. Department and shift choices cannot be guaranteed, as they will be filled by seniority. In body shop and stamping, any shift preference received by end of shift October 7 can choose whether to move now or you can indicate you want to move on January 3, 2012. In body and stamping, open jobs on 2nd shift will be bid to those on that shift first. All the Par. 63b moves will be accomplished before National Hire moves are made.
The biggest question I receive on the floor is "can I hold day shift?" With the reduction of line speed from 46 JPH to 32 JPH there is approximately 30% too many people on day shift right now. I'll give you some ideas of what seniority it would take to hold days IF NO ONE voluntarily moves from days to nights. Understand this is all tentative and is subject to change and is only offered here to help you make a decision.
Material - 84 people on days now, management says they will only need 67 people on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 3/11/85 to hold days under that scenario
Body shop - 172 people on days now, management says they will only need 140 people on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 4/01/85 to hold days under that scenario
Quality - 44 people on days now, management says they will only need 32 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 1/07/85 to hold days under that scenario
Paint - 50 people on days now, management says they will only need 39 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 4/15/85 to hold days under that scenario,
Paint is a little different because of the various classifications - this date could go up or down depending on the classification.
Stamping - 28 people on day shift now, it takes 4/01/85 to hold days now but there are numerous higher seniority on 2nd shift now, so stamping could go up or down depending on shift preferences, a partial crew on 3rd shift will be added to stamping. (continued on back)
• Final Process - 35 people on days now, management says they will only need 26 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 1/07/85 seniority to hold days. Again, this date could go up or down depending on if you are in DVT or Repair.
A survey form will be distributed to all employees indicating your desire to remain on your current job (seniority permitting) or voluntarily transferring to second shift (application needs to be turned in by October 7). Once all Par. 63b moves and shift preference moves are identified, each department will be bidding the open 1st shift Primary job openings (again by seniority). Those indicating a desire to transfer to 2nd shift will then be allowed to bid on the 2nd shift jobs before anyone who is forced to second shift (by seniority). We hope to accomplish all this by October 14 and before any National Hire employees arrive in Wentzville, so your cooperation and patience is important to facilitate this quickly.
The Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee will be having a meeting in the tour holding room on Tuesday, October 4 at 3:30, 4:30 and after day shift at 5:30 to answer any further questions you may have.
Again, we cannot guaranteeshift or department, it all depends on seniority.
Both shifts will need additional Team Leaders. Anyone interested in a Team Leader position must first apply and be tested - applications are available in Personnel.
• Here is this week’s build information: 112 E-26 vans; 315 slider doors; 473 cutaways; 131 15-pass vans; 182 diesels; 145 r/h door deletes; 264 Enterprise rent-a-car; 186 exports; 86 YF7; 257 Onstar; 592 add. 3 gallons fuel; 29 brake deck spare tire; 82.2% white vans.
• General Motors today reported total sales of 207,145 vehicles in September, a 20-percent increase compared with September 2010. Retail deliveries were up 19 percent compared with the same month a year ago and accounted for 74 percent of GM sales. Deliveries to fleet customers increased 22 percent. In September, year-over-year passenger car sales increased 12 percent, crossover sales increased 7 percent and truck sales, which include full-size pickups and SUVs, increased 34 percent. Month-end dealer inventory in the United States was 558,157 units. GM’s full-size truck inventory was 208,650 full-size pickup trucks, which equates to an 88-days supply. GM is on track to meet its target of ending 2011 with a full-size pickup inventory of about 200,000 units.
o Chevrolet: In September, its 12 th month since going on sale, Cruze deliveries were 18,097 units, bringing its first full year of sales to 212,019 vehicles. Silverado sales increased 36 percent, Tahoe was up 63 percent and Equinox was up 33 percent.
o GMC: Sales have now increased for 24 consecutive months, year over year. Sierra sales were up 26 percent, Terrain sales were up 45 percent and Yukon was up 45 percent.
o Cadillac: Combined sales of the Cadillac CTS sedan, coupe and wagon increased 24 percent compared with September 2010. In addition, the Cadillac SRX was up 22 percent. Cadillac reduced its fleet sales by 54 percent.
o Buick: September was the brand’s 24th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains, with the Regal continuing to build momentum with sales up 87 percent. Enclave, which began the transformation of Buick, increased its sales by 10 percent.
o Van sales came in at 8402, up 36.5% over last September and the highest total since April this year.
• From Automotive News: The United Auto Workers called its local union plant officials to Detroit for a Tuesday meeting in anticipation of reaching an agreement with Ford Motor Co. on a new four-year contact. Michele Martin, UAW spokeswoman, said the union "hopes" it will have an agreement to present to the local union leaders at the Tuesday meeting. Martin said the union plant leaders were called on Sunday in order for them to travel to Detroit in time for the Tuesday meeting. She said there was no guarantee that there will be a deal in hand by Tuesday, however. On Sunday, UAW and Ford negotiators continued negotiations for the seventh consecutive day.
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Your shop committee reached a tentative Local Agreement late Friday. We will be putting together highlight handouts today and hope to hand them out starting Tuesday and Wednesday morning. We believe that once you see what we have accomplished you will be very pleased with the contract. The shop committee will be having informational meetings on the Local Contract Thursday at 7am, 1:15pm, 3pm, and 15 minutes after the longest line time. The polls will be open from 4am to 7 pm on Thursday to vote.
