December 21, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
•From Chairman Mike Bullock: I’ve got a couple of quick items to pass along: I signed off on retaining our temporary employees through February (they were originally scheduled to be laid off this week); and the in-plant eyeglass store is closing and safety glasses will be handled by the Eye Care Center of O’Fallon beginning in January. Also, layoff instruction forms are available at the entrances. Finally, I want to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday season and we’ll see you back on Jan. 22
•With this being the final edition of the State of the Union for 2012, we thought we’d take a look back at what was a very eventful year. It began with the long awaited return of the second shift and the addition of 430+ employees. December 2011 sales were reported and we sold nearly 11,000 that month. And we booked our first large order for CNG vans – 1200 for AT&T.
February saw the production ramp up continue and the beginning of Friday overtime production on the 2 on, 1 off cadence. The plant hit full line rate at the end of February. We also found out that we would receive a record profit sharing payout of $7000.
In March the overtime continued apace. There were 24 of our skilled trades members who accepted the special attrition package and retired at the end of the month. Unfortunately, we also announced a recall of 6000 vans because of a steering shaft defect.
In April we started the first ever Weight Loss Challenge. Chevrolet unveiled the redesigned Impala, continuing the remake of the Chevy car lineup that began with the Cruze, Malibu and Sonic. Nissan introduced the passenger version of their fullsize van to a collective yawn. In the meantime, a Chevy Express 4500 was pitted against an Econoline 450, each cutaways with identical boxes loaded to the max, in real world testing. ”Frankly, we were very surprised at the large gap in performance between these two trucks,” said Guy Mangiamele, AMCI Director of Vehicle Testing. “As the data clearly shows, the Ford E-450 simply had very little performance reserve at these weights compared to the Chevy 4500. And when you consider the Chevy’s real-world fuel economy advantage in percentage terms, it has cost-of-ownership implications over the lifetime of the vehicle.” On cue, the Express took home the Vincentric Best Fleet Value award for the 5th consecutive year. The month ended with our annual Earth Day, a successful gate drive ($4400) for March of Dimes March for Babies and our best ever torque audit – 100% compliance in every category.
In May we finally had our official groundbreaking ceremony for the new body shop, hosting Gov. Jay Nixon among others and garnering a lot of positive media coverage. Chevrolet announced plans to sell a large rear-wheel drive sedan to be called the SS, which will also double as the NASCAR entry. Van sales once again topped 10,000 units. And GM reported North American earnings of $1.7 billion.
June continued the upward trend of van sales, once again topping 10,000 and rising 33% over the previous year. We hosted nearly 100 upfitter representatives at the plant and gave them and the marketing team a tour of the shop. GM announced that they would be shutting down the Impala assembly line at Oshawa, Canada and move the production to Hamtramck, as well as moving some Equinox production from Canada to Spring Hill as contract talks with the CAW approached.
Van sales peaked in July, coming in just shy of 12,000 – up a whopping 82% and the best result since 2006. The plant passed an ISO recertification audit with only 2 minor non-conformances (other plants were getting 8 or more). GM reported 2nd quarter North American earnings of $2 billion.
In August we acknowledged a milestone of sorts with 5 of our members achieving 45 years of seniority. We finally got to model change and with it the highly anticipated 4 weeks of shutdown. During that time 700+ contractors descended on the plant for major projects in paint, frame schedule and to the conveyors along the 40 aisle. This ultimately wound up being 6 weeks as van sales softened in August and plummeted in September to 4886. And sadly, our longtime Regional Director (and 2250’s first shop chairman) Jim Wells unexpectedly passed away.
October was audit month with both the ISO environmental audit and the UAW-GM Health and Safety audits occurring – both of which turned out very well. GM announced 3rd quarter North American earnings of $1.8 billion. Plant manager John Dansby announced his retirement and Nancy Laubenthal was named as his replacement – the 9th plant manager here since 2000. October van sales recoverd a little but were still down 10% from 2011.
In November, with vital support from the UAW, President Barack Obama was reelected as well as Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Senator Claire McCaskill. We welcomed back over 8o of our brothers and sisters from Fairfax. November van sales were about the same as October at a bit over 7000. GM announced that the salaried pension plan will be transferred to Prudential in the form of a $25 billion annuity.
Which brings us to December, when we sponsored 155 needy children with the Adopt-A-Child program. Five of our vans were upfitted for wheelchairs and donated to veteran’s hospitals, including John Cochran in St. Louis. The new body shop roof is nearly complete as all of the main columns are in place. Another 4 weeks of downtime awaits as the paint shop will have the other color booth torn apart and rebuilt with state-of-the-art equipment in preparation for the Colorado/Canyon. More conveyor work will occur on the 40 aisle. So let’s enjoy our time off with family and friends over this extended holiday season. Be safe and come back rested and refreshed. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Friday, December 21, 2012
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
State of the Union December 18, 2012
December 18, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
· From Chairman Mike Bullock: We received a clarification from General Motors and the International Union pertaining to entry level wage and pay progression. Here it is:
Group 1: 1) Employees on roll prior to 10/3/2011
2) Pay rate at ratification is based on service date, not number of weeks worked
3) Additional pay increases will be 9/15/2012 and 9/15/2013
4) Pay progression does not apply to group 1
5) Wage rate will be $19.28 for all group 1 employees on 9/15/2013
Group 2:
1) Employees hired on or after 10/3/2011 or employees that have had a change in employement status after that date such as temp to entry level.
2) Pay rate and progression does apply to group 2 and is based on 52 weeks worked to advance to next step
3) New hire $15.78
After 52 working weeks $16.66
After 104 working weeks $17.53
After 156 working weeks $18.41
After 208 working weeks $19.28
A working week is defined as a week an employee will receive one week’s credit toward acquiring the maximum base rate of the job classification provided the employee had worked in the given week. Credit will not be given for any week during which for any reason the employee does not work except as provided in paragraph 108 (work comp leave of absence) and when the Christmas holidays consists of a full week, provided the employee would otherwise have been scheduled to work. Notwithstanding other provisions of this agreement, full weeks of time lost for vacation during the plant vacation shutdown week(s), bereavement, military duty and family medical leave act, if the employee would otherwise have been scheduled to work, will be considered as time worked. Each increase shall be effective at the beginning of the first pay period following the completion of the required number of weeks of employment. (paragraph 98(6) national agreement)
· Also: We have been told by the National Benefits Center that all employees with 1 year or more seniority are entitled to Sub Pay and Short Work Week benefits per the National guidelines.
· Attention: It is very important to make sure you have updated contact information for General Motors (address, phone number etc.). This must be done online. Go to MySocrates at www.mygm.gm.comand click on the “Personal” tab. If you do not have an account you must set one up.
· We have been informed that effective the first pay period of January, 2013 there will be a new payroll system. Here is the notification from GM Payroll Services:
Hourly Payroll Changes
Effective with the first pay in January 2013, GM US Hourly Payroll will migrate to a new payroll system. Access to employee online pay statements (iPAY) will remain active and unchanged. In addition to paper copies mailed to each employee, the 2012-W2 will be available online through iPAY by the end of January 2013. Employee questions can be directed to the GFSS Call Center at
HOURLYTIMEKEEPINGCENTER@gm.comor 866-245-5957.
Also, effective January 1-2013 GM FSS-Payroll Services will pay Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) and Sickness and Accident (S&A) benefits. Payroll will pay SUB and Hourly S&A payments on the same direct deposit or pay card as the regular payroll. Please note that CISA and Sedgwick will continue to administer the programs. Questions concerning eligibility for payments should be directed to Fidelity at 1-800-489-4646. All other questions can be answered by the GFSS Call Center at HOURLYTIMEKEEPINGCENTER@gm.comor 866-245-5957.
· The UAW and General Motors will present a van to the VA St. Louis Health Care System this Thursday morning. These vans are specially adapted to accommodate veterans using wheelchairs or who have other mobility issues and will be used for transporting veterans to medical appointments and other activities.
· From Automotive News: UAW President Bob King said he expects few defections by his members when Michigan's right-to-work law takes effect in March. Unionized workers at parts suppliers will be among the first to test King's confidence. As supplier contracts with the UAW expire and are renewed or negotiated after the law takes effect, employees will be able to leave the union. King said the union is providing value to members, as evidenced by the fact that 90 percent of UAW-represented auto workers in right-to-work states have chosen to stay in the union. "We're going to continue doing the best job we can and be rewarded with the loyalty of the membership," King said. He spoke by phone from Geneva, where he was attending a meeting of global union federations. King said the best way to keep members from leaving the union is to bargain hard for wages and benefits and continue to represent worker interests in health, safety and work rules. "That's why there's solidarity in the workplace," King said.
· Ford has released more information about the full-size Transit van slated to replace the Econoline. Scheduled for sale in the fall of 2014, The Transit will arrive with a choice of three body lengths, two wheelbases and three roof heights. In its maximum passenger-carrying specification, the Transit will carry 15 people. It will be offered in van, wagon, chassis cab and cutaway versions. Engine choices will include Ford's 3.7-liter V6, the EcoBoost V6 and a new 3.2-liter Power Stroke diesel – no V8 engines.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
· From Chairman Mike Bullock: We received a clarification from General Motors and the International Union pertaining to entry level wage and pay progression. Here it is:
Group 1: 1) Employees on roll prior to 10/3/2011
2) Pay rate at ratification is based on service date, not number of weeks worked
3) Additional pay increases will be 9/15/2012 and 9/15/2013
4) Pay progression does not apply to group 1
5) Wage rate will be $19.28 for all group 1 employees on 9/15/2013
Group 2:
1) Employees hired on or after 10/3/2011 or employees that have had a change in employement status after that date such as temp to entry level.
2) Pay rate and progression does apply to group 2 and is based on 52 weeks worked to advance to next step
3) New hire $15.78
After 52 working weeks $16.66
After 104 working weeks $17.53
After 156 working weeks $18.41
After 208 working weeks $19.28
A working week is defined as a week an employee will receive one week’s credit toward acquiring the maximum base rate of the job classification provided the employee had worked in the given week. Credit will not be given for any week during which for any reason the employee does not work except as provided in paragraph 108 (work comp leave of absence) and when the Christmas holidays consists of a full week, provided the employee would otherwise have been scheduled to work. Notwithstanding other provisions of this agreement, full weeks of time lost for vacation during the plant vacation shutdown week(s), bereavement, military duty and family medical leave act, if the employee would otherwise have been scheduled to work, will be considered as time worked. Each increase shall be effective at the beginning of the first pay period following the completion of the required number of weeks of employment. (paragraph 98(6) national agreement)
· Also: We have been told by the National Benefits Center that all employees with 1 year or more seniority are entitled to Sub Pay and Short Work Week benefits per the National guidelines.
· Attention: It is very important to make sure you have updated contact information for General Motors (address, phone number etc.). This must be done online. Go to MySocrates at www.mygm.gm.comand click on the “Personal” tab. If you do not have an account you must set one up.
· We have been informed that effective the first pay period of January, 2013 there will be a new payroll system. Here is the notification from GM Payroll Services:
Hourly Payroll Changes
Effective with the first pay in January 2013, GM US Hourly Payroll will migrate to a new payroll system. Access to employee online pay statements (iPAY) will remain active and unchanged. In addition to paper copies mailed to each employee, the 2012-W2 will be available online through iPAY by the end of January 2013. Employee questions can be directed to the GFSS Call Center at
HOURLYTIMEKEEPINGCENTER@gm.comor 866-245-5957.
Also, effective January 1-2013 GM FSS-Payroll Services will pay Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) and Sickness and Accident (S&A) benefits. Payroll will pay SUB and Hourly S&A payments on the same direct deposit or pay card as the regular payroll. Please note that CISA and Sedgwick will continue to administer the programs. Questions concerning eligibility for payments should be directed to Fidelity at 1-800-489-4646. All other questions can be answered by the GFSS Call Center at HOURLYTIMEKEEPINGCENTER@gm.comor 866-245-5957.
· The UAW and General Motors will present a van to the VA St. Louis Health Care System this Thursday morning. These vans are specially adapted to accommodate veterans using wheelchairs or who have other mobility issues and will be used for transporting veterans to medical appointments and other activities.
· From Automotive News: UAW President Bob King said he expects few defections by his members when Michigan's right-to-work law takes effect in March. Unionized workers at parts suppliers will be among the first to test King's confidence. As supplier contracts with the UAW expire and are renewed or negotiated after the law takes effect, employees will be able to leave the union. King said the union is providing value to members, as evidenced by the fact that 90 percent of UAW-represented auto workers in right-to-work states have chosen to stay in the union. "We're going to continue doing the best job we can and be rewarded with the loyalty of the membership," King said. He spoke by phone from Geneva, where he was attending a meeting of global union federations. King said the best way to keep members from leaving the union is to bargain hard for wages and benefits and continue to represent worker interests in health, safety and work rules. "That's why there's solidarity in the workplace," King said.
· Ford has released more information about the full-size Transit van slated to replace the Econoline. Scheduled for sale in the fall of 2014, The Transit will arrive with a choice of three body lengths, two wheelbases and three roof heights. In its maximum passenger-carrying specification, the Transit will carry 15 people. It will be offered in van, wagon, chassis cab and cutaway versions. Engine choices will include Ford's 3.7-liter V6, the EcoBoost V6 and a new 3.2-liter Power Stroke diesel – no V8 engines.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
December 12, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
There will be a CAP Committee meeting today between shifts at the Union Hall. There will also be a Civil Rights Committee meeting Monday, Dec. 17 at 3 pm at the Union Hall. In both cases, all are welcome.
A total of $914 was raised with the Pre-trim bake sale for Adopt-A-Child. This year employees have “adopted” 155 children. Thanks to everyone who has supported this great cause.
For 2nd shift VAP drivers, Pat Workman will be working a split shift this week to help you get signed up for your overnight drive vehicle. See Pat at the suggestions office through 7:30 p.m. to fill out your driver’s pass.
The annual Chassis Christmas Party will be this Friday, Dec. 14 after first shift at Maggie Malones (990 Wentzville Pkwy, Wentzville). There will be free food from 4 pm – 6 pm, drink specials, prizes, live music and a visit from Santa! All are welcome. For more info contact Susan Daniel (Picou) at column F43.
From the International Union UAW: More than 17,000 Michigan residents from all walks of life rallied Tuesday outside the State Capitol building as anti-worker legislators heeded Gov. Rick Snyder’s call to divide Michigan by ramming through a so-called “right-to-work” bill which promises to kill jobs, lower wages, crush workers’ rights and unravel the middle class. Snyder, who seemingly misled the public by announcing he would sign the bill Wednesday, waited until the thousands who had gathered outside the capital returned home before calling a last-minute press conference and bill signing on Tuesday night. Earlier this year, Snyder called the legislation “divisive” and “not part of his agenda.” Now, after his party lost seats in the Michigan House of Representatives, Snyder rushed the bill through in just six days, with no public hearing. The bill reverse decades of balanced labor law in Michigan, which has yielded stable industrial relations, good middle-class jobs, and broadly shared prosperity. Studies have shown that workers in so-called “right to work” states earn an average of $1,500 less annually. Continued citizen protests are expected throughout the state in coming days and months. Workers are weighing political, legal and legislative options as well, including putting the measure on the ballot in 2014 (the same year that Snyder is up for re-election), a move similar to what Ohio voters did in 2011 when they overturned an anti-worker law championed by their governor.
Wards Auto has named their 10 Best Engines for 2013. This year’s winners:
Here’s what they had to say about the Cadillace 2.0L : Another stout 2.0L direct-injection turbocharged 4-cyl. that muscles its way back into the winners’ circle with a remarkable 136 hp/L comes from General Motors, in the all-new rear-wheel-drive Cadillac ATS. This engine replaces a similar 2.0L Ecotec turbo that won a Ward’s 10 Best Engines award last year in the front-wheel-drive Buick Regal GS. But the new version reduces engine friction some 16%; incorporates a more-active continuously variable valve timing system for better breathing; boosts highway fuel economy 4 mpg (1.7 km/L); and positions the ATS to compete head-on with well-established German brands. GM developed the 2.0L turbo alongside a new naturally aspirated 2.5L 4-cyl., which also was a contender, and the two engines share some componentry, which makes both engines more profitable than those they replace. That’s smart engineering. Installation volumes also will be higher for both engines, which power the ATS and new Chevrolet Malibu.
From Automotive News: Ram will appoint more dealerships to handle a growing lineup of commercial pickups, chassis cabs and vans, brand chief Fred Diaz says.
About one quarter of Chrysler Group's 2,400 U.S. dealerships have the BusinessLink designation. They can sell and service Ram's commercial vehicles and promise to give service priority to commercial customers. Dealerships must "have next-available-bay service, because if something's wrong, you have to be able to get [commercial customers] in and get them out," Diaz said last month at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Ram is preparing a re-engineered lineup of heavy-duty pickups and chassis cabs in early 2013 as well as a rebadged Fiat Ducato full-sized van that it will call the Ram ProMaster later in the year. The van will allow Ram to compete for commercial customers who need pickups and vans. Chrysler Group hasn't had a full-sized commercial van since the Sprinter went to Mercedes in January 2010 after Chrysler's trip through Bankruptcy Court in 2009.
When the Ram ProMaster van is introduced in the third quarter of 2013, it will be the only full-sized commercial van in its segment with front-wheel drive. This will give it a lower load floor than competitors but could reduce traction if the van's load is placed at the extreme rear of the vehicle. Diaz said fwd is an advantage, especially in snowy climates. "I think it's something that we're going to tout, particularly in those northern states and snow states where front-wheel drive is far more acceptable than it is in other parts of the world." At least one other commercial van is in the works. In September, Chrysler trademarked the name ProMaster City for potential use on a smaller commercial van from Fiat, the Doblo. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
There will be a CAP Committee meeting today between shifts at the Union Hall. There will also be a Civil Rights Committee meeting Monday, Dec. 17 at 3 pm at the Union Hall. In both cases, all are welcome.
A total of $914 was raised with the Pre-trim bake sale for Adopt-A-Child. This year employees have “adopted” 155 children. Thanks to everyone who has supported this great cause.
