Jan. 19, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
The February schedule has three Friday’s scheduled: the 3rd, the 17th and the 24th. Production target for the beginning of the month is 610 units per day (2 shifts, 10 hours) and gradually rises to 634 by the end of the month, which will be the schedule going forward. We are also scheduled to work next Friday, Jan. 27, despite any rumors you may have heard. As usual these schedules are subject to change.
Next Monday we will be adding approximately 20 temps to the workforce. The following Monday, 10 employees from Delphi and 2 from national area hire are scheduled to begin (these numbers could change).
The UAW/GM Lifesteps representative will be in the plant next Tuesday and Wednesday to give personalized instruction/advice regarding your New Year’s resolutions. He will be at the fitness center 9 am – noon and 4 pm – 7 pm.
Product Editor Rick Kranz of Automotive News had this to say about GM’s pickup plans and meeting strict fuel economy standards while still satisfying the customer: Interested in owning a lighter, less capable light-duty full-sized pickup? I didn't think so. But General Motors seriously considered developing such a truck in an effort to boost the fuel economy of its pickups. "We have studied this extensively," Mark Reuss, GM's president of North America, said on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show last week. The key was "light-weighting," using lighter materials. It seemed like a workable idea: Simply engineer some light-duty, full-sized pickup models using materials that reduce weight. The idea was discussed years ago as GM began development of its redesigned Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 pickups. The redesigned pickups will be available in dealer showrooms next year. But not the lighter-weight, less capable models. That idea was dropped. Why? Reuss cites a few reasons:
o Higher materials cost and disappointing mpg: Reuss said that "if you look at profit on this, if you look at what it takes to actually do this, what it does to the cost of materials, and what it does to the real fuel economy of that vehicle," the effort would fall way short of GM's targets. He did not elaborate.
o Less capability: "What you risk when you light-weight trucks are duty-cycle issues," said Reuss. Capability can't be reduced because "there are people who use that to make a living."
Of course, what he failed to say is GM's pickups would be less competitive and that Ford and Ram likely would pick up new business. Reuss said that from a dollars and cents standpoint, and to reach GM's fuel economy targets, it made more sense to develop a mid-sized pickup -- the redesigned Chevrolet Colorado. That plan gives buyers two pickup choices: full-sized and mid-sized. That's not to say GM's full-sized pickups won't have better fuel economy. They will, Reuss said. But the mid-sized pickup will have better fuel economy -- possibly much better -- than its big brother. Said Reuss: The mid-sized Colorado will provide "90 percent of the size and 120 percent of the efficiency because of the powertrains." Let's see where GM goes with this idea.
Here are some excerpts from UAW President Bob King’s testimony at the “ Public Hearing for Proposed Greenhouse Gas Emissions Standards and Fuel Economy Standards for Light-Duty Vehicles in Model Years 2017-2025”:
It’s an honor to be here this morning, on behalf of our membership, to voice the UAW’s full support for the proposed rules regulating greenhouse-gas emissions and fuel economy. The proposed rules are sensible, achievable, and needed. They are good for the auto industry and its workers, good for the broader economy, good for the environment and good for our national security. Adopting the proposed rules will give an additional boost to the revitalization of the auto industry that began with President Obama’s courageous action in the depths of the industry’s crisis to save American manufacturing jobs by giving GM and Chrysler the breathing room they needed to restructure. After a painful process in which workers and retirees made significant sacrifices, the industry is coming back strong.
Our union’s new collective bargaining agreements with Ford, General Motors and Chrysler include substantial investment commitments by all three companies, in some cases bringing back work from overseas. The 20,000 UAW-represented hourly jobs that will be added over the next four years will have a substantial positive ripple effect throughout the supply chain as well as local communities. General Motors, Ford and Chrysler have made an unprecedented commitment to invest billions of dollars in their U.S. operations over the next few years, and in every case the investment is supporting new vehicles and power trains that will be more efficient than the previous generation.
This includes exciting advances such as 8- and 9-speed automatic transmissions, both dual-clutch and conventional; engines that feature advanced valve timing and gasoline direct injection; downsized and turbo-charged engines, and vehicles that are considerably lighter than the previous generations but retain the same size. Technologies such as start-stop systems and electric power steering are also making a contribution to vehicle efficiency.
There is a common element for all these technologies – they are all now or will soon be produced by UAW members in factories located in the United States. And that’s just the beginning – UAW members are also producing new technologies that may not reach large volumes for many years, but that represent the long-term future of the industry. That includes hybrid transmissions and electric-drive components, lithium-ion battery packs, and plug-in and pure electric vehicles. Although most automakers will continue to meet fuel-efficiency and tailpipe emission targets through improvements to conventional vehicles, we are excited that these new, transformative technologies are being produced by UAW members.
I want to underscore why we believe the drive to increase fuel-efficiency and reduce tailpipe pollution is creating jobs in the U.S. auto industry. One obvious reason is that consumers are demanding more fuel-efficient vehicles, and meeting that demand is an increasingly important part of this business. In an age of rising and volatile fuel prices, American families want to save money on fuel.
A second, more fundamental reason is because the technology needed to improve efficiency and reduce pollution represents additional content on each vehicle. That additional content must be engineered and produced by additional employees.
Last year the UAW, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Larry’s organization, the National Wildlife Federation, produced a report called “Supplying Ingenuity.” That report identified more than 500 separate facilities in the United States employing over 150,000 people where some or all of the employees are working to invent, engineer or produce advanced vehicles and fuel-saving components. These are real jobs supporting real American families.
No comments:
Post a Comment