February 22, 2014 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• There will be an Education Committee meeting Thursday, Feb. 27 between shifts in the cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.
• From the Wall Street Journal: General Motors Co. is accelerating efforts to field a largely aluminum-bodied pickup truck by late 2018, under pressure from federal fuel efficiency standards and archrival Ford Motor Co. according to people familiar with the matter. The No. 1 U.S. auto maker recently locked-in supply contracts with Alcoa Inc. and Novelis Inc., which are now working to increase their aluminum sheet production to supply the next-generation GM pickup, the people said. Aluminum sheet for automotive bodies is in such high demand that companies need to order it years in advance. The push to develop what the industry calls an "aluminum intensive" large pickup marks an apparent change of direction for GM, which has pursued smaller and lighter weight steel-bodied trucks. Before Ford's debut last month of its 2015 F-150, with a body made almost entirely of aluminum, GM executives questioned whether such a vehicle could be cost competitive or appealing to U.S. customers. Instead, GM developed two small pickups, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, to meet rising demand for better fuel economy. Those two vehicles are due to arrive on the market as 2015 models this year. GM executives are betting they can offset Ford's lead by using more advanced welding techniques to produce a lighter, stronger and easier to assemble truck, according to people familiar with the company's plans. GM said it has a patented process that uses multi-ringed electrodes and eliminates lots of rivets from its assembly. The process has already been used in the production of the hood of the Cadillac CTS-V, the lift gate of hybrid versions of Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon and in the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. Ford invested hundreds of millions of dollars to overhaul its truck plants to accommodate a shift to riveted aluminum panels from welded steel body parts. GM executives had considered moving to a largely aluminum design for its Silverado and Sierra pickups in 2008, but abandoned the idea over cost concerns amid the industry downturn, the people said. Those discussion resurfaced last year before Ford displayed its aluminum truck, they added. Mark Reuss, GM's global product development chief, last month hinted at the auto maker's potential aluminum push, saying executives and engineers were preparing a critique of Ford's new F-150, which cuts up to 700 pounds off the current model. Ford hasn't disclosed its 2015 F-150's mileage rating. One version is light enough to come equipped with a 2.7-liter six cylinder engine, considered tiny for a pickup truck. "We need to see how much aluminum is in it, not what they say is in it but what is actually in it," Mr. Reuss said the night before Ford introduced its truck. "We are going to look at what they advertise as the weight savings from it and then we are going to go back and do some math.…We can play this game real easily."
• From the International Union UAAW: The UAW filed an appeal (“objections”) with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) today related to the interference by politicians and outside special interest groups in the union representation election held last week at Volkswagen’s Chattanooga plant.
A firestorm of interference from politicians and special interest groups threatening the economic future of the plant occurred just before and during three days of voting in an election supervised by the NLRB. Workers voted narrowly to reject representation, with a slim 44 vote swing. The objections detail a coordinated and widely publicized coercive campaign conducted by politicians and outside organizations to deprive Volkswagen workers of their federally protected right to join a union.
The campaign included publicly-announced and widely disseminated threats by elected officials that state-financed incentives would be withheld if workers exercised their protected right to form a union.
“It’s essentially saying, ‘If you unionize, it’s going to hurt your economy. Why? Because I’m going to make sure it does,’” said Volkswagen worker Lauren Feinauer. “I hope people see it for the underhanded threat that it is.”
The campaign also included threats by U.S. Sen. Bob Corker related to promises of a new product line awarded to the plant if workers voted against UAW representation.
The objections state, “Senator Corker’s conduct was shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen. … The clear message of the campaign was that voting for the union would result in stagnation for the Chattanooga plant, with no new product, no job security, and withholding of state support for its expansion.”
“It’s an outrage that politically motivated third parties threatened the economic future of this facility and the opportunity for workers to create a successful operating model that that would grow jobs in Tennessee,” said UAW President Bob King. “It is extraordinary interference in the private decision of workers to have a U.S. senator, a governor and leaders of the state legislature threaten the company with the denial of economic incentives and workers with a loss of product. We’re committed to standing with the Volkswagen workers to ensure that their right to have a fair vote without coercion and interference is protected.”
An affirmative vote for union representation at the Volkswagen plant would have led to the establishment of a works council that would have been the first such model of labor-management relations in the United States.
The NLRB will investigate the election conduct and determine whether there are grounds to set aside the election results and hold a new election for Volkswagen workers.
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