Shop Chairman’s Report

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

There will be seven people transferring in on January 26, 2004. These folks will satisfy the requisition we have had in.

Management has told us starting January 24, 2004, they will start working on the Mezzanine weekends, and will continue to work during the week as manpower is available.

The International Union has approved the change from a three year term to two years.

In March we will be considering one of the biggest and most important changes this Local has ever contemplated. Everyone should be aware of what is being considered and be involved in this.

Management has presented a plan to stop people from walking across the street at the 36^th Street entrances. They have a concern that people crossing the street creates a safety hazard. They said the City of Wyoming was contacted about a cross walk, and they didn’t want to put one there.

The plan involves not allowing people to ring in through the lobby entrance unless they have been cleared through Labor as having a need to park in the lot. One reason would be the handicapped parking spaces for those who cannot do the stairs. Management has said this is in the planning stages, but they are going to address what they feel is a safety problem.

Anyone who was chosen to take the test should have been contacted through the mail by now. Anyone who has not been contacted can ask the Apprentice Coordinator Randy Hendricks for verification.

We are still waiting for the International Union and the Corporation to come to agreement on numbers. We have asked to have this done by the end of the month.

There are so many future projects that management is having a hard time figuring out how many people it is going to take to get the work done. Maintenance is supposed to present a plan to the plant manager on January 23, 2004, and then we will get to see it after that.

TDO has told us that their plan involves six new mills in the next three years. Time lines are not solid yet, and we are not sure how many current mills we will lose. Details are being worked out.

Tom Brady’s replacement, Gerald Johnson, was in the plant last Wednesday. It was explained to him about our need for new Steel Stores equipment and manpower. The comments he made were positive about the plant, and he knows about our need for equipment. He is young in age for the position he has assumed by most standards, but he seems very sharp. Anytime someone asks questions when it seems they already know the answers, is usually trying to find out if someone is going to be honest with them. You can only hope he will be as good to this plant as Brady was.

OO-2 is scheduled to be idled by the end of the week, and Gerald Johnson was asked for help in getting Flint moving on taking the OO-1 work. We cannot wait until May to move that work. It would put us too far behind for the pit work.

I have contacted the International Union about a 96 to Flint, and the response was positive. When the work starts going, then give them a call and get the ball rolling.

If you are licensed to operate a hi lo, crane, or some other piece of equipment and your license has expired, you cannot legally operate it per the Safety Rules. Check your licenses to make sure you stay in compliance.

It has been brought to management’s attention in the Maintenance and Die Making activities that they are not covering the jobs equally on all three shifts. This has always been a problem with no Equalization of Overtime between the shifts.

Our stance is if need to be covered on one shift, unless the job is guaranteed to be finished on that shift, it should be scheduled to make sure it is completed. Once again, over the weekend there was mass confusion due to calling people in at the last minute. This time it had to do with Morraine not liking a fender change, and they demanded it be fixed.

We still do not have the official call from the corporation on the Oshawa problem. We have sent everyone we could and addressed all their concerns, but it probably won’t be enough to keep us out of the spill.

Coincidence? Last year to the day the same thing happened. The day after the Manufacturing Manager visited, we had a problem with product to Oshawa. Sometimes it makes you wonder about the timing.

The new Quality Manager took over January 1, and nine days later we have what could be a major problem; that must be a record. We were faced with the same problem last year and survived, and we will again this year. It would have been nice not to have our backs against the wall in the spill department already.

Remember: If you have a question, ask it.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Mike Mansfield

Shop Chairman

Local 730, UAW