For 2nd shift VAP drivers, Pat Workman will be working a split shift this week to help you get signed up for your overnight drive vehicle. See Pat at the suggestions office through 7:30 p.m. to fill out your driver’s pass.
The annual Chassis Christmas Party will be this Friday, Dec. 14 after first shift at Maggie Malones (990 Wentzville Pkwy, Wentzville). There will be free food from 4 pm – 6 pm, drink specials, prizes, live music and a visit from Santa! All are welcome. For more info contact Susan Daniel (Picou) at column F43.
From the International Union UAW: More than 17,000 Michigan residents from all walks of life rallied Tuesday outside the State Capitol building as anti-worker legislators heeded Gov. Rick Snyder’s call to divide Michigan by ramming through a so-called “right-to-work” bill which promises to kill jobs, lower wages, crush workers’ rights and unravel the middle class. Snyder, who seemingly misled the public by announcing he would sign the bill Wednesday, waited until the thousands who had gathered outside the capital returned home before calling a last-minute press conference and bill signing on Tuesday night. Earlier this year, Snyder called the legislation “divisive” and “not part of his agenda.” Now, after his party lost seats in the Michigan House of Representatives, Snyder rushed the bill through in just six days, with no public hearing. The bill reverse decades of balanced labor law in Michigan, which has yielded stable industrial relations, good middle-class jobs, and broadly shared prosperity. Studies have shown that workers in so-called “right to work” states earn an average of $1,500 less annually. Continued citizen protests are expected throughout the state in coming days and months. Workers are weighing political, legal and legislative options as well, including putting the measure on the ballot in 2014 (the same year that Snyder is up for re-election), a move similar to what Ohio voters did in 2011 when they overturned an anti-worker law championed by their governor.
Wards Auto has named their 10 Best Engines for 2013. This year’s winners:
- 3.0L TFSI Supercharged DOHC V-6 (Audi S5)
- 2.0L N20 Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (BMW328i)
- 3.0L N55 Turbocharged DOHC I-6 (BMW 135is coupe)
- 3.6L Pentastar DOHC V-6 (Ram 1500)
- 2.0L EcoBoost DOHC I-4 (FordFocus ST/Taurus)
- 5.8L Supercharged DOHC V-8 (Ford Shelby GT500)
- 2.0L Turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Cadillac ATS)
- 2.4L DOHC I-4 (HondaAccord Sport)
- 3.5L SOHC V-6 (Honda Accord)
- 2.0L FA DOHC H-4 Boxer (Subaru BRZ)
Here’s what they had to say about the Cadillace 2.0L : Another stout 2.0L direct-injection turbocharged 4-cyl. that muscles its way back into the winners’ circle with a remarkable 136 hp/L comes from General Motors, in the all-new rear-wheel-drive Cadillac ATS. This engine replaces a similar 2.0L Ecotec turbo that won a Ward’s 10 Best Engines award last year in the front-wheel-drive Buick Regal GS. But the new version reduces engine friction some 16%; incorporates a more-active continuously variable valve timing system for better breathing; boosts highway fuel economy 4 mpg (1.7 km/L); and positions the ATS to compete head-on with well-established German brands. GM developed the 2.0L turbo alongside a new naturally aspirated 2.5L 4-cyl., which also was a contender, and the two engines share some componentry, which makes both engines more profitable than those they replace. That’s smart engineering. Installation volumes also will be higher for both engines, which power the ATS and new Chevrolet Malibu.
From Automotive News: Ram will appoint more dealerships to handle a growing lineup of commercial pickups, chassis cabs and vans, brand chief Fred Diaz says.
About one quarter of Chrysler Group's 2,400 U.S. dealerships have the BusinessLink designation. They can sell and service Ram's commercial vehicles and promise to give service priority to commercial customers. Dealerships must "have next-available-bay service, because if something's wrong, you have to be able to get [commercial customers] in and get them out," Diaz said last month at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Ram is preparing a re-engineered lineup of heavy-duty pickups and chassis cabs in early 2013 as well as a rebadged Fiat Ducato full-sized van that it will call the Ram ProMaster later in the year. The van will allow Ram to compete for commercial customers who need pickups and vans. Chrysler Group hasn't had a full-sized commercial van since the Sprinter went to Mercedes in January 2010 after Chrysler's trip through Bankruptcy Court in 2009.
When the Ram ProMaster van is introduced in the third quarter of 2013, it will be the only full-sized commercial van in its segment with front-wheel drive. This will give it a lower load floor than competitors but could reduce traction if the van's load is placed at the extreme rear of the vehicle. Diaz said fwd is an advantage, especially in snowy climates. "I think it's something that we're going to tout, particularly in those northern states and snow states where front-wheel drive is far more acceptable than it is in other parts of the world." At least one other commercial van is in the works. In September, Chrysler trademarked the name ProMaster City for potential use on a smaller commercial van from Fiat, the Doblo. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
State of the Union December 5, 2012
December 5, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
If you were chosen for an overnight drive (VAP) you need to see Pat Workman at the Suggestions office to fill out your driver’s pass and receive instructions about the guidelines of the program. You will need to present your driver’s license at that time as well. The master schedule is posted in the cafeteria. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the vehicle before hitting the road as some of the vehicles have technology and controls that you haven’t used before.
As reported, van sales rose 14.7% in November, the best result for that month since 2008. Here is how the rest of the segment fared:
---
Field supplies as measured in days was virtually unchanged at 61. Overall units in the field were up almost 1500, with cargo vans accounting for the bulk of the increase. Passenger van supplies continue to be very low, with a little less than 1100 total (GM has 4400 dealers).
TrueCar.com a research and forecasting company, estimated the average transaction price for light vehicles in the U.S. in November totaled $30,832, which is up $335 or 1.1% from November 2011 and up $346 or 1.1% from this past October. TrueCar also estimated the average incentive is $2,764, which marks an increase of $117 or 4.4% from the year-earlier period and a jump of $447 or 19% from alst October.2012. The estimated ratio of incentives to average transaction prices wass 9% in November, which is up from 8.7% a year earlier and up from 7.6% in October 2012.
From the Wall Street Journal: General Motors Co. plans to drive the styling of its top-selling pickup trucks away from the rough and rugged looks of the past decade when it launches redesigned models next year, the head of the auto maker's North American operations said on Wednesday.
Redesigned large Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups are due out next year, to be followed by a new line of smaller pickups in 2014 to lure customers who are willing to accept less towing power or payload capacity for better fuel economy. The large pickups are GM's highest-volume models in the U.S., and analysts estimate they generate an outsize share of the auto maker's global profits.
Mark Reuss, head of GM's North American operations, said the company's new large trucks will mark a departure from recent years during which GM and its leading rivals in the segment-F ord Motor Co.'s F-series trucks, Chrysler Group LLC's Ram line, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Tundra and Nissan Motor Corp.'s Titan-all strove to project tough images with "big, big chrome grilles" and front ends that borrowed the looks of long-haul Class 8 trucks.
"When you see our [new] trucks, they'll look powerful, but not overdone," Mr. Reuss said. "The truck market is changing. People are ready to see something beautiful, refined and highly engineered."
Mr. Reuss also elaborated on GM's strategy to use two different truck lines to respond to consumer demand for greater fuel efficiency. GM archrival Ford has scored a hit with a version of its F-150 pickup that uses a turbocharged, six-cylinder engine-b randed "EcoBoost"-to achieve a rating of 22 highway miles on a gallon of gasoline, better than either the six- or eight-cylinder engines offered in the current Silverado.
Mr. Reuss said GM's new smaller trucks should outdo the EcoBoost, and give GM a truck it can use to compete with Toyota's popular Tacoma model, which appeals to people who want a "lifestyle" truck for play rather than work. These customers "want 90% of the duty cycle, and 120% of the fuel economy" of a large pickup such as the Silverado, Mr. Reuss said.
GM is also looking at offering a diesel engine in its new light-duty trucks-a move that could yield better fuel-efficiency numbers. Mr. Reuss didn't offer details.
During the first 10 months of this year, sales of Ford's F-series lineup have grown 11%, driven in part by demand for the EcoBoost models, while Silverado sales have risen just 1.3%, according to Autodata Corp. Mr. Reuss indicated he expects that trend to change.
"We've had the oldest trucks in the market," Mr. Reuss said. "And now we'll have the newest."
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
If you were chosen for an overnight drive (VAP) you need to see Pat Workman at the Suggestions office to fill out your driver’s pass and receive instructions about the guidelines of the program. You will need to present your driver’s license at that time as well. The master schedule is posted in the cafeteria. We also recommend that you familiarize yourself with the vehicle before hitting the road as some of the vehicles have technology and controls that you haven’t used before.
As reported, van sales rose 14.7% in November, the best result for that month since 2008. Here is how the rest of the segment fared:
| 2012 | 2011 | Change | Share | |
| Ford Econoline | 8400 | 7795 | +7.8% | 46.4% |
| GM | 7021 | 6119 | +14.7% | 38.8% |
| Mercedes Sprinter | 1630 | 1045 | +56% | 9.0% |
| Nissan NV | 1042 | 1238 | -15.8% | 5.8% |
| Ford Transit connect | 2853 | 2717 | +5% | ---- |
Field supplies as measured in days was virtually unchanged at 61. Overall units in the field were up almost 1500, with cargo vans accounting for the bulk of the increase. Passenger van supplies continue to be very low, with a little less than 1100 total (GM has 4400 dealers).
TrueCar.com a research and forecasting company, estimated the average transaction price for light vehicles in the U.S. in November totaled $30,832, which is up $335 or 1.1% from November 2011 and up $346 or 1.1% from this past October. TrueCar also estimated the average incentive is $2,764, which marks an increase of $117 or 4.4% from the year-earlier period and a jump of $447 or 19% from alst October.2012. The estimated ratio of incentives to average transaction prices wass 9% in November, which is up from 8.7% a year earlier and up from 7.6% in October 2012.
From the Wall Street Journal: General Motors Co. plans to drive the styling of its top-selling pickup trucks away from the rough and rugged looks of the past decade when it launches redesigned models next year, the head of the auto maker's North American operations said on Wednesday.
Redesigned large Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups are due out next year, to be followed by a new line of smaller pickups in 2014 to lure customers who are willing to accept less towing power or payload capacity for better fuel economy. The large pickups are GM's highest-volume models in the U.S., and analysts estimate they generate an outsize share of the auto maker's global profits.
Mark Reuss, head of GM's North American operations, said the company's new large trucks will mark a departure from recent years during which GM and its leading rivals in the segment-F ord Motor Co.'s F-series trucks, Chrysler Group LLC's Ram line, Toyota Motor Corp.'s Tundra and Nissan Motor Corp.'s Titan-all strove to project tough images with "big, big chrome grilles" and front ends that borrowed the looks of long-haul Class 8 trucks.
"When you see our [new] trucks, they'll look powerful, but not overdone," Mr. Reuss said. "The truck market is changing. People are ready to see something beautiful, refined and highly engineered."
Mr. Reuss also elaborated on GM's strategy to use two different truck lines to respond to consumer demand for greater fuel efficiency. GM archrival Ford has scored a hit with a version of its F-150 pickup that uses a turbocharged, six-cylinder engine-b randed "EcoBoost"-to achieve a rating of 22 highway miles on a gallon of gasoline, better than either the six- or eight-cylinder engines offered in the current Silverado.
Mr. Reuss said GM's new smaller trucks should outdo the EcoBoost, and give GM a truck it can use to compete with Toyota's popular Tacoma model, which appeals to people who want a "lifestyle" truck for play rather than work. These customers "want 90% of the duty cycle, and 120% of the fuel economy" of a large pickup such as the Silverado, Mr. Reuss said.
GM is also looking at offering a diesel engine in its new light-duty trucks-a move that could yield better fuel-efficiency numbers. Mr. Reuss didn't offer details.
During the first 10 months of this year, sales of Ford's F-series lineup have grown 11%, driven in part by demand for the EcoBoost models, while Silverado sales have risen just 1.3%, according to Autodata Corp. Mr. Reuss indicated he expects that trend to change.
"We've had the oldest trucks in the market," Mr. Reuss said. "And now we'll have the newest."
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Thursday, November 29, 2012
State of the Union November 29, 2012
November 29, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The December production schedule is out. Contrary to some rumors, there will be production the week of the 17th. Overall, daily production remains 544 combined for both shifts. The Christmas holiday period runs from Dec. 22 through Jan. 1 and there will be no production through the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan 21. As of now, production is scheduled to resume Jan. 22.
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
There will be a GM employees and family event this Sunday, Dec. 2 at Shoe Carnival from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. Just show your employee ID and get an additional 30% off, including sale prices, at the O’Fallon (2209 Highway K) and St. Charles (3867 Mexico Rd, Cave Springs Crossing) stores.
From Automotive News: The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid landed atop Consumer Reports' annual owner-satisfaction ranking for the second straight year. Ninety-two percent of responding Volt owners in a poll of the magazine's subscribers said they definitely would buy a Volt again, tops among 240 models, the magazine said today. The Volt's two-year reign "points to the continuing trend of owners' enthusiasm for cars that are fuel-efficient cars, especially as we see more and more hybrid and electric models hitting the market," Rik Paul, Consumer Reports' auto editor, said in a statement. It's also affirmation for GM executives who've battled bad press from early soft sales, scathing criticism from opponents of green-car subsidies, and a late 2011 federal safety probe into battery fires that turned up no significant risks. The Nissan Versa sedan received the lowest rating from owners. Scores are based on the percentage of respondents who answered "definitely yes" to the following question: "Considering all factors -- price, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc., -- would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?" The Volt was joined in the winner’s circle by the Corvette, Silverado and Avalanche. Brand nationality doesn’t seem to have a strong effect on owner satisfaction: The 44 top-rated models include 16 American, 14 Asian, and 14 European vehicles.
From the Wall Street Journal: The U.S. auto industry is poised to report November sales cruised to another four-year high, a sign that the domestic market has returned to health even while Europe and Asia sales falter. Industry executives interviewed ahead of this week's Los Angeles Auto Show said November results, due out next week, should continue the year's big gains. Some analysts estimate November sales could hit an annualized selling pace of 15.2 million cars and light trucks-the strongest single monthly showing since 2008. Next year, U.S. sales are projected to reach between 14.5 million and just over 15 million cars and light trucks, a third consecutive year of growth. U.S. sales this year are projected to hit 14.4 million vehicles. Auto executives are watching the debate over federal taxes and spending, and are concerned about the risks should President Obama and Congress fail to reach a resolution. But for now, they say more U.S. consumers are willing to buy.
Reid Bigland, Chrysler Group LLC's Dodge brand chief, says, "If you look at the automotive industry and you benchmark November, it's kind of like what fiscal cliff?" The biggest factor in the optimism for 2013 U.S. auto sales is the advanced age of so many of the 245 million cars and light trucks now on the road. "The U.S. is a rolling junkyard," says Jim O'Sullivan, president of Mazda Motor Corp.'s North American unit. The average car on the road in the U.S. is now a record 11 years old, industry executives say and about 20% are 16 years old. When customers wheel their rattletraps into showrooms, they're also finding credit is relatively cheap and available. "Banks that weren't financing…are financing now," Mr. O'Sullivan says.
A third engine for U.S. auto demand is a volley of new cars and trucks, many on display Wednesday at the convention center here, that offer customers significant advances in fuel efficiency, safety and entertainment technology compared with cars made four or five years ago, let alone 11 years ago. The owner of an 11-year-old, six cylinder Ford Explorer that averages about 15 miles on a gallon of gasoline could replace it with a 2013 Explorer that gets up to 23 mpg with a four-cylinder, turbocharged "EcoBoost" model and use the difference to help fund a loan, say car makers. "We are seeing wholesale refreshes of significant segments. That is unprecedented," says Jim Farley, Ford's global sales and marketing chief.
Still, auto executives here say the uncertainty over future tax rates and federal spending must be resolved soon. "I don't think many people will forgive the politicians if just through stalemate, they don't find a more bipartisan way forward," said Jonathan Browning, head of Volkswagen AG's U.S. operations. Mr. Browning is more cautious than some of his rivals about near term U.S. industry growth. "I still describe it as a choppy growth," he says. Industry executives here say that even if the worst case scenarios for the economy come to pass and the nation slips back into recession, they are better prepared than in the past.
Annual U.S. sales could fall to as few as 10 million to 11 million vehicles and GM and most other auto makers could still break even, said Mark Reuss, head of General Motors's North American operations, "The industry is in a completely different place in its ability to adapt to different [sales] levels and make money," said Mr. Reuss.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
The December production schedule is out. Contrary to some rumors, there will be production the week of the 17th. Overall, daily production remains 544 combined for both shifts. The Christmas holiday period runs from Dec. 22 through Jan. 1 and there will be no production through the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday, Jan 21. As of now, production is scheduled to resume Jan. 22.
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
There will be a GM employees and family event this Sunday, Dec. 2 at Shoe Carnival from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. Just show your employee ID and get an additional 30% off, including sale prices, at the O’Fallon (2209 Highway K) and St. Charles (3867 Mexico Rd, Cave Springs Crossing) stores.
From Automotive News: The Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid landed atop Consumer Reports' annual owner-satisfaction ranking for the second straight year. Ninety-two percent of responding Volt owners in a poll of the magazine's subscribers said they definitely would buy a Volt again, tops among 240 models, the magazine said today. The Volt's two-year reign "points to the continuing trend of owners' enthusiasm for cars that are fuel-efficient cars, especially as we see more and more hybrid and electric models hitting the market," Rik Paul, Consumer Reports' auto editor, said in a statement. It's also affirmation for GM executives who've battled bad press from early soft sales, scathing criticism from opponents of green-car subsidies, and a late 2011 federal safety probe into battery fires that turned up no significant risks. The Nissan Versa sedan received the lowest rating from owners. Scores are based on the percentage of respondents who answered "definitely yes" to the following question: "Considering all factors -- price, reliability, comfort, enjoyment, etc., -- would you get this car if you had it to do all over again?" The Volt was joined in the winner’s circle by the Corvette, Silverado and Avalanche. Brand nationality doesn’t seem to have a strong effect on owner satisfaction: The 44 top-rated models include 16 American, 14 Asian, and 14 European vehicles.
