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.
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