July 9, 2014 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
• Local 2250 Legislative Committee is having a V-CAP fundraiser raffle. First prize is a Microsoft Surface RT (32GB, 10.6” screen), 2nd prize is a TDK bluetooth wireless sound cube and 3rd prize is a $50 QT gas card. Tickets are $5 apiece or 5 for $10 and can be purchased at the Union meeting or from Travis Brock (body, a-right) or Kelly Seddens-Poole (trim) on 1st shift or Rondo Turner (body, a-left) and Larry Mosby (chassis, frame line) on 2nd shift. Drawing will be held at the July 16 day shift Union meeting.
• From the Veteran’s Committee: There are sign-up sheets posted at all three entrances for those interested in helping out with the SOS Ride on September 27, 2014. We will need people to work at the Hall and at each check-point along the ride. Anyone interested in joining the UAW 2250 Motorcycle Riders Club see Steve Melson. Our next meeting is Thursday, July 10 at 4:45pm at the hall. Also, the Veterans Cards are in and Steve Melson will be in the cafeteria to hand them out this Friday, July 11 at lunch and 2nd break on both shifts.
• From Automotive News: General Motors' South Korean workers today voted to go on strike over salaries and production volume, signaling tough annual wage talks for automakers already grappling with falling earnings because of the stronger won. Strikes are an almost annual event in South Korea's $173 billion auto industry, but this year's unrest could be more prolonged than usual as workers are calling for the revamping of a 60-year-old wage structure among other demands. A union spokesman said 69 percent of GM Korea's 14,016 workers voted to walk out for a fourth consecutive year unless they reach a deal. A spokesman for GM Korea said the vote did not mean that there will be an actual strike and said it was one of the union's "ordinary actions" during annual negotiations. "Both sides remain committed to reaching a fair and reasonable labor agreement based on mutual trust and understanding," the spokesman said. Unions are demanding changes to the wage structure, which has been in place since 1953, because the country's Supreme Court ruled late last year that fixed bonuses should be counted as base wages. Workers want their new contract to comply with the ruling because it would increase various statutory benefits such as overtime allowances and severance pay, which are adjusted in proportion to base wages. GM Korea workers are also calling for management to boost production after the automaker announced plans to stop selling Chevrolet vehicles in Europe by the end of 2015. GM Korea CEO Sergio Rocha on Monday warned employees that a strike could jeopardize production and job security, and urged them to "stop this vicious cycle before it is too late".
Workers at Renault SA's South Korean unit last week voted in favor of a strike, although talks continue, while ongoing wage negotiations at Hyundai are expected to drag into next month.
• From USA Today: General Motor hints that its avalanche of older-car recalls is over. The automaker, still under a microscope on safety issues, will announce more recalls, but expects them from now on to be less numerous and more typical of the overall industry — smaller numbers of, mainly, newer vehicles recalled as problems are found. GM is under intense scrutiny from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration over its recall process and decision-making, and meets monthly with the safety agency. That's part of the fallout from GM's delayed worldwide recall in February and March of 2.6 million 2003-2011 small cars for defective ignition switches that can disable airbags. GM links the faulty switches to 12 deaths in the U.S. and one in Canada. After that recall, the company began an intensive campaign to identify and expedite any pending safety issues. While declining to say directly that the cavalcade is over — for fear of raising false hopes that all recalls are ended, or sounding arrogant — GM said it wouldn't quibble with comments by JP Morgan auto industry analyst Ryan Brinkman. He told his clients in a note earlier this week that "GM concluded its enhanced product safety review that has led to a significantly elevated pace of vehicle recalls." And a statement from CEO Mary Barra accompanying the latest recalls — 7.55 million U.S. vehicles announced Monday for a variety of defects — GM acknowledges, intentionally used the past tense: "We undertook what I believe is the most comprehensive safety review in the history of our company." GM global development chief Mark Reuss previously told Brinkman that the extraordinary pace of recalls could wind down this summer. And GM's safety chief, Jeff Boyer, told USA TODAY in an interview earlier this year that it would be a sign of business as usual when GM recalls begin to be for fewer, newer models.
