State of the Union June 20, 2012

June 20, 2012 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

From the Women’s Committee: We are in need of teams for the golf tournament on June 30 at Country Lake golf course in Warrenton. It is a 3-person scramble with a 1:30 pm shotgun start. The cost is $70 per person/$210 per team. The first 3 places in 3 flights will be paid. There will also be a longest drive, closest to the pin and a skin game. Food and beer will be served after the tournament. The proceeds will go to “Turning Point” abused women’s shelter. Entry forms are available at the entrances. Also, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is this Saturday. Registration opens at 6:30 am with the first of the races, the 5K, starting at 8:30 am.

The UAW issued this statement regarding President Obama’s announcement of a new immigration policy that will allow some undocumented students to avoid deportation and receive work authorization: “The UAW applauds President Obama’s new ‘deferred action’ executive order announced today granting these young people administrative relief. These students – ages 15 to 30 and some of our nation’s best and brightest who lack immigration status because they were brought into this country by their parents – should not be deported and should be allowed to work in this country. For these estimated one million undocumented students who have grown up in the United States, attended our schools and shown a commitment to succeed in higher education, this deferral allows them to excel in college and go on to successful careers. It’s just smart policy to protect the interests of our children at risk of deportation who have spent years establishing their homes in America -– the only home they have ever known. Further, the UAW remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform and urges passage of the DREAM Act to provide a way for these students to become legal residents.”

From the Windsor Star: Chrysler Canada CEO Reid Bigland added his voice Friday to the chorus of auto executives demanding that the CAW lower its labour costs to match those at UAW plants. "We have had a long and good relationship with the CAW and have been able to come to terms with competitive, collective agreements in the past," Bigland said. "We've got some new challenges now in these upcoming negotiations because of the significant improvements we've made with respected to the UAW negotiations. But I'm confident we'll reach an agreement that will maintain our competitiveness here in Canada." Bigland said the CAW-Detroit Three negotiations, which kick off later this summer, must address the labour cost gap between the CAW and UAW. "If you look at where our cost structure is here in Canada versus the United States, there's a gap and we need to remain competitive in Canada."

From Bloomberg: Demand for lithium ion rechargeable batteries out of Asia has helped prices climb threefold in the last 12 years, London-based Roskill Information Services Ltd. analyst Robert Baylis said. Global use doubled from 2000 to 2011 according to Roskill, which has recently consulted on six lithium projects. There is about 0.1 of an ounce of lithium carbonate in a mobile phone and about 1 ounce in a notebook computer, according to Rockwood Chief Executive Officer Seifollah Ghasemi. There will be a "step change," in the global lithium industry in 2016 or 2017 when electric cars became more commonplace, Ghasemi said. Batteries for such vehicles contain about 50 pounds of lithium. "Anywhere between a doubling and a tripling of demand in the next 10 years is absolutely our view," Peter Oliver, CEO of Talison, the biggest producer, said in an interview. "Maybe a doubling is with minimal impact from electric vehicles and if electric vehicles take off in a big way in the next 10 years it could be as much as tripling."

Edmunds has done some research on who’s buying new vehicles now and, just as important, who isn’t. They broke it down into 3 groups, which we will cover beginning today. Here’s the introduction and first group: A key buzzword for auto sales these days is "pent-up demand" — those purchases that consumers didn't make during the recession and early recovery. Edmunds.com estimates that nearly 11 million sales were lost during the recession years alone, of which there could be at least four million new car buyers still waiting to come back to market. But who are these would-be buyers? Here are several key groups who have bought fewer cars in recent years:

The Young and the Restless: Young adults aged 18 to 34 accounted for nearly 30 percent less of new cars bought in 2011 than in 2007, according to new car registration data from Polk. Yet, this group's share of the total U.S. population remained stable during the past five years and, despite decreases in licensed drivers among the younger members of the group, the share of licensed drivers aged 18 to 34 also barely changed. But, with higher unemployment, lower income and less education than previous generations at this age, it hardly comes as a surprise that these younger adults have failed to buy new cars at the same rate as their predecessors. Younger adults aren't alone in their lack of new car-buying. The share of sales to adults aged 35 to 44 has fallen nearly 25 percent, according to Polk. While this demographic group did decline in size as its older members, the youngest of the large Baby Boomer cohort, moved up to the 45 to 54 age group, the loss of car sales share outpaced the population shift. This result is rather surprising since this group's unemployment rate sits well below the national average. Also, more importantly, the most recently available (2010) Census Bureau data on income shows that median household income has rebounded more for 35 to 44 year olds than for any other age group of the working age population (18 to 64 year olds). One factor that appears to have contributed to the car sales drop is the fairly sizable decrease in licensed drivers among this age group. New car-buying could also be constrained by the impact of the collapse of the housing market on this age group — many of whom likely bought their first homes during the peak of the bubble and may now find themselves under water on their mortgages. This age cohort could also have adopted a new financial austerity, adopted in the face of persistent economic uncertainty and a looming future fiscal cliff. Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119