From the Wall Street Journal: The U.S. auto industry is poised to report November sales cruised to another four-year high, a sign that the domestic market has returned to health even while Europe and Asia sales falter. Industry executives interviewed ahead of this week's Los Angeles Auto Show said November results, due out next week, should continue the year's big gains. Some analysts estimate November sales could hit an annualized selling pace of 15.2 million cars and light trucks-the strongest single monthly showing since 2008. Next year, U.S. sales are projected to reach between 14.5 million and just over 15 million cars and light trucks, a third consecutive year of growth. U.S. sales this year are projected to hit 14.4 million vehicles. Auto executives are watching the debate over federal taxes and spending, and are concerned about the risks should President Obama and Congress fail to reach a resolution. But for now, they say more U.S. consumers are willing to buy.
Reid Bigland, Chrysler Group LLC's Dodge brand chief, says, "If you look at the automotive industry and you benchmark November, it's kind of like what fiscal cliff?" The biggest factor in the optimism for 2013 U.S. auto sales is the advanced age of so many of the 245 million cars and light trucks now on the road. "The U.S. is a rolling junkyard," says Jim O'Sullivan, president of Mazda Motor Corp.'s North American unit. The average car on the road in the U.S. is now a record 11 years old, industry executives say and about 20% are 16 years old. When customers wheel their rattletraps into showrooms, they're also finding credit is relatively cheap and available. "Banks that weren't financing…are financing now," Mr. O'Sullivan says.
A third engine for U.S. auto demand is a volley of new cars and trucks, many on display Wednesday at the convention center here, that offer customers significant advances in fuel efficiency, safety and entertainment technology compared with cars made four or five years ago, let alone 11 years ago. The owner of an 11-year-old, six cylinder Ford Explorer that averages about 15 miles on a gallon of gasoline could replace it with a 2013 Explorer that gets up to 23 mpg with a four-cylinder, turbocharged "EcoBoost" model and use the difference to help fund a loan, say car makers. "We are seeing wholesale refreshes of significant segments. That is unprecedented," says Jim Farley, Ford's global sales and marketing chief.
Still, auto executives here say the uncertainty over future tax rates and federal spending must be resolved soon. "I don't think many people will forgive the politicians if just through stalemate, they don't find a more bipartisan way forward," said Jonathan Browning, head of Volkswagen AG's U.S. operations. Mr. Browning is more cautious than some of his rivals about near term U.S. industry growth. "I still describe it as a choppy growth," he says. Industry executives here say that even if the worst case scenarios for the economy come to pass and the nation slips back into recession, they are better prepared than in the past.
Annual U.S. sales could fall to as few as 10 million to 11 million vehicles and GM and most other auto makers could still break even, said Mark Reuss, head of General Motors's North American operations, "The industry is in a completely different place in its ability to adapt to different [sales] levels and make money," said Mr. Reuss.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
November 27, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The UAW Community Services committee still has Adopt-A-Child names available. Co-chairs Wanda Richard (1st shift) and Tina Hayes (2ndshift) will be in the cafeteria at breaks and lunch with the remaining names until they are gone.
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
There will be a Red Cross Blood Drive Friday, Dec. 14 from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm in the tour holding room. Sign up will next Wednesday, Dec. 5 in the cafeteria at breaks and lunch on both 1st and 2ndshift.
This is the last day to submit an entry for the VAP (vehicle advocate program) overnight drive that will run from Dec. 5 through Dec. 31. Forms are available in the cafeteria next to the drop box. You have 2 days to buy your tickets for the 2 weekends and the Christmas shutdown week and support Make-A-Wish. Wanda and Tina will be selling these tickets and you can also get them at the benefits office and personnel.
There will be a GM employees and family event this Sunday, Dec. 2 at Shoe Carnival from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. Just show your employee ID and get an additional 30% off, including sale prices, at the O’Fallon (2209 Highway K) and St. Charles (3867 Mexico Rd, Cave Springs Crossing) stores.
Pop quiz: Which vehicle has the most torque coming from its powertrain: The The Porsche 911′s flat-six engine; The 5.0-liter V8 in the Ford F150 pickup; The Ferrari 458 Italia or the Chevy Spark EV micro car? The Porsche? A mere 325 lb. ft. F150? Better at 380. Ferrari, right? A hefty 398, but the winner is….the Spark, which generates an astounding 400 lb. ft. of torque, and being an electric vehicle, gives it all to you immediately. And with a price less than $25,000!
From Automotive News: With a re-engineered light-duty pickup now in dealerships this fall, the Ram brand team is turning its attention to two new commercial vans. The vans will be reskinned versions of European Fiat vans and are scheduled to arrive in 2013. They will be assembled in Mexico. Chrysler Group killed the Dakota in 2011, but don't be surprised if Ram re-enters the small-pickup market in the next few years with a new offering it can sell in both North and South America. Brand chief Fred Diaz said Chrysler continues to consider a "lifestyle truck" in the five-year product plan it presented in November 2009.
Small commercial van: Ram is putting a new nose and badge on the European version of the Fiat Doblo in its Saltillo, Mexico, assembly plant to give the brand a competitor to the Ford Transit Connect. It will appear for the 2014 model year. The name has not been revealed.
Rampage: No decision has been made on whether Chrysler will build a compact pickup to compete with the Chevrolet Colorado and Toyota Tacoma, Diaz said. Large commercial van: Fiat also is sending its full-sized front-wheel-drive European commercial van, the Ducato, to North America where it will get a new nose, nameplate and Ram badge. The Ducato will compete with such vans as the new full-sized Ford Transit van, or T series; the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter; and the Chevrolet Express. The 2014 model will be assembled in Saltillo.
From Wards Auto: Superstorm Sandy, which analysts estimate cost the U.S. auto industry 30,000-60,000 light-vehicle sales in October, likely will have a positive effect on November deliveries, according to a WardsAutoforecast. The outlook calls for auto makers to sell 1.12 million LVs this month, equating to a 15.2 million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate, the highest since February 2008.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
The UAW Community Services committee still has Adopt-A-Child names available. Co-chairs Wanda Richard (1st shift) and Tina Hayes (2ndshift) will be in the cafeteria at breaks and lunch with the remaining names until they are gone.
The annual Pre-Trim bake sale will be Monday, Dec. 10. The sale will begin at first break on both shifts and continue until all items are sold. It will be held at the team center at column T-49. Proceeds will go to support the Adopt-A-Child program. Anyone wishing to donate bakery items can drop them off at the team center.
There will be a Red Cross Blood Drive Friday, Dec. 14 from 11:30 am to 7:30 pm in the tour holding room. Sign up will next Wednesday, Dec. 5 in the cafeteria at breaks and lunch on both 1st and 2ndshift.
This is the last day to submit an entry for the VAP (vehicle advocate program) overnight drive that will run from Dec. 5 through Dec. 31. Forms are available in the cafeteria next to the drop box. You have 2 days to buy your tickets for the 2 weekends and the Christmas shutdown week and support Make-A-Wish. Wanda and Tina will be selling these tickets and you can also get them at the benefits office and personnel.
There will be a GM employees and family event this Sunday, Dec. 2 at Shoe Carnival from 6:30 pm – 9:30 pm. Just show your employee ID and get an additional 30% off, including sale prices, at the O’Fallon (2209 Highway K) and St. Charles (3867 Mexico Rd, Cave Springs Crossing) stores.
Pop quiz: Which vehicle has the most torque coming from its powertrain: The The Porsche 911′s flat-six engine; The 5.0-liter V8 in the Ford F150 pickup; The Ferrari 458 Italia or the Chevy Spark EV micro car? The Porsche? A mere 325 lb. ft. F150? Better at 380. Ferrari, right? A hefty 398, but the winner is….the Spark, which generates an astounding 400 lb. ft. of torque, and being an electric vehicle, gives it all to you immediately. And with a price less than $25,000!
From Automotive News: With a re-engineered light-duty pickup now in dealerships this fall, the Ram brand team is turning its attention to two new commercial vans. The vans will be reskinned versions of European Fiat vans and are scheduled to arrive in 2013. They will be assembled in Mexico. Chrysler Group killed the Dakota in 2011, but don't be surprised if Ram re-enters the small-pickup market in the next few years with a new offering it can sell in both North and South America. Brand chief Fred Diaz said Chrysler continues to consider a "lifestyle truck" in the five-year product plan it presented in November 2009.
Small commercial van: Ram is putting a new nose and badge on the European version of the Fiat Doblo in its Saltillo, Mexico, assembly plant to give the brand a competitor to the Ford Transit Connect. It will appear for the 2014 model year. The name has not been revealed.
Rampage: No decision has been made on whether Chrysler will build a compact pickup to compete with the Chevrolet Colorado and Toyota Tacoma, Diaz said. Large commercial van: Fiat also is sending its full-sized front-wheel-drive European commercial van, the Ducato, to North America where it will get a new nose, nameplate and Ram badge. The Ducato will compete with such vans as the new full-sized Ford Transit van, or T series; the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter; and the Chevrolet Express. The 2014 model will be assembled in Saltillo.
From Wards Auto: Superstorm Sandy, which analysts estimate cost the U.S. auto industry 30,000-60,000 light-vehicle sales in October, likely will have a positive effect on November deliveries, according to a WardsAutoforecast. The outlook calls for auto makers to sell 1.12 million LVs this month, equating to a 15.2 million-unit seasonally adjusted annual rate, the highest since February 2008.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
State of the Union November 20, 2012
November 20, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: I want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving with your families and friends. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for here as the body shop for the Colorado/Canyon continues to go up and President Obama prepares for a second term. I would like to encourage everyone to check out the UAW Local 2250 facebook page. Finally, I want you to join in solidarity with Wal-Mart workers nationwide by boycotting Wal-Mart on Black Friday. These workers are counting on our support as they take a stand against the abuses they have been subjected to with low wages, erratic work schedules and meager benefits (see message from UAW International below).
The Civil Rights Committee is having a meeting for all members on Monday, Nov. 26 between the shifts at 3 pm at the Union Hall.
The Chaplaincy Committee would like to wish everyone a Blessed, Safe and Happy Thanksgiving this year.
As you head out to do your Christmas shopping this weekend, remember to make an effort to buy Union and American. There are numerous websites dedicated to informing the patriotic shopper what items are Union-made and American-made. Just google either term for guidance. The UAW website also has information about which products are UAW made. You might be surprised at what you find on the list – Folgers coffee or Planters peanuts anyone?
From the International Union UAW: Workers at Walmart are planning mass actions around the country on Black Friday to stand up to their employer and live better, forcing the company to recognize their organization and collaborate with them on important issues from wages to scheduling to healthcare. As the largest private sector employer in the United States, Walmart has enormous power to set the trends not just for the retail and service industries, but for the economy as a whole. Wages and working conditions set at Walmart have a ripple-effect throughout all jobs: low wages, limited access to health care and no retirement security. While the Walton family has the same wealth as the bottom 42 percent of American families combined, they pay Walmart associates an average of $8.81 an hour. UAW brothers and sisters , Walmart workers need your help! This will be the first direct action many Walmart workers take, and they will need support in their communities and around the country to back them up. So let’s gear up and support Walmart workers across this country by joining with them in actions on Black Friday. This is a tough fight, but if we all work together in solidarity and we use creative, nonviolent actions to support the workers' fight, Walmart will be persuaded to change the way it treats its workers.
From Wards Auto (by Drew Winter): I recently blogged about some of the auto industry’s biggest boondoggles of the last 25 years and asked readers to contribute their thoughts. My email bulged with suggestions, especially related to the Detroit Three.
Many mentioned General Motors’ misguided attempt to reinvent itself with Saturn and ill-advised investments in Fiatand Saab. Plus, there were vehicles such as the infamous Pontiac Aztek and the entire Hummer brand. Others mentioned questionable adventures at Ford, such as its purchase of Jaguar and Volvo, and numerous bad cars going back to the 1970s including the Pinto subcompact and Mustang II.
Readers also pointed to head scratchers at Chryslersuch as the TC by Maserati, a gussied up K-car with a Maserati badge; the odd-looking Plymouth Prowler; and the disastrous “partnership” with Daimlerthat ended in divorce.
But to ferret out the absolute worst mistakes Detroit has made in recent history, I look to professional automotive observer and author Maryann Keller. She has been enormously influential since the early 1980s. After a 28-year career as one of Wall Street’s top auto analysts she now runs her own company, Maryann Keller & Associates. She is as tough and insightful as ever. During a recent speech to the Society of Auto Analysts, Keller unleashes her own list of auto industry blunders, and her choices make most of the items above look like minor glitches.
Detroit auto makers wasted at least $50 billion during the past two decades in failed efforts to impress Wall Street and raise their stock prices, she says. That incredible figure includes stock buybacks, excessive dividends and diversification efforts, all of which could have been spent making better products. GM alone doled out $20 billion from 1986 to 2000 on stock buybacks and actually borrowed money it did not have to pay dividends from 2005 to 2008.
Ford kissed off half the cash it had on hand in 2000 creating a special dividend of $10 per share, Keller says. GM and Ford also wasted billions buying rental-car companies that hid excess production capacity and threw away billions more for e-commerce efforts that looked sexy during the Internet bubble economy but ultimately yielded zip in revenue and profits. Also on her list are the names of financial-services companies, vehicle retailers, recyclers, junkyards and mortgage companies. All were purchased in an effort to add glamour and growth to auto maker bottom lines, but they did neither.
Of course, these strategies did not look quite so boneheaded at the time. In the late 1990s, auto companies were considered old-fashioned. No matter how many vehicles they sold and how much cash they raked in, their stock prices looked weak compared with the soaring value of technology and Internet stocks. So auto makers tried to redefine themselves as something other than companies that built and sold cars and trucks.
And this was the Detroit Three’s biggest mistake ever: They tried to be something other than vehicle manufacturing companies. When they focused on being banks and mortgage lenders and impressing Wall Street, they took their eye off the ball of their core business. Design faltered, quality slipped and market share skidded. Disaster ensued. Ford was first to see the error of its ways and avoided bankruptcy. GM and Chryslerwere not so lucky.
But as Keller points out, “Wall Street didn’t make these decisions; the CEOs did.” I currently am testing vehicles for Ward’s 10 Best Engines and as a judge for the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Detroit’s new products such as the Cadillac ATS, Ford Fusion and Dodge Dart are terrific. Detroit auto makers clearly have their eye back on the ball. It shows in vehicle sales numbers, on their bottom line and their stock price. Let’s hope they never again try to be something they are not.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
From Chairman Mike Bullock: I want to wish everyone a safe and Happy Thanksgiving with your families and friends. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for here as the body shop for the Colorado/Canyon continues to go up and President Obama prepares for a second term. I would like to encourage everyone to check out the UAW Local 2250 facebook page. Finally, I want you to join in solidarity with Wal-Mart workers nationwide by boycotting Wal-Mart on Black Friday. These workers are counting on our support as they take a stand against the abuses they have been subjected to with low wages, erratic work schedules and meager benefits (see message from UAW International below).
The Civil Rights Committee is having a meeting for all members on Monday, Nov. 26 between the shifts at 3 pm at the Union Hall.
The Chaplaincy Committee would like to wish everyone a Blessed, Safe and Happy Thanksgiving this year.
As you head out to do your Christmas shopping this weekend, remember to make an effort to buy Union and American. There are numerous websites dedicated to informing the patriotic shopper what items are Union-made and American-made. Just google either term for guidance. The UAW website also has information about which products are UAW made. You might be surprised at what you find on the list – Folgers coffee or Planters peanuts anyone?
From the International Union UAW: Workers at Walmart are planning mass actions around the country on Black Friday to stand up to their employer and live better, forcing the company to recognize their organization and collaborate with them on important issues from wages to scheduling to healthcare. As the largest private sector employer in the United States, Walmart has enormous power to set the trends not just for the retail and service industries, but for the economy as a whole. Wages and working conditions set at Walmart have a ripple-effect throughout all jobs: low wages, limited access to health care and no retirement security. While the Walton family has the same wealth as the bottom 42 percent of American families combined, they pay Walmart associates an average of $8.81 an hour. UAW brothers and sisters , Walmart workers need your help! This will be the first direct action many Walmart workers take, and they will need support in their communities and around the country to back them up. So let’s gear up and support Walmart workers across this country by joining with them in actions on Black Friday. This is a tough fight, but if we all work together in solidarity and we use creative, nonviolent actions to support the workers' fight, Walmart will be persuaded to change the way it treats its workers.
From Wards Auto (by Drew Winter): I recently blogged about some of the auto industry’s biggest boondoggles of the last 25 years and asked readers to contribute their thoughts. My email bulged with suggestions, especially related to the Detroit Three.
Many mentioned General Motors’ misguided attempt to reinvent itself with Saturn and ill-advised investments in Fiatand Saab. Plus, there were vehicles such as the infamous Pontiac Aztek and the entire Hummer brand. Others mentioned questionable adventures at Ford, such as its purchase of Jaguar and Volvo, and numerous bad cars going back to the 1970s including the Pinto subcompact and Mustang II.
Readers also pointed to head scratchers at Chryslersuch as the TC by Maserati, a gussied up K-car with a Maserati badge; the odd-looking Plymouth Prowler; and the disastrous “partnership” with Daimlerthat ended in divorce.
But to ferret out the absolute worst mistakes Detroit has made in recent history, I look to professional automotive observer and author Maryann Keller. She has been enormously influential since the early 1980s. After a 28-year career as one of Wall Street’s top auto analysts she now runs her own company, Maryann Keller & Associates. She is as tough and insightful as ever. During a recent speech to the Society of Auto Analysts, Keller unleashes her own list of auto industry blunders, and her choices make most of the items above look like minor glitches.
Detroit auto makers wasted at least $50 billion during the past two decades in failed efforts to impress Wall Street and raise their stock prices, she says. That incredible figure includes stock buybacks, excessive dividends and diversification efforts, all of which could have been spent making better products. GM alone doled out $20 billion from 1986 to 2000 on stock buybacks and actually borrowed money it did not have to pay dividends from 2005 to 2008.
