02-19-2009, 07:04 PM
New Plant or Not?
Another month goes by and another press release by GM is causing so much uneasiness and uncertainty. Which facility, new or old, is not the important issue here. The issue is whether or not the product belongs to Local 599 members and if we have the ability to expand from not only the continuing saga of the Volt, but the ability to also produce the Cruz and/or other Zero Family engines.
The National Agreement, which members voted to support, allotted the modules to produce the Cruz engines to Local 599. Last fall, GM announced that we would also produce the Volt. The goal is to assure our members that this scenario is exactly what takes place. I personally have no preferences
as to which building or buildings this takes place in. My statement as to not being satisfied with putting the product in an existing building was in response to certain news reports that led people to
believe that the products would belong to another facility instead of Local 599. The following is a portion of the press release put out by Congressman Dale Kildee.
“I am extremely disappointed with the vague manner in which General Motors has kept the people of Flint informed with respect to production of the Volt and Cruz engine here in Flint. Flint’s leaders, including labor, management, and governmental, must pull together to convince (GM) that the engine must be built here in Flint and, as soon as possible, in a new plant.”
We have also printed a portion of a communication sent by International Vice-President Cal Rapson in this issue of the paper. Undoubtedly this will not be the end of the circle of GM’s rhetoric.
MARVIN and Newly Laid-Off
GM, like Chrysler, has announced the end of the Jobs Bank. This is a very hard pill to swallow, even though we knew it was inevitable. MARVIN (unemployment) has not been user friendly, as we all know. Michigan has supposedly added personnel to alleviate some of the woes. We have printed an instruction sheet for the necessary steps for using MARVIN. If any members need a copy, just stop in at the Union Hall. Hopefully, they will be able to make the system accept call-ins in a more timely fashion.
Union Hall Leases
Membership action has set in motion an effect to lease out excess space in the Union Hall. Any lessees will have to be approved by our membership prior to occupying any space. This is in line with our Local By-laws. We are working through Piper Realty as a broker to handle the leasing agreements.
At the current time, we have acquired a contract from the realtor and are asking the UAW legal department to review it to make sure we are covering all necessary issues.
Charity Outing
For many years, we have held an annual golf outing for the Make-a-Wish foundation. Because of the current economic situation in our community, we pondered whether or not to continue with this program. After talking with many of the people who help make these events fail or succeed, we have decided on the following.
We will attempt to hold the outing, but change the way we allocate the proceeds. A committee of the volunteers who work on the project will decide which charities in our community will receive funding. Any and everyone is invited to help with this project. We know the difficult challenge that we face to make this successful. Hopefully, enough people will step forward to help those who are always there to be able to help as many charities as we can.
Another month goes by and another press release by GM is causing so much uneasiness and uncertainty. Which facility, new or old, is not the important issue here. The issue is whether or not the product belongs to Local 599 members and if we have the ability to expand from not only the continuing saga of the Volt, but the ability to also produce the Cruz and/or other Zero Family engines.
The National Agreement, which members voted to support, allotted the modules to produce the Cruz engines to Local 599. Last fall, GM announced that we would also produce the Volt. The goal is to assure our members that this scenario is exactly what takes place. I personally have no preferences
as to which building or buildings this takes place in. My statement as to not being satisfied with putting the product in an existing building was in response to certain news reports that led people to
believe that the products would belong to another facility instead of Local 599. The following is a portion of the press release put out by Congressman Dale Kildee.
“I am extremely disappointed with the vague manner in which General Motors has kept the people of Flint informed with respect to production of the Volt and Cruz engine here in Flint. Flint’s leaders, including labor, management, and governmental, must pull together to convince (GM) that the engine must be built here in Flint and, as soon as possible, in a new plant.”
We have also printed a portion of a communication sent by International Vice-President Cal Rapson in this issue of the paper. Undoubtedly this will not be the end of the circle of GM’s rhetoric.
MARVIN and Newly Laid-Off
GM, like Chrysler, has announced the end of the Jobs Bank. This is a very hard pill to swallow, even though we knew it was inevitable. MARVIN (unemployment) has not been user friendly, as we all know. Michigan has supposedly added personnel to alleviate some of the woes. We have printed an instruction sheet for the necessary steps for using MARVIN. If any members need a copy, just stop in at the Union Hall. Hopefully, they will be able to make the system accept call-ins in a more timely fashion.
Union Hall Leases
Membership action has set in motion an effect to lease out excess space in the Union Hall. Any lessees will have to be approved by our membership prior to occupying any space. This is in line with our Local By-laws. We are working through Piper Realty as a broker to handle the leasing agreements.
At the current time, we have acquired a contract from the realtor and are asking the UAW legal department to review it to make sure we are covering all necessary issues.
Charity Outing
For many years, we have held an annual golf outing for the Make-a-Wish foundation. Because of the current economic situation in our community, we pondered whether or not to continue with this program. After talking with many of the people who help make these events fail or succeed, we have decided on the following.
We will attempt to hold the outing, but change the way we allocate the proceeds. A committee of the volunteers who work on the project will decide which charities in our community will receive funding. Any and everyone is invited to help with this project. We know the difficult challenge that we face to make this successful. Hopefully, enough people will step forward to help those who are always there to be able to help as many charities as we can.