September 6, 2008 Buzz Hargrove Strikes Out On His Own by Tony Van Alphen/The Toronto Star He started his career as a hotshot shop steward who flexed union muscle by using hand signals to regularly tip workers and stop a Chrysler assembly line in Windsor. It will end today, more than four decades later, with a simple wave goodbye [...]

September 6, 2008 Mitsubishi-UAW Deadline Passes Without Word by The Peoria Journal Star The expiration time for United Auto Workers Local 2448’s contract with Mitsubishi Motors North America passed at 11:59 p.m. Friday without word of continuing talks or a settlement. Local 2488 represents nearly 1,300 workers at the Japanese automaker’s Normal plant, its only production facility in North [...]

September 6, 2008 Steelworkers And CAW Officials Tussle Over Dues Base At Magna by Carl Bronski/The World Socialist Website Over 1,000 St. Thomas, Ontario nonunion auto parts workers at Forment Industries, Magna International’s largest Canadian facility, voted Wednesday to reject union certification with the United Steelworkers of America (USWA). Although the USWA had garnered the signatures of at [...]

September 5, 2008 Buzz Hargrove Prepares To Step Down As CAW Head by The Canadian Press After 16 years as president of the Canadian Auto Workers union, Buzz Hargrove is preparing for a less hectic life as author, commentator and consultant—but definitely not politician. “Not a chance. I’ve ruled that out completely,” said Hargrove on the eve of a [...]

September 5, 2008 GM Unveils Web Site To Rebut Critics David Shepardson/The Detroit News General Motors Corp. unveiled a political-style Web site today to rebut what it called rumors and half-truths about the company. The Web site, www.gmfactsandfiction.com, rebuts suggestions that GM’s lobbying for more than $25 billion in low-cost direct government loans was a “bailout,” and addresses a [...]

September 5, 2008 Ford Cuts To Hit Local Stamping Plant by The NWI Times Workers at the Ford Chicago Heights Stamping Plant will be facing layoffs when the nearby assembly plant goes from two shifts to one in November, said the local union president. “We will definitely see a reduction, but we don’t know how much,” said Bill Jackson, [...]

September 5, 2008 Ford To Expand Buyout Campaign by Sarah A. Webster/The Detroit Free Press Job fairs, Web site planned to target UAW workers. Ford Motor Co., which already has reduced nearly 40% of its workforce since 2005, is ramping up its effort to get UAW-represented hourly workers to leave the company voluntarily—hosting several job fairs and launching a [...]

September 5, 2008 Ex-Boeing Exec Indicted In Kickback Scheme by Philadelphia Daily News They called the loan applicants “cousins.” That was how Anthony Forte, then executive vice president of the Boeing Helicopters Credit Union six years ago, identified the 127 unqualified loan applicants to whom the credit union dispensed a total of $2.54 million, according to a federal criminal [...]

September 5, 2008 Delegation Will Head To Detroit To Try To Save Janesville GM Plant by The Journal Sentinel A delegation from Wisconsin will head to General Motors Corp.’s headquarters in Detroit by the end of this month to try to persuade the automaker to reverse its decision to shut its oldest factory. A centerpiece of the proposal that [...]

September 4, 2008 GM Plant Manager In Ohio Prepares For Shutdown by The Associated Press Steve Brock had been manager of the General Motors SUV plant in Morain for six months when he was told the company planned to close the factory by 2010. It’s been a rocky ride since then, and he’s not sure what the future holds [...]

September 4, 2008 Delphi Is Facing Counterclaims From Appaloosa-Led Group by The Wall Street Journal Part Supplier Asked To Pay Expenses, $82.5 Million Fee Hedge fund Appaloosa Management and other investors that pulled out of a deal to invest $2.55 billion into Delphi Corp. say the auto-parts supplier has to pay them an $82.5 million fee plus expenses. The Appaloosa-led [...]

September 4, 2008 Ford Plant To Eliminate Shift, 600 Temporary Workers by The NWI Times Ford expects to eliminate one production shift and about 600 temporary employees on Nov. 3 at its Chicago Assembly Plant, a company letter states. “We believe the one shift operation will meet most of the customer demand for the products built in Chicago,” Plant [...]

September 4, 2008 100 To Lose Jobs As Sebewaing Stamping Plant Closes by Tom Gilchrist/The Bay City Times Patrice Gettel-Lindow learned a few weeks ago that the Lapeer Metal Stamping Companies Inc. plant in this Huron County village would close, taking away 100 jobs. But Gettel-Lindow, Sebewaing’s village president, kept it to herself while working inside her Salon 25 [...]

September 4, 2008 Delphi Plans $160M Investment At Kokomo by Norm Heikens/The Indianapolis Business News Delphi Electronics & Safety plans to invest $160 million in its Kokomo operations in the next few years, the city announced today. The investment will be channeled toward machinery and equipment, much of which will focus on hybrid and other next-generation automotive technology, said [...]

September 4, 2008 Boeing Union Snubs Pact, Backs Strike by The Bloomberg News Boeing Co.’s largest union rejected a three-year contract offer Wednesday night and voted to strike. The union said it will give Boeing 48 hours to come back to the table with a better proposal before starting the walkout, over the objection of members who wanted [...]

September 3, 2008 H2 Workers Concerned About Layoffs, Seniority And Lack Of Union Response by John Paul/WSBT Channel 6 News With 80 workers being laid off at the AM General Hummer H2 plant, employees wonder if AM General will shift current workers to the H1 plant or hire new workers who earn less money. It’s back to the assembly [...]

September 3, 2008 Third Shift Starts At Orion GM Plant by The Oakland Press General Motors Corp. has launched production on the third shift at its sprawling assembly plant in Orion Township. “Today is the start of third shift production at Orion,” said GM spokesman Tony Sapienza. “We’re just putting our resources where they’re needed.” The addition of a third [...]

September 2, 2008 At Ford, Training Trickles Down by Christina Rogers/The Detroit News Hourly workers enlisted to help Blue Oval reach quality goals. Ford Motor Co. plant worker Don Lowery is back in school, learning techniques the automaker hopes will help it build on recent quality gains. In a joint program with the United Auto Workers, Ford sent about 70 [...]

September 1, 2008 Ties To GM Run Deep, Personal For 652 President by Barbara Wieland/The Lansing State Journal Mike Green might work for the world’s largest automaker, but he also considers it a family business. That’s because Green’s ties run deep at General Motors Corp. His parents, grandfather, sister, aunts, uncles and cousins all have worked for the Detroit carmaker [...]

September 1, 2008 Keeping Delphi Workers In Area by The Kokomo Tribune Options are available for those laid-off at Delphi. When Delphi Corp.’s Electronics & Safety Division announced it was going to cut 600 salaried positions from its North American workforce, Jan Hendrix was worried, not just for the employees but the trickle-down effect in Howard County. Most of those [...]