Alex Santana—Shop Chairman • Mike Haineault—1st Shift Zone • Jeff Hall—2nd & 3rd Shift Zone
Kevin Sautter • Colie Lynch • Erin Schumacher • Luther Page • David Blackwell • Billy Flynn
John Hanning • Greg Hill • Jerry Gray • Stan Bowers • George Mellinger
Doug McKeithen • Kevin McCray • Darrell Shanklin • Dwayne Hawkins • Turnage Corr • Quinten Bowens
Larry Garrison • Howard Newson • Stephen Ying • B.J. Hutto • James Hunter

Volume III, No. 19 • May 30th, 2008

Educate Yourself
National Agreement

(218b) When death occurs in an employee's immediate family as defined below, and the employee has seniority in any General Motors plant, the employee, on request, will be excused for any of the first three (3) normally scheduled working days or the first five (5) normally scheduled working days in the case of the death of an employee’s current spouse, parent, child, or stepchild (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays) immediately following the date of death. The five-(5) day limit will also apply in cases of multiple deaths of members of the employee’s immediate family resulting from a single incident. The immediate family for purposes of this Paragraph (218b) is defined as including the employee's:

In the case of an employee who is granted a leave of absence due to the illness of an immediate family member, as above defined, and such family member dies within the first seven (7) calendar days of the leave, the requirement that the employee otherwise be scheduled to work will be waived.

Employees excused from work under this Paragraph (218b) shall, after making written application, receive the amount of wages they would have earned by working during straight time hours on such scheduled days of work for which they are excused (excluding Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, or, in the case of employees working in necessary continuous seven-day operations, the sixth and seventh work days of the employee's scheduled working week and holidays).

Shop Talk

The battle still continues...
Management will recognize the strong support of UAW Local 2166 membership. Your dedication and commitment has made us who we are today. Thank you to each and every one of you!!

Downtime: No downtime scheduled as of May 29, 2008.

Document No. 8 of N. A.: MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING – SPECIAL PROCEDURE FOR ATTENDANCE - Effective June 9, 2008 the ARM will be held and a decision rendered within two (2) working days following the employee’s return to work if the employee has requested the ARM.

Special Attrition Program: As of May 22, 2008 there have been approximately three hundred forty (340) Division I and seventy (70) Division II employees sign up for the SAP. The following is Division II breakdown by trade; twenty-five (25) electricians, twelve (12) millwrights, eight (8) pipefitters, two (2) diemakers, three (3) machine repair, four (4) truck repair, three (3) stationary engineers, one (1) painter glazer and twelve (12) toolmakers. The numbers above may change due to opting out of SAP under the seven (7) day window through May 29, 2008.

Transfers: As a result of the SAP, we do not know how many available openings, if any, will occur in other facilities but if there is one you may want to transfer to, submit your transfer application. In the event you are canvassed and you accept transfer expect a delay due to mass exits of manpower created by the SAP. Replacements due to the SAP will be back filled by Appendix “A” first, then followed by appendix “K”. Currently there have been thirty-eight (38) canvassed for Arlington Assembly and one (1) for Fort Wayne Assembly.

Stamping: Additional manpower for Division I & Division II in department 60 will be needed due to the remainder seven (7) die sets coming to Shreveport and the SAP.

Cost of Living Adjustment: Effective June 2, 2008 employees will receive a twenty-four (24¢) cent per hour C.O.L.A. INCREASE. For a total of forty-six (46¢) cents Cost-of-Living Allowance that will be included in your paycheck for week ending June 8, 2008.

Environmental: The local parties, pursuant to direction by the National Parties, have met and mutually developed the following redeployment plan for exiting all Environmental functions:

(A) All Environmental functions, with the exception of Barrel Storage, will be exited no later than June 30, 2008.
(B) On May 22, 2008 Premier will be allowed to begin the hiring process in order to develop a candidate pool for the purpose of backfilling future openings within the Environmental department.
(C) Beginning June 16, 2008 Environmental employees who exit the department will be backfilled with Premier employees who have received the required training in order to fulfill the job responsibilities. Premier employees assigned to operations that require task familiarization will receive training from a seniority Environmental employee.
(D) On June 23, 2008 any GM employee that remains assigned to the Environmental department will be joined by a Premier employee for the purpose of job familiarization.
{E) On June 30, 2008 all remaining GM employees will exit the housekeeping functions and transition to an operation within Division I.
(F) It is not Managements intent to prevent the hiring of former GM employees by 3rd party vendors.

Premier: Aerotek is the company that Premier has contracted to interview prospects to hire here in Shreveport. The following is the information in order to submit resumes to the attention of Amy Castillo; email resume to acastill@aerotek.com or FAX it to (817) 299-5030.

Paint Department: The Union has been notified that General Motors will be investing money in order to re-work sludge piping and slews ways in the paint department here in Shreveport.

Re-District: Information is forthcoming.

American Axle: UAW workers at five American Axle Manufacturing locations have voted to ratify a new four-year labor agreement. Seventy-eight percent of workers voted in favor of ratification; 22 percent voted against.

Women’s Committee: Congratulations to Juanita Cooper – winner of the Mother’s Day raffle with ticket #D122093. Guys, if you have not received your free Father’s Day raffle ticket you should see a member of the Women’s Committee. The winner of the Father’s Day raffle will receive a gift card to Lowe’s.

Notary: Please remember that if you have documents to be notarized, DO NOT sign until you are in front of the Notary. A Notary is a Legal Witness for the State. If you sign before you are in front of the Notary they will not be able to witness your signature.

Red Shirt Day: Wear a red shirt on Friday to support our troops!!!

"Our labor unions are not narrow, self-seeking groups. They have raised wages, shortened hours, and provided supplemental benefits. Through collective bargaining and grievance procedures, they have brought justice and democracy to the shop floor." -- John F. Kennedy.

IN SOLIDARITY