In May of this year we experienced history when General Motors announced the Windsor Transmission Plant closure during negotiations. It was C.A.W. Leadership that rallied to ensure the members of Windsor received the very best agreement possible under these difficult circumstances.

Two weeks after negotiations were completed, General Motors announced the closure of the Oshawa Truck Plant. Once again, it was C.A.W. Leadership that took appropriate action. It was this action and C.A.W. Leadership’s tenacity and experience that led to a resolve that ensured the Oshawa members received the very best settlement under these extremely difficult set of circumstances.

Shortly after the announcement of the pending Oshawa Truck Plant closure, General Motors announced that it will remove almost 900,000 trucks and SUV’s out of its’ build schedule going forward. Your C.A.W. Leadership knew that this would put St. Catharines in an extremely difficult position as G.M. would now require 900,000 less 6 speed RWD (rear wheel drive) transmissions.

The company informed the union on August 1st that another module of the 6 speed rear wheel drive transmission would no longer be required. Knowing that we demanded a top level meeting on August 5, 2008 with G.M. officials to state our concerns and our expectations for our member’s working futures.

Your C.A.W. Leadership is involved in yet another top level meeting today in Toronto. The purpose of this meeting is to convince General Motors to award St. Catharines a 6 speed FWD (front wheel drive) transmission product. We believe that all Canadian vehicles that require a front wheel drive transmission should be built in St. Catharines. This would mean that we not only produce for Oshawa but we would also produce for CAMI . The potential growth of the 6 speed FWD transmission will create employment opportunities as almost every new vehicle G.M. produces will need this type of transmission.

Your C.A.W. Leadership is doing this in an effort to secure the working futures of all our members in St. Catharines, which include the 282 members currently working in Oshawa. We will continue our efforts to secure new investment until all our members are back working in St. Catharines where they belong and have a sense of security going forward.

We will issue an update of today’s meeting the week of September 1st.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, John Arntz,Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean
CAW Local 199

On July 16, 2008 President Wayne Gates and I went to Toronto to meet with our National Union and Divisional Labour Relations. The purpose of this meeting was to inform Divisional Labour Relations on the issues facing our members in the St Catharines facilities. We discussed the commitments that G.M. gave to your leadership and our members. On behalf of all of our members, we then informed General Motors of our positions. They are as follows:

1. General Motors has demonstrated their ability to meet supply and demand of vehicles by producing flexible vehicle assembly plants, such as the one in Oshawa. Your leadership will continue to try and convince General Motors that they need this same type of flexibility when producing Powertrain products, such as engines and transmissions within our facilities in St. Catharines.

2. Due to the fourteen month delay of implementing our C.O.A. and the reduction of both V8 and RWD products we believe GM should announce that St. Catharines will receive 6 speed Transmission Modules that will have the flexibility of producing transmissions for both the Zeta (RWD Platform) vehicles and the new Epsilon II (FWD Platform) vehicles that the Oshawa facilities will produce. This type of flexibility will allow St. Catharines to meet the ever changing market demands.

3. General Motors should bring all the V8 engine business they have remaining in North America to St. Catharines. Their decisions to award St. Catharines this business can be supported by our membership’s performance and our number one ranking in the most recent Harbor Report.

4. We want St. Catharines to be the Global Lead Plant (the first module for implementation) to have the ability to produce 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder and 8 cylinder engines off of the same assembly line. In order to have this ability we would require a new pedestal designed assembly line. We were informed that the new Generation V engine assembly will be a pedestal design. We now need G.M. to go forward with their commitment to bring this work to St. Catharines.

5. The Corporation must continue to provide adequate buyout strategies (Doc 12's and 13's) for the St Catharines facilities in an effort to maintain and reach full employment.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, John Arntz,Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean
CAW Local 199

Welcome back from a well deserved summer shutdown. While you were off, the situation in the auto industry has deteriorated even further. Some of the reasons behind this are as follows: obviously the price of oil, the credit crunch that's facing us all has hit manufacturing extremely hard, plus the public has lost faith in the top leadership of G.M. to turn the corporation around and put practices in place to survive this economic down turn is clear as GM shares continue to tumble.