• A stolen Tesla involved in a fiery crash split into two following a pursuit that ended in West Hollywood early Friday, leaving seven people injured, police said. KTLA reported that the chase began after a Tesla dealership reported the car was being tampered with on its lot. Photographs of the scene appear to show the Tesla’s rear end wedged between a wall at a synagogue, several dozen feet from the front half, which came to rest next to two other wrecked cars in the middle of the street. From the photograph, it appears Tesla Model S split behind the front seats. The car’s batteries burst into flames as they laid strewn across the street.
Tom Brune
UAW Communications Coordinator
Wentzville Assembly
636-327-2119
Wednesday, July 9, 2014
Monday, August 29, 2011
State of the Union August 29, 2011
August 29, 2011 online at www.uawlocal2250.com
From UAW Vice President Joe Ashton: Since opening negotiations on July 27th at the Detroit Hamtramck Plant, we have been very busy meeting with the Company and presenting our demands. There are 13 sub-committees that meet regularly with Company representatives to discuss the important issues that our rank and file members have identified. As UAW President Bob King stated at the opening of contract talks, “Our talks will center on the needs of our members and the need to continue to build great products.”
You may have read some articles in the newspapers about how well the talks are progressing. These articles do not cite their sources and are often not accurate. We will not negotiate in the press. I can tell you that these are very difficult talks. There are a number of difficult issues that we need to resolve. The most important issue is keeping our plants fully utilized and expanding the number of UAW workers at General Motors.
Discussions around the employment issue have been ongoing. We will continue to explore options and present ideas that we think will benefit the Company, ensure our members’ employment, and result in more UAW-GM workers being hired during the life of the agreement.
Another large challenge we face is how to reward the membership for all their hard work and dedication in turning around the fortunes of GM. We understand the importance of examining new methods of compensation that will reward workers during good years and not add to the structural costs of the Company so it can better survive the lean years. We also understand the importance of fighting hard for benefits, but not wanting to bring negative attention to our members, the products we build, or the Company.
Finally, we will continue to work hard to win justice for our members at the bargaining table. Our membership plays a critical role in the success of this Company and I’m proud to represent each and every one of you.
Chevrolet donated a compressed natural gas (CNG) Express cargo van to the Detroit Science Center (DSC). This CNG van will transport the center’s Travelling Science program to Detroit schools and communities starting this fall. “I am pleased to extend Chevrolet and General Motors’ ongoing support of the Detroit Science Center with the donation of a Chevrolet compressed natural gas van,” said Tom Stephens, vice chairman and chief technology officer. “The Travelling Science program is a fun, hands-on way to bring technology-based learning to the community and to inspire budding engineers and future designers.
Here is this week’s build information: 164 slider doors; 220 15-pass vans; 216 exports; 50 E-26 vans; 167 OnStar; 63 brake deck spare tire; 107 diesels; 320 cut-aways; 234 Enterprise rent-a-car; 127 r/h door delete; 84.7% white vans.
From the NY Times: Owners of some of Nissan’s most popular S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks are experiencing failures of their automatic transmissions because radiator coolant is leaking into the systems. While the automaker has offered an extended warranty for the radiators, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationand other safety organizations have received numerous complaints (over 200) from owners alleging they have spent thousands of dollars for transmission repairs because the added radiator warranty coverage only applied to vehicles with fewer than 80,000 miles. Owners also say that Nissan should have notified them that the radiator problem, covered under a warranty action last October, went beyond the cooling system and could allow coolant to enter the transmissions and destroy them. In October, Nissan extended the warranty on the radiators of 2005-2010 Frontiers, Pathfinders and Xterras from three years or 36,000 miles to eight years or 80,000 miles. Nissan said only “a small percentage” of vehicles might experience the coolant-leak problem, which it blamed on “an internal crack on the oil cooler tube.” Nissan labeled the October action a radiator assembly warranty extension, which covered “damage, repairs, replacement, and related towing resulting from this issue.” Yet owners who experienced transmission failure are upset that Nissan did not cover their replacement if the failure occurred after 80,000 miles. There is a “huge” problem with the five-speed automatic in the aforementioned Pathfinders, Frontiers and Xterras, wrote Lance Wiggins, the technical director of the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association, in an e-mail. Mr. Wiggins said the radiator cooler tanks are rupturing, which forces the coolant into the transmission through the transmission cooler lines. “This is a total failure of the cooler portion of the radiator that is responsible for the cooling of the transmission,” he said, citing transmissions that he’s seen fail with only 60,000 miles. Colin Price, a Nissan spokesman, said in an e-mail that coverage would include the transmission if it was damaged by coolant. But the letter sent by Nissan to owners in November, which notified them of the radiator assembly warranty extension, did not mention the transmission. Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety said Nissan should have made clear that the radiator problem could affect the transmission. “They don’t tell the consumer the more important fact,” he said.