Ford kissed off half the cash it had on hand in 2000 creating a special dividend of $10 per share, Keller says. GM and Ford also wasted billions buying rental-car companies that hid excess production capacity and threw away billions more for e-commerce efforts that looked sexy during the Internet bubble economy but ultimately yielded zip in revenue and profits. Also on her list are the names of financial-services companies, vehicle retailers, recyclers, junkyards and mortgage companies. All were purchased in an effort to add glamour and growth to auto maker bottom lines, but they did neither.
Of course, these strategies did not look quite so boneheaded at the time. In the late 1990s, auto companies were considered old-fashioned. No matter how many vehicles they sold and how much cash they raked in, their stock prices looked weak compared with the soaring value of technology and Internet stocks. So auto makers tried to redefine themselves as something other than companies that built and sold cars and trucks.
And this was the Detroit Three’s biggest mistake ever: They tried to be something other than vehicle manufacturing companies. When they focused on being banks and mortgage lenders and impressing Wall Street, they took their eye off the ball of their core business. Design faltered, quality slipped and market share skidded. Disaster ensued. Ford was first to see the error of its ways and avoided bankruptcy. GM and Chryslerwere not so lucky.
But as Keller points out, “Wall Street didn’t make these decisions; the CEOs did.” I currently am testing vehicles for Ward’s 10 Best Engines and as a judge for the North American Car and Truck of the Year awards. Detroit’s new products such as the Cadillac ATS, Ford Fusion and Dodge Dart are terrific. Detroit auto makers clearly have their eye back on the ball. It shows in vehicle sales numbers, on their bottom line and their stock price. Let’s hope they never again try to be something they are not.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
State of the Union November 13, 2012
November 13, 2012 online at ww.uawlocal2250.com
Reminder: Veterans Day observation holiday will be Wednesday, Nov. 21. As a result, this month’s Union meeting will be this week, with 2ndshift meeting after the Tuesday shift, and Wednesday at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14. The proceeds will go to leveling off gifts for the upcoming Christmas Adopt-A-Child program.
This Thursday, Nov. 15 is the eligibility date for the $250 Quality Bonus, which is payable during the week ending Dec. 9. Eligible employees are defined as those whose status with the Company as of the eligibility date is one of the following:
From UAW President Bob King: Friday President Obama called me to personally thank all UAW members and activists for their great support in this election. The President expressed how deeply he appreciates the UAW and our membership and expressed "that we could not have done this without the UAW and its membership." UAW members also made a critical difference in maintaining and increasing the Democratic majority in the Senate and in electing exciting new women leaders like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin to the Senate. Thank you again for your help.
From the AP: The Transit Connect Wagon will debut later this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's set to go on sale late next fall. It is based on Ford's Transit Connect commercial van, has the high roof of the van but trades its industrial-looking hood for the tapered nose and trapezoid grille of Ford's cars. It has sliding doors on both sides and comes in five-seat and seven-seat versions.
The new vehicle will have two four-cylinder engine options, one of which will get 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway. That would make it the most fuel-efficient minivan on the market — if it was a minivan. But Ford insists it's not. "It's anything but a minivan," said David Mondragon, Ford's general manager of marketing. "In our mind, it's a people mover. We think of it as more of a utility, or kind of a hybrid sport utility, than a minivan." (OK, Dave. We get you don’t like the word “minivan”. Call it whatever you want)
From Automotive News: Toyota and Hyundai-Kia increased fleet sales sharply in October while Ford, General Motors and Nissan decreased theirs slightly. On Nov. 1, GM sales boss Kurt McNeil said October sales to government and daily rental fleet buyers were unaffected by Superstorm Sandy. "The fleet decline was focused in our commercial business," he said. "Based on conversations with our customers, we think some of them are waiting until after the elections."
Retail vs. fleet sales Estimated retail and fleet volume for Oct. 2012 vs. Oct. 2011
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Reminder: Veterans Day observation holiday will be Wednesday, Nov. 21. As a result, this month’s Union meeting will be this week, with 2ndshift meeting after the Tuesday shift, and Wednesday at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14. The proceeds will go to leveling off gifts for the upcoming Christmas Adopt-A-Child program.
This Thursday, Nov. 15 is the eligibility date for the $250 Quality Bonus, which is payable during the week ending Dec. 9. Eligible employees are defined as those whose status with the Company as of the eligibility date is one of the following:
- Active with seniority
- On temporary layoff status
- On leave pursuant to Family and Medical Leave Act
- On one of the following leaves of absence which has not exceeded 90 days as of the eligibility date: Informal; Formal; Sickness and Accident; Military; Educational
From UAW President Bob King: Friday President Obama called me to personally thank all UAW members and activists for their great support in this election. The President expressed how deeply he appreciates the UAW and our membership and expressed "that we could not have done this without the UAW and its membership." UAW members also made a critical difference in maintaining and increasing the Democratic majority in the Senate and in electing exciting new women leaders like Elizabeth Warren and Tammy Baldwin to the Senate. Thank you again for your help.
From the AP: The Transit Connect Wagon will debut later this month at the Los Angeles Auto Show. It's set to go on sale late next fall. It is based on Ford's Transit Connect commercial van, has the high roof of the van but trades its industrial-looking hood for the tapered nose and trapezoid grille of Ford's cars. It has sliding doors on both sides and comes in five-seat and seven-seat versions.
The new vehicle will have two four-cylinder engine options, one of which will get 30 miles per gallon or more on the highway. That would make it the most fuel-efficient minivan on the market — if it was a minivan. But Ford insists it's not. "It's anything but a minivan," said David Mondragon, Ford's general manager of marketing. "In our mind, it's a people mover. We think of it as more of a utility, or kind of a hybrid sport utility, than a minivan." (OK, Dave. We get you don’t like the word “minivan”. Call it whatever you want)
From Automotive News: Toyota and Hyundai-Kia increased fleet sales sharply in October while Ford, General Motors and Nissan decreased theirs slightly. On Nov. 1, GM sales boss Kurt McNeil said October sales to government and daily rental fleet buyers were unaffected by Superstorm Sandy. "The fleet decline was focused in our commercial business," he said. "Based on conversations with our customers, we think some of them are waiting until after the elections."
Retail vs. fleet sales Estimated retail and fleet volume for Oct. 2012 vs. Oct. 2011
| Retail: | Oct 2012 Retail Sales | Oct 2012 % Retail Sales | Oct 2011 Retail Sales | Oct 2011 % Retail Shares | % Change |
| General Motors | 153,000 | 78% | 143,300 | 77% | 7% |
| Toyota Motor | 138,500 | 89% | 124,900 | 93% | 11% |
| Ford Motor | 124,000 | 98% | 122,200 | 73% | 2% |
| Honda | 104,800 | 98% | 96,4000 | 98% | 9% |
| Chrysler | 95,200 | 75% | 85,000 | 74% | 12% |
| Hyundai-Kia | 80,300 | 87% | 82,700 | 92% | -3% |
| Nissan | 66,700 | 84% | 69,100 | 84% | -4% |
| Top 7 | 762,500 | 82% | 723,600 | 83% | 5% |
| Fleet: | Oct 2012 Fleet Sales |
Oct 2012 % Fleet Sales |
Oct 2011 Fleet Sales |
Oct 2012% Fleet Share | % Change |
| Ford Motor | 44,400 | 26% | 45,700 | 27% | -3% |
| General Motors | 42,800 | 22% | 43,600 | 23% | -2% |
| Chrysler | 31,000 | 25% | 29,500 | 26% | 5% |
| Toyota Motor | 16,700 | 11% | 9,100 | 7% | 83% |
| Nissan | 13,000 | 16% | 13,300 | 16% | -2% |
| Hyundai-Kia | 12,500 | 13% | 7,400 | 8% | 68% |
| Honda | 2,100 | 2% | 2,000 | 2% | 9% |
| Top 7 | 162,500 | 18% | 150,600 | 17% | 8% |
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Friday, November 9, 2012
State of the Union November 9, 2012
November 9, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
Reminder: Veterans Day observation holiday will be Wednesday, Nov. 21. As a result, this month’s Union meeting will be next week, with 2ndshift meeting after the Tuesday shift, and Wednesday at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
Yesterday’s gate drive for Hurricane Sandy victims was a huge success. $5005was collected and will be donated to the Red Cross. Thanks to everyone who gave their time and money to this cause.
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
From the UAW 2250 CAP Committee: To the UAW Local 2250 membership – THANK YOU ! Many hours of volunteer work went into this election campaign. So many brothers and sisters gave their own time to help get labor-friendly candidates elected. We polled and surveyed neighborhoods, walked for candidates handing out information, made calls, registered voters, attended rallies, distributed yard signs, posted and gave out flyers in-plant, and got out the vote. We were successful in many of the races. Additional thanks to all the members that donated to VCAP and to those who bought the VCAP Cruise Tickets this year. Thanks to our Local President and Chairman for their leadership in this election. Both Van and Mike were seriously involved from the beginning and all through the entire election year. Most of all, THANKS TO THE MEMBERSHIP for going out and voting. There’s no doubt that the voting turn out, YOUR VOTE, is what made this election a success. Thanks again.
From the Detroit News: Ford workers angry about the automaker's plans to shutter a plant in Belgium broke windows and burned tires in a demonstration outside the company's European headquarters in Germany. Cologne city police spokesman Karlo Kreitz said about 100 of the protesters were taken into temporary custody after three officers suffered minor injuries in the fracas Wednesday morning. Police say the protesters arrived on buses from Belgium and blocked the entrance to the plant.
Then a group of 20 to 40 stormed the building and threw stones through windows while others burned tires and set off firecrackers. Ford has announced plans to shut an assembly plant in Genk, Belgium, and at least two factories in the U.K., which could eliminate as many as 6,200 jobs. Union representatives are meeting with company management in Cologne. The automaker will not rule out more European capacity cuts if the auto market deteriorates further. The situation in Europe remains "very volatile," CEO Alan Mulally said at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday. "We don't know whether it will stabilize or hit bottom or not because it's continuing to decrease," Mulally said. The second-largest U.S. carmaker said last month it will shutter a British van factory in Southampton and an associated stamping plant in 2013, and close a bigger site in Genk, Belgium, the following year. While Ford has no current plans for further capacity cuts --- which can range from dropping a factory shift to closing a plant -- the company is monitoring Europe's market and economic outlook very closely, Mulally said. The European cutbacks at Ford are expected to generate savings of $500 million annually by 2015. The U.S. carmaker aims to make a profit in the region around this time. Ford, which posted a $468-million European loss in the third quarter, expects to lose a combined $3 billion in the region in 2012 and 2013.
Ford has finally released some pictures of the full-size Transit van to be built in Kansas City and go on sale in about a year. No word on price yet, but Ford is saying that the Transit, which will be a unibody design with rear-wheel drive, will have the 3.5 liter V6 Ecoboost engine as well as a turbo diesel of undetermined size. Also no word on whether there will be a passenger version.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Reminder: Veterans Day observation holiday will be Wednesday, Nov. 21. As a result, this month’s Union meeting will be next week, with 2ndshift meeting after the Tuesday shift, and Wednesday at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
Yesterday’s gate drive for Hurricane Sandy victims was a huge success. $5005was collected and will be donated to the Red Cross. Thanks to everyone who gave their time and money to this cause.
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
From the UAW 2250 CAP Committee: To the UAW Local 2250 membership – THANK YOU ! Many hours of volunteer work went into this election campaign. So many brothers and sisters gave their own time to help get labor-friendly candidates elected. We polled and surveyed neighborhoods, walked for candidates handing out information, made calls, registered voters, attended rallies, distributed yard signs, posted and gave out flyers in-plant, and got out the vote. We were successful in many of the races. Additional thanks to all the members that donated to VCAP and to those who bought the VCAP Cruise Tickets this year. Thanks to our Local President and Chairman for their leadership in this election. Both Van and Mike were seriously involved from the beginning and all through the entire election year. Most of all, THANKS TO THE MEMBERSHIP for going out and voting. There’s no doubt that the voting turn out, YOUR VOTE, is what made this election a success. Thanks again.
From the Detroit News: Ford workers angry about the automaker's plans to shutter a plant in Belgium broke windows and burned tires in a demonstration outside the company's European headquarters in Germany. Cologne city police spokesman Karlo Kreitz said about 100 of the protesters were taken into temporary custody after three officers suffered minor injuries in the fracas Wednesday morning. Police say the protesters arrived on buses from Belgium and blocked the entrance to the plant.
Then a group of 20 to 40 stormed the building and threw stones through windows while others burned tires and set off firecrackers. Ford has announced plans to shut an assembly plant in Genk, Belgium, and at least two factories in the U.K., which could eliminate as many as 6,200 jobs. Union representatives are meeting with company management in Cologne. The automaker will not rule out more European capacity cuts if the auto market deteriorates further. The situation in Europe remains "very volatile," CEO Alan Mulally said at a conference in Berlin on Wednesday. "We don't know whether it will stabilize or hit bottom or not because it's continuing to decrease," Mulally said. The second-largest U.S. carmaker said last month it will shutter a British van factory in Southampton and an associated stamping plant in 2013, and close a bigger site in Genk, Belgium, the following year. While Ford has no current plans for further capacity cuts --- which can range from dropping a factory shift to closing a plant -- the company is monitoring Europe's market and economic outlook very closely, Mulally said. The European cutbacks at Ford are expected to generate savings of $500 million annually by 2015. The U.S. carmaker aims to make a profit in the region around this time. Ford, which posted a $468-million European loss in the third quarter, expects to lose a combined $3 billion in the region in 2012 and 2013.
Ford has finally released some pictures of the full-size Transit van to be built in Kansas City and go on sale in about a year. No word on price yet, but Ford is saying that the Transit, which will be a unibody design with rear-wheel drive, will have the 3.5 liter V6 Ecoboost engine as well as a turbo diesel of undetermined size. Also no word on whether there will be a passenger version.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Thursday, November 1, 2012
State of the Union November 1, 2012
November 1, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Reminder: With next Tuesday Nov. 6 being a paid day off, that means both Monday, Nov. 5 and Wednesday, Nov. 7 are VR blackout days and holiday pay qualifying days.
General Motors Co. today reported its highest October sales in the United States since 2007, with deliveries up 5 percent versus a year ago to 195,764 vehicles. Year-over-year sales to retail customers were up 7 percent and sales to fleet customers were down 2 percent.
“GM had a solid October in a month that was marked by a devastating national tragedy,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. sales operations. “All of us at GM are deeply saddened by the loss of life and the extensive damage caused by the storms, but we’re really encouraged by the national and local response, which will speed the recovery.” GM’s new cars had a standout performance in October. “With new designs like the Chevrolet Spark, Buick Verano and Cadillac ATS, and a growing reputation for quality and good resale value, we are becoming an even more formidable competitor in every segment – not just traditional GM strongholds like trucks,” McNeil said. Sales of GM passenger cars increased 15 percent in October compared with a year ago. Crossovers were up 3 percent and sales of full-size pickup trucks were up 8 percent. Passenger car sales were driven by a 37 percent increase in Cadillac car sales, a 27 percent increase in Buick car sales and a 12 percent increase in Chevrolet car sales. Combined sales of mini, small and compact cars were up 72 percent compared with a year ago, driven by strong Spark and Sonic sales and a 34 percent increase in Cruze sales. Chevrolet dealers also delivered a record 2,961 Volts. Crossover sales were driven by double-digit increases for the Cadillac SRX, GMC Acadia and GMC Terrain. Overall truck sales were down 2 percent, reflecting lower sales of the GMC and Chevrolet mid-size pickups, which have been discontinued, and large SUVs. Van sales came in at 6575, a 10.3% drop from last October.
“Year over year, the light vehicle selling rate has increased for eight consecutive quarters without a tailwind from the residential housing sector, but that is starting to change,” said McNeil. “If these trends continue, housing may be the final piece of the puzzle that lifts sales above 15 million units on an annual basis just as GM prepares to launch even more new cars, crossovers and trucks.”
From UAW President Bob King: Mitt Romney's meandering statements and plain falsehoods about the auto industry finally caught up to him earlier this week when he told a big whopper that cannot be squared with the truth during a speech in Defiance, Ohio. He said that Jeep, the American icon and great Toledo institution, "is thinking of moving all production to China." (continued on back)
Everyone paying attention to the election called him on it.Chrysler Group LLC has set the record straight, stating it has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America. Defiance is an Ohio auto town whose most important employer is the General Motors (GM) plant that was saved by President Barack Obama. Voters there recognize that Romney's claim is just plain foolish, because Jeep is expanding, not contracting -- it's been all over the Ohio press for a year. Though the fact-checkers and the media unanimously shot down Romney's claims, no one was more stunned at the sheer craziness of Romney's statement than the workers at the Jeep factory, just down the road from Defiance. Chrysler is investing $500 million, adding 1,100 jobs and will actually add new models to one of the Jeep plants in Toledo.
Yet none of this would be occurring if the Obama administration had followed Romney's plan to rely on private capital to restructure Chrysler. No one, least of all voters in Ohio, who have lived through the ups and downs of the auto industry, believes that Romney's plan would have resulted in anything except the liquidation of Chrysler. Chrysler's CEO Sergio Marchionne said that it would have been "impossible"for Chrysler to get financing from the private markets in 2009. The court records are clear, too, but Romney wants voters to forget what Judge Arthur Gonzales said when finalizing Chrysler's restructuring plan: "The sale transaction is the only alternative to liquidation available to the debtors."
All of which has brought us to a truly Etch-a-Sketch moment, where Romney, knowing he is sunk if he admits that his plan would have forced Chrysler into liquidation, tries desperately to flip the script with a big lie about Jeep moving out of Toledo. And, rather than take the opportunity to exhibit honesty and presidential character by correcting his misstatement, Romney doubled down with a misleading campaign spot about Jeep running in Ohio. Using Chrysler to take on the Obama administration's results in saving the domestic auto industry is an odd choice. After all, the Chrysler restructuring has been a great success, starting with Chrysler having paid back all of its loans from the federal government six years ahead of schedule.
