From Chairman Mike Bullock: The following guests from Fairfax Assembly will be in the plant Wednesday and Thursday to review AA press Stamping operations with our team. Welcome to Wentzville.
Jorge Rodriguez Shop Chairman
Billy Gay First Shift Zone
Omar Williams Second Shift Zone
Johnny McIntire Third Shift Zone
Ben Miller Skilled Trades Rep.
Terry Hawkins Diemaker
Dennis Scott Diemaker
Bob Fenzel Diemaker
Matt Turner Electrician
Mark Antes Electrician
Phil McKindra Production- Core Team
Management has informed us that beginning Monday, August 26, all second shift production employees and body shop skilled trades will be scheduled to report to work at 5 p.m. (Stamping and the other skilled trades employees on second shift will continue with their current starting times.) In addition full operations (production and trades) are scheduled for all shifts on Saturday, August 24.
Things are getting interesting in South Korea. First, Reuters reports that GM is gradually cutting its presence in South Korea after mounting labor costs and militant unionism triggered a rethink of its reliance on the country for a fifth of its global production, according to three individuals familiar with GM's thinking. The country accounts for slightly more than 20 percent of GM's annual global production of some 9.5 million cars. More than 80 percent of those GM cars made in the country are exported. The sources, all privy to high-level discussions inside GM about the future of its South Korean strategy, said labor costs had risen sharply over the past decade, turning the country into a high-cost base -- a problem exacerbated by the South Korean currency's relative strength over the past year. GM Korea's labor union disagrees and believes GM's talk of reducing its presence is a bluff designed to intimidate workers against seeking further pay hikes. Last month, GM Korea reached an annual wage settlement that included bonuses of 10 million won ($9,000) per member, according to the GM Korea labor union. "Our view is that management is making threats to pressure us and make us cooperate," union spokesman Choi Jong-hak said. (continued on back)
And the AP reports that labor unions at Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. said workers voted to strike after talks with management for increased pay and benefits collapsed. Hyundai union spokesman Kwon Oh-il said Wednesday that management refused all demands by the union during three months of annual talks. The union wants workers to get improved benefits, including 10 million won ($8,900) support to help children of unionized workers seek jobs if they don’t go to college, a 130,000 won ($116) increase in monthly base income, bigger bonuses and full reimbursement of medical expenses if workers are diagnosed with cancer. Kwon said 46,000 Hyundai workers will determine the extent of the strike early next week. Kia’s 30,000 workers are taking a similar step. Hyundai said it had offered to resume talks with the union on Friday.
Excerpts from an interview with UAW President Bob King regarding Detroit’s and General Motors’ bankruptcy:
Detroit's current woes are the polar opposite of the prosperity it enjoyed in 1955, when Detroit-based General Motors became the world’s first company to earn more than $1 billion in a single year. At that time, and for two decades afterward, auto employees (along with workers in Detroit’s other industries, who were feeding off the success of the auto boom) were pretty much guaranteed a comfortable, middle-class living followed by a secure retirement. How does the memory of those golden years affect the way the UAW is responding to challenges today?
UAW retirees are saddened by the loss of that era. They want to know what we are going to do to recapture that time. We tell them we appreciate all the achievements and the sacrifices they have made. But we also tell them times have changed. Global competition means we have to drum up new strategies and tactics. We are still committed to creating the best product for consumers. But we have to think outside of the old box, which means extending our reach beyond the memory of the boom and also beyond Detroit. If our industry is going to survive, our first priority has to be building collaborative relationships. We have to do creative problem solving with auto companies not just here, but everywhere. Within the U.S., we have to work to bring back jobs that have been outsourced or sent overseas. And across the globe, we have to build worldwide networks of autoworkers. We need to share best practices. We need to bring unions together to build closer collaborations and strategize. If we see something that is unfair happening in another country, we have to speak up and intervene. Solidarity is the only way we are going to keep our industry strong. That’s how we’re going to continue regaining the jobs that the U.S. auto industry and Detroit have claimed back in recent years.
How has the UAW helped the industry bounce back from the 1980s, when the Big Three auto companies (General Motors, Ford and Chrysler) started implementing a series of layoffs that have, for the moment, ended?
Layoffs are always terrible. But we haven’t had massive ones since 2008-2009. The Big Three companies are not only hiring now, but they’re planning to expand their operations in the U.S. We’re coming out of the woods with this because we worked—and worked hard—to sit down with all parties and negotiate a restructuring of the entire auto industry. [Editor's note: In exchange for $25 billion in government loans, the Big Three recently agreed to “equip or establish facilities to produce ‘advanced technology vehicles’ that would meet certain emissions and fuel economy standards”]. Just a few years ago, laid-off autoworkers would go sit at the bar and moan about how little they had to do on a given day. But now, they are bragging to their friends and families about the new jobs for which they’ve been hired, like manufacturing the Detroit-made Chevy Volt [a hybrid car that was introduced in 2011 and that is now rated the most fuel-efficient vehicle in the U.S.]. If we restructure the city just like we restructured the auto industry, there’s hope that Detroit, too, can see a turnaround.
Tom Brune
UAW/GM Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
No comments:
Post a Comment