General Motors informed the Union during the shutdown period that all new investment will be put on "pause" as they review their product portfolio. This is due to a shift in the U.S. and Canadian markets from big SUV's and trucks to the smaller crossover vehicles and cars. This means the Rear Wheel Drive Transmission program is also being reviewed. The head of Labour Relations in Canada informed both the National and Local Union that GM wants to keep its commitment to St Catharines.

Final Drive Area will see increased volumes to around 6,200. The Rad line will reduce one shift when Oshawa truck goes to one shift Sept 9/08. The forge shop will continue to adjust its upper control arm inventory levels through the rest of the summer and into the fall.

The HFV6 will continue to run at its present volumes as GM tries to determine their new product allocation and when they need more of these engines. The Agile areas will continue to run at its present volumes although our V8 cranks will be affected by V8 sales. The transfer gear stays at its present volumes. The Gen 4 could be affected with GM changing direction in what products are being produced for the North American market and we have daily discussions with management on the ever changing V8 market.

We now know that the Oshawa Flex Plant will build vehicles on both the ZETA (RWD) and Epsilon II (FWD) platforms. Although G.M. only committed to a RWD Transmission for our location, we are trying to convince G.M. to have our new transmission lines flex between front and rear wheel drive applications to meet both Oshawa’s demands as well as the global market demands. This can be accomplished with a modest investment over and above what was already committed to for St. Catharines. We also believe our members have worked extremely hard to make our plants amongst the very best in Powertrain. We need to convince G.M.’s strategy board members that GEN V can be a pedestal design that has the capabilities of producing 4, 6, and 8 cylinder engines to meet customer demands as we have seen how they can change dramatically in a very short period of time. We will continue to be creative and always look ahead to provide our members with a working future.

On June22/08 GM sent out a random audit to roughly 10,000 hourly members and retirees. IF you receive this audit YOU MUST complete the form and provide the requested documentation. Return the audit in the envelope provided BEFORE AUG 15/08. Failure to do so will result in the cancellation of health care benefits for your spouse SEPT 1st. For further information please contact Mark Roy or Rick Jones at 905-641-6444 or 905-684-9688.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, John Arntz,Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean
CAW Local 199

Ford set the pattern for 2008 bargaining. This means that G.M. is determining what Ford actually agreed to, concerning some of the pattern. Your Leadership has raised several questions to the Company and we have listed a few of them below, in order to obtain answers to our member’s concerns as soon as possible:

Q. What week is this $2,200 bonus going to be paid to our members?
A. The company stated they are going to pay the $2,200 bonus the week of June 2, 2008, however due to EI currently stating that the bonus will be allocated to the week of ratification, May 12th 2008. The National Union along with General Motors has agreed to withhold the monies of all members not at work that week. The week when the money will be paid will be communicated as soon as the allocation issue for those not at work is resolved.

Q. Can we use Fidelity for the $2,200 bonus and the $3,500 July 2009 payment?
A. The Company has stated that it would be physically impossible to set up the use of Fidelity for the $2,200 bonus as it is only a few weeks away. They are going to attempt to offer the use of Fidelity for the July 2009 payment of $3,500.00

Q. Can the $35,000 car voucher and the $2,600 vehicle discount be used together?
A. The Company has stated that this voucher and the $2,600 discount starts with the 2008 agreement on September 17, 2008 and they are determining how this voucher is to be applied.

Q. Can a couple that both work for G.M. coordinate their benefit and use two vouchers for one vehicle and is there any tax withheld on the voucher?
A. Once again the Company is getting all the details on this voucher.

I would like to thank the Shop Committee for the solidarity they showed the Plant Chairperson while bargaining under extreme pressure to achieve an agreement that satisfied 87.5% of our entire membership. This was the first set of negotiations that any local committee managed to resist any Company demands or changes to our local agreement and still make gains for our members.

