<x-charset ISO-8859-1>More union busting, and shipping of US jobs overseas.
-------- Original Message -------- via thecarconnection.com: DCX Gets UAW OK To Change Jeep North America gets farmed-out assembly, in part. by Joseph Szczesny (2003-12-29) After three tries, DaimlerChrysler finally is in a position to move ahead with plans to outsource key parts of the assembly operations at a plant in North America to outside suppliers. In the fall of 2002, DaimlerChrysler had signed an agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers to allow suppliers to run the paint shop and body shop where vehicles are welded together at a new assembly plant outside Windsor, Ontario. The project died last spring, however, when the Chrysler Group ran into financial problems. Another effort to install the same kind of system at the DaimlerChrysler plant in Belvidere, Illinois, also foundered after the company and local union failed to work out differences, according to United Auto Workers sources. The new contract with UAW Local 12 in Toledo, Ohio, however, will give DaimlerChrysler a chance to adopt an approach it believes will help relieve some of the heavy capital costs connected to bring new models to market. The new agreement covers only the 4700 workers at Jeep, many of them former employees of the old American Motors Corp. who work at three plants around Toledo. The new eight-year contract will allow DaimlerChrysler for the first time to farm out welding and painting to outside suppliers. The Toledo workers approved the change by 3002 to 1012 votes during the ratification. Southern frontier Automakers have used a similar approach in South America but they have been slow to adopt it in North America because of resistance from the UAW and CAW, which have feared losing a tight grip on work traditionally done by its members. Local 12 negotiators, however, decided the new approach will lead to the creation of more jobs in the future and received a commitment from DaimlerChrysler that it will spend $2.1 billion on developing two new Jeeps and two other as yet unidentified products for assembly in Toledo. In addition, more than $900 million of the $2.1 billion will be used for new plants and equipment, UAW officials said before the voting. The agreement also provides for the construction of a new supplier park, union officials said. "It's a different world and you've got to be willing to change with it," said Bruce Baumhower, president of UAW Local 12, who noted that competition is intense in the sport-utility vehicle segment, once dominated by Jeep product built in Toledo. "I remember when we used to worry about the Ford Bronco. Now there are something like 80 different SUVs on the market and the competition isn't from GM or Ford or the Southern states but Mexico and China where they pay 90 cents per hour," Baumhower noted. John Franciosi, Chrysler Group Senior Vice President - Employee Relations, said the new agreement balances the needs of employees and the company, while allowing the company to use "concepts of world-class" operational flexibility. "We want to use that flexibility to support our strategy of building new, derivative products using existing assembly capacity," he said. The local working agreement supports a business plan, now under discussion, to develop partnerships between the company, union, governments, and suppliers to devise alternative approaches for building new products, DaimlerChrysler officials added. Rank speculation However, speculation around Toledo is that DaimlerChrysler will now go ahead with a Dodge version of the next Jeep Liberty and perhaps a compact pickup truck built off the Jeep Wrangler platform. The current Wrangler's body is welded and painted at a century-old assembly plant in the center of Toledo and then shipped five miles to another plant where the vehicle is assembled. However, DaimlerChrysler will have to close the old paint shop in the center of Toledo by 2006 and the company would like to replace it with a new body and paint shop that could be run by outside suppliers. Alan Baum, an analyst with The Planning Edge, said there are undoubtedly suppliers who would like the opportunity to operate a body and paint shop. "They want to try their hand at it because it gets them closer to building the whole vehicle," he said. Workers employed in the proposed body and paint system would get wages and benefits identical to other DaimlerChrysler workers, Baumhower said. Workers employed in the supplier park building parts of the chassis would be paid a smaller wage more closely aligned to the wages paid by companies such as Lear Corp. or Johnson Controls. UAW members now make $26 per hour, while unionized employees in the component end of the business make around $14 per hour. The wages and benefits in the suppliers would be more like those paid out to new employees at Delphi and Visteon, Baumhower said. Delphi and Visteon both are now in the midst of negotiating smaller wages for new employees. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diesel-liberty/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ </x-charset>
