Monday, November 16, 2015

State of the Union November 16, 2015

• From Chairman Mike Bullock: The UAW and GM have agreed to extend the current 2011 national agreement until Friday, November 20, 2015 which is the new deadline for ratification of the tentative national agreement. The national bargaining team continues to meet to resolve the issues and concerns that were raised by the skilled trades. Once the contract is ratified, the process for payment of the signing bonus and retroactive wage increases will begin. As more information is released, announcements will be made. The shop committee continues to meet on the local contract.
Thirty new temporaries were hired today. This is the first group of an additional 75 temporaries that are being hired to facilitate the request for Saturday time off. The approval rate for Saturday time off has not been acceptable to the union and we were able to secure additional temporary employees to allow more members time off.
There are additional flu shots available to all employees, first come, first serve (dispensed at medical, 2-4 am, 9-11 am and 6-8 pm).
As announced earlier, 250 employees will be converted starting December 7. All employees hired prior to and including May 9 will be converted to permanent. Those employees that will be converted will be notified of time and location of their conversion in the next two weeks.
Union meeting is 15 minutes after the shifts this Wednesday November 18th.

• October was another strong sales month for the industry overall as well as GM. It seems more likely than not that a new yearly sales record will be established in 2015. Here’s a look at the van and midsize pickup segments for the month:

  2015 2014 Change Share
Ford Transit 9361 --- --- 34.3%
GM 7822 6601 +18.5% 28.6%
Ford Econoline 4034 4624 -12.8% 14.8%
Mercedes Sprinter 2649 2140 +23.8% 9.7%
Ram ProMaster 2055 1723 +19.3% 7.5%
Nissan NV 1391 1220 +14.0% 5.1%
         
Toyota Tacoma 150233 13,010 +17.1% 51.7%
Chevy Colorado 7,059 --- --- 24.0%
Nissan Frontier 4764 6268 -27.5% 16.2%
GMC Canyon 2415 --- --- 8.2%


• Field supplies for the van crept up 600 units and as measured in days supply, now stand at 46, compared to 42 last month. We are still struggling to catch up on passenger vans, while cargo vans accounted for all of the increase in units. Looking at pickups, Canyon supplies rose 1250 units and are now at a healthy 80 day supply (optimal pickup supplies are generally higher than cars due to the number of different models). Colorado supplies rose 2000 units as the pipeline continues to fill up. Days supply is now 44, compared to 30 last month. The Colorado is still the fastest selling vehicle in the industry, staying on dealer lots only 24 days on average.

• Calling all Bakers: The annual pre-trim Bake Sale to raise money for Adopt-A-Child will be held Monday, Nov. 23. Location is the team center at column N-31,32. You can drop off your baked goods there or at the Suggestions office.

• There have been some fixes and upgrades implemented on the Hourly Communications Channel (HCC). Your rings should now be accurately recorded. A warning message will appear on the web page if you are not signed up for notifications and a link will guide you to the subscription signup. A warning message to the hourly employee has been added if they uncheck a box that was submitted prior, which would ‘cancel’ their original requested day off. A ‘confirm selections’ box to further clarify requests and cancellations has also been added.

• Reminder: The announcement for Motor Trend Truck of the Year will be tonight at 9:30 our time. Tune in to the Motor Trend You Tube channel for live coverage.

• The diesel Colorado/Canyon has finally received EPA certification. Along with a clean emissions bill of health comes the fuel economy ratings – and they set the new standard for any pickup. The 2-wheel drive version is rated at 31 mpg highway, 22 mpg city for a combined rating of 25 mpg. Four-wheel drive versions came in at 29 mpg highway, 20 mpg city and 23 mpg combined. For comparison purposes, the redesigned Toyota Tacoma 4-cylinder gets 23 mpg highway, 19 mpg city and 21 mpg combined. The Tacoma V6 actually does slightly better than the 4 cylinder at 24 mpg highway, 19 mpg city and 21 mpg combined (Tacoma numbers are for 2-wheel drive). And speaking of comparisons, the Motor Trend Truck of the Year will be announced tonight. Both the diesel Colorado and Canyon are contenders, along with the Tacoma, the Chevy Silverado, the GMC Sierra and the Nissan Titan XD. With nothing but praise being heaped onto our diesel pickups by the media, a repeat win is a definite possibility.

• As you know, the UAW and Ford have reached a tentative agreement. Part of the agreement is a commitment from Ford to invest up to $9 billion in U.S. plants. It has been rumored that the Michigan Assembly plant, which currently builds the Ford Focus and C-Max cars, will lose those 2 vehicles to a plant in Mexico and receive a product, or 2, in return. This is confirmed in the agreement, but the 2 replacement vehicles were not identified. Nearly everyone believes it will be the Ford Ranger pickup and later the Ford Bronco SUV. The 2 cars will depart in 2018. The contract says that both replacement vehicles will be in place no later than 2020. The oft-quoted “person with knowledge of the agreement not authorized to speak” is saying it will indeed by the Ranger and Bronco. The same holds true for Chrysler and their unconfirmed plans to build a Jeep Wrangler pickup. (Remember, the redesigned Honda Ridgeline and Nissan Frontier will be hitting the street in the next 12 months or so) Is it us or is it getting a little crowded in the midsize pickup sandbox?

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