Our President, Wayne Gates continued applying political pressure on the appropriate Government Officials to assist our Committee in securing future product allocation for St. Catharines. Our Committee also worked with Wayne at the bargaining table to give us the ability to help secure our C.A.W. Union Hall.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the in-plant Committee for a job well done while the Shop Committee was out of the plant bargaining our new agreement. A special thanks goes to Mike Murray for filling in as Chairperson in my absence. Membership should feel confident their leadership continues to demonstrate their experience and ability to take on and resolve the issues facing our members every day.

In the Plant At Ontario Street, all of the East Side will be down the week of June 2nd. The West Side will continue to operate as normal. There may be further weeks out of the Ontario Street operations during the weeks of August 11th and August 18th. The forge is contemplating shutting some of its operation down the weeks of June 16th and June 23rd as well as the two weeks of shutdown. At the Glendale location the HFV6 volumes remain constant for now. The Gen IV volumes also remain constant for now. Some of the Transfer Gear area will be down the week of June 2nd. Keep in mind that volumes are changing daily and things may change.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
Wayne Gates, President
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz,
CAW Local 199

Your leadership has several years of Big 3 negotiating experience; none of us have ever witnessed anything equal to this set of bargaining. G.M. told the union that the Ford pattern is too costly for General Motors. In fact, they stated it adds $1.59 per hour of cost to each G.M. worker. At the time of writing, G.M. has yet to agree to match the pattern set by Ford.

St Catharines and Oshawa have no commitment for any new work, or a commitment for any future products either. The only commitment G.M. has announced is to close the Windsor Plant, affecting 1400 workers, by July 2010.This will impact our operations.

The union has issued a deadline of 6 pm Wednesday, May 14th to General Motors to reach a tentative agreement. G.M. is trying to get cost savings from every Local in order to offset the alleged added cost due to the Ford pattern.

We want a commitment to our six speed RWD transmission and any possible future Powertrain investments.

We know that a lot can happen in the short time that remains. We are determined to get work for our members. If we reach a tentative agreement you will be asked to vote on its ratification on Friday, May 16th at 12:30 (location will be announced). We know that a long weekend is not the best time to decide your future. We selected Friday so that you could have the remainder of the 4 day weekend to spend with your friends and family - see you there.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
Wayne Gates, President
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz,
CAW Local 199

The Master Committees from Ford, General Motors and Chrysler met with the National Union on Friday to review the new Ford tentative agreement. The Union felt that after some early probing sessions with all of the Big Three companies early bargaining would be beneficial to all CAW workers at the Big 3. We all know that this will be the toughest round of major auto bargaining we have ever faced. The economic downturn in the U.S. coupled with record oil and gasoline prices, not to mention the high Canadian dollar leaves us in a very difficult position to secure a contract along with new work.

National Union President, Buzz Hargrove felt that Ford would be the optimal place to set the pattern so we could achieve the best agreement for the times in which we find ourselves.

Listed below are some highlights of the new pattern agreement:

Who's Next

On Monday May 5, 2008 the union will approach General Motors and Chrysler to determine if they are receptive to early bargaining to pattern the agreement ratified by 78% at Ford. We believe the Collective Operating Agreement (C.O.A.) that our Local Leadership negotiated in May 2007 and our Membership ratified in June 2007 will bring new investment to St. Catharines. This new investment will be a tremendous asset to our National Union in their efforts to reach an agreement with General Motors. We are ready to negotiate as soon as called upon.

Plant Issues

The union has been informed that Compass Cafeteria Service will be in a legal strike position on May 12, 2008 at 12:01 a.m.. The Teamsters union and Compass Cafeteria will be holding talks this week. Any picket line set up by the Teamsters Union should be considered as an information picket only, and you will be expected to be at work.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, John Arntz, Dave Dean, Ron McIntosh, Scott Little.

Reduced Volumes

General Motors has informed the Shop Committee that they will be reducing volume in their truck plant operations throughout North America. The truck plants that are affected as early as July are Janesville, Pontiac, and Flint. In Canada the Oshawa truck plant will remove the second shift of production on September 8, 2008. How will this affect the St Catharines operation? The second shift in the Rad line will be permanently removed and the forge shops GMT upper control arm will see a decrease in volumes. The actual volume reductions are not known at this time. The volumes in the Gen 4 area are still unknown but this area was hardest impacted when the Oshawa truck plant went from three to two shifts. Powertrain will decide the engine volume levels at each location and this will determine the impact for St. Catharines. The leadership will continue to keep the membership informed of any permanent or temporary changes once this decision has been made.