From Automotive News: Vehicle sales may be holding steady this month, but the outlook beyond that is worsening rapidly. Automakers, dealers and analysts are slashing forecasts for the year -- and even for 2012 and 2013. This month half a dozen analysts trimmed 2011 forecasts for light-vehicle sales by 200,000 units or more, to below 13 million. Others have left forecasts unchanged at around 13 million or slightly more, but have begun using qualifying terms such as "downward bias" and "uncertainty." The causes: The widely expected second-half bounce as quake-hit inventories recover isn't happening. And car shoppers are spooked by the August stock market drop and renewed talk of a recession. "Fear increases faster than trust," said Adam Jonas, the top auto analyst at Morgan Stanley. This month J.D. Power's top auto forecaster, Jeff Schuster, cut his 2011 forecast by 300,000 units, to 12.6 million. His 2012 outlook fell to 14.1 million, from 14.7 million. "We're going to grow out of this stall," he said, "although slower than we anticipated." Goldman Sachs cut its 2012 forecast to 13.5 million, down 1 million from its earlier outlook. IHS Automotive chopped its 2012 forecast by 1.2 million to 13.5 million, and took half a million units out of 2013, reducing it to 15.0 million. RBC Capital now sees next year at 13.3 million, down 700,000.
From UAW Vice President Joe Ashton: Since opening negotiations on July 27th at the Detroit Hamtramck Plant, we have been very busy meeting with the Company and presenting our demands. There are 13 sub-committees that meet regularly with Company representatives to discuss the important issues that our rank and file members have identified. As UAW President Bob King stated at the opening of contract talks, “Our talks will center on the needs of our members and the need to continue to build great products.”
You may have read some articles in the newspapers about how well the talks are progressing. These articles do not cite their sources and are often not accurate. We will not negotiate in the press. I can tell you that these are very difficult talks. There are a number of difficult issues that we need to resolve. The most important issue is keeping our plants fully utilized and expanding the number of UAW workers at General Motors.
Discussions around the employment issue have been ongoing. We will continue to explore options and present ideas that we think will benefit the Company, ensure our members’ employment, and result in more UAW-GM workers being hired during the life of the agreement.
Another large challenge we face is how to reward the membership for all their hard work and dedication in turning around the fortunes of GM. We understand the importance of examining new methods of compensation that will reward workers during good years and not add to the structural costs of the Company so it can better survive the lean years. We also understand the importance of fighting hard for benefits, but not wanting to bring negative attention to our members, the products we build, or the Company.
Finally, we will continue to work hard to win justice for our members at the bargaining table. Our membership plays a critical role in the success of this Company and I’m proud to represent each and every one of you.
Chevrolet donated a compressed natural gas (CNG) Express cargo van to the Detroit Science Center (DSC). This CNG van will transport the center’s Travelling Science program to Detroit schools and communities starting this fall. “I am pleased to extend Chevrolet and General Motors’ ongoing support of the Detroit Science Center with the donation of a Chevrolet compressed natural gas van,” said Tom Stephens, vice chairman and chief technology officer. “The Travelling Science program is a fun, hands-on way to bring technology-based learning to the community and to inspire budding engineers and future designers.
Here is this week’s build information: 164 slider doors; 220 15-pass vans; 216 exports; 50 E-26 vans; 167 OnStar; 63 brake deck spare tire; 107 diesels; 320 cut-aways; 234 Enterprise rent-a-car; 127 r/h door delete; 84.7% white vans.
