Chairmans Report 2-12-21

To the Membership:

We as a membership have worked long and hard for the corporation. We have been on the six(6) day Memorandum of Understanding for almost 6 years now and many of our members are tired. There has been a lot of speculation and concerns about Arlington Assembly possibly being deemed as a plant going on Critical Plant Status. I would like to inform the membership that their concerns are valid and that the discussion about Critical Plant Status is taking place. Although there has not been a determination yet, this would be a huge burden on our membership. We are feverously looking for all alternatives to try and meet the customer’s needs without impacting the membership by being placed on Critical Plant Status. We are facing an uphill battle as we fall behind in the numbers needed to meet customer demand daily.

The language for Critical Plants can be found on page 215 of the 2019 National Agreement.

Critical Plants

A. Critical plants or parts of plants are those that are crucial to the integrated supply system of the Corporation and whose output is essential to meeting the scheduled production of one or more other plants or of customers, and as a result, must operate, in whole or in part, seven (7) days a week.

C. Any plant or part thereof that the Corporation designates as critical, shall, for a period of ninety (90) days after it is so designated, be exempt from the provisions of this Memorandum of Understanding that limit or restrict the right of the Corporation to require employees to work daily overtime or on Saturdays or Sundays or entitle employees to decline to work at such times. After a plant or part of a plant has been initially designated as critical, it may thereafter be redesignated as such by mutual agreement.

The other topic of discussion is the possible designation of an overflow plant and/or the loss of the Cadillac Escalade to another assembly plant. These topics are being discussed also. Although this is not something that is determined locally, we are making our case. This would be devastating to our membership if either of these would happen. It could possibly cause the loss of a shift to our membership that could cut as deep as 9/4/2012 seniority date. We are working to try and secure the future of not only keeping the Cadillac Escalade, but also making sure that we continue to be the only facility making the large SUV’s for General Motors. We are also receiving calls daily from many other locals, particularly GMCH’s and Powertrain locations. Their members are concerned about the electrification of the General Motors fleet and wanting to secure their future by transferring to Arlington Assembly through the Appendix A process. Currently we are at our authorized headcount, and as need arise, we will follow the National Agreement, we will also continue the temporary conversion process as outlined in the 2019 National Agreement.

In Solidarity

Kenny Hines