The National Union has been holding early discussions with all of the big three auto corporations and after these discussions they were able to reach some common ground with Ford on financial issues. Therefore, the two parties entered into formal bargaining and were able to reach an agreement in principle regarding wages, benefits and pension. The National Union has brought the Master and Local committees from Ford together this week hoping to get an early tentative agreement that will be months ahead of traditional bargaining. If Ford reaches a tentative agreement by Wednesday or Thursday of this week, the Chrysler and G.M. Master bargaining committees will be in Toronto to see the entire financial package on Friday.

Although there have been some details leaked to the media, we will inform our members when we return from hearing the real numbers and details of the entire economic package of Friday.

There are many issues happening in a rather short timeframe that will have a dramatic effect on our bargaining process. The Shop Committee will keep the membership informed as new developments occur.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Unit Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
Scott Little, John Arntz, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, Peter Barber, Gary Martin

Leadership Changes

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate John Hockey in his newly appointed National Coordinators position. John has served the membership in Zone 7 with diligence and respect. John will truly be missed by the shop committee. Replacing John will be Scott Little. Scott has been the Zone 7 alternate for the past 11months without complaint, and has acted as shop committee person whenever the need has risen. Scott has been involved with the day to day issues and is available for any of the off shift questions, and offers strong leadership for the Zone 7 membership.

6 speed information

The much anticipated 6 speed announcement has yet to be made, but the leadership isn’t sitting idly by waiting for something to happen. We have had meetings with both GM and the Government to keep this product in the forefront. On March 26, 2008 the President of the Local, both Vice-Chairpersons and the Plant Chairperson met with David Paterson, Vice President, GM Canada, and Plant Manager, Bill Kulhanek. We learned that General Motors Canada have presented an extensive 60 page submission to the Federal Government in December 2007. This document has linked our transmission to a new green project being developed with CREC in Oshawa. Paterson felt that this affiliation would be the best way to help secure the much needed funding from both the Federal and Provincial Governments due to the public’s concerns over environmental issues and to the impact of future products. On April 7, 2008 President Wayne Gates, Chairperson Terry White, and National Staff Rep. Peter Kennedy met with Federal Government representatives in Ottawa namely, Jean-Sébastien-Rioux and Evan Baker from the Industry Minister’s office, as well as Grace King, Director of Business Development. At this meeting, the Union supported the need for General Motors to receive government funding for the 6spd rear wheel drive transmission. Both Wayne Gates and Peter Kennedy spoke eloquently on the fact that a sense of urgency was needed to attain the funding for our transmission. The Plant Chairperson at this meeting spoke to the membership’s determination in supporting the Competitive Operating Plan in June of 2007 and that the only piece of the puzzle that we are aware of is the funding from both the feds and the provincial government. The Union left this meeting feeling that at least a commitment letter was needed to be put in place by the federal government to support the project. The sooner General Motors knows that this funding is in place, the sooner we anticipate an announcement can be made.

American Axle Strike

The American Axle strike has dragged on over six weeks with no sense of urgency by the Company to come to the table to resolve many of the Union’s issues. Even though the strike continues at American Axle, the Glendale site has been at one shift in the Gen4 assembly, and the rad line has been idled. We have now been informed by General Motors that they will start the Oshawa truck plant on April 21.08. This will return two shifts of production to the rad and the Gen4 will return all our laid off members not on voluntary departmental layoff the week after.