Just a few days ago, Chrysler reported that it had its best September sales in five years and that its third-quarter profit was up 80 percent over 2011. Since 2009, Chrysler has hired more than 7,000 workers in the United States and is hiring thousands more, starting with adding an additional shift at a plant in Detroit that builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee. And while Mitt Romney sticks to his false Chrysler narrative, an even more damning story about the dirty dealing of Mitt Romney's investment partners during the 2009 restructuring of GM is beginning to emerge.
Mitt Romney and his partners made a killing on the GM bankruptcy by gaining control of bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, then threatening to withhold components critical to the production of GM vehicles. Romney's business partners were willing to force GM into liquidation and cause a national economic calamity unless they got more money. In the end, the Romney investor group got what it wanted and earned a profit of more than 3,000 percent on its initial investment.
This is the real Romney, a man who objected to the rescue of the domestic auto industry, then made astronomical profits after his business partners threatened the survival of GM. A man who lies about Chrysler moving jobs to China, when his history at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, shows that he has invested in Chinese factories where workers are grossly exploited. Romney won't even act to stop the Sensata factory in Illinois, in which he is an investor, from closing the doors and moving to China the day before the election. Mitt Romney won't come clean on Chrysler, won't come clean on his Chinese investments and threatened the restructuring of GM for his own profit. That is the picture of a me-first hedge-fund investor, not someone who has the judgment or character to be President of the United States. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Reminder: With next Tuesday Nov. 6 being a paid day off, that means both Monday, Nov. 5 and Wednesday, Nov. 7 are VR blackout days and holiday pay qualifying days.
General Motors Co. today reported its highest October sales in the United States since 2007, with deliveries up 5 percent versus a year ago to 195,764 vehicles. Year-over-year sales to retail customers were up 7 percent and sales to fleet customers were down 2 percent.
“GM had a solid October in a month that was marked by a devastating national tragedy,” said Kurt McNeil, vice president, U.S. sales operations. “All of us at GM are deeply saddened by the loss of life and the extensive damage caused by the storms, but we’re really encouraged by the national and local response, which will speed the recovery.” GM’s new cars had a standout performance in October. “With new designs like the Chevrolet Spark, Buick Verano and Cadillac ATS, and a growing reputation for quality and good resale value, we are becoming an even more formidable competitor in every segment – not just traditional GM strongholds like trucks,” McNeil said. Sales of GM passenger cars increased 15 percent in October compared with a year ago. Crossovers were up 3 percent and sales of full-size pickup trucks were up 8 percent. Passenger car sales were driven by a 37 percent increase in Cadillac car sales, a 27 percent increase in Buick car sales and a 12 percent increase in Chevrolet car sales. Combined sales of mini, small and compact cars were up 72 percent compared with a year ago, driven by strong Spark and Sonic sales and a 34 percent increase in Cruze sales. Chevrolet dealers also delivered a record 2,961 Volts. Crossover sales were driven by double-digit increases for the Cadillac SRX, GMC Acadia and GMC Terrain. Overall truck sales were down 2 percent, reflecting lower sales of the GMC and Chevrolet mid-size pickups, which have been discontinued, and large SUVs. Van sales came in at 6575, a 10.3% drop from last October.
“Year over year, the light vehicle selling rate has increased for eight consecutive quarters without a tailwind from the residential housing sector, but that is starting to change,” said McNeil. “If these trends continue, housing may be the final piece of the puzzle that lifts sales above 15 million units on an annual basis just as GM prepares to launch even more new cars, crossovers and trucks.”
From UAW President Bob King: Mitt Romney's meandering statements and plain falsehoods about the auto industry finally caught up to him earlier this week when he told a big whopper that cannot be squared with the truth during a speech in Defiance, Ohio. He said that Jeep, the American icon and great Toledo institution, "is thinking of moving all production to China." (continued on back)
Everyone paying attention to the election called him on it.Chrysler Group LLC has set the record straight, stating it has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America. Defiance is an Ohio auto town whose most important employer is the General Motors (GM) plant that was saved by President Barack Obama. Voters there recognize that Romney's claim is just plain foolish, because Jeep is expanding, not contracting -- it's been all over the Ohio press for a year. Though the fact-checkers and the media unanimously shot down Romney's claims, no one was more stunned at the sheer craziness of Romney's statement than the workers at the Jeep factory, just down the road from Defiance. Chrysler is investing $500 million, adding 1,100 jobs and will actually add new models to one of the Jeep plants in Toledo.
Yet none of this would be occurring if the Obama administration had followed Romney's plan to rely on private capital to restructure Chrysler. No one, least of all voters in Ohio, who have lived through the ups and downs of the auto industry, believes that Romney's plan would have resulted in anything except the liquidation of Chrysler. Chrysler's CEO Sergio Marchionne said that it would have been "impossible"for Chrysler to get financing from the private markets in 2009. The court records are clear, too, but Romney wants voters to forget what Judge Arthur Gonzales said when finalizing Chrysler's restructuring plan: "The sale transaction is the only alternative to liquidation available to the debtors."
All of which has brought us to a truly Etch-a-Sketch moment, where Romney, knowing he is sunk if he admits that his plan would have forced Chrysler into liquidation, tries desperately to flip the script with a big lie about Jeep moving out of Toledo. And, rather than take the opportunity to exhibit honesty and presidential character by correcting his misstatement, Romney doubled down with a misleading campaign spot about Jeep running in Ohio. Using Chrysler to take on the Obama administration's results in saving the domestic auto industry is an odd choice. After all, the Chrysler restructuring has been a great success, starting with Chrysler having paid back all of its loans from the federal government six years ahead of schedule.
Just a few days ago, Chrysler reported that it had its best September sales in five years and that its third-quarter profit was up 80 percent over 2011. Since 2009, Chrysler has hired more than 7,000 workers in the United States and is hiring thousands more, starting with adding an additional shift at a plant in Detroit that builds the Jeep Grand Cherokee. And while Mitt Romney sticks to his false Chrysler narrative, an even more damning story about the dirty dealing of Mitt Romney's investment partners during the 2009 restructuring of GM is beginning to emerge.
Mitt Romney and his partners made a killing on the GM bankruptcy by gaining control of bankrupt parts supplier Delphi, then threatening to withhold components critical to the production of GM vehicles. Romney's business partners were willing to force GM into liquidation and cause a national economic calamity unless they got more money. In the end, the Romney investor group got what it wanted and earned a profit of more than 3,000 percent on its initial investment.
This is the real Romney, a man who objected to the rescue of the domestic auto industry, then made astronomical profits after his business partners threatened the survival of GM. A man who lies about Chrysler moving jobs to China, when his history at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded, shows that he has invested in Chinese factories where workers are grossly exploited. Romney won't even act to stop the Sensata factory in Illinois, in which he is an investor, from closing the doors and moving to China the day before the election. Mitt Romney won't come clean on Chrysler, won't come clean on his Chinese investments and threatened the restructuring of GM for his own profit. That is the picture of a me-first hedge-fund investor, not someone who has the judgment or character to be President of the United States. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
State of the Union October 30, 2012
October 30, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Reminder: The Veterans Day observance holiday is Wednesday, Nov. 21 (not Friday the 16th). There is also no production next Tuesday, Nov. 6 so you can exercise your constitutional right/obligation to vote.
Ford Motor Co. posted a $1.63 billion third-quarter net profit, nearly matching its year-earlier total, as record high earnings in North America more than offset mounting losses in Europe. Pretax operating profit rose to a record $2.16 billion from $1.94 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Pretax operating profit in North America increased to $2.33 billion -- a record for any quarter since 2000, when Ford began tracking the region as separate business unit -- from $1.55 billion a year earlier. The pre-tax loss in Europe widened to $468 million from $306 million in the third quarter of 2011. Total global revenue was $32.1 billion, down from $33.1 billion a year earlier. Last year's net of $1.65 billion was Ford's second-highest quarterly profit ever.
Ford earned $4.14 billion in North America in 2012's first half and had an operating profit margin of 10.8 percent in an industry where a 5 percent margin is considered respectable. Ford's North American operating margin in the third quarter was a record 12 percent. Ford's U.S. car and light truck sales rose 5 percent through September to 1.69 million, but with the overall U.S. market up 15 percent, the company's market share in the first nine months fell to 15.5 percent from 16.8 percent a year earlier. Some of that market-share loss reflects the rebound of Japanese brands, which were production constrained in 2011 due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Ford's vehicles are also commanding higher prices. The average price a consumer paid for a Ford model rose to $32,535 this year, up from $28,750 five years ago, according to Edmunds.com. (GM reports 3rdquarter results tomorrow)
Chrysler Group's third-quarter net profit rose 80 percent to $381 million on strong sales of cars and light trucks in North America. The company earned $212 million a year earlier as its North American sales of cars and light trucks were rising amid what is now a string of 30 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains. Revenue rose 18 percent to $15.5 billion during the latest period as Chrysler's worldwide vehicle sales climbed 12 percent to 556,000, the company said in a statement today. For the first nine months of 2012, Chrysler posted $1.3 billion in net profits, two and a half times the $509 million it earned for the same period of 2011. Chrysler ended the third quarter with $11.9 billion in cash, down from the $12.1 billion it had at the end of June. The company is preparing several major product launches expected to occur in 2013 and 2014. The company recorded a modified operating profit of $706 million, or 4.6 percent of revenue, for the third quarter, up 46 percent from $483 million reported for the same period of 2011. For the first nine months of 2012, Chrysler's modified operating profit was $2.2 billion, up 50 percent from the first nine months of 2011. The automaker said the rise was due in part to increased sales volumes and pricing, partially offset by a mix that favored less profitable passenger car sales instead of pickups and SUVs. Through September, Chrysler recorded 30 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains in the United States. During the third quarter, the company said it posted a 13 percent increase in total U.S. sales and a 16 percent increase in U.S. retail sales. Chrysler's U.S. market share for the third quarter was 11.3 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the same period of 2011.
Even after Chrysler Corp.'s Gualberto Ranieri, vice president of communications, said Friday, “Let's set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,” the Romney campaign put out a false and misleading ad basically repeating his bogus statement made Thursday in Ohio that Chrysler was moving all Jeep production to China. “What is especially hypocritical of Mr. Romney’s statements and new ad is Bain Capital’s closing of profitable U.S. facilities and shifting work to China to make even higher profits like what is happening today in closing a profitable Sensata plant in Freeport, Ill., to move the work to China,” said UAW President Bob King. “Romney says in the ad that he will fight for every American job, so why isn’t he fighting for the American jobs at Sensata? And why isn’t he intervening with his own Bain Capital to keep these jobs in the U.S. rather than outsourcing them to China? We just wish that Mr. Romney was as committed to investing in the U.S. as Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is. “Americans will remember that President Obama stood behind American working families and American communities in rescuing the U.S. auto industry and that Mr. Romney opposed the rescue and now attacks Chrysler with misinformation. In putting out this misinformation, Romney is recklessly undermining Chrysler’s reputation and threatening good American jobs,” King added.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
The Community Services Committee is selling raffle tickets for a 6’ x 8’ area rug (copper/brown shag style donated by Troy Flooring Center, retail value $325) and a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $2 apiece or 3 for $5 and are available from any committee member. There should be a member selling tickets in each department. Drawing is Wednesday, Nov. 14.
Reminder: The Veterans Day observance holiday is Wednesday, Nov. 21 (not Friday the 16th). There is also no production next Tuesday, Nov. 6 so you can exercise your constitutional right/obligation to vote.
Ford Motor Co. posted a $1.63 billion third-quarter net profit, nearly matching its year-earlier total, as record high earnings in North America more than offset mounting losses in Europe. Pretax operating profit rose to a record $2.16 billion from $1.94 billion a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Pretax operating profit in North America increased to $2.33 billion -- a record for any quarter since 2000, when Ford began tracking the region as separate business unit -- from $1.55 billion a year earlier. The pre-tax loss in Europe widened to $468 million from $306 million in the third quarter of 2011. Total global revenue was $32.1 billion, down from $33.1 billion a year earlier. Last year's net of $1.65 billion was Ford's second-highest quarterly profit ever.
Ford earned $4.14 billion in North America in 2012's first half and had an operating profit margin of 10.8 percent in an industry where a 5 percent margin is considered respectable. Ford's North American operating margin in the third quarter was a record 12 percent. Ford's U.S. car and light truck sales rose 5 percent through September to 1.69 million, but with the overall U.S. market up 15 percent, the company's market share in the first nine months fell to 15.5 percent from 16.8 percent a year earlier. Some of that market-share loss reflects the rebound of Japanese brands, which were production constrained in 2011 due to the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Ford's vehicles are also commanding higher prices. The average price a consumer paid for a Ford model rose to $32,535 this year, up from $28,750 five years ago, according to Edmunds.com. (GM reports 3rdquarter results tomorrow)
Chrysler Group's third-quarter net profit rose 80 percent to $381 million on strong sales of cars and light trucks in North America. The company earned $212 million a year earlier as its North American sales of cars and light trucks were rising amid what is now a string of 30 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains. Revenue rose 18 percent to $15.5 billion during the latest period as Chrysler's worldwide vehicle sales climbed 12 percent to 556,000, the company said in a statement today. For the first nine months of 2012, Chrysler posted $1.3 billion in net profits, two and a half times the $509 million it earned for the same period of 2011. Chrysler ended the third quarter with $11.9 billion in cash, down from the $12.1 billion it had at the end of June. The company is preparing several major product launches expected to occur in 2013 and 2014. The company recorded a modified operating profit of $706 million, or 4.6 percent of revenue, for the third quarter, up 46 percent from $483 million reported for the same period of 2011. For the first nine months of 2012, Chrysler's modified operating profit was $2.2 billion, up 50 percent from the first nine months of 2011. The automaker said the rise was due in part to increased sales volumes and pricing, partially offset by a mix that favored less profitable passenger car sales instead of pickups and SUVs. Through September, Chrysler recorded 30 consecutive months of year-over-year sales gains in the United States. During the third quarter, the company said it posted a 13 percent increase in total U.S. sales and a 16 percent increase in U.S. retail sales. Chrysler's U.S. market share for the third quarter was 11.3 percent, down 0.1 percentage points from the same period of 2011.
Even after Chrysler Corp.'s Gualberto Ranieri, vice president of communications, said Friday, “Let's set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,” the Romney campaign put out a false and misleading ad basically repeating his bogus statement made Thursday in Ohio that Chrysler was moving all Jeep production to China. “What is especially hypocritical of Mr. Romney’s statements and new ad is Bain Capital’s closing of profitable U.S. facilities and shifting work to China to make even higher profits like what is happening today in closing a profitable Sensata plant in Freeport, Ill., to move the work to China,” said UAW President Bob King. “Romney says in the ad that he will fight for every American job, so why isn’t he fighting for the American jobs at Sensata? And why isn’t he intervening with his own Bain Capital to keep these jobs in the U.S. rather than outsourcing them to China? We just wish that Mr. Romney was as committed to investing in the U.S. as Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne is. “Americans will remember that President Obama stood behind American working families and American communities in rescuing the U.S. auto industry and that Mr. Romney opposed the rescue and now attacks Chrysler with misinformation. In putting out this misinformation, Romney is recklessly undermining Chrysler’s reputation and threatening good American jobs,” King added.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Friday, October 26, 2012
State of the Union October 26, 2012
October 26, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock: It is with a heavy heart that I have to pass on the following news: There has been another fatality at a GM facility. Brother Brian Gilbert, a machine repairman and UAW Local 440 member, passed away Oct. 22 from injuries sustained when a lift table collapsed on Oct. 10 and pinned him while he was performing a maintenance activity. This is the third fatality in the GM family this year, after having none the previous 7 years. We are all "our brother and sister's keeper". We must do all we can to ensure that ourselves and our brothers and sisters leave at the end of the work day the way we arrived. This means no shortcuts through orange crush zones, using pre-task planning and observing the “take two” rule before performing a task. Please keep Brian Gilbert’s family in your thoughts and prayers.
From the International Union UAW: UAW President Bob King will rally with workers and labor leaders from across the country Saturday to support Sensata Technologies workers here facing outsourcing by Bain Capital in the fight to save their jobs. The Sensata plant is owned by Bain Capital, founded by Mitt Romney, and makes sensors and controls for auto manufacturers. The company plans to close Nov. 5 -- the day before Election Day -- kicking 170 workers to the curb while sending their jobs overseas to Chinese sweatshops. Meantime, Sensata has forced workers at the Freeport plant to train replacements from China and even reduced their severance packages. Workers and their supporters have been camping out across from the plant -- at "Bainport Encampment" -- to bring attention to their cause. In Monday's final presidential debate, President Obama proved that he is a leader who has taken important actions to create a level playing field for U.S. companies and workers around the world. He has fought hard to stop the unfair trade practices of China and other global trading partners because he understands that fair trade is important to creating and maintaining auto jobs in the United States. While President Obama was saving the auto industry, Romney was profiting off the outsourcing of American jobs by investing in companies that were "pioneers of outsourcing." Romney led investments in companies that outsourced jobs, including those that grew into some of the largest outsourcing and offshoring companies in the world, while families and communities were left behind, forced into crisis. (continued on back)
"Mitt Romney has never stood up for American workers, and Bain Capital has put profits before people over and over," said UAW President Bob King. "Mitt Romney won't stand up for American workers at Sensata in Freeport, Illinois - a company in which he is a direct investor - even though their jobs are being moved to China in the middle of this presidential election. "Romney stands silent but stands to profit as Bain Capital offshores American jobs to China, even though the workers in Freeport make a modest wage of $14 to $17 per hour," said King, adding that investigators have documented the exploitation of the overwhelmingly young and female workforce at Sensata's Chinese facilities. According to a recent report by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, workers at Sensata's facilities in China earn wages ranging from 99 cents to $1.35 per hour, work forced overtime in excess of legal limits, and 70 percent of them work 12-hour days, seven days a week. "Romney has never stood up for American workers like President Obama has. Instead, he used them for his own personal profit and political advantage. Republican President Teddy Roosevelt said 'speak softly and carry a big stick.' Romney speaks loudly and outsources the sticks to China," said King, adding: "His record on jobs and offshoring work is despicable. Romney is so wrong for working families."
