Nov. 30, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From the Civil Rights Committee: This is the final week to submit essays for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship awards. All entries must be postmarked by this Friday. Also, there will be a Civil Rights committee meeting today after first shift at the Union Hall.
From the Education Committee: We would like to thank everyone for their support on the basket raffle. The winners are: Kim Steffes (Premier) and Camella Woodson (core team).
There are still plenty of names available for the Adopt-A-Child for Christmas program. You can see Wanda Richard, Tina Hayes or Mike Bridgins for a name.
From Wards Auto: Credit a new production discipline and a more sober approach to inventory management, which has resulted in pricing power and allowed General Motors to flourish in the U.S. after the bankruptcy. GM simply does not need to keep its assembly plants running to cover massive fixed costs. Don Johnson, GM’s sales chief, told a meeting of Wall Street analysts in New York recently that the auto maker is using a new system to manage its inventories more tightly, without providing details of the approach. However, he says it amounts to every executive with a stake in GM’s inventory levels – from finance to marketing to sales – attending monthly meetings chaired by North America President Mark Reuss. “All the right people are in the room,” Johnson says. Production forecasts looking out 18 months are reviewed based on current production levels and monthly sales expectations. Some months, the group meets twice to make production adjustments if events dictate, Johnson says. Adjustments are made according to how high or low inventories for a specific model line, body style or weight class move off their optimum levels. Decisions made over monthly production schedules and incentive spending during the meeting is followed to the letter, which in the old GM was not always the case. “We have a process that can be followed,” Johnson says. “People could still choose to ignore it, but the culture of the company is so much more disciplined on these issues.” GM also sticks to a 60-day marketing plan, making only slight tweaks where necessary. The old GM might have sprung a new plan on dealers at the last minute in the hopes of making a certain number of sales in a given month. Rarely were such programs successful. “Often, dealers didn’t have time to comprehend the program, get their staff together on it and get advertising out to support it,” Johnson says.
From the Wall Street Journal: General Motors Co. said a “small number” of Chevrolet Volt owners have asked for loaner vehicles while the auto maker and federal regulators investigate whether the cars are at risk of catching fire after a serious crash. The auto maker on Monday offered loaners to 6,000 U.S. Volt owners in an effort to reassure customers after three crash-tests resulted in fires or sparks from the vehicle’s complex battery pack days or weeks after they sustained damage. A GM spokesman declined to give an exact number, but characterized the number of loaner requests and “a few” and “a small number.”
From the Detroit Free Press: The Detroit Three are poised to go on a hiring binge over the next four years as car and truck sales rebound and new labor contracts make it less costly for the automakers to add employees in the U.S., according to the Center for Automotive Research. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are likely to add 30,000 hourly and salaried employees in the U.S. by 2015, analysts from the Center for Automotive Research said during panel discussion this morning at Schoolcraft College. The Detroit Three’s employment increases will be driven by a recovery of industry sales, recent market share gains and new labor contracts that make it less costly for the automakers to employ autoworkers in the U.S., said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor group for the Center for Automotive Research. Dziczek also said she expects total employment for all U.S. automakers and suppliers will increase over the next four years by about 28%, or from 590,000 to 756,000. What’s more, many suppliers who have closed plants and cut employment to survive the recent recession are likely to struggle to find the right workers as demand for parts increases. “About 100,000 to 150,000 people need to be hired by suppliers over the next four years,” said Kristin Dziczek, director of the labor group for the Center for Automotive Research. David Andrea, vice president of industry analysis and economics for the Original Equipment Suppliers Association, agreed. The top performing auto suppliers are already scrambling to find skilled workers, Andrea said. “We are seeing significant pockets of constrained capacity,” Andrea said. “Those suppliers have to hire.” Sean McAlinden, senior economist for the Center for Automotive Research, said the UAW will gain about 10,000 new members as a result of job commitments made by the Detroit Three during the recent round of contract talks. McAlinden said he expects the number of hourly UAW members employed by the Detroit Three will increase from 110,000 to about 120,000 by 2015. McAlinden said his estimate is lower than the individual promises publicized by the UAW and the Detroit Three in recent months because it excludes existing workers who are relocating to new plants and includes expected membership losses due to retirement. Still, the job gains for the UAW and the Detroit Three are small compared with historical levels. Total UAW membership has declined from about 1.5 million members to less than 400,000 last year. Total employment for GM, Ford and Chrysler has declined from about 1 million in 1978 to less than 200,000 in 2010, according to Art Schwartz, president of Labor and Economics Associates and former General Motors labor negotiator.
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