About second shift staffing: An agreement with Management pursuant to Document 70 has been made to freeze all Paragraph 63b applications and shift preference applications as of the end of the shift on October 7. Any employee who wishes to transfer to another department needs to have their Par. 63b application on file in personnel by the end of shift October 7. The October 7 deadline also includes any employee who wants to withdraw any Par. 63b applications on file. Any applications received after this date will not be honored until January 3, 2012 .This will allow the Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee the ability to facilitate everyone getting to their choice of department and shift. Department and shift choices cannot be guaranteed, as they will be filled by seniority. In body shop and stamping, any shift preference received by end of shift October 7 can choose whether to move now or you can indicate you want to move on January 3, 2012. In body and stamping, open jobs on 2nd shift will be bid to those on that shift first. All the Par. 63b moves will be accomplished before National Hire moves are made.
The biggest question I receive on the floor is "can I hold day shift?" With the reduction of line speed from 46 JPH to 32 JPH there is approximately 30% too many people on day shift right now. I'll give you some ideas of what seniority it would take to hold days IF NO ONE voluntarily moves from days to nights. Understand this is all tentative and is subject to change and is only offered here to help you make a decision.
Material - 84 people on days now, management says they will only need 67 people on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 3/11/85 to hold days under that scenario
Body shop - 172 people on days now, management says they will only need 140 people on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 4/01/85 to hold days under that scenario
Quality - 44 people on days now, management says they will only need 32 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 1/07/85 to hold days under that scenario
Paint - 50 people on days now, management says they will only need 39 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 4/15/85 to hold days under that scenario,
Paint is a little different because of the various classifications - this date could go up or down depending on the classification.
Stamping - 28 people on day shift now, it takes 4/01/85 to hold days now but there are numerous higher seniority on 2nd shift now, so stamping could go up or down depending on shift preferences, a partial crew on 3rd shift will be added to stamping. (continued on back)
• Final Process - 35 people on days now, management says they will only need 26 on one shift - when we go to two shifts, it would take 1/07/85 seniority to hold days. Again, this date could go up or down depending on if you are in DVT or Repair.
A survey form will be distributed to all employees indicating your desire to remain on your current job (seniority permitting) or voluntarily transferring to second shift (application needs to be turned in by October 7). Once all Par. 63b moves and shift preference moves are identified, each department will be bidding the open 1st shift Primary job openings (again by seniority). Those indicating a desire to transfer to 2nd shift will then be allowed to bid on the 2nd shift jobs before anyone who is forced to second shift (by seniority). We hope to accomplish all this by October 14 and before any National Hire employees arrive in Wentzville, so your cooperation and patience is important to facilitate this quickly.
The Joint 2nd shift Manpower Committee will be having a meeting in the tour holding room on Tuesday, October 4 at 3:30, 4:30 and after day shift at 5:30 to answer any further questions you may have.
Again, we cannot guaranteeshift or department, it all depends on seniority.
Both shifts will need additional Team Leaders. Anyone interested in a Team Leader position must first apply and be tested - applications are available in Personnel.
• Here is this week’s build information: 112 E-26 vans; 315 slider doors; 473 cutaways; 131 15-pass vans; 182 diesels; 145 r/h door deletes; 264 Enterprise rent-a-car; 186 exports; 86 YF7; 257 Onstar; 592 add. 3 gallons fuel; 29 brake deck spare tire; 82.2% white vans.
• General Motors today reported total sales of 207,145 vehicles in September, a 20-percent increase compared with September 2010. Retail deliveries were up 19 percent compared with the same month a year ago and accounted for 74 percent of GM sales. Deliveries to fleet customers increased 22 percent. In September, year-over-year passenger car sales increased 12 percent, crossover sales increased 7 percent and truck sales, which include full-size pickups and SUVs, increased 34 percent. Month-end dealer inventory in the United States was 558,157 units. GM’s full-size truck inventory was 208,650 full-size pickup trucks, which equates to an 88-days supply. GM is on track to meet its target of ending 2011 with a full-size pickup inventory of about 200,000 units.
o Chevrolet: In September, its 12 th month since going on sale, Cruze deliveries were 18,097 units, bringing its first full year of sales to 212,019 vehicles. Silverado sales increased 36 percent, Tahoe was up 63 percent and Equinox was up 33 percent.
o GMC: Sales have now increased for 24 consecutive months, year over year. Sierra sales were up 26 percent, Terrain sales were up 45 percent and Yukon was up 45 percent.
o Cadillac: Combined sales of the Cadillac CTS sedan, coupe and wagon increased 24 percent compared with September 2010. In addition, the Cadillac SRX was up 22 percent. Cadillac reduced its fleet sales by 54 percent.
o Buick: September was the brand’s 24th consecutive month of year-over-year sales gains, with the Regal continuing to build momentum with sales up 87 percent. Enclave, which began the transformation of Buick, increased its sales by 10 percent.
o Van sales came in at 8402, up 36.5% over last September and the highest total since April this year.
• From Automotive News: The United Auto Workers called its local union plant officials to Detroit for a Tuesday meeting in anticipation of reaching an agreement with Ford Motor Co. on a new four-year contact. Michele Martin, UAW spokeswoman, said the union "hopes" it will have an agreement to present to the local union leaders at the Tuesday meeting. Martin said the union plant leaders were called on Sunday in order for them to travel to Detroit in time for the Tuesday meeting. She said there was no guarantee that there will be a deal in hand by Tuesday, however. On Sunday, UAW and Ford negotiators continued negotiations for the seventh consecutive day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)