And if that doesn’t make your stomach churn enough, the Wall Street Journal reports that private-equity firms are adding debt to the companies they own in order to fund payouts to themselves, a controversial practice now reaching a record pace. Leonard Green & Partners LP, Bain Capital LLC and Carlyle Group LP are among the firms using the tactic, which rose in popularity before the financial crisis. In these deals, known as "dividend recapitalizations," private-equity-owned companies raise cash by issuing debt. The proceeds are distributed in the form of dividends to buyout groups. In one example, drug developer Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC, which is owned by Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman, sold $525 million of PIK-toggle bonds (a risky type of debt known as "payment in kind toggle" bonds that give companies the choice to defer interest payments to investors and instead opt to add more debt to the balance sheet) with the proceeds going toward a roughly $600-million dividend for the private-equity firms. To pay the full dividend, the company is also contributing about a third of the cash on its balance sheet, further weakening the company. In an even shadier deal, Leonard Green and CVC Capital Partners repaid themselves the full cash investment they made in a $2.8 billion buyout of BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. a year ago. BJ's sold debt last month to help pay a $643 million dividend to the owners. The firms and the company declined to comment.
Just Announced: Extra employee vehicle allowance (EVA) on select Chevrolet vehicles including the 2012 and 2013 Silverado regular and extended cab and the brand new 2013 Malibu. Along with $1000 trade-in bonus (and $750 for veterans), total cash off on a 2012 Silverado All-Star Edition is $10,750! For example, a 4x4 extended cab 2012 Silverado that stickers for $37,155 can be yours for $24,522. And remember: aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews are not eligible for your employee discount. Hurry to take advantage of this offer as it only runs through October 31.
From Chairman Mike Bullock: It is with a heavy heart that I have to pass on the following news: There has been another fatality at a GM facility. Brother Brian Gilbert, a machine repairman and UAW Local 440 member, passed away Oct. 22 from injuries sustained when a lift table collapsed on Oct. 10 and pinned him while he was performing a maintenance activity. This is the third fatality in the GM family this year, after having none the previous 7 years. We are all "our brother and sister's keeper". We must do all we can to ensure that ourselves and our brothers and sisters leave at the end of the work day the way we arrived. This means no shortcuts through orange crush zones, using pre-task planning and observing the “take two” rule before performing a task. Please keep Brian Gilbert’s family in your thoughts and prayers.
From the International Union UAW: UAW President Bob King will rally with workers and labor leaders from across the country Saturday to support Sensata Technologies workers here facing outsourcing by Bain Capital in the fight to save their jobs. The Sensata plant is owned by Bain Capital, founded by Mitt Romney, and makes sensors and controls for auto manufacturers. The company plans to close Nov. 5 -- the day before Election Day -- kicking 170 workers to the curb while sending their jobs overseas to Chinese sweatshops. Meantime, Sensata has forced workers at the Freeport plant to train replacements from China and even reduced their severance packages. Workers and their supporters have been camping out across from the plant -- at "Bainport Encampment" -- to bring attention to their cause. In Monday's final presidential debate, President Obama proved that he is a leader who has taken important actions to create a level playing field for U.S. companies and workers around the world. He has fought hard to stop the unfair trade practices of China and other global trading partners because he understands that fair trade is important to creating and maintaining auto jobs in the United States. While President Obama was saving the auto industry, Romney was profiting off the outsourcing of American jobs by investing in companies that were "pioneers of outsourcing." Romney led investments in companies that outsourced jobs, including those that grew into some of the largest outsourcing and offshoring companies in the world, while families and communities were left behind, forced into crisis. (continued on back)
"Mitt Romney has never stood up for American workers, and Bain Capital has put profits before people over and over," said UAW President Bob King. "Mitt Romney won't stand up for American workers at Sensata in Freeport, Illinois - a company in which he is a direct investor - even though their jobs are being moved to China in the middle of this presidential election. "Romney stands silent but stands to profit as Bain Capital offshores American jobs to China, even though the workers in Freeport make a modest wage of $14 to $17 per hour," said King, adding that investigators have documented the exploitation of the overwhelmingly young and female workforce at Sensata's Chinese facilities. According to a recent report by the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, workers at Sensata's facilities in China earn wages ranging from 99 cents to $1.35 per hour, work forced overtime in excess of legal limits, and 70 percent of them work 12-hour days, seven days a week. "Romney has never stood up for American workers like President Obama has. Instead, he used them for his own personal profit and political advantage. Republican President Teddy Roosevelt said 'speak softly and carry a big stick.' Romney speaks loudly and outsources the sticks to China," said King, adding: "His record on jobs and offshoring work is despicable. Romney is so wrong for working families."
And if that doesn’t make your stomach churn enough, the Wall Street Journal reports that private-equity firms are adding debt to the companies they own in order to fund payouts to themselves, a controversial practice now reaching a record pace. Leonard Green & Partners LP, Bain Capital LLC and Carlyle Group LP are among the firms using the tactic, which rose in popularity before the financial crisis. In these deals, known as "dividend recapitalizations," private-equity-owned companies raise cash by issuing debt. The proceeds are distributed in the form of dividends to buyout groups. In one example, drug developer Pharmaceutical Product Development LLC, which is owned by Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman, sold $525 million of PIK-toggle bonds (a risky type of debt known as "payment in kind toggle" bonds that give companies the choice to defer interest payments to investors and instead opt to add more debt to the balance sheet) with the proceeds going toward a roughly $600-million dividend for the private-equity firms. To pay the full dividend, the company is also contributing about a third of the cash on its balance sheet, further weakening the company. In an even shadier deal, Leonard Green and CVC Capital Partners repaid themselves the full cash investment they made in a $2.8 billion buyout of BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. a year ago. BJ's sold debt last month to help pay a $643 million dividend to the owners. The firms and the company declined to comment.
Just Announced: Extra employee vehicle allowance (EVA) on select Chevrolet vehicles including the 2012 and 2013 Silverado regular and extended cab and the brand new 2013 Malibu. Along with $1000 trade-in bonus (and $750 for veterans), total cash off on a 2012 Silverado All-Star Edition is $10,750! For example, a 4x4 extended cab 2012 Silverado that stickers for $37,155 can be yours for $24,522. And remember: aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews are not eligible for your employee discount. Hurry to take advantage of this offer as it only runs through October 31.
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
State of the Union October 16, 2012
October 16, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Union Meeting is 15 minutes after today’s 2nd shift, and tomorrow at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
• There will be a Community Services Committee meeting Thursday, Oct. 18 between shifts in the cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.
• From Automotive News: General Motors will begin production of the Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid at an assembly plant here by late 2013, GM North America President Mark Reuss said today. GM will invest $35 million in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant to prepare for production of the 2014 ELR coupe, Reuss said during a keynote address at the SAE Convergence Conference here. The car will be unveiled in January at the Detroit auto show. GM assembles the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid at the plant. The ELR's powertrain will be similar to that of the Volt, which can travel about 38 miles on electric power from a T-shaped lithium ion battery before a small gasoline generator kicks on to power the car's electric motor. GM has invested more than $530 million in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant since December 2009. More than 1,500 workers there assemble the Chevrolet Malibu and the U.S., European and Australian versions of the Volt.
• From Bloomberg: Toyota Motor Corp. first learned in 2008 about a defect in power-window switches that this week prompted it to recall 7.43 million vehicles worldwide for fire hazards, according to documents filed with U.S. regulators. Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, received a report in September 2008 from the U.S. about “an unusual smell” from the power-window master switch and “thermal damage” to the switch, the company said in a report posted yesterday on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. The automaker sent the part to the supplier to investigate and no “root cause” was found. No other problems with the switch were reported until May 2010, when the company said it began sporadically receiving information about an abnormal smell or smoke coming from driver’s side doors, according to the report. “There was really no trend early on and it took considerable time to diagnose what seemed to be an isolated problem and how it was occurring,” John Hanson, a U.S.-based spokesman for Toyota, said in an e-mail. The U.S. auto-safety regulator opened an investigation into about 830,000 Camry cars and RAV4 crossover sport-utility vehicles in February after receiving six reports of fires that started in the window switch. It’s received reports of nine injuries and 161 fires, Lynda Tran, a NHTSA spokeswoman, said. (Toyota had originally offered to address the issue through a “service bulletin” where the defective switch is only replaced if an owner complains. NHTSA rejected that approach and insisted on a recall)
• From the New York Times: The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts manufacturer whose plants dot eastern China, would seem to underscore Mitt Romney’s campaign-trail complaint that China’s manufacturing juggernaut is costing America jobs. Nine years ago, the company bought two camshaft factories that employed about 500 people in Michigan. By 2007 both were shut down. Now Asimco manufactures the same components in China on government-donated land in a coastal region that China has designated an export base, where companies are eligible for the sort of subsidies Mr. Romney says create an unfair trade imbalance. But there is a twist to the Asimco story that would not fit neatly into a Romney stump speech: Since 2010, it has been owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mr. Romney, who has as much as $2.25 million invested in three Bain funds with large stakes in Asimco and at least seven other Chinese businesses, according to his 2012 candidate financial disclosure and other documents. That and other China-related holdings by Bain funds in which Mr. Romney has invested are a reminder of how he inhabits two worlds that at times have come into conflict during his campaign for the White House. As a candidate, Mr. Romney uses China as a punching bag. He accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing Chinese exports, artificially holding down the value of its currency to keep exports cheap, stealing American technology and hacking into corporate and government computers. “How is it China’s been so successful in taking away our jobs?” he asked recently. “Well, let me tell you how: by cheating.” But his private equity dealings, both while he headed Bain and since, complicate that message.
Mr. Romney’s campaign insists he has no control over his investments since they are held in a blind trust. That said, a confidential prospectus for one of the Bain funds, obtained by The New York Times, promotes China as a good investment for some of the same reasons that Mr. Romney has said concern him: “Strong fundamentals” like manufacturing wages 85 percent lower than what Americans earn, vast foreign exchange reserves and the likelihood that China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy. “Accordingly, Bain Capital expects to see an increasing array of high-growth companies available for investment,” the prospectus says. Among the companies in which the Bain funds have invested is a global auto parts maker that is in the process of closing a factory in Illinois and moving most of the equipment and jobs to Jiangsu Province, where the Chinese government has built it a new plant; a Chinese electronics retailer accused by Microsoft of selling computers with pirated software; and a Hong Kong-based Chinese appliance maker that was sued for copying another company’s design for a deep-fat fryer.
Mr. Romney has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that created and have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares. Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf. Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5. “This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.” Note: Sensata pays their Chinese workers $.99 to $1.35 an hour, with the typical workweek being 7-12 hour days. Honeywell, who sold the business to Sensata, reported that in 2010, the Automation and Control Solutions sector (including the Freeport plant) had a profit of $1.77 billion. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
• Union Meeting is 15 minutes after today’s 2nd shift, and tomorrow at 7:15 am, 1 pm and 15 minutes after the longest 1st shift line time.
• There will be a Community Services Committee meeting Thursday, Oct. 18 between shifts in the cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.
• From Automotive News: General Motors will begin production of the Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid at an assembly plant here by late 2013, GM North America President Mark Reuss said today. GM will invest $35 million in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant to prepare for production of the 2014 ELR coupe, Reuss said during a keynote address at the SAE Convergence Conference here. The car will be unveiled in January at the Detroit auto show. GM assembles the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid at the plant. The ELR's powertrain will be similar to that of the Volt, which can travel about 38 miles on electric power from a T-shaped lithium ion battery before a small gasoline generator kicks on to power the car's electric motor. GM has invested more than $530 million in its Detroit-Hamtramck plant since December 2009. More than 1,500 workers there assemble the Chevrolet Malibu and the U.S., European and Australian versions of the Volt.
• From Bloomberg: Toyota Motor Corp. first learned in 2008 about a defect in power-window switches that this week prompted it to recall 7.43 million vehicles worldwide for fire hazards, according to documents filed with U.S. regulators. Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, received a report in September 2008 from the U.S. about “an unusual smell” from the power-window master switch and “thermal damage” to the switch, the company said in a report posted yesterday on the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website. The automaker sent the part to the supplier to investigate and no “root cause” was found. No other problems with the switch were reported until May 2010, when the company said it began sporadically receiving information about an abnormal smell or smoke coming from driver’s side doors, according to the report. “There was really no trend early on and it took considerable time to diagnose what seemed to be an isolated problem and how it was occurring,” John Hanson, a U.S.-based spokesman for Toyota, said in an e-mail. The U.S. auto-safety regulator opened an investigation into about 830,000 Camry cars and RAV4 crossover sport-utility vehicles in February after receiving six reports of fires that started in the window switch. It’s received reports of nine injuries and 161 fires, Lynda Tran, a NHTSA spokeswoman, said. (Toyota had originally offered to address the issue through a “service bulletin” where the defective switch is only replaced if an owner complains. NHTSA rejected that approach and insisted on a recall)
• From the New York Times: The tale of Asimco Technologies, an auto parts manufacturer whose plants dot eastern China, would seem to underscore Mitt Romney’s campaign-trail complaint that China’s manufacturing juggernaut is costing America jobs. Nine years ago, the company bought two camshaft factories that employed about 500 people in Michigan. By 2007 both were shut down. Now Asimco manufactures the same components in China on government-donated land in a coastal region that China has designated an export base, where companies are eligible for the sort of subsidies Mr. Romney says create an unfair trade imbalance. But there is a twist to the Asimco story that would not fit neatly into a Romney stump speech: Since 2010, it has been owned by Bain Capital, the private equity firm founded by Mr. Romney, who has as much as $2.25 million invested in three Bain funds with large stakes in Asimco and at least seven other Chinese businesses, according to his 2012 candidate financial disclosure and other documents. That and other China-related holdings by Bain funds in which Mr. Romney has invested are a reminder of how he inhabits two worlds that at times have come into conflict during his campaign for the White House. As a candidate, Mr. Romney uses China as a punching bag. He accuses Beijing of unfairly subsidizing Chinese exports, artificially holding down the value of its currency to keep exports cheap, stealing American technology and hacking into corporate and government computers. “How is it China’s been so successful in taking away our jobs?” he asked recently. “Well, let me tell you how: by cheating.” But his private equity dealings, both while he headed Bain and since, complicate that message.
Mr. Romney’s campaign insists he has no control over his investments since they are held in a blind trust. That said, a confidential prospectus for one of the Bain funds, obtained by The New York Times, promotes China as a good investment for some of the same reasons that Mr. Romney has said concern him: “Strong fundamentals” like manufacturing wages 85 percent lower than what Americans earn, vast foreign exchange reserves and the likelihood that China will surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy. “Accordingly, Bain Capital expects to see an increasing array of high-growth companies available for investment,” the prospectus says. Among the companies in which the Bain funds have invested is a global auto parts maker that is in the process of closing a factory in Illinois and moving most of the equipment and jobs to Jiangsu Province, where the Chinese government has built it a new plant; a Chinese electronics retailer accused by Microsoft of selling computers with pirated software; and a Hong Kong-based Chinese appliance maker that was sued for copying another company’s design for a deep-fat fryer.
Mr. Romney has millions invested in a series of Bain funds that created and have a controlling stake in Sensata Technologies, a manufacturer of sensors and controls for vehicles, aircraft and electric motors that employs 4,000 workers in China. Since Bain took over the operation in 2006, its investment has quadrupled in value. Bain continues to own $2.6 billion worth of Sensata’s shares. Two years ago, Sensata bought an operation that made automobile sensors in Freeport, Ill. At the first meeting with the plant’s 170 workers, Sensata managers announced that by the end of 2012 all the equipment and jobs would be relocated, mostly to Jiangsu Province. Workers have staged demonstrations, pleading for Mr. Romney to intervene on their behalf. Chinese engineers, flown to Freeport for training on the equipment, described their salaries as a pittance compared with Freeport wages. Tom Gaulrapp, who has operated machines at the factory for 33 years, said he fears he will go bankrupt after he loses his job on Nov. 5. “This goes to show the unbelievable hypocrisy of this man,” he said of Mr. Romney. “He talks about how we need to get tough on China and stop China from taking our jobs, and then he is making money off shipping our jobs there.” Note: Sensata pays their Chinese workers $.99 to $1.35 an hour, with the typical workweek being 7-12 hour days. Honeywell, who sold the business to Sensata, reported that in 2010, the Automation and Control Solutions sector (including the Freeport plant) had a profit of $1.77 billion. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Thursday, October 11, 2012
State of the Union October 11, 2012
October 11, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Reminder: Second shift start time will be change from 5:30 pm to 4 pm on Monday, October 15. First break will be 6:00 pm. Lunch will be 8:30 pm and Second Break will be 10:30 pm. The traffic lights will cycle from 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm.
• Now Available: New videosdescribing the historic events that transpired from 2007 – 2011 that changed the way medical benefits are provided for UAW auto retirees. These videos are available for viewing on the trust’s website at uawtrust.org and there are also links to the videos on the UAW website at uaw.org.
• From the Detroit Free Press: Modern commercial vans are emerging as a competitive segment in the U.S., and automakers are launching new products, many from Europe, as versatile offerings better equipped to handle a wide range of duties for small businesses and corporate fleets alike. Chrysler is creating a Ram Commercial division to handle development and sales of commercial vehicles in preparation to sell Fiat commercial vans in the U.S. Ford is using the Transit name on three global commercial vans that are to be sold in the U.S. by the end of 2013. Nissan continues to push in the segment it entered in 2011. It invested $118 million to build the NV cargo van and passenger van in its Canton, Miss., plant and is introducing the smaller NV200, which will become the official New York taxi about a year from now under a 10-year contract. And Mercedes-Benz is hinting it has a redesigned Sprinter up its sleeve. "We are not going to be sitting still," said Claus Tritt, vice president of operations for Daimler Vans. One analyst said M-B may bring the minivan-size Vito from Europe. "We are seeing a major fragmentation of the market with new players, entries, models and sizes," said analyst Aaron Bragman of IHS Automotive in Northville, Mich. "No one is entirely sure what will work. It is a big experiment," Bragman said. "There is a shift to European-styled vans, but there is no guarantee Americans will see it and say it looks great." The Sprinter, for example, has been sold here for a decade and still has a small percentage of the market. Chrysler has been without a dedicated commercial van since it sold the Sprinter as a Dodge when it was owned by Daimler. That pact ended in 2010, and the Sprinter was reintroduced as a Mercedes-Benz. Fred Diaz, CEO of the Ram brand, announced the Ram Commercial division last month at the Texas State Fair. "We are getting really, really serious about the commercial end of the business," said Diaz. Dodge dealers had been shown two commercial vans in Las Vegas on Sept. 10. Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the Fiat Ducato large commercial van and Fiat Doblo compact van will come to the U.S. in 2013. Bragman said buyers may be concerned about towing and performance of the Ducato because it is front-wheel drive.
