State of the Union November 7, 2011

State of the Union

Nov. 7, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

There will be a Suggestion Fair on Tuesday, Nov. 8, to promote use of the Suggestion program. It will be located at the bleachers at column B-38. 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. There will also be drawings for a Chevy Colorado jacket and other items that do not require having a suggestion submitted. Stop by to learn more about the suggestion program beginning at first break.

The Community Services Committee will be having a meeting Tuesday after first shift in the cafeteria.

For the first month in a very long time, we outsold the Ford Econoline. Here are the October sales results for the van market:
2011 2010 Change Share
GM 7331 6286 + 16.6% 44.3%
Ford Econoline 6806 7379 - 7.8% 41.1%
Mercedes Sprinter 1485 725 +112.7% 8.9%
Nissan NV 941 --- --- 5.7%
Ford Transit connect 2180 2577 - 12.2% ---

While overall net field supplies fell by 706 units, the slower sales rate resulted
in an increase in the days supply to 57 from 50 at the end of September. Passenger vans continue to be in short supply with only 606 units total. Chevy cargo vans are at a 43 day supply while cutaway inventories are around 100 days supply.

Here is this week’s build information: 44 E-26 vans; 726 cutaways; 301 slider doors; 130 15-pass vans; 120 r/h door deletes; 92 diesels; 307 Onstar; 28 brake deck spare tire; 332 Penske vans; 259 AT&T cng vans; 146 Enterprise cargo vans; 75.4% white vans; model mix is 31% cutaways, 51% cargo and 18% passenger (24% 07 loop).

There was extensive media coverage of last Thursday’s announcement. Here are some websites you can go to for articles, pictures and videos :
o https://gmweb.gm.com/sites/socrates/Pages/home.aspx
o http://www.gov.mo.gov/
o http://gallery.me.com/stevefechtphoto#106578

JEFFREY BROWN: But I guess I'm asking you about the potential rift, the frustrations within union ranks (about CEO pay and two-tier wages).
BOB KING: Well, you want to make -- I'm sorry, but you seem like you want to make a rift where I don't think there's a rift.
JEFFREY BROWN: OK.
BOB KING: Traditional workers voted overwhelmingly to support entry-level workers getting $3.50 raise -- an-hour raise, even though they were not.
We have seen this over and over again in the UAW. In the agricultural implement industry, we were forced into a two-tier situation a number of years ago. We have done three contracts since then. Every contract, the traditional workers have demanded that more be done to equalize the newer workers. And that's our goal in the auto industry, too.
JEFFREY BROWN: So what is the situation for the auto industry more broadly, after we watched what happened a couple years ago? Where are we now?
BOB KING: Well, we're in much better shape than we were.
We're concerned about what is going on in Europe. I mean, we're all tied together globally, economically. So we know we're not out of the woods yet. If Europe deteriorates economically, that will have impact in the U.S.
You know, right now, we were just in some meetings with General Motors today, with global unions and General Motors. And one of the points that the company was making that I concur with is that we think that the 13 million SAAR is steady because a lot of people are buying vehicles. They are replacing vehicles now.
Of course, we'd love to see it back up to 16, 17, but if we stay in the 13, 14 area, we will have healthy companies. Our members will share in profit-sharing. We will be building capacity and building strength for the future.
JEFFREY BROWN: And, more broadly, we're, of course, in this era where we're seeing many states push back against their public sector unions and more states talking about or implementing right-to-work laws. How do you make a case now for the traditional union in our era?
BOB KING: Well, I think the best example is the auto industry.
Here's business, management, and labor, and the government all work together. Rather than polarizing and taking polarizing positions, we came to the table collectively. We said, here are the issues. How do we do creative problem-solving to help the companies and help our membership?
And I think we showed both during a period of bankruptcy and now with this agreement that we can work together for the good of the companies, for the good of our membership and for the good of our communities and our country.
JEFFREY BROWN: And you think you can make a case to the American public that unions are still important?
BOB KING: I think absolutely we can. We're proving it.
If it wasn't for the UAW, a lot of these investments would have been all over the world and not in the United States of America. We stood up for our members. We stood up for America. And to the company's credit, they worked with us in creating jobs and investment here in the United States of America.
And so I believe in American consumers, which are already showing more preference again for U.S.-made vehicles, because we're making the highest-quality vehicles. We're going to -- we're going to see the market share grow for General Motors and for Chrysler and for Ford.

There will be no SOU for Tuesday November 8, 2011.