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."