2008 Bargaining

As the Union prepares for 2008 bargaining, your demand sheets should be in your hands and being returned to the committee people or the work centres. This will be the worst set of bargaining that the St. Catharines work force has ever seen due to the high Canadian dollar, concessionary agreements in the UAW, long unwarranted strikes by suppliers while corporations make major profits, the working class is constantly under fire. Going forward, the membership needs to put faith in their leaderships’ ability to bargain successfully on their behalf, plus continue to work hard to bring their issues to the forefront without distraction.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Scott Little, Dave Dean, John Arntz

American Axle Strike

The American Axle strike which began Feb26/08, at this time has no apparent end in sight. The issue in contention is a company proposal to cut wages by half and reduce benefits through concessions. AA&M are stating that this is needed to remain competitive while at the same time posting a profit of almost 40 million dollars. The UAW has made agreements with other manufactures and AA&M want a "me too agreement" that they can't justify. We can only surmise that this is just the tip of the iceberg for the UAW after having set a dangerous precedent that will dominate many bargaining tables for years to come. GM is caught in the position of having only one supplier (AA&M) for a number of products but will now focus its attention to securing other suppliers for axle products. Currently at this time there are 29 General Motors factories idled, with 37,000 hourly employees impacted. In the St Catharines facility the Rad line is down and will remain that way until this temporary situation is resolved and the Gen 4 area will continue to operate at reduced volumes for the foreseeable future. GM is reporting that there is an ample supply of vehicles on dealer lots and it would take up to 90 days for the strike to affect the sales of trucks. The shop committee continues to monitor the situation day to day.

Shaw Review

Shaw was in the Ontario St. Facility on Mar 11, 2008 for a regularly scheduled review of the plants performance as well as meeting with the Chairperson and Vice Chairpersons. The Union again asked the question, "What the delay was in announcing the 6 speed RWD transmission". Shaw informed the Union that he was authorizing Powertrain funding for a topographical survey and core sampling for the Glendale site. This is certainly encouraging news but should also be received with some caution. A high level meeting with the Head of Divisional Labour Relations Canada and David Paterson, Vice President of Corporate and Environmental Affairs GM Canada along with the National Union is scheduled for the week of March 24, 2008 with regard to understanding why there has been such a delay in asking for the Federal funding portion for this project. This Union was made certain guarantees by both the Federal and Provincial governments to lend financial support to this product for our location; therefore, if there is an issue with the Federal government it needs to be resolved with urgency.

Demand Sheets

The Union demand sheets are being handed out along with this Chairperson report and additional sheets will be available in the work centers or from your committeepersons on the off shifts. You must have them back to your Union reps or the work centers by May 1, 2008 to allow the Shop committee ample time to review your concerns for the fast approaching 2008 collective bargaining.

12 Hour Shifts

Members and leadership at both sites in St. Catharines are concerned with people working extension of shift overtime while management reduces our jobs. We must all understand that it is to the company’s advantage to offer extension of shift overtime rather than adequate manpower to maintain daily volumes. Your leadership is strongly urging you not to work extension of shift overtime; the job you save may be your own.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz

Bill Shaw Visit

Bill Shaw was in the St Catharines facility on Jan 23/08. Bill toured the Glendale plant and was engaged by many members at this location. It didn’t take long for Bill Shaw to realize that there is one common question on all of the St Catharines membership’s minds, “where is the new RWD 6 speed transmission?”. Shaw states that GM continues to recognize that St.Catharines membership do all the right things; but reaffirms his statements that any new work is still in front of the North American Strategy Board. The Union reminded Bill that we were told there was a sense of urgency to put this agreement together back in May of 07. These continued delays only serve to play havoc with both the membership and the leadership. This announcement is still owed to the St Catharines plants.

Volumes and Weeks Out

The Shop Committee continues to review with the Plant manager production schedules for the month of February. The company continues to watch for any weeks out of the systems. The month of February looks stable, with some pockets of departmental layoffs.

Master Committee Meets

The Master Committee met in preparation for 2008 bargaining on Jan29/08. The intention of this meeting was to review previous demands. The Master Committee needs to put a strategy in place for the upcoming set of negotiations. Our Canadian bargaining starts right on the heels of the UAW monumental concessionary agreement. The Master Committee must have all its priorities in place to achieve the best agreement it can for membership.

Mobile Cart on Afternoons in Ontario St

The union has been able to negotiate mobile food cart service for the afternoon shift on a trial period for the Ontario Street site. This service will only continue if there are sufficient sales to support the operating costs associated to the cart.

