Oracle of Delphi

Philip Nussel Automotive News September 26, 2007 - 5:19 am EST UPDATED: 9/26/07 4:23 p.m. EDT Here is the situation at General Motors in North America: * Talks: GM and the UAW announced a tentative contract settlement at 4 a.m. EDT. * Employees: About 73,000 hourly workers represented by the UAW are expected to return to work today by the afternoon shift. * Approvals: Any agreement must be ratified by the UAW rank-and-file. UAW local leaders could meet as early as Friday morning to discuss the tentative pact. If ratification is completed, the deal would then be subject to court approval and GM must get regulators to approve how it accounts for the contract changes. * What GM got: Will shift more than $50 billion in health care liabilities to a UAW trust fund; more productivity in U.S. plants; lower tier-two wages for new hires in certain areas such as janitorial and truck unloading. GM also won revisions in the controversial Jobs Bank program in which laid off employees continue to receive pay for indefinite periods, according to multiple media outlets. * What the UAW got: Guarantees of new plant investments in the U.S.; a health care benefit trust that will remain solvent for 80 years; GM will permanently hire up to 5,000 temporary workers; signing bonuses to UAW members to approve the contract; and wage increase of 3 percent in the second year, 4 percent in the second year and 3 percent in the third. * What GM will pay: GM, according to analysts, will fund the health care trust fund at 70 percent of its long-term liability. That amounts to about $35.0 billion. GM has not confirmed that figure. * What's next: The UAW will decide as early as Thursday whether it will choose Ford Motor Co. or Chrysler LLC as the next target for contract negotiations, Reuters reported. * Wall Street: GM shares closed up $3.22 a share, or 9.36 percent, to $37.64 a share on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was four times as heavy as usual, with 66.2 million shares trading hands by 4 p.m. EDT.

This explains so much about you and women! :AH-HA_wink:

Ahhh, zetaman, my old friend. Slumming are we? How are things at GMOutsidenews? You know as well as I do that anybody's grandmother can add things to wikipedia. I am speaking in legal terminology, since anything Holden owns is legally GM's, since GM owns Holden lock, stock, and barrel, down to the smallest screw that is in the VE. Have a great afternoon, I know I'm having a great morning. G'Day Mate! :AH-HA_wink:

Ja, the best Schnitzel are the long and thick pieces! :AH-HA_wink:

But we have Schwarzenegger! :AH-HA_wink:

The Borg

It was filmed at GM's Lang Lang.