• Ford has been the segment leader for decades with the E-Series, formerly known as the Econoline, which has 51% of the market. But E-Series will end production in 2014, replaced by the Transit medium van made in Kansas City starting next year. The larger Transit will be offered in the U.S. in a range of body styles, wheelbases and roof heights. It is rear-wheel drive with an EcoBoost or diesel engine. The big question, Bragman said, is where do Ford customers go if they don't like the Transit? They could turn to GM for the American-style, V8, rear-drive, body-on-frame box vans they are familiar with (Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana). But those vans are not scheduled to be replaced until 2015 or 2016, Bragman said. Or they could turn to Nissan. In addition to the NV, the compact NV200 will go on sale in 2013, giving the Asian automaker four commercial vans. Mercedes-Benz has a new van called the Citan in Europe that would compete with the Transit Connect, but the automaker is not convinced there is enough demand here. The size of the commercial van market has grown only modestly from 1.88% of industry sales in 2008 to 2.05% in 2011, according to LMC Automotive. Some of that growth comes from Ford's Transit Connect, which was introduced in 2009. Sales grew from 8,834 in 2009 to 31,914 last year. GM's models may be aging, but its large, experienced dealer network in the U.S. knows how to sell them. "The Euro vans are wonderfully compact and fuel-efficient," said Joseph Langhauser, manager of commercial products sales support for GM. "But the nice part is there are now distinguishing features between the products. Those customers that require heavy loads and towing capacity are probably going to stay with our body-on-frame models."
• PickupTrucks.com recently did a 4-truck comparison between global midsize competitors and gives us the first review of the new Colorado, sporting a Holden moniker in this instance. Cutting to the chase, the Colorado finished 2nd overall behind the new global Ford Ranger (not slated for US consumption) and ahead of the VW Amarok and the best-selling Toyota Hilux (think Tacoma) while taking first in off road performance and overall value. Here’s what they had to say about the Colorado: Holden’s Colorado costs $49,990 (Australian), and it shapes up to be a great value for the money if you need to tow heavy items or do a lot of work. For someone with a caravan or a boat tipping the scales close to 7,700 pounds, it is the only option…It has a strong engine, modern six-speed gearboxes, good interior space and all the equipment you expect. The Colorado used a bit more fuel than the VW Amarok, but its 23 mpg average on our test is not bad. The official government number is 25.8 mpg…(in summary) If you’re expecting a ute that handles more like a car, then it’s going to disappoint. Sure, it feels more traditionally trucklike compared with the Ranger and Amarok when it comes to cornering and is far more cumbersome in general driving, but it is a pickup, after all. Some liked the no-nonsense interior, but we thought it was a little ordinary for an all-new truck, and it did look like a lower trim level. The engine is the loudest at idle, but the sound is not irritating and smoothens out as the truck gains speed. Despite all that, it didn’t take us long to warm up to the Colorado. Its softer suspension means it floats a little more than the others, but it is also very comfortable in most conditions. The engine has plenty of torque to get around without much fuss, and the cabin feels spacious. The Colorado’s 7,500-pound-plus tow rating is handy, and there is nothing missing from the list of standard equipment. If you don’t mind driving a pickup that feels like a pickup, the Colorado (the least expensive of our group) makes for a good value proposition. (The Colorado in the test came with the 2.8 liter 4-cylinder turbo diesel rated at 177 horsepower and 347 pounds feet of torque. It had a payload capacity of 3300 pounds)
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
• Reminder: Second shift start time will be change from 5:30 pm to 4 pm on Monday, October 15. First break will be 6:00 pm. Lunch will be 8:30 pm and Second Break will be 10:30 pm. The traffic lights will cycle from 3:15 pm to 4:15 pm.
• Now Available: New videosdescribing the historic events that transpired from 2007 – 2011 that changed the way medical benefits are provided for UAW auto retirees. These videos are available for viewing on the trust’s website at uawtrust.org and there are also links to the videos on the UAW website at uaw.org.
• From the Detroit Free Press: Modern commercial vans are emerging as a competitive segment in the U.S., and automakers are launching new products, many from Europe, as versatile offerings better equipped to handle a wide range of duties for small businesses and corporate fleets alike. Chrysler is creating a Ram Commercial division to handle development and sales of commercial vehicles in preparation to sell Fiat commercial vans in the U.S. Ford is using the Transit name on three global commercial vans that are to be sold in the U.S. by the end of 2013. Nissan continues to push in the segment it entered in 2011. It invested $118 million to build the NV cargo van and passenger van in its Canton, Miss., plant and is introducing the smaller NV200, which will become the official New York taxi about a year from now under a 10-year contract. And Mercedes-Benz is hinting it has a redesigned Sprinter up its sleeve. "We are not going to be sitting still," said Claus Tritt, vice president of operations for Daimler Vans. One analyst said M-B may bring the minivan-size Vito from Europe. "We are seeing a major fragmentation of the market with new players, entries, models and sizes," said analyst Aaron Bragman of IHS Automotive in Northville, Mich. "No one is entirely sure what will work. It is a big experiment," Bragman said. "There is a shift to European-styled vans, but there is no guarantee Americans will see it and say it looks great." The Sprinter, for example, has been sold here for a decade and still has a small percentage of the market. Chrysler has been without a dedicated commercial van since it sold the Sprinter as a Dodge when it was owned by Daimler. That pact ended in 2010, and the Sprinter was reintroduced as a Mercedes-Benz. Fred Diaz, CEO of the Ram brand, announced the Ram Commercial division last month at the Texas State Fair. "We are getting really, really serious about the commercial end of the business," said Diaz. Dodge dealers had been shown two commercial vans in Las Vegas on Sept. 10. Fiat/Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has said the Fiat Ducato large commercial van and Fiat Doblo compact van will come to the U.S. in 2013. Bragman said buyers may be concerned about towing and performance of the Ducato because it is front-wheel drive.
• Ford has been the segment leader for decades with the E-Series, formerly known as the Econoline, which has 51% of the market. But E-Series will end production in 2014, replaced by the Transit medium van made in Kansas City starting next year. The larger Transit will be offered in the U.S. in a range of body styles, wheelbases and roof heights. It is rear-wheel drive with an EcoBoost or diesel engine. The big question, Bragman said, is where do Ford customers go if they don't like the Transit? They could turn to GM for the American-style, V8, rear-drive, body-on-frame box vans they are familiar with (Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana). But those vans are not scheduled to be replaced until 2015 or 2016, Bragman said. Or they could turn to Nissan. In addition to the NV, the compact NV200 will go on sale in 2013, giving the Asian automaker four commercial vans. Mercedes-Benz has a new van called the Citan in Europe that would compete with the Transit Connect, but the automaker is not convinced there is enough demand here. The size of the commercial van market has grown only modestly from 1.88% of industry sales in 2008 to 2.05% in 2011, according to LMC Automotive. Some of that growth comes from Ford's Transit Connect, which was introduced in 2009. Sales grew from 8,834 in 2009 to 31,914 last year. GM's models may be aging, but its large, experienced dealer network in the U.S. knows how to sell them. "The Euro vans are wonderfully compact and fuel-efficient," said Joseph Langhauser, manager of commercial products sales support for GM. "But the nice part is there are now distinguishing features between the products. Those customers that require heavy loads and towing capacity are probably going to stay with our body-on-frame models."
• PickupTrucks.com recently did a 4-truck comparison between global midsize competitors and gives us the first review of the new Colorado, sporting a Holden moniker in this instance. Cutting to the chase, the Colorado finished 2nd overall behind the new global Ford Ranger (not slated for US consumption) and ahead of the VW Amarok and the best-selling Toyota Hilux (think Tacoma) while taking first in off road performance and overall value. Here’s what they had to say about the Colorado: Holden’s Colorado costs $49,990 (Australian), and it shapes up to be a great value for the money if you need to tow heavy items or do a lot of work. For someone with a caravan or a boat tipping the scales close to 7,700 pounds, it is the only option…It has a strong engine, modern six-speed gearboxes, good interior space and all the equipment you expect. The Colorado used a bit more fuel than the VW Amarok, but its 23 mpg average on our test is not bad. The official government number is 25.8 mpg…(in summary) If you’re expecting a ute that handles more like a car, then it’s going to disappoint. Sure, it feels more traditionally trucklike compared with the Ranger and Amarok when it comes to cornering and is far more cumbersome in general driving, but it is a pickup, after all. Some liked the no-nonsense interior, but we thought it was a little ordinary for an all-new truck, and it did look like a lower trim level. The engine is the loudest at idle, but the sound is not irritating and smoothens out as the truck gains speed. Despite all that, it didn’t take us long to warm up to the Colorado. Its softer suspension means it floats a little more than the others, but it is also very comfortable in most conditions. The engine has plenty of torque to get around without much fuss, and the cabin feels spacious. The Colorado’s 7,500-pound-plus tow rating is handy, and there is nothing missing from the list of standard equipment. If you don’t mind driving a pickup that feels like a pickup, the Colorado (the least expensive of our group) makes for a good value proposition. (The Colorado in the test came with the 2.8 liter 4-cylinder turbo diesel rated at 177 horsepower and 347 pounds feet of torque. It had a payload capacity of 3300 pounds)
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
State of the Union October 9, 2012
October 9, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Reminder from the Benefits Dept.: If you were hired as a permanent employee in February 2012, as of October 1st you have health coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield by GM. However, you MUST call Fidelity at 1-800-489-4646 to activate your insurance, even if you do not have dependents.
• Moral Character and the Presidency – By UAW President Bob King A great Republican woman, Margaret Chase Smith, once summed up the dilemma facing candidates for public office this way: "The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character." Her words echo through the decades and reverberate in the 2012 presidential race. Just a few years ago, our country was facing its most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. President George W. Bush had bailed out the banks, but the American people were still hurting. Jobs were disappearing by the hundreds of thousands each month. Millions of homeowners were underwater or facing foreclosure. Businesses were cut off from credit. Auto sales were tanking. And the domestic auto industry was teetering on the brink of collapse. The bailout of Wall Street by the last administration left a bad taste for much of the American public, and the idea of rescuing the car companies was wildly unpopular. Playing to that sentiment, Mitt Romney penned an op-ed advocating, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." President Barack Obama, newly elected, knew that much of the public was skeptical — even hostile — to an auto industry rescue. But he also knew that allowing General Motors and Chrysler to collapse would have been devastating for auto and parts workers, the local businesses that depend on them and the country as a whole. More than a million jobs were hanging in the balance. He knew the right thing to do, and he did it: not a bailout, but a lifeline, with real change and shared sacrifice from all stakeholders. Obama's leadership saved more than a million jobs. Today, the auto industry is thriving once again. Plants are humming and adding new shifts. Since June 2009, auto and parts manufacturers and dealers have grown employment by nearly a quarter of a million jobs. These are good, middle-class jobs, making things for an economy built to last. And now that the auto rescue has succeeded, Mitt Romney — who opposed it when that was the easy and popular position to take — is trying to claim credit for it. But that's not surprising. At Bain Capital, the corporate buyout firm he founded, Romney and his partners too often made their money taking companies apart and laying off workers. Instead of doing what was right — building companies up and securing good jobs for American workers — they did what was easy … and profitable. America's working men and women know about hard work, because that's what we do every day. We know about doing what's right, even at personal cost, because that's the legacy of the brave men and women who built our unions and the great American middle class. And that's who built every social movement that has made our democracy stronger and more inclusive.
• King cont’d: No surprise, then, that Margaret Chase Smith's test of moral character resonates for us. It's not about what's easy, and it's not about what's popular. It's about doing the right thing even when it's neither. Barack Obama has passed that test. And that's why we're proud to be supporting his re-election as president of the United States.
• From Automotive News: General Motors is overhauling its commercial dealer network in a bid to boost sales to business customers. GM wants dealerships that sell to small- and mid-sized businesses -- customers who buy one to 100 vehicles a year -- to offer perks such as extended service hours and better availability of loaners. In exchange, GM is offering commercial dealers advertising support, more floorplan money and the chance for more bonus cash based on sales volume, among other benefits. The program will go into effect in January and replace a system that has been in place for more than a decade, says Ed Peper, who in June was appointed GM's U.S. vice president of fleet and commercial sales. About 430 of GM's dealers, or roughly 10 percent of its U.S. network, are enrolled in the current commercial program. GM hopes that beefing up its service to construction companies, farmers and other commercial customers will boost a fast-growing slice of its business. Sales of pickups, commercial vans and other vehicles to business customers, including large corporate buyers, grew 18 percent this year through September, compared with 3 percent for GM's overall U.S. sales. GM sales executives say demand from small- and mid-sized businesses has emerged as a key driver of the company's sales growth, as businesses that delayed purchases during the economic downturn look to replace aging vehicles. "We want to encourage our dealers into the smaller fleet space," says Jennifer Costabile, director of marketing and sales support for GM's fleet and commercial business. "There's a lot of pent-up demand. We have a tremendous number of businesses out there that are really ripe for our dealers to go after." Peper says any GM dealer who agrees to the conditions can sign up for the program. Under the new rules, dealers must:
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
• Reminder from the Benefits Dept.: If you were hired as a permanent employee in February 2012, as of October 1st you have health coverage through Blue Cross Blue Shield by GM. However, you MUST call Fidelity at 1-800-489-4646 to activate your insurance, even if you do not have dependents.
• Moral Character and the Presidency – By UAW President Bob King A great Republican woman, Margaret Chase Smith, once summed up the dilemma facing candidates for public office this way: "The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character." Her words echo through the decades and reverberate in the 2012 presidential race. Just a few years ago, our country was facing its most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression. President George W. Bush had bailed out the banks, but the American people were still hurting. Jobs were disappearing by the hundreds of thousands each month. Millions of homeowners were underwater or facing foreclosure. Businesses were cut off from credit. Auto sales were tanking. And the domestic auto industry was teetering on the brink of collapse. The bailout of Wall Street by the last administration left a bad taste for much of the American public, and the idea of rescuing the car companies was wildly unpopular. Playing to that sentiment, Mitt Romney penned an op-ed advocating, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." President Barack Obama, newly elected, knew that much of the public was skeptical — even hostile — to an auto industry rescue. But he also knew that allowing General Motors and Chrysler to collapse would have been devastating for auto and parts workers, the local businesses that depend on them and the country as a whole. More than a million jobs were hanging in the balance. He knew the right thing to do, and he did it: not a bailout, but a lifeline, with real change and shared sacrifice from all stakeholders. Obama's leadership saved more than a million jobs. Today, the auto industry is thriving once again. Plants are humming and adding new shifts. Since June 2009, auto and parts manufacturers and dealers have grown employment by nearly a quarter of a million jobs. These are good, middle-class jobs, making things for an economy built to last. And now that the auto rescue has succeeded, Mitt Romney — who opposed it when that was the easy and popular position to take — is trying to claim credit for it. But that's not surprising. At Bain Capital, the corporate buyout firm he founded, Romney and his partners too often made their money taking companies apart and laying off workers. Instead of doing what was right — building companies up and securing good jobs for American workers — they did what was easy … and profitable. America's working men and women know about hard work, because that's what we do every day. We know about doing what's right, even at personal cost, because that's the legacy of the brave men and women who built our unions and the great American middle class. And that's who built every social movement that has made our democracy stronger and more inclusive.
• King cont’d: No surprise, then, that Margaret Chase Smith's test of moral character resonates for us. It's not about what's easy, and it's not about what's popular. It's about doing the right thing even when it's neither. Barack Obama has passed that test. And that's why we're proud to be supporting his re-election as president of the United States.
• From Automotive News: General Motors is overhauling its commercial dealer network in a bid to boost sales to business customers. GM wants dealerships that sell to small- and mid-sized businesses -- customers who buy one to 100 vehicles a year -- to offer perks such as extended service hours and better availability of loaners. In exchange, GM is offering commercial dealers advertising support, more floorplan money and the chance for more bonus cash based on sales volume, among other benefits. The program will go into effect in January and replace a system that has been in place for more than a decade, says Ed Peper, who in June was appointed GM's U.S. vice president of fleet and commercial sales. About 430 of GM's dealers, or roughly 10 percent of its U.S. network, are enrolled in the current commercial program. GM hopes that beefing up its service to construction companies, farmers and other commercial customers will boost a fast-growing slice of its business. Sales of pickups, commercial vans and other vehicles to business customers, including large corporate buyers, grew 18 percent this year through September, compared with 3 percent for GM's overall U.S. sales. GM sales executives say demand from small- and mid-sized businesses has emerged as a key driver of the company's sales growth, as businesses that delayed purchases during the economic downturn look to replace aging vehicles. "We want to encourage our dealers into the smaller fleet space," says Jennifer Costabile, director of marketing and sales support for GM's fleet and commercial business. "There's a lot of pent-up demand. We have a tremendous number of businesses out there that are really ripe for our dealers to go after." Peper says any GM dealer who agrees to the conditions can sign up for the program. Under the new rules, dealers must:
- Pay a $400 monthly administrative fee.
- Staff at least 1 sales manager and 1 account specialist exclusively for commercial customers.
- Offer commercial customers priority service hours beyond normal operating hours.
- Install and maintain at least one service hoist that can lift up to 8 tons.
