Janesville Assembly
News
Phone 756-7877
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
“Heritage” Activities Update:
Thursday, November 13, will be an internal, employee-only event. During the staggered lunch times
below, employees will be served a catered, box lunch (in
the same activities area) to enjoy with friends and team
members and reflect fondly on Janesville’s many accomplishments. Departmental supervision will distribute lunch
tickets to employees Thursday morning; employees must
present their ticket to receive lunch. This ensures every
employee receives their lunch, as only a specific amount
was ordered.
LUNCH SCHEDULE:
Your cooperation is appreciated as not all team
members may be able to leave at once, leadership reserves the right to adjust lunch dismissal as production /
maintenance needs require.
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Body, Paint & NPR
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Trim
11:50 a.m. – 12:50 p.m. Chassis
(Final I, II & CARE)
12:15 p.m. – 1:15 p.m. All other Personnel
4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Night shift employees
Third shift employees will be given their lunches by
supervision
*Material and Inspection team members should
report to lunch within the departments they service or as
otherwise directed by supervision.
Please be reminded that employees’ families were
invited to participate in any one of the three preceding
“Heritage Days”; tours (walking or tram) will NOT be
conducted Thursday. Thank you for your understanding
and cooperation!
COMMEMORATIVE ITEMS:
A commemorative item will be distributed tomorrow
at the ‘heritage activities area.’ This item is available for
active, hourly and salaried team members only. Please
show your GM badge to collect the gift. Thank you.
Veterans Day Observance
Yesterday was Veteran’s Day, in observance
Janesville Assembly will honor this with a moment
of silence (line stops) today, Nov. 12 at the
following times: 10:59 a.m.; 4:15 p.m. and 10:59 p.m.
Just In Time For Kids Child Care Center
to Close
The Rock Child Care Consortium Board has voted
to close the Just In Time For Kids Child Care Center
effective December 31, 2008. The center is subsidized by
four companies: UAW/GM, UAW/Lear, Rock County
and Lab Safety Supply. Since 2000, Just In Time for Kids
has provided high quality child care using innovative
concepts such as mildly ill care, 24 hour operations and
affordable back-up and part time care options. Due to the
cessation of production at Lear and GM Janesville Assembly, these two organizations have to discontinue participation. The board attempted to recruit new members but
was not able to get enough participation to sustain operations. We are all deeply saddened by the closure and its
affect on the children, families and center staff. We would
like to thank the entire staff at Just In Time for Kids for
their commitment to our children for the past eight years.
Hourly Tuition Assistance Program Alive
and Well
There has been some confusion concerning the
hourly Tuition Assistance Plan (TAP). Educational benefits
provided by hourly TAP are currently available and will be
available after the last day of production. Contact Tom
Westrick at 3808 of Nextel 791 for further details.
Rapid Response Sessions Rescheduled
The Rapid Response meetings scheduled for 8:00
a.m.on Friday, November 14 and 2 p.m. on Friday
November 21, have been rescheduled.. Employees that
were registered will be contact by the Job Center to
reschedule; for more information call the Job Center at
741-3462.
Obama Presses President Bush about
Automaker Relief
The Associated Press reported that President-elect
Barack Obama, meeting with President George W. Bush,
“suggested” Detroit’s reeling automakers need financial
assistance and need it now. Obama appears to believe
keeping the domestic automakers afloat is vital to keeping
the nation’s flagging economic engine firing but he does
not become president until January.
It appears Detroit’s automakers can scarcely afford
to wait.
After a serious bad-mouthing (and resultant downgrading) of General Motors Corp. stock yesterday by
Deutsche Bank, GM’s stock price plunged, and in earlymorning trading on Tuesday was well under $3 per share,
a World War II price. Deutsche said in a scathing analysis
of GM’s situation that the automaker may be in danger of
being unable to meet its operational funding obligations
beyond the end of the year without some type of federal
intervention and said GM stock is effectively worthless.
Although Ford Motor Co. is in better financial
standing, its stock has been dragged down under the $2per-share mark, and many believe privately held Chrysler
LLC is effectively running on empty. Chrysler is paring and
restructuring its model lineup in response to dangerously
sagging sales, and Detroit sources say the company had
deeply slashed spending on all product development.
Another elephant happens to be lurking in the
automakers’ garages: funding for the United Autoworkers
Union health-care benefits fund, the Voluntary Employee
Beneficiary Association, a deal struck during last year’s
labor negotiations designed to eventually free the
automakers from perpetual funding of retiree health care.
GM, for example, is locked into a $7-billion payment into
the VEBA in 2010.
Congress has earmarked $25 billion in loans for
automakers, but that money is to be used to develop more
fuel-efficient vehicles and components and for the retooling of factories to build them.
For more immediate help with day-to-day operations, automakers and certain Congressional officials are
discussing expanding the conditions of the $700-billion
banking-industry bailout to encompass direct financial
assistance to Detroit’s automakers. One trouble spot may
be Chrysler’s standing as a non-public company; Chrysler
is 81.1 percent owned by Cerberus Capital Management
LLC, with the remainder held by Daimler AG.
Production Report November 10, 2008
Direct Run: 86.8% Goal: 87%
GMT900
NPR
Scheduled:
Built:
Shipped:
Float:
DVT
To sched. +/-:
09 MYTD:
418
420
400
71
98.5
62
18,526
25
25
25
6
1
1,070
UAW Local 95
Members of UAW Local 95 members will be selling
a variety of items at the “Heritage Event.” Stop by for
some memorbilia for yourself or as a gift. All items are
American made.
Revised RHEC Hours ***
The Rick Holte Education Center hours are as usual,
5:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Call ext. 7578 for more details.
GM Denies Rumor Volt Program Will be
Put on Hold
Its no secret times have gotten very very tough for
automakers, and during today’s press conference GM’s
CEO will be announcing “important changes” to the
company, presumably designed to try and shore up the
bleeding of cash.
Auto site Jalopnik reported let’s say a very dubious
source who claimed GM will announce today that it is
putting the Volt program on hold indefinitely. Needless to
say, that was quite a shocker for me in my morning inbox.
Fortunately Volt spokeperson David Darovitz has
provided GM-Volt.com with the following statement:
“No doubt these are challenging times for the entire
auto industry. However, the Chevrolet Volt remains a high
priority product program at General Motors. There is no
intention to delay the development of the program. We
remain committed to our late 2010 timing.”– gm-volt.com
Thought for the Day
Worry does not empty tomorrow of its
sorrow, it empties today of its strength.
...Corrie Ten Boom
News from Wall Street
On November 10, 2008 GM stock
closed at 2.92.
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