The Times are as follows:

Afternoon Shift

5:40pm-5:50pm-Gilman room

5:55-6:10pm-front lobby

6:20-6:55pm-rad&strut

7:00pm-7:20pm-Die Shop

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, John Hockey, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz

Tonawanda Loses V-8 Engine Program
The 300 million dollar V-8 overhead cam engine investment that was allocated to the Tonawanda facility has been moth balled by GM. The auto giant continues to struggle with the escalating costs of gasoline which is predicted to reach $1.50 per liter in the not to distant future. This news was on the heels of a new U.S. energy bill (C.A.F.E.) that was signed into law on Dec 19/07 which aims to increase gasoline efficiency of cars and trucks by 40% to an over all average of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. This niche engine program was effectively the replacement for the North star engine primarily destined for a number of luxury Cadillac vehicles as well as having the ability to be produced for front and rear drive, depending upon which model it was slated for. This issue is not expected to have any negative impact on the St. Catharines operations.

Politicians tour Glendale Avenue
On Thursday January 10, 2008 local Federal and Provincial politicians toured the Glendale facility with GM Unit Chairperson Terry White, Local 199 President Wayne Gates and the St. Catharines Plant Manager Bill Kulhanek. A portion of the funding for the six speed rear wheel drive transmission is expected to come from all branches of government. The tour started in the Gen IV operation which was shut down and the members from that area on layoff. The point was made that with a continuing slide in market share and unfair trade practices this is an all too frequent situation. Hopefully these representatives from the government (some of which have never seen the inside of our plant) having now witnessed first hand the devastating effects these issues have on our members and community, will work toward solutions within government to help stabilize the auto industry in this country. Stops were also made at the Transfer Gear, High Feature V-6 assembly and Agile machining. At the conclusion of the tour the union highlighted the work ethic of our members and our ability to change with the uncertain times the membership finds itself in and the necessity for new core work to provide job security and sustainable income for our members and the community.

Renew your Transfers
Applications which are filed under paragraph (62) of the master agreement that have not been honored, will become null and void on the fourth (4th) Monday of January (week of Jan. 28/08). Paragraph (62) applications will be accepted one (1) calendar week (week of Jan. 21/08) prior to this termination date and will be considered valid the first (1st) Monday (week of Feb. 4/08) following the termination date.

Issued By:
Terry White, Chairperson & Wayne Gates, President CAW Local 199
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
Peter Barber, Gary Martin, John Arntz, Ron McIntosh, John Hockey, Dave Dean

Weeks Out
The Company informed the Union that every truck assembly plant in North America would be shut down the weeks of December 31, 2007 and January 7, 2008. This loss of vehicle production will cause our Gen IV and other V8 engine related areas of production to be shut down the week of January 7, 2008. It will also cause our Rad Line to be shut down the weeks of December 31, 2007 and January 7, 2008. With current truck sales certainly not where GM predicted them to be and the foreseeable future somewhat questionable, there is a strong possibility that additional weeks may be removed from our V8 build schedules in the first quarter of 2008. The Shop Committee will continue to work at reducing the impact to our membership and provide as much notice as possible of any further down weeks.

Community Cares Plant Gate Collection - Wed., Dec. 19th
Although the holiday season brings families closer together and joy for many, we must remember the less fortunate in our communities that have fallen on difficult times. Each year our Executive Board and our Shop Committee hold a plant gate collection Wednesday, December 19, 2007 to help those less fortunate than ourselves. Our members have always given very generously in the past and we are sure they will once again this year.

2007 In Review
We watched General Motors climb its way slowly out of the threat of bankruptcy. We witnessed several new vehicle designs receive awards and our HFV6 and Gen IV engines receive accolades as well. Our Leadership was given the challenging task of negotiating a competitive operating agreement to bring new transmission work to St. Catharines in an effort to secure the working futures of several hundreds of our members and their families. Our Membership demonstrated their faith in their Leadership by ratifying this agreement by over 90%. We then watched the U.A.W. negotiate a contract that introduced a VEBA plan to offset the cost of retiree's benefits and new hires wages were cut in half. Although G.M. may enjoy some of these cost cutting measures, it may be short lived as very few workers earning $14/hour can afford to purchase a G.M. vehicle. Most recently, we witnessed the loss of a shift of V8 assembly work which affected about 130 of our members. We are certainly in some very troubling and unstable times, especially in the auto sector. We hope 2008 brings our members more stability and more new investment. We remain positive that the hard work of our Membership and Leadership will be recognized by G.M. in the New Year.

