April 10, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
There will be a meeting this Thursday, April 12 at the Union Hall between shifts to discuss plans for this year’s Union Picnic. Topics of discussion will include the date of the picnic – which is complicated by the 4-week shutdown at the end of this summer – and the location (either Rotary Park or Quail Ridge). All members are welcome to provide their input.
From the Detroit News: GM will bring its redesigned midsize truck to the U.S. market after it launches all-new versions of its full-size pickups next year, GM North America President Mark Reuss told The Detroit News on Wednesday at the New York auto show. Reuss said the midsize truck, which may no longer be named the Colorado, will come immediately after the full-size truck redesigns come out in 2014. GM is working on a major redesign of its popular selling full-size pickups, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. Reuss also said that Chevrolet's all-new 2014 Impala will be targeted at both retail and fleet customers. More than half of Impala sales today are to fleet buyers. "The reason why we're selling a lot of fleet on the car we have is simply because it's an old car," he said. The all-new Impala, which will be built beginning in early 2013 at both GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant and in Oshawa, Ontario, looks more expensive than it really is but will be affordable, Reuss said. He confirmed the price will be higher than today's model, which starts at $25,760. But he declined to provide specifics. Reuss also confirmed the Buick LaCrosse sedan will get a major refresh. The LaCrosse was last enhanced for the 2010 model year.
• From the Detroit Free Press: The public is far more supportive of the auto industry bailouts than the government’s decision to bail out distressed financial giants in 2009, according to a Harris poll released this morning. About 45% of those polled said the federal government’s decision to extend more than $77 billion in emergency loans and bankruptcy financing to General Motors and Chrysler in 2009 “helped” the economy, according to the online poll conducted by market research firm Harris Interactive between March 12 and 19. Harris surveyed 2,451 adults and found that about 29% of Americans say the auto bailouts “hurt” the economy. About 5% were unsure. The bailouts have generated fierce debate in the presidential campaign. President Barack Obama has cited the auto industry’s return to profitability and hiring as proof of the bailouts’ success. Republican contenders, led by likely nominee Mitt Romney, have criticized the bailouts. “These findings suggest that the 2008 and 2009 bailouts may provide some useful political ammunition in the presidential and congressional election campaigns,” Harris said in a statement. Some 23% of Americans say the bank bailouts helped the economy, while 48% said the bailouts hurt the economy and 6% were unsure, according to the poll. About 15% of Americans said insurance industry bailouts helped the economy, while 42% said they hurt and 9% were unsure.
You only get what you are willing to accept
By Bob King
We must not be willing to accept relentless and unconscionable cuts in funding for K-12 education. For our children, these budget cuts have resulted in crumbling schools, skyrocketing class sizes and teachers being denied the support they need to do their best.
We must not be willing to accept workers being told we cannot afford decent wages, health care and pensions because we are giving more and more tax breaks to the wealthiest and already extremely profitable corporations.
We must not be willing to accept banks, bailed out with our tax dollars, foreclosing on hardworking Americans who are out of work or working for far less because of the financial crisis these banks created.
We must not be willing to accept one in four American children living in poverty and hunger.
There are so many more examples of the growing injustice in America and, sadly, this is no accident. It is a result of rampant greed — the deliberate manipulation of our democracy and economy by a tiny minority in the 1 percent who amass ever more wealth and power at our expense.
We are at a crossroads as a country. We have a choice to make: greater wealth for a few or opportunity for many; tax breaks for the richest or a fair shot for the rest of us; a government that can be bought by the highest bidder or a democracy that is truly of the people, by the people and for the people. The choice is in our hands. We must not be complicit with the suffering in our neighborhoods and communities for another year. We must come together to rebuild a fair America for all.
I know great change is possible. We inherited a great American history of everyday people standing up for their own dignity, freedom, and self-determination, shaping our direction as a country by people like the seamstress in Alabama who launched a bus boycott; the farmers in New England and Virginia who imagined we could be a free nation; the workers in Flint who occupied their plant to win collective bargaining rights; the farm workers in California who liberated our fields; the women in New York who dreamed they could one day speak with equal voice; the mother who stood up in Love Canal to stop the poisoning of her community; and the students who risked their lives during Freedom Summer to register voters.
In the last year alone, we watched people of conscience in Wisconsin stand for the rights of workers. We were inspired by Occupy Wall Street to stand with the 99 percent. We will rise this spring, because we do hold these truths to be self-evident — that all men and women are created equal, that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
We invite everyone who is unwilling to accept the growing injustice and inequality in America to join us in the 99 percent spring initiative. If you want to join with us to rebuild a fair economy for all, visit www.spring99.com for details on times and locations for this great initiative.
Will you join us April 9-15 to stand with the 99 percent for America?
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