- Maintain a dedicated marketing budget for the commercial business. Dealers who comply with those and other standards can earn at least $100 per commercial vehicle sold if they also hit a factory-set sales objective. That will replace a system of occasional 60-day stair-step incentive programs, which pay dealers bonuses as sales targets are met. They also will get an extra 60 days of floorplan coverage on certain vehicles, as well as financial assistance for maintaining work-ready loaner vehicles. GM also will create an advertising program exclusively for commercial dealers.
- They tend to be more loyal than retail customers.
- They spend more on service.
- They often generate referrals for retail business.
For larger corporate accounts, GM has its own sales force that calls on those customers, which generally service their own vehicles. Peper says dealers should covet small- and mid-sized business customers because:
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
State of the Union October 2, 2012
October 2, 2012
online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock:
Welcome back to all of you from your extended vacations. I hope you all enjoyed your time off and come back rested and refreshed. While you were gone, we tragically lost our UAW Region 5 Director Jim Wells, who passed away Sept. 26. As many of you know, Jim was the first chairman of Local 2250 and was always a champion and advocate for this local and plant.
Personally, Jim was a resource and a friend to me as I worked through the many difficult issues that came up the last few years. He will be greatly missed. UAW President Bob King issued this statement upon his passing:
"It is with a heavy heart that we announce Jim's passing last night. But we will remain forever inspired by his character, integrity and passion for the labor movement. A dedicated trade unionist for nearly 50 years, Wells joined UAW Local 25 in 1966 when he was hired at the General Motors plant in St. Louis. Jim transferred to the GM Wentzville Assembly plant and became the first chairman of UAW Local 2250. He was appointed an international representative by then-UAW President Owen Bieber in 1985, and served four years on the Region 5 staff.
He served as UAW Region 5 assistant director for six years from 1989 to 1995. First elected to lead Region 5 in 1995, he was re-elected in 2010 for his fifth term serving UAW members and retirees in 17 states in the western and southwestern United States, including Missouri, California and Washington state. Jim was the longest-serving member of the UAW International Executive Board. We'll always remember his unwavering commitment to fighting for and protecting all workers' rights. The UAW extends its deepest sympathy to Jim's wife, Jane, their daughters, Kelly, Traci and Janie, his father, Ed Wells, and four grandchildren."
On a different note, I would like to thank our Benefits Representatives Mike Bridgins, Russell "Smitty" Smith and Karen Jones for all the extra time and effort they have put in working on all the issues with members’ unemployment and SUB problems. Finally, the new local contract books are in and you should be receiving your copy from your committee person.
Attention: Beginning today, Tuesday, Oct. 2, the GM Employee Discount Program now includes aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
General Motors Co. today reported its highest September U.S. sales since 2008: 210,245 vehicles, up 1.5 percent compared with a year ago. New products helped drive a 29 percent increase in passenger car sales. Sales of GM’s mini, small and compact cars alone were up a combined 97 percent, and all GM brands increased their retail sales. "Passenger cars have been the launch point for a broad and deep GM product offensive," said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “Auto sales will continue to be a bright spot for the U.S. economy, which is particularly good news for GM as we walk into an even stronger cadence of new products in 2013 and 2014." GM has moved aggressively to replace existing vehicles with better designs, more technology and improved fuel economy. At the same time, GM is entering growth segments and offering new entry points for each brand. Seventy percent of GM nameplates will be all new or redesigned in 2012 and 2013.
September’s car sales increase reflected a strong start for the new Chevrolet Spark and Cadillac XTS, continued strong sales of the Buick Verano, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Sonic, and a second consecutive sales record for the Chevrolet Volt. September also marked the first deliveries of the all-new Cadillac ATS. The GMC Terrain and Acadia crossovers had strong months as well, with sales up 8 percent and 16 percent, respectively. This helped drive a 3 percent increase for all GM crossovers versus a year ago. Truck sales were down 20 percent due to a 46 percent year-over-year reduction in fleet sales due to the timing of customer deliveries. In the large pickup segment, GM’s total sales were down 12 percent and fleet sales were down 56 percent. However, GM reduced its large pickup inventories by approximately 8,600 units compared with August, and earned average transaction prices more than $2,300 per unit above a year ago with the lowest incentive spending in the industry, according to J.D. Power PIN data. Van sales came in at 4886, a drop of 41.8%.
Automotive News broke down Ford’s future product portfolio recently. Here’s their take on the Transit and Econoline full size vans:
Transit:Ford will begin making the Transit commercial van next year in Kansas City, Mo., as a 2014 model. The European-style commercial van will feature Ford's 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine and a diesel, likely a 3.2-liter Duratorq. Ford has not said exactly how the Transit will be branded, but it has trademarked names such as T-150, T-250 and T-350. The Transit is a rwd van based on the European Transit
E series: Ford will continue to build its long-running E-series van for some time after Transit production begins. The company won't say just how long. But the cutaway version of the E series, used in such applications as airport shuttle vans, will continue well into this decade.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From Chairman Mike Bullock:
Welcome back to all of you from your extended vacations. I hope you all enjoyed your time off and come back rested and refreshed. While you were gone, we tragically lost our UAW Region 5 Director Jim Wells, who passed away Sept. 26. As many of you know, Jim was the first chairman of Local 2250 and was always a champion and advocate for this local and plant.
Personally, Jim was a resource and a friend to me as I worked through the many difficult issues that came up the last few years. He will be greatly missed. UAW President Bob King issued this statement upon his passing:
"It is with a heavy heart that we announce Jim's passing last night. But we will remain forever inspired by his character, integrity and passion for the labor movement. A dedicated trade unionist for nearly 50 years, Wells joined UAW Local 25 in 1966 when he was hired at the General Motors plant in St. Louis. Jim transferred to the GM Wentzville Assembly plant and became the first chairman of UAW Local 2250. He was appointed an international representative by then-UAW President Owen Bieber in 1985, and served four years on the Region 5 staff.
He served as UAW Region 5 assistant director for six years from 1989 to 1995. First elected to lead Region 5 in 1995, he was re-elected in 2010 for his fifth term serving UAW members and retirees in 17 states in the western and southwestern United States, including Missouri, California and Washington state. Jim was the longest-serving member of the UAW International Executive Board. We'll always remember his unwavering commitment to fighting for and protecting all workers' rights. The UAW extends its deepest sympathy to Jim's wife, Jane, their daughters, Kelly, Traci and Janie, his father, Ed Wells, and four grandchildren."
On a different note, I would like to thank our Benefits Representatives Mike Bridgins, Russell "Smitty" Smith and Karen Jones for all the extra time and effort they have put in working on all the issues with members’ unemployment and SUB problems. Finally, the new local contract books are in and you should be receiving your copy from your committee person.
Attention: Beginning today, Tuesday, Oct. 2, the GM Employee Discount Program now includes aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
General Motors Co. today reported its highest September U.S. sales since 2008: 210,245 vehicles, up 1.5 percent compared with a year ago. New products helped drive a 29 percent increase in passenger car sales. Sales of GM’s mini, small and compact cars alone were up a combined 97 percent, and all GM brands increased their retail sales. "Passenger cars have been the launch point for a broad and deep GM product offensive," said Kurt McNeil, vice president of U.S. sales operations. “Auto sales will continue to be a bright spot for the U.S. economy, which is particularly good news for GM as we walk into an even stronger cadence of new products in 2013 and 2014." GM has moved aggressively to replace existing vehicles with better designs, more technology and improved fuel economy. At the same time, GM is entering growth segments and offering new entry points for each brand. Seventy percent of GM nameplates will be all new or redesigned in 2012 and 2013.
September’s car sales increase reflected a strong start for the new Chevrolet Spark and Cadillac XTS, continued strong sales of the Buick Verano, Chevrolet Cruze and Chevrolet Sonic, and a second consecutive sales record for the Chevrolet Volt. September also marked the first deliveries of the all-new Cadillac ATS. The GMC Terrain and Acadia crossovers had strong months as well, with sales up 8 percent and 16 percent, respectively. This helped drive a 3 percent increase for all GM crossovers versus a year ago. Truck sales were down 20 percent due to a 46 percent year-over-year reduction in fleet sales due to the timing of customer deliveries. In the large pickup segment, GM’s total sales were down 12 percent and fleet sales were down 56 percent. However, GM reduced its large pickup inventories by approximately 8,600 units compared with August, and earned average transaction prices more than $2,300 per unit above a year ago with the lowest incentive spending in the industry, according to J.D. Power PIN data. Van sales came in at 4886, a drop of 41.8%.
Automotive News broke down Ford’s future product portfolio recently. Here’s their take on the Transit and Econoline full size vans:
Transit:Ford will begin making the Transit commercial van next year in Kansas City, Mo., as a 2014 model. The European-style commercial van will feature Ford's 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine and a diesel, likely a 3.2-liter Duratorq. Ford has not said exactly how the Transit will be branded, but it has trademarked names such as T-150, T-250 and T-350. The Transit is a rwd van based on the European Transit
E series: Ford will continue to build its long-running E-series van for some time after Transit production begins. The company won't say just how long. But the cutaway version of the E series, used in such applications as airport shuttle vans, will continue well into this decade.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Thursday, August 16, 2012
State of the Union August 16, 2012
August 16, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• There has been some misunderstanding about the use of VR time during the shutdown for those who have just 40 hours. Per the vacation application guidelines, “Employees entitled to 40 hours of vacation entitlement may chooseeither to use such hours or be placed on an unpaid leave of absence during the entire shutdown period.”
• Tickets for a 50-50 raffle to support the SOS ride this Saturday will go on sale Thursday. Trustee Wanda Richard will be in the cafeteria at first break and then on the shop floor selling tickets on first shift and Kim Davis will be selling tickets on 2nd shift. Also, SOS t-shirts will be on sale today in the cafeteria.
• Reminder: The 7th annual SOS – Support our Soldiers – motorcycle ride and rally will be next Saturday, Aug. 18. Registration will begin at 9 am at the Union Hall with the last bike out at 11am. Cost is $20 per bike, $5 per passenger and $5 for each extra hand. The ride ends at Crazy Horse Saloon in Wentzville at 6 pm. All bikes and cages (cars) are welcome. Proceeds will benefit Operation Homefront. If you have any questions you can contact Steve Melson at 636-262-1234.
• Hybrid full-size pickups and SUV’s have been in GM’s lineup for several years now, but you’d never know it reading this article from Wards Auto: The ultimate goal of a partnership formed last year between Fordand Toyotais a hybrid-electric fullsize pickup, says a high-ranking Ford engineer.“The nut we’re trying to crack is how do we do an F-150 hybrid?” Kevin Layden, Forddirector-electrification programs and engineering, tells WardsAutoat a media backgrounder here. “We’re working with (Toyota) and developing plans.” The auto makers last year inked an agreement to jointly develop rear-wheel-drive hybrid-electric powertrains, noting increasing fuel efficiency of light-duty pickups and SUVs is imperative to remaining viable in a U.S. market facing increasingly stringent government emissions and mileage regulations. The partners hope to mitigate costs and increase speed-to-market of new products. Work with Toyota is ongoing, Layden says, but he declines to reveal when a production vehicle may result from the tie-up. There are several obstacles confronting engineers, Layden says, including how to ensure a fuel-efficient electrified powertrain can handle the workload and durability demands of pickup and SUV buyers. “Everyone wants to tow with a truck, and that’s a duty cycle that really taxes the battery and electric motor” he says. “We have to figure out how you maximize that and still get the fuel economy.”
• Toyota has finally gotten on the electric vehicle bandwagon with an EV version of the compact SUV RAV4. The battery pack is supplied by Tesla, so it now appears that Toyota can do neither a hybrid electric full size pickup or a dedicated electric vehicle without considerable assistance. The RAV4 gas version starts at $22,650. The electric version? $49,800! For that you get, according to Wards Auto, “base-model-like bargain accoutrements: unappealing plastic trim on the instrument panel and door inners and fake-leather seating.”
• From Autoblog: Here's a shocking statistic: The United States has fewer cars per capita than Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and 16 other countries. Even more dramatic is one of the potential causes: A declining American middle class. According to an Atlantic report on a new study conduct by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, we're ranked just 25th in the world in per-person car ownership. The actual number stands at 439 cars per 1,000 Americans. Further, the U.S. is an outlier when you compare the number of vehicles per capita to household consumption. While we have one of the highest rates of household spending, car buying is in decline here. It is this disparity that points to the widening income gap in the U.S. as a potential cause of our low rate of car ownership. Indeed, car ownership rates track with the size of a nation's middle class, according to the report.
• From Automotive News: Opel is in talks with the IG Metall union and worker representatives to shorten working hours at its main German plant in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt. "Due to the deteriorating market situation in Europe, the management of Adam Opel AG is negotiating the subject of short time working and working hour reduction in Ruesselsheim with the works council and IG Metall," the money-losing General Motors subsidiary said in a statement on Thursday. The statement said the sides expect to reach an agreement quickly. Media reports cited company sources as saying Opel was also considering shortened working hours at its engine plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Ruesselsheim is Opel's main production hub and currently produces the Astra compact and Insignia mid-sized models. The carmaker has previously said that production of the next-generation Astra will be done at plants in the UK and Poland in 2015. If management and labor representatives agree to shorten working hours for the plant's staff, Opel can apply for subsidies under the German government's short-work program, called Kurzarbeit. The scheme was used by many struggling companies in the 2008-2009 recession, allowing them to preserve jobs by cutting the hours of employees when usage of plants was low, while having the government compensate workers for part of their lost wages. At the height of the last global financial crisis, more than 1.4 million workers in Germany received money under the program. While recent data shows only about 80,000 people were receiving such assistance in May of this year, several companies have had to seek government subsidies in recent months.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
• There has been some misunderstanding about the use of VR time during the shutdown for those who have just 40 hours. Per the vacation application guidelines, “Employees entitled to 40 hours of vacation entitlement may chooseeither to use such hours or be placed on an unpaid leave of absence during the entire shutdown period.”
• Tickets for a 50-50 raffle to support the SOS ride this Saturday will go on sale Thursday. Trustee Wanda Richard will be in the cafeteria at first break and then on the shop floor selling tickets on first shift and Kim Davis will be selling tickets on 2nd shift. Also, SOS t-shirts will be on sale today in the cafeteria.
• Reminder: The 7th annual SOS – Support our Soldiers – motorcycle ride and rally will be next Saturday, Aug. 18. Registration will begin at 9 am at the Union Hall with the last bike out at 11am. Cost is $20 per bike, $5 per passenger and $5 for each extra hand. The ride ends at Crazy Horse Saloon in Wentzville at 6 pm. All bikes and cages (cars) are welcome. Proceeds will benefit Operation Homefront. If you have any questions you can contact Steve Melson at 636-262-1234.
• Hybrid full-size pickups and SUV’s have been in GM’s lineup for several years now, but you’d never know it reading this article from Wards Auto: The ultimate goal of a partnership formed last year between Fordand Toyotais a hybrid-electric fullsize pickup, says a high-ranking Ford engineer.“The nut we’re trying to crack is how do we do an F-150 hybrid?” Kevin Layden, Forddirector-electrification programs and engineering, tells WardsAutoat a media backgrounder here. “We’re working with (Toyota) and developing plans.” The auto makers last year inked an agreement to jointly develop rear-wheel-drive hybrid-electric powertrains, noting increasing fuel efficiency of light-duty pickups and SUVs is imperative to remaining viable in a U.S. market facing increasingly stringent government emissions and mileage regulations. The partners hope to mitigate costs and increase speed-to-market of new products. Work with Toyota is ongoing, Layden says, but he declines to reveal when a production vehicle may result from the tie-up. There are several obstacles confronting engineers, Layden says, including how to ensure a fuel-efficient electrified powertrain can handle the workload and durability demands of pickup and SUV buyers. “Everyone wants to tow with a truck, and that’s a duty cycle that really taxes the battery and electric motor” he says. “We have to figure out how you maximize that and still get the fuel economy.”
• Toyota has finally gotten on the electric vehicle bandwagon with an EV version of the compact SUV RAV4. The battery pack is supplied by Tesla, so it now appears that Toyota can do neither a hybrid electric full size pickup or a dedicated electric vehicle without considerable assistance. The RAV4 gas version starts at $22,650. The electric version? $49,800! For that you get, according to Wards Auto, “base-model-like bargain accoutrements: unappealing plastic trim on the instrument panel and door inners and fake-leather seating.”
• From Autoblog: Here's a shocking statistic: The United States has fewer cars per capita than Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Belgium, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and 16 other countries. Even more dramatic is one of the potential causes: A declining American middle class. According to an Atlantic report on a new study conduct by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, we're ranked just 25th in the world in per-person car ownership. The actual number stands at 439 cars per 1,000 Americans. Further, the U.S. is an outlier when you compare the number of vehicles per capita to household consumption. While we have one of the highest rates of household spending, car buying is in decline here. It is this disparity that points to the widening income gap in the U.S. as a potential cause of our low rate of car ownership. Indeed, car ownership rates track with the size of a nation's middle class, according to the report.
• From Automotive News: Opel is in talks with the IG Metall union and worker representatives to shorten working hours at its main German plant in Ruesselsheim, near Frankfurt. "Due to the deteriorating market situation in Europe, the management of Adam Opel AG is negotiating the subject of short time working and working hour reduction in Ruesselsheim with the works council and IG Metall," the money-losing General Motors subsidiary said in a statement on Thursday. The statement said the sides expect to reach an agreement quickly. Media reports cited company sources as saying Opel was also considering shortened working hours at its engine plant in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Ruesselsheim is Opel's main production hub and currently produces the Astra compact and Insignia mid-sized models. The carmaker has previously said that production of the next-generation Astra will be done at plants in the UK and Poland in 2015. If management and labor representatives agree to shorten working hours for the plant's staff, Opel can apply for subsidies under the German government's short-work program, called Kurzarbeit. The scheme was used by many struggling companies in the 2008-2009 recession, allowing them to preserve jobs by cutting the hours of employees when usage of plants was low, while having the government compensate workers for part of their lost wages. At the height of the last global financial crisis, more than 1.4 million workers in Germany received money under the program. While recent data shows only about 80,000 people were receiving such assistance in May of this year, several companies have had to seek government subsidies in recent months.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
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