State of the Union October 27, 2015

Local 2250 State of the Union

October 27, 2015 online at www.uawlocal2250.com

• From Chairman Mike Bullock: A tentative National agreement has been reached between the International UAW and GM. Van Simpson and myself will be going to Detroit for a roll out of the tentative agreement on Wednesday October 28th at 3pm Eastern. The shop committee continues to meet daily in an attempt to reach a Local Contract. An extension of the Local Agreement is still in effect.

• Here is the statement from the UAW on the Tentative Agreement: The UAW-GM Bargaining committee announced at 11:43 p.m. Sunday that they have secured significant gains and job security protections in a proposed Tentative Agreement with General Motors. The bargaining committee unanimously voted to send the proposed Tentative Agreement to local union leaders who make up the union’s UAW National GM Council. The Council will meet in Detroit on Wednesday to discuss and vote on the agreement.
“We believe that this agreement will present stable long-term significant wage gains and job security commitments to UAW members now and in the future,” said UAW President Dennis Williams. “We look forward to presenting the details of these gains to local union leaders and the membership.”
UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada called the agreement transformative as it gives our members a clear path. “The significant gains in this agreement are structured in a way that will provide certainty to our members and create a clear path for all GM employees now and in the future. The agreement not only rewards UAW-GM members for their accomplishments, but it protects them with significant job security commitments.”
Until the UAW National GM Council votes to approve the deal, it is classified as a Proposed Tentative Agreement. The contract language becomes a Tentative Agreement once the Council votes and they have requested details to be held until they review and vote on the proposal. Following Council approval, the UAW will release details of the Tentative Agreement to its membership and the ratification process will begin. A vote of the UAW-GM membership will decide whether or not the deal is finalized. The union plans to make the details of the agreement available immediately after the UAW National GM Council votes on the tentative agreement Wednesday and will have no comment until that time.

• Here is General Motors’ statement on the tentative agreement: "The new UAW-GM national agreement is good for employees and the business,” said Cathy Clegg, GM North America Manufacturing and Labor Relations vice president. “Working with our UAW partners, we developed constructive solutions that benefit employees and provide flexibility for the company to respond to the needs of the marketplace.” Terms of the four-year agreement are not being shared publicly to allow the International UAW to inform their membership about the agreement and conduct a ratification vote. If ratified, the agreement would cover about 52,600 GM employees in the United States who are represented by the UAW. GM won’t comment further until the contract is ratified.

• The Community Services Committee is holding a raffle to raise money to level gifts for the annual Adopt-A-Child program. The prizes are an ION Block Rocker speaker, a $100 QT gas card and a pair of Blues hockey tickets. Raffle tickets are on sale now through Friday, October 30. Prices are $5 each, 3 for $10 and something new for this year, 22 tickets for $20 (this was determined by how many tickets it took to reach from the front wheel to the back wheel of a Colorado). Tickets can be purchased from Tina Hays (2nd shift stamping), Mike Fleschert (1st shift body shop) and Wanda Richard (1st shift suggestions) or any other committee member.

• Tryouts for the 2nd Annual UAW Men’s Basketball tournament will be held Friday, November 6th, 2015 from 12 noon to 2pm and again from 3 to 5pm @ Progress Park, 968 Meyer Rd., Wentzville 63385, with a $4.00 gym fee. The Thanksgiving Tournament will be held in Kansas City and all proceeds will be donated to UAW Local 31 Adopt-A-Family project. (Must provide your own transportation to Kansas City) Please contact Coach Owen Jackson (314) 650-6328 or Fred Jamison (314) 497-3067 (Trustee/Recreation liaison)

• From the Detroit Free Press: General Motors will suspend a second production shift in January at its Orion assembly plant, affecting about 500 people. They make the Chevrolet Sonic and Buick Verano subcompacts, which are not selling well as Americans migrate toward large pickups, SUVs and crossover models. Verano sales fell 27% through the first nine months of 2015 from a year earlier. Sonic sales have fallen 35% in the same period. Last June, the company said it would invest $245 million and hire 300 people at Orion Assembly to build the new Chevrolet Bolt electric car beginning next year, and an unnamed future model.

• From Automotive News: Ford posted third-quarter net income of $1.9 billion, up from $833 million in the same period of 2014. It earned a pretax profit of $2.7 billion in North America, 89 percent more than a year ago and the most ever for any quarter. North American operating margins jumped to 11.3 percent, from 7.1 percent in the third quarter of 2014. Ford CFO Shanks said the fourth quarter will be weaker than the third due to cost increases that typically occur toward the end of a calendar year. Among the costs it expects to incur are signing bonuses as part of an expected, new four-year contract with the UAW. The union already has reached a deal with Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and a tentative agreement with General Motors. Union members undoubtedly will see Ford’s record North American profit as evidence that the company can afford to offer a richer package than FCA workers received. Shanks said Ford is looking for a “competitive and fair agreement” but declined to discuss what impact it’s likely to have on Ford’s costs in future quarters. He said Ford expects a full-year North American operating margin of between 9 percent and 9.5 percent. It posted a 9.9 percent margin in the first three quarters.

Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119