From the NY Times: Owners of some of Nissan’s most popular S.U.V.’s and pickup trucks are experiencing failures of their automatic transmissions because radiator coolant is leaking into the systems. While the automaker has offered an extended warranty for the radiators, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationand other safety organizations have received numerous complaints (over 200) from owners alleging they have spent thousands of dollars for transmission repairs because the added radiator warranty coverage only applied to vehicles with fewer than 80,000 miles. Owners also say that Nissan should have notified them that the radiator problem, covered under a warranty action last October, went beyond the cooling system and could allow coolant to enter the transmissions and destroy them. In October, Nissan extended the warranty on the radiators of 2005-2010 Frontiers, Pathfinders and Xterras from three years or 36,000 miles to eight years or 80,000 miles. Nissan said only “a small percentage” of vehicles might experience the coolant-leak problem, which it blamed on “an internal crack on the oil cooler tube.” Nissan labeled the October action a radiator assembly warranty extension, which covered “damage, repairs, replacement, and related towing resulting from this issue.” Yet owners who experienced transmission failure are upset that Nissan did not cover their replacement if the failure occurred after 80,000 miles. There is a “huge” problem with the five-speed automatic in the aforementioned Pathfinders, Frontiers and Xterras, wrote Lance Wiggins, the technical director of the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association, in an e-mail. Mr. Wiggins said the radiator cooler tanks are rupturing, which forces the coolant into the transmission through the transmission cooler lines. “This is a total failure of the cooler portion of the radiator that is responsible for the cooling of the transmission,” he said, citing transmissions that he’s seen fail with only 60,000 miles. Colin Price, a Nissan spokesman, said in an e-mail that coverage would include the transmission if it was damaged by coolant. But the letter sent by Nissan to owners in November, which notified them of the radiator assembly warranty extension, did not mention the transmission. Clarence Ditlow of the Center for Auto Safety said Nissan should have made clear that the radiator problem could affect the transmission. “They don’t tell the consumer the more important fact,” he said.
From Automotive News: Vehicle sales may be holding steady this month, but the outlook beyond that is worsening rapidly. Automakers, dealers and analysts are slashing forecasts for the year -- and even for 2012 and 2013. This month half a dozen analysts trimmed 2011 forecasts for light-vehicle sales by 200,000 units or more, to below 13 million. Others have left forecasts unchanged at around 13 million or slightly more, but have begun using qualifying terms such as "downward bias" and "uncertainty." The causes: The widely expected second-half bounce as quake-hit inventories recover isn't happening. And car shoppers are spooked by the August stock market drop and renewed talk of a recession. "Fear increases faster than trust," said Adam Jonas, the top auto analyst at Morgan Stanley. This month J.D. Power's top auto forecaster, Jeff Schuster, cut his 2011 forecast by 300,000 units, to 12.6 million. His 2012 outlook fell to 14.1 million, from 14.7 million. "We're going to grow out of this stall," he said, "although slower than we anticipated." Goldman Sachs cut its 2012 forecast to 13.5 million, down 1 million from its earlier outlook. IHS Automotive chopped its 2012 forecast by 1.2 million to 13.5 million, and took half a million units out of 2013, reducing it to 15.0 million. RBC Capital now sees next year at 13.3 million, down 700,000.
Friday, August 26, 2011
UAW Local 2250 Executive Board
Chairman
Mike Bullock
President Van Simpson
Vice President Tom Bowman
Financial Secretary Bill Wright
Recording Secretary Bill “Toe” Loretto
Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance “Santa” Mosley
Trustees
Wanda Richard,
“Sandy” Sandra W. Johnson,
Rick “Da Kid” Gotch
District 1 Committeeman Melvin Perry
Alternate Rick Visor
District 3 Committeeman Steve Williams
Alternate Dave Devine
District 5 Committeeman Alan Chambliss
Alternate “Big John” Langford
District 7 Committeeman Dale Averitt
Alternate Bob Warren
District 8 Committeeman Torkey E. Graham
Alternate Tim Wakeland
District 9 Committeeman Lou Jones
Alternate Michael “Big Z” Prescott
Mike Bullock
President Van Simpson
Vice President Tom Bowman
Financial Secretary Bill Wright
Recording Secretary Bill “Toe” Loretto
Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance “Santa” Mosley
Trustees
Wanda Richard,
“Sandy” Sandra W. Johnson,
Rick “Da Kid” Gotch
District 1 Committeeman Melvin Perry
Alternate Rick Visor
District 3 Committeeman Steve Williams
Alternate Dave Devine
District 5 Committeeman Alan Chambliss
Alternate “Big John” Langford
District 7 Committeeman Dale Averitt
Alternate Bob Warren
District 8 Committeeman Torkey E. Graham
Alternate Tim Wakeland
District 9 Committeeman Lou Jones
Alternate Michael “Big Z” Prescott
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