FACTORYRAT

From Canada newspaper...........



http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2012/02/02 ... -overtime/


10-hr Shifts Cut UAW Overtime

February 2, 2012. 8:03 pm


Posted by:

Chris Vander Doelen


Chrysler-Fiat has announced a new overtime-killing work schedule for its Chicago assembly plant that is certain to induce seizures and more screaming from CAW executives, as if they weren’t already in extremis.

The company announced the new shift schedule today at its Belvidere plant, at the same time it revealed it will hire 1,800 new full-time employees at the plant to help produce the new compact Dodge Dart, which was extremely well received at the recent Detroit auto show.

If you don’t think the two announcements are linked, then you haven’t been paying attention to recent developments in the North American auto industry, specifically the part run by one Sergio Marchionne.

Marchionne said it was “not by chance” the company chose Belvidere for the investment and hiring binge. Hint, hint.

This is why the CAW will go bonkers over the new schedule, at least in public: the Euro-style schedule gives the company 49 extra days of production per year while vastly reducing the overtime costs in a plant, which padded union paycheques for decades during the good times.

The UAW is trading overtime for straight time, but in return for more members. A tough choice for the CAW, however.

Under the so-called 3/2/120 production schedule — don’t ask me to explain the name — workers slave for 10-hours on four shifts out of every six, with two days off out of every six instead of the current seven. I think.

Read the story.






Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/2012020 ... z1lPSbICWf


Chrysler to add 1,800 workers at Illinois plant for Dart, Compass and Patriot
Larry P. Vellequette

Automotive News -- February 2, 2012 - 1:24 pm ET
»


Chrysler Group said today it will ramp up production of the 2013 Dodge Dart quickly at a plant in Belvidere, Ill., adding more than 1,800 workers even before the first model has been built.

During a ceremony with state and local officials at the plant, Chrysler-Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne also said the automaker will invest an additional $100 million in the plant's body shop, bringing total recent investments there to $700 million.

"It was not by chance that we chose Belvidere to make this investment and build the new Dodge Dart," Marchionne told employees. "Our decision is evidence of the faith we have in your level of commitment and your passion to deliver great products for our customers. You have been essential in our ability to author a remarkable story of recovery."

Chrysler currently employs 2,500 production workers at the Illinois factory and a nearby stamping plant. About 500 of the new employees are needed for Dart production, and the rest are required so the plant can also meet increased demand for two other vehicles, the automaker said.
The plant -- outside Chicago -- also assembles the Jeep Compass and Patriot. Production of the Dart will begin this spring. The Belvidere site produced the Dodge Caliber until December.

The plant will convert to the automaker's controversial 3/2/120 production schedule.

Under the 3/2/120 schedule, production employees work four 10-hour shifts a week with three days on and two days off as part of a six-day workweek. The rotating schedule allows Chrysler to reduce overtime costs significantly by providing an added 49 days of production a year at straight-time rates.

The hiring plans suggest Chrysler is confident about sales prospects for the Dart, a replacement for the Caliber hatchback.

U.S. sales of the Compass climbed 200 percent last year to 47,709, and demand for the Patriot rose 42 percent to 54,647 units.

A year ago, the plant was building fewer than 500 vehicles a day.

You can reach Larry P. Vellequette at lvellequette@crain.com.

I see lots of 'Corporate Welfare" in this article........



http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012 ... thy-bergen



New jobs to boost state incentives for Chrysler
•
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne at a press conference… (Frank Polich/Reuters)

February 02, 2012|By Alejandra Cancino | Tribune reporter

The state's investment in a Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere could be higher that what was announced in 2010.

Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday that the company expects to hire up to 1,800 people as it prepares to begin production of the Dodge Dart in the second quarter.

In 2010, Quinn offered Chrysler an incentives package to save 1,950 jobs at the Belvidere Assembly Plant. The package included $53.2 million in tax credits over 10 years, $875,000 in training funds, a $3.5 million grant grant and $4.6 million in additional state and local incentives through the Enterprise Zone program.


