State of the Union April 24, 2012

April 24, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

There will be an Education Committee meeting Wednesday, April 25 between the shifts at the Union Hall. Everyone is welcome to attend.

From the Detroit News: United Auto Workers President Bob King says GOP front-runner Mitt Romney is "out of touch" with workers after the former Massachusetts governor recounted his dad's decision to close a large auto plant in Detroit in the 1950s. King and former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland participated in a conference call with the Obama re-election campaign to discuss the campaign's efforts to tout the auto industry revival in the Buckeye State. "The comments about plant closings to me show how out of touch Mitt Romney is with working people," King said, calling them "cavalier." King noted that in recent years there has been "tremendous suffering across America" in the face of plant closings.

Last month, Romney recounted the decision of his father, George Romney, then CEO of American Motors, to close the company's Hudson plant on Detroit's east side and shift the work to the company's Kenosha, Wis., plant. The move resulted in the layoff of about 4,300 workers. "Now, later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign," Romney said. Romney has been harshly critical of the UAW — contending that the union got "more than their fair share" during bankruptcy reorganizations of General Motors and Chrysler. The Obama campaign is launching a "Made in Ohio" tour visiting cities like Perrysburg, Akron, and Warren to emphasize the importance of auto jobs in the state. King said the auto industry in Ohio has added about 15,000 jobs since 2009 — and said 80 out of 88 Ohio counties have an auto-related company. "No matter how much Mitt Romney tries to Etch-a-Sketch his way out of wanting the auto industry to go bankrupt, there was not a single financial institution willing to give them the loan they needed to restructure," King said, saying the collapse of GM and Chrysler would have led to a "deep depression" in the U.S. Strickland, the former Ohio governor, said that during the crisis in 2008, Honda executives visited him at the governor's mansion on a Sunday evening to urge him to support aid to U.S. automakers because of the potential impact that the collapse of the two could have had on the supply chain.

The May schedule is out. Daily production is 10 hours, 680 units for days without team meetings or 2013 mvb’s. Monday, May 28 is Memorial Day so that Tuesday is 10.7, Wednesday is 10.7 and Thursday is 10.6 with Friday off.

From Automotive News: The auto industry may soon have a strategy to avoid vehicle production interruptions that could be caused by the critical shortage of a key resin used in a variety of components. General Motors, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Hyundai-Kia, Volkswagen and 19 parts suppliers have reached a general consensus on how to quickly replace the resin, called nylon 12, according to a statement issued Monday by the Auto Industry Action Group. The trade group is scheduled to hold a meeting to finalize the plan on April 30, the statement said. Nylon 12 supplies have neared critical lows after a March 31 explosion at a chemical plant in Germany. Automakers and suppliers have been meeting to get ahold of the situation as the specter that the material shortage could halt vehicle assembly lines have grown. Nylon 12 is used in a variety of automotive components such as brake lines, fuel lines and other systems.

From the Detroit Free Press: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa will visit Chrysler's Jefferson North Assembly Plant on Thursday and speak to the company's workers. Walesa, 68, got his start as a labor organizer in Poland and led the push for democracy in the former communist nation. He became president of Poland from 1990-95. Chrysler Chairman and CEO Sergio Marchionne along with UAW Vice President General Holiefield also are scheduled to attend the event. Mike Smith, a labor historian at the Walter P. Reuther Library in Detroit, said Marchionne's willingness to bring Walesa into the plant stands in contrast with his reputation in Italy for clashing with unions. "I think it speaks to some open-mindedness on his part that he would allow Lech Walesa in to speak to the workers on the line," Smith said. Walesa founded Solidarity in 1980 and went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983.

From Automotive News: General Motors CEO Dan Akerson won't rule out closing factories as he restructures GM's loss-making Opel unit and said it will be "a while" before Opel turns a profit. Describing the carmaker's European operations as a "four-alarm fire," Akerson declined to comment when asked if he would have to shutter plants. He cited ongoing union negotiations over restructuring options. But Akerson said Germany-based Opel won't recover until excess production capacity is balanced with shrinking light-vehicle demand across Europe. "Until capacity or production is matched with demand, we're not going to be in a very enviable position," Akerson said in a keynote address Tuesday at the Automotive News China Conference. "Unless you have a strong export model in Europe, you're not making money," he said. Akerson added it would be "a while" before GM's European unit returns to profitability. But he declined to give a specific timeline. The European auto market is forecast to shrink between 3 and 5 percent this year. In Western Europe, sales have fallen 14 percent since 2007, saddling the region with an excess supply of auto factories.

Tom Brune UAW/GM Communications Coordinator Wentzville Assembly 636-327-2119