February 26, 2015 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• From Chairman Mike Bullock: Congratulations to the 750 temporaries who will be converted to permanent! The conversion will happen on the following dates:
Your group leader will inform you of the time and place for the meeting to sign your paperwork and to learn of your benefits.
Orders for our trucks and vans have been coming in steadily. We have already reached #2 status in sales of mid-size trucks. Only Toyota stands in our way. Sales have way exceeded projections. With that said, the corporation approached the International Union to try and find an innovative, creative way to produce more trucks and vans here at Wentzville Assembly Center. A presentation to the union by the corporation was given on Tuesday of a unique “flex” schedule. This schedule has not been done at any other GM plant. Again Wentzville is being asked to be the leaders in the corporation.
The details are still being negotiated. The earliest we could launch a flex schedule would be July. We will remain on plan “A” overtime until a flex schedule would be launched.
The good news is, we are building two products that our customers cannot get enough of. I want to do everything possible to keep Wentzville Assembly Center as the sole builder of our products. With everyone’s help we can do this. I will share more information as it becomes available.
• Here are the shift schedules for next week, beginning March 2:
First shift: 6:30 am – 3:00 pm
1st break – 8:30 am
Lunch – 11:00 am
2nd break – 1:00 pm
Second shift: 2:30 pm – 11:00 pm
1st break – 4:30 pm
Lunch – 7:00 pm
2nd break – 9:00 pm
Third shift: 10:30 pm – 7:00 am
1st break – 12:30 am
Lunch – 3:00 am
2nd break – 5:00 am
• The 23rd Annual African-American Heritage Celebration will be held this Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Union Hall. Doors open at 6:30 pm and dinner will be at 7 pm. Beer, set-ups and snacks will be provided along with dancing and music from DJ “T Gutta”. Come on out and help make this a memorable celebration!
• The Civil Rights Committee is asking for donations of display items for the Irish Heritage day to be held Thursday, March 12. These items will be displayed for one day and then returned. You can donate items at the benefits office or the EAP office of Ron Moore.
• Reminder: ticket sales for the Colorado coat will run through Friday, Feb. 27 and the drawing will be at 1st shift lunch time in the cafeteria. Tickets are $5 apiece or 3 for $10 and are available from Women’s Committee members. You can also buy them in the cafeteria at 1st shift lunch time.
• You have to give Toyota management an A+ for audacity. Fresh off of a fiscal third quarter that generated $5.1 billion in profit, and projections of record full year profits of $24.5 billion, you would think Toyota workers would be in line to share some of that windfall. Well you would be wrong. The Toyota Motor Workers’ Union earlier this month proposed a 6,000 yen ($50) monthly wage increase for the fiscal year beginning in April, a raise of about 1.7 percent. That timid proposal was met with this response: “It is impossible to accept this as it is,” Managing Officer Tatsuro Ueda told reporters in Toyota City, Japan. “It is a higher-level proposal than we expected.” For the record, this raise would increase labor costs $168 million, or .7 percent of annual profits. How could they ever stay in business giving out raises like that?
• From Automotive News: General Motors is trimming production at two of its car plants amid mounting dealer inventories, an effort to reduce stocks of the Chevrolet Sonic and Camaro, Buick Regal and other models. This week, GM scheduled downtime for March 9-13 at its Orion Assembly plant in suburban Detroit, where the Sonic and Buick Verano small cars are made, to adjust supply to demand, according to a plant worker and another person with knowledge of the schedule. The Orion plant also was idle last week and previously had scheduled a down week for April 6-10, also to trim excess inventory. Meanwhile, the “Flex” line at GM’s Oshawa, Ontario, plant will be idled April 13-17, cutting production of the Camaro sports car, Regal sedan, Cadillac XTS sedan and Chevy Impala, one of the sources said. On Feb. 1, there was a 216-day supply of Sonics. The Regal had a 213-day supply, up from 96 days on Jan. 1. Camaro inventory was 131 days, up from a month earlier but lower than at the same time last year.
Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
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