We wish everyone a safe and healthy holiday season.

Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
Peter Barber, Gary Martin, John Arntz, Ron McIntosh, John Hockey, Dave Dean
Issued by: The Executive Board, Local 199, CAW

Volumes
Friday, November 16, 2007 the entire Shop Committee met with Plant Manager, Bill Kulhanek to discuss our volumes for the remainder of 2007. The Union was informed that there is a definite shift in direction from V8's to V6's. Even though the Company is in the process of reducing one shift of our V8 production the full size truck market continues to soften. The Company is having discussions on some possible weeks out of V8 engine production and which location or locations will be affected. Positive news to report is that our HFV6 will continue operating two shifts with some overtime on Saturdays. It was also reported that our Transfer Gear volumes will continue to stay at 1000 per day providing we can continue to produce these numbers from Monday thru Friday without overtime.

Ontario Street
4 speed transmission volumes will continue to run around 4470 per day, for the balance of this year. These volumes should not result in any additional weeks out for our members. Transmission volumes will return to approximately 5400 in January 2008. The output shaft will mirror our transmission volumes on the east side of the plant. The Forge Shop will continue to run at a steady pace. The Rad Line will run three shifts until the end of the year. Our members from IPC that are currently working in other departments will remain in those departments until December 10, 2007. They will then return to IPC.

Aramark
Aramark food services are in a legal strike position and will go to mediation with the Teamsters Union, November 21st or 22nd. Aramark has informed General Motors that after November 30, 2007 they will not provide cafeteria food services to either GM St. Catharines plants. Your Union has approached GM Management since the beginning of this saga and informed them that we expect the same level of food services to be provided to all of their members. General Motors must live up to our established food service practices. If the Teamsters and Aramark fail to settle this dispute, be prepared to have no food services after November 30, 2007.

It seems that every time GM Management and the C.A.W. come close to reaching a resolve to this issue Aramark and the Teamsters Union cannot come to an equitable solution to provide our members with long term, non subsidized food services. Your Bargaining Committee will continue to meet so that all parties can put an orderly resolve in place for our members.

Just a reminder - You will receive your $1700.00 Xmas Bonus on Thursday, December 6, 2007 pay stub. If you want to divert this money to a Fidelity RRSP there is a deadline of Wednesday, November 21, 2007.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, John Hockey, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz

2008 Buyouts ($93,300)
GM has informed Union leadership that they will attrite as many as 60 members from the production retirement list canvassed in October 2007; and up to 40 trades from the same list retiring January 1, 2008. These members will be asked to provide all necessary information for this January 1 event.

Transfers
Transfers will be accepted to fill the voids created by this attrition. The knowledge of these retiring members will be used to assist newly transferred members in their new jobs. Temporary manpower movement may be necessary to supplement the affected areas while members are waiting to be released from their current assignments.
The union has negotiated additional Paragraphs 62’s over and above the entitled number of transfers as identified under the local agreement for both the November and December 1 retirement events. Supplement #1 of the Local Agreement is clear “acceptance or refusal of any transfers will invalidate remaining transfers on file at that time”. Always resubmit transfers when you say Yes or NO to a 62. All members have four chances a year.

Departmental layoffs
The St. Catharines facilities may incur departmental seniority layoffs starting in December. The transmission area in Ontario Street and the West side output shaft could see a layoff in the same time frame. IPC members will be affected as we get more information. Each zone will have an updated report of current information regarding their areas.

Cast Iron Block
The Shop Committee in the Engine plant has been able to negotiate a partial third shift in Gen 4 Block, saving several jobs in this area. The committee continues to work through some minor issues looking for a positive resolve.

