State of the Union May 14, 2015

May 14, 2015 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

· The annual Annie Malone Parade will be held this Sunday, May 17 at 1 pm. For those who wish to participate, we will be meeting at Gateway St. Louis Buick (previously Behlmann) at 10:30 am (820 McDonnell Blvd., St. Louis MO 63042). We will depart for the parade staging area no later than 10:45 am. For those wishing to help decorate the vehicles, you can go to the staging area which is located on Market Street between Compton Ave and Jefferson Ave at 12:00 noon. Remember admittance to the staging area is by entry sticker only. There is street parking in the downtown area and some near the staging area. For questions or detailed directions call Dan Williams at 314-616-2271 or Fred Jamison at 314-497-3067.

· The UAW Local 2250 golf tournament will be held Saturday, June 20 at Country Lake golf course in Warrenton. Check in is noon with a 1:00 pm shotgun start. It is a 4-person scramble and the cost is $75 per person/ $300 per team and includes dinner, prizes and contests. There will also be a skin game, 50/50 raffle and silent auction. Proceeds go to Bridgeway, 5 Game Changers and CAP (community action program). ·

April was the strongest sales month yet for both the van and the pickups. Here are the results for both segments.

Field supplies remain tight on both products. Colorado supplies edged up to a 12 day supply from 10 while the Canyon stands at 29 days supply. Van supply as measured in days plummeted from 52 to 36 days as cutaway sales surged. Cargo van supplies stood at 27 days while Chevy passenger vans numbered 501 total for a 13 day supply. The plant will be taking orders for 2016 vans soon, marking the first time customers can order a van since last October.

This coming Monday, May 18 is the 27th Annual Run for the Wall. You are invited to come and welcome more than 500 motorcycles making their way across the heartland of America to the Vietnam Veterans Wall in Washington D. C. to honor the men and women still unaccounted for, from all of our wars. You can come to the VFW Post 5327, located on Hwy. Z ½ mile south I-70 in Wentzville at 5:00 pm. Once again riders will stopping by the plant to use the restrooms and showers before they head to the VFW.

· The Annual Blessing of the Bikes will be this coming Tuesday, May 19 in the visitors parking lot beginning at 5:00 am.

· PickupTrucks.com recently did a midsize pickup challenge pitting the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon against each other and the Toyota Tacoma and Nissan Frontier. All trucks were 4x4 crew cabs with V6 engines. The judging covered these categories: Performance, seating and ergonomics, tech and entertainment, ride quality, overall visibility, overall value and off-road aptitude. We’ll cut to the chase and give you the results, starting with last place. That distinction was claimed by the Tacoma, which tallied 1634 points. Comments included: “Although the judges liked the way the truck looked, the Tacoma TRD Pro was one of the most expensive players in the test, was usually the slowest in acceleration tests, got the worst fuel economy and stopped longer than anything we've tested in a long time….there was a lot of chassis and interior noise, far more than the other trucks.” Third place belonged to the Frontier, which scored 1673 points. Here’s what they had to say about it: “In the end, the dated interior, limited cargo storage and average fuel-economy numbers held it back from scoring more points.”

Second place went to the…..Colorado, which had 1775 points. About the Colorado: “What impressed us most with both of the GM trucks is how much they can carry, and how comfortable and confident they are doing it. During brake testing and when carrying a max payload during our fuel-economy runs, brake control and chassis dynamics were smooth and predictable, comforting even. With all that said, the Chevy is packed with value and showed great composure in every situation.” And that leaves the winner, the Canyon at 1808 points. The summary said: “No matter how you look at this comparison test, the win by the GMC was impressive. Of the 14 empirical challenges we set up for these midsize trucks, the GMC came in first or second place in 11 of them….In the end, the Canyon scored well throughout our test, and offered a capable and luxurious ride and feel that clearly separated the GMC from the rest of the field. We were especially impressed with its road manners and performance with a full load in the bed, scoring a first- or second-place finish in all of our max-payload testing (which for this truck meant carrying a stunning 1,440 pounds).” This sibling rivalry can only get better.

· Yesterday the Missouri state legislature passed a right-to-work bill and sent it to Governor Jay Nixon. The Governor has our back and will veto this bill, which will set up a vote to override his veto. Based on the vote counts, there is not enough support to override his veto, but you can bet that lobbying groups like the Chamber of Commerce will put a full court press on legislators who opposed this bill. Stay in touch with your state representative and senator and let them know that this veto must stand. You can find your legislator by using the lookup box on the senate.mo.gov and house.mo.gov websites.