State of the Union April 12, 2012

April 12, 2012 online at uawlocal2250.com

There have been questions about the schedule around Memorial Day. Per the Local Agreement, a week with a holiday will be a 40-hour week, and management has decided to go with a 10.7, 10.7, 10.6 three-day schedule for that week. Therefore, we will be working Tuesday 5/29, Wednesday 5/30 and Thursday 5/31 and will be off Friday, June 1. The 2 out of 3 Fridays schedule will resume on June 8.

The annual $1000 Performance Bonus payment date this year is June 10, 2012. The eligibility date is May 15. Per the National Agreement, “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, and educational.”

Reminder: There will be a Recreation Committee meeting this today 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.

As you may have heard, there was an explosion at the GM battery testing lab at the Warren Tech Center yesterday. It was caused by gases venting from an experimental battery pack. Five employees were injured and one employee was hospitalized overnight for observation. The 8:45 a.m. incident inside a small room at the lab was likened by GM to a natural gas explosion, as gases from a battery gathered in the room during extreme testing and ignited in an enclosed chamber. GM said the battery pack remained intact. The battery tested and the incident have no connection with the Chevrolet Volt or any other current GM production vehicle. To avoid spreading misinformation, employees are asked to refrain from commenting on the incident in public forums including websites, blogs and other social media. GM Communications will take the lead in answering questions and providing updated information as necessary.

From the Tennesseean: The United Auto Workers union has begun passing out cards to employees of the Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga to determine whether there is enough support to hold a union representation election. But the cards are not the official instruments the union would have to collect from at least 30 percent of the plant’s hourly workers to force a union vote, said Gary Casteel, director of the UAW’s District 8, which includes Tennessee. “We have not started an official organizing campaign,” he said, refuting some national media reports. “What got some people up in arms is that we passed out some cards, but they were never about setting up an election,” Casteel said. “The cards were just gauging the level of support.” That characterization was confirmed by Volkswagen spokesman Guenther Scherelis at the plant, which has about 2,700 workers employed directly by the German automaker to build the midsize Passat sedan. “We heard that they had distributed those cards, but it is an initiative of the union and not something that Volkswagen is involved in,” Scherelis said. Some employees said they had seen the cards or were aware of the union’s interest in organizing the plant, but there seems to be no clear consensus on whether there would be enough support to force a union election, much less on whether the UAW could win that vote if it occurred. While it takes only 30 percent of the workforceto sign cards requesting a union vote — which would then have to be held by secret ballot within 40 days — the UAW has said it would want to see a much higher percentage than that before calling for a vote.

From Automotive News: Twenty-seven years after breaking away from the United Auto Workers, the once-mighty Canadian Auto Workers may disappear, subsumed into a new mega union as jobs vanish in Central Canada's manufacturing sector. The CAW's membership has fallen almost 30 percent in the past six years, and its leaders see a merger with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), another major private-sector union, as the best way to stay relevant. "If unions do not change, and quickly, we will steadily follow U.S. unions into continuing decline," the two unions said in a joint discussion paper released last month. "We must reverse the erosion of our membership, our power, and our prestige." In a move that underlines the seriousness of the threat, CAW and CEP leaders want to build a new 300,000-strong union, the private sector's largest by far, with a new name that has yet to be decided. It would span more sectors, tap into sentiment that has driven the Occupy movement, and do more to appeal to non-unionized workers. CAW President Ken Lewenza says the union has the resources to survive without CEP, but says the union should do something more ambitious -- try to boost unionization rates nationally, and shift trade policy to protect high-quality jobs. (GM and the CAW will begin negotiations on their contract this summer)

General Motors Co. is recalling 58,000 crossover SUVs worldwide, including in cold-weather states where windshield wipers could become inoperative because of snow or ice buildup. In a notice posted Thursday on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website, the Detroit automaker said it is recalling 50,001 2011-12 Buick Enclave, Chevrolet Traverse and GMC Acadia to fix some faulty wipers. GM said a buildup of snow or ice could loosen the wiper arm nut and cause the wipers to fail. GM said a review of warranty claims started in November had discovered the problem. GM dealers will tighten the bolts on the recalled SUVs and will notify owners later this month. The recall is limited to 28 states and the District of Columbia where the vehicles are registered and where snowfall can be heavy.