In return, Chrysler said it would invest $603.8 million in the state by building a new body shop and installing new machinery, tooling and material handling equipment.
Now that the company is hiring, it will receive additional tax credits per new full-time worker.

Marcelyn Love, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, declined to disclose the cost to the state of the additional workers. She said it will depend on the number of jobs created.

Chrysler is one of a handful of companies that can opt to use its tax credits against withheld employee income taxes, rather than against any corporate income tax liability.

Tribune reporter Kathy Bergen contributed.

There is a distinct difference between: a 'two-tier' and a 'temporary hire'....why doesn't the press make the comparison when reporting about auto companies 'hiring' people....we have several 'layers', 'types' of employees.....some with 'protections' under our contract....the others operate as 'at will' employees.

There are many inside the UAW who pay Union Dues, but do not understand the implications of these multiple layers of employees. I do not see the differences being pointed out to the public.

Ask yourself: how does a 'temp' move up to an actual 'hire' (Tier 2)?

Even the UAW International is silent on this.

The devil is always in the details.




http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012 ... marchionne


Belvidere plant a linchpin in auto industry recovery

1,800 new workers, 3rd shift seen as 'significant' for Chrysler, town

February 03, 2012|By Robert Channick, Chicago Tribune reporter

BELVIDERE, Ill. — — Three years ago, the American autoindustry was not just in trouble, it was imperiled, with Chrysler facing the real possibility of running out of money unless it was rescued. General Motors also was on the ropes.

Both received government bailouts and took trips through bankruptcy. Chrysler also got a new partner in Fiat, and all it takes to understand the effect on the smallest of Detroit's automakers is a visit to an assembly line amid cornfields in this town outside Rockford. That is where Chrysler Chairman and Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne, who is also Fiat's CEO, officially announced Thursday that the plant would add a third shift and 1,800 jobs by summer.


Joining Gov. Pat Quinn and a handful of union and local leaders on a makeshift podium, Marchionne addressed a cheering crowd of plant workers who will soon grow by two-thirds. He praised what will be the birthplace of the first true offspring of the Chrysler and Fiat union: the 2013 Dodge Dart compact.

"In 2009, when a new Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, there was only one shift in this plant, and fewer than 200 people were working throughout this building, with little hope and tremendous uncertainty," Marchionne said. "Today, we're here to celebrate the start of a significant new chapter in this plant's history."

The move is evidence of a remarkable turnaround for the American auto industry, including Chrysler Group, which earned $183 million last year, its first annual profit in years. GM and Ford, the latter of which didn't need a government bailout, also are making money again.

"It's very significant," said Michelle Krebs, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com. "When Chrysler went into bankruptcy, most of us didn't think they would ever come out. When they did come out, most of us didn't think they'd survive."

The Belvidere plant will manufacture the Dart car alongside the Jeep Compass and Patriot, at least for a while. The Jeep vehicles are being phased out at the plant, with future production of one or both most likely shipped to Chrysler's Toledo, Ohio, facility, according to Krebs.

Executives did not disclose the timing of Jeep's exit but said several new products are slated to join the Dart at the Belvidere plant, which has been retooled through a $700 million investment by Chrysler.

The Dart is the first Chrysler to be built on a Fiat-derived platform. The car, which is projected to get 40 miles per gallon and sell for about $16,000, is in pilot production — a testing phase, according to executives. Volume production is expected to ramp up this summer.

About 500 of the new hires are being added specifically to build the Dart, and the rest will fill the new three-crew system. The additional workers will start in July, and hiring has begun, executives said. They will be paid the automaker's new-hire rate of $15.78 an hour, nearly half what longtime union employees make.

The lower wages are possible because of recent labor agreements the car companies negotiated with the United Auto Workers union, deals that help close the cost gap with Japanese and other foreign plants in the U.S. that operate with a nonunion workforce.

When the hiring is complete, the Belvidere plant will have 4,500 employees.

The automakers' renaissance is still unfolding. Car companies sold 12.8 million vehicles last year in the U.S., a 10.3 percent increase from 2010 and the most since 2008. Sales are expected to reach about 13.8 million this year.