State of the Union November 15, 2011

Nov. 15, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
•    Reminder: Union meeting is tomorrow at 1 pm, 3 pm and 15 minutes after the longest first shift line time.
•    From the Civil Rights Committee: The following are the winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. fundraiser: 1st prize ($9,039) – Lynn Emery, body shop; 2nd prize (laptop computer) – Jamie Callaway, skilled trades; 3rd prize – ($300 gift card) – Earl Lee Jr., quality; $50 gas card winners – Lou Moos, Jeff Harris, Jim O’Conner. Thank you for your continued support.
•    Here is this week’s build information: 26 E-26 vans; 679 cutaways; 240 slider doors; 135 15- pass vans; 22.4% 07 loop; 142 r/h door deletes; 94 diesels; 244 Onstar; 70 exports; 36 brake deck spare tire; 300 Penske; 168 Enterprise rent-a-car; 38 government vans; 68.3% white vans.
•    From CNN: In last Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate in Rochester, Michigan, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said the federal government played too much of a role in saving automakers General Motors and Chrysler. He said he would have preferred a private bankruptcy process rather than the U.S. government giving billions of dollars in loans and taking a stake in the companies in 2009 (even though there was no private funding available at the time). He criticized the government's influence in the process, saying it essentially gave General Motors to the United Auto Workers, and Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat. The statement: "They gave General Motors to the UAW, and they gave Chrysler to Fiat." -- former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
The facts: In 2009, both General Motors and Chrysler went into bankruptcy to restructure after receiving billions of dollars in federal loans. As General Motors emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009, the U.S. Treasury took a 60.8% stake in the company in return for a $50 billion bailout. A trust established to fund health care benefits for UAW retirees -- not the UAW itself -- took a 17.5% stake. The Canadian government took a 12.5% stake, and unsecured bondholders were given a 10% share. The trust fund came about as part of GM's restructuring. The UAW essentially agreed to shift responsibility for retiree health care costs away from GM to the union-controlled trust fund, consisting of company stock rather than cash. Stock for the post-bankruptcy GM was available for public trading starting in November 2010. As of August, the U.S. Treasury still owned about a third of the shares, with the UAW fund owning about 12.8%, according to Fortune.
•    From the Detroit News: One year after its much-heralded IPO, which raised a record $23.1 billion, General Motors Co.'s stock has swooned 30 percent from its initial offering price. And taxpayers are still holding a big chunk of stock on which they'll lose money if the government were to sell off its stake now. At the current trading price, the government stands to lose about $15 billion on its investment in GM. The stock would have to climb to at least $53 a share for the U.S. Treasury to break even. Wall Street analysts remain optimistic the stock will rebound, eventually, listing it at a "moderate buy" based on the automaker's consistent quarterly profits, its focus on emerging global markets and its ambitious U.S. investment plans. But a slowdown in the world market and troubles in Europe have prompted analysts to dial down earlier expectations. GM stock tumbled 10.9 percent last Wednesday — to $22.31 — after the Detroit-based automaker revised its year-end outlook, saying fourth-quarter earnings will be flat over 2010. The company no longer expects to break even in Europe this year, a reversal of its previous forecast. On Monday, GM stock closed up 2.1 percent, to $22.99. "What we are looking at is an increasingly challenged economic environment going forward with a lot of uncertainty," GM Chief Financial Officer Dan Ammann said. GM plans to completely address its U.S. pension plan underfunding in the next few years. GM has cut its pension underfunding from $18 billion in late 2010 to $8.7 billion as of Sept. 30.