• The Community Services meeting is rescheduled for Thursday, Jan. 29. It will be in the cafeteria between shifts.
• There will be a Civil and Human Rights Committee meeting Monday, Jan. 26 between shifts in the cafeteria. All are welcome to attend.
• From the Benefits Department: Employees who have recently gotten health insurance coverage need to call 1-800-489-4646 as soon as possible to add dependents. If you need to, you can bring appropriate documentation to the benefits office to fax.
• From the International Union UAW: We need your help now. Congress is considering a bill that will allow trade bills to quickly become law without traditional debate and an amendment process. Tell your elected representative that this is a bad deal for American workers and the domestic auto industry.
CALL 1-855-712-8441. You will be asked to enter your zip code and then you will be connected with your representative.
THE UAW does not support a FAST TRACK bill.
- Fast Track severely limits the ability of Congress to amend pending and future trade agreements.
- Fast Track is un-democratic.
- Fast Track keeps Congress from doing its job: shaping and debating legislation and only gives elected leaders an up or down vote.
- Fast Track puts US workers and companies at a competitive disadvantage internationally. Please call now. It will take less than 5 minutes. CALL 1-855-712-8441.
Visit Fast Track for more information. visit http://www.nofasttrack.com.
• GM will not be advertising in this year’s Super Bowl, but once again the MVP of a premier sporting event will be receiving a Chevrolet Colorado. We’re assuming that Rick “Chevy Guy” Wilde will not be doing the presenting. We're also assuming that the person who will be presenting will have practiced their statement until exhaustion. So even though the matchup of teams is less than desirable, you may want to tune in at the end of the game for the presentation.
From Reuters: General Motors has received 108 claims for compensation for ignition switch defects in its cars in the past week, bringing the total to 2,818, according to the official administering the compensation program. Through Friday, GM received 311 claims for death, 207 for catastrophic injuries and 2,300 for less-serious injuries requiring hospitalization, according to the report from lawyer Kenneth Feinberg, hired by GM to administer the program. The number of claims found eligible for compensation rose to 121 from 112, according to the report. The company's compensation program has so far determined that 49 deaths, seven severe injuries and 65 other injuries were eligible to be compensated. The report said 320 claims had been deemed ineligible, while 857 were under review. Another 757 lacked sufficient paperwork or evidence and 763 had no documentation at all. GM has set aside an initial $400 million to cover its costs of compensation for claims on behalf of people injured or killed because of the faulty switches.
From President Barack Obama: Earlier this month, I visited metro Detroit, where the auto industry has made a historic rebound, proving that America can enter this new year with new confidence that we are coming back. Thanks to the hard work of Americans across the country and the steps we took early on to rescue our economy and rebuild it on a new foundation, we've made real progress. Last year was the strongest year for job growth since the 1990s. Over a 57-month streak, our businesses have created nearly 11 million jobs. After a decade of decline, American manufacturing is in its best stretch of job growth since the 1990s.
The year before I took office, 400,000 jobs across the auto industry vanished. Sales plunged 40%. With the financial crisis hitting with its full fury, two of the Detroit Three automakers — GM and Chrysler — were on the brink of failure. As the heartbeat of American manufacturing was flatlining, America had a choice to make. We could have kept giving billions of taxpayer dollars to the auto industry without demanding real accountability or change in return. But that would have just kicked the problem further down the road.
We could have done nothing, and let those companies fail. But that would have meant a massive loss of jobs, the failure of suppliers and dealerships, and terrible consequences for the communities that depend on them. In exchange for helping out the auto companies, we demanded accountability and responsibility. We rejected the false choice that either unions or businesses could succeed, but not both — because America is at its best when workers and businesses work together. Shared sacrifice, we believed, would lead to shared prosperity.
That bet paid off. Today, the American auto industry is back and well-positioned for the future, creating about 500,000 new jobs in the last five years. And with the auto industry rescue officially over, taxpayers have been paid back more than what my administration invested. Last year, American autoworkers churned out cars faster than any year since 2005.
Thanks to the resilience, determination and grit of the American people, we are coming back stronger than ever. And if we all do our part, together, we can build a stronger middle class and ensure that all Americans share in our recovery.
Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
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