9.24.07, 11:18am UAW Strikes GM Link to Original Article @ DetNews The United Auto Workers launched a national strike today against General Motors Corp. after 10 days of marathon bargaining failed to produce a new labor pact for the automaker's 73,000 hourly U.S. workers. The stunning move came after the union told its members on Sunday they were to walk off the job unless they heard otherwise by 11 a.m. That word never came, and now GM is facing its first strike since the UAW struck the automaker's operation in Flint in 1998. "Unless you hear otherwise from your International Union and Local Union leadership, you should consider yourself on strike at 11:00 a.m." Local union officials echoed the alert less than an hour before the deadline. Chris Sherwood, president of UAW Local 652 in Lansing, said this morning it doesn't look good for heading off a GM strike. "I doubt they will reach agreement," he said. "The UAW leadership called me Sunday night and told me we were going on strike unless we tell you differently. Before they'd tell me to wait for the call and then go on strike. "It doesn't look good. We've been meeting with management on how to calmly close down the plant. We're ready to man the gates." At 11 this morning inside GM plants across the nation workers will get signal from local UAW committeeman who will walk down line and inform workers whether they should walk or stay on. If a strike is called, workers will immediately leave the building and most already have assigned picket duties. Most locals, including Local 599 in Flint, are filled with officers and volunteer retirees who are putting together hundreds of picket signs. The signs read "UAW on strike," "We support our top negotiators," "Americans have rights," and "NAFTA bankrupts America." At Local 599, the picket signs are lined up on folding tables in the hall's lobby, just in front of huge murals that celebrate this union's militant background of sit-down strikes and mass marches. The mood in the hall among local officials is that of gallows humor, with a handful of local officials standing by joking about decreases in healthcare and who will be "left standing" at the end of the day. 9.24.07, 12:25am UAW sets strike deadline for Monday morning Union expected to ask GM for guarantees of future production at U.S. plants DETROIT - The United Auto Workers set a deadline of Monday morning to strike General Motors Corp. if a new contract isn’t reached, even as the two sides continued bargaining late Sunday night, according to a local union Web site. The deadline to reach an agreement was set for 11 a.m. EDT Monday, according to a posting on the Web site of UAW Local 160 in Warren. GM said in a statement Sunday night that it is working with the union to resolve issues. “The contract talks involve complex, difficult issues that effect the job security of our U.S. workforce and the long-term viability of the company,” said the statement, which was posted on a GM Web site. “We are fully committed to working with the UAW to develop solutions together to address the competitive challenges facing General Motors. We will continue focusing our efforts on reaching an agreement as soon as possible.” UAW President Ron Gettelfinger said as recently as Friday that the union was trying to speed up negotiations and reach an agreement without a strike. The union may be trying to ratchet up the pressure on GM to get a deal done. The UAW’s contract with GM was set to expire Sept. 14, but the union has been extending it on an hour-by-hour basis since then. A local UAW official said earlier Sunday that negotiators have wrapped up work on most issues and were determining how much money GM must put into a trust fund for retiree health care that will be managed by the UAW. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private. The health care fund — known as a Voluntary Employees Beneficiary Association, or VEBA — would be a groundbreaking change for the auto industry and has been the major issue in this year’s negotiations. GM has around $51 billion in unfunded retiree health care costs but the company isn’t required to put the full amount into the VEBA. The UAW and GM have been wrangling over how much GM should put in and how much can be paid in cash or in stock. This breaking news story will be updated. Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20903218/

Police

Bill it to Holden! It will be just the begining of how I make them pay!

Swiss German is not a problem for me, I went to a university in Switzerland. Bob knows, he's very put off about that fact!

Immaculate

What do I care, I'm a German! :AH-HA_wink:

Tim Horton's merged with Wendy's in 1995. So I guess you can yes, we have both here.

If you didn't shave your legs your skin wouldn't have touched the cloth seats. :AH-HA_wink:

Jesus, he's not even an American! He's from one of them Germanic countries! :AH-HA_wink:

Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFfb7phbO58...ted&search= English Version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIcAR1uZRcQ...ted&search=

I'm really, really going to miss my Wawa!

WOW, I'm getting turned on!

http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?f=00&a...sn.com/&fg=

I hate NY, all my inlaws are from there!

LOL, with all the G names no wonder she is confused!

I put this up for Camino and K.C. to give y'all something to keep hope alive!

Well, it's just a little over a day now before I depart, please don't all cheer at once! Y'all be good and don't fight to much with each other, remember we're all one big happy GM family! I won't be posting as much (good news for many of you), but I will still lurk. If you want to contact me, I'm on all the Microsoft/Windows messengers, just add [email protected] . Just remember I do not check that email address, so don't email me there. I enjoyed all my discussion threads here on C&G, even when we didn't quite agree. I will be watching closely the sales of the G8, come the new year. Many things hinge on that car, it will be interesting to see how the public reacts to it, or not! Anyway I start my new assignment on October 1, 2007, funny that's also my 1 year anniversary date here at G&G. Does it only feel like a year that I have been here? It feels much longer to me too, almost like I have always been here! Anyway, here is the flight I'm taking, thank God it's a direct flight, only about 8 hours in the air, yep, you guessed it, I hate to fly, but I have a job where I fly a lot, go figure. Philadelphia, PA (PHL) to Zurich, Switzerland (ZRH) Non-stop - 7hr 55min | Boeing 767 See Ya, When I See Ya! der Börger

Enjoy!