Thank You
The Bargaining Committee wishes a long, healthy retirement to all members who have retired in 2007. Your contribution during your career has helped our workforce become the best in General Motors.

Issued By:
Terry White, GM Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Peter Barber, Gary Martin, John Hockey, Ron McIntosh, Dave Dean, John Arntz

Gen 4 3rd Shift
As of 8:30am 0ct 9/07 the company has informed the union that the 3rd shift in the Gen 4 area will be removed effective Dec 1st /07. This has come as a direct result of the Oshawa truck plant removing their 3rd shift due to market issues and large numbers of trucks remaining unsold on the dealer lots. Considering that 70% of the Gen 4 engines produced at this location go directly to Oshawa and coupled with our very high Canadian Dollar, GM has decided that this location will be the one to have volume removed. There are a number of issues that have contributed to this situation that are beyond the control of this membership, primarily the Federal Governments inaction with regards to a Canadian auto policy as well as allowing our dollar to spiral uncontrollably upwards destroying the manufacturing industry in this country.

Job Security re: Production
The union has successfully negotiated with the company to exhaust the remainder of the 2007 Job Security retirement list as well as negotiating to canvass for a new enhanced retirement list for 2008 to be effective from January 1st 2008 until September 1st 2008. Due to CAW/GM bargaining scheduled for September /08 this list will only be valid until September 1st. Any surplus manpower that remains after exhausting the current list will allow opportunities for enhanced retirements from the new 2008 list with the timing to be determined by the company.

Skilled Trades
The company has provided information to the union in regards to the Skilled Trades and how they will be affected. The number of Skilled Trades affected will be approximately 30 with no breakdown between the trades available at the time of writing. When a breakdown of the actual numbers become available the information will be provided to those respective Skilled Trades via the Maintenance and Tool Trade shop reports. Any questions in relation to the timing and events of the Skilled Trades issues should be directed to your appropriated Skilled Trades Shop Committee.

Issued by:
Terry White, Chairperson
On behalf of the Shop Committee
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, John Hockey, John Arntz, Dave Dean, Ron McIntosh

UAW Strike
At the time of this writing the US, strike issues are beyond our control here in the Canadian operations. Ultimately this will affect every GM facility within Canada. The depth of disruption to our location is at best a tentative operating plan which will be determined by the length of the strike in the US.

Tentative operating plan
Ontario St.
Final drive and related operations are at this time scheduled to cease by the conclusion of the afternoon shift Thursday September 27/07 and remain down until further notice.
The Forge will continue at current volume until further notice.
The Rad line will continue at current volume until further notice.
The Output shaft is scheduled to cease operation by the conclusion of the afternoon shift Thursday September 27/07.

Glendale
The Gen 4 assembly area is scheduled to cease operation by the conclusion of the afternoon shift Thursday September 27/07 and return next week on day shift only until further notice.
The Gen 4 machining area for Friday September 28/07 is as of this time undetermined but will start the following week on 2 shifts and remain on 2 shifts until further notice
The HF V-6 assembly area is scheduled to cease operation at the conclusion of the afternoon shift on Thursday September 27/07 and return the following week on day shift only until further notice.
The HF V-6 machining area is scheduled to cease operation at the conclusion of the afternoon shift on Thursday September 27/07 and return the following week on 2 shifts and remain on 2 shifts until further notice.
The Agile area at this time will remain at their current production schedule until further notice.
The Transfer Gear area will cease operation at the conclusion of the afternoon shift on Thursday September 27/07 and remain down until further notice.

Service groups
The service groups will be populated to the appropriate levels with respect to the production schedules of each production area.

Skilled Trades
The skilled trades in WFG areas will be maintained at the current levels of employment to perform building maintenance work at both locations and construction will continue on the HFV6 mod 3 installation next week and will be reviewed day to day. The skilled trades in service areas at Ontario Street will be staffed to service the Forge and the Rad areas only. The Glendale location will staff their service trades to ensure the HFV6 ad Gen IV areas operating will continue to run next week. The Gear Areas will be down next week. Agile areas should run at their current schedules for cast iron blocks and crank areas and will staff accordingly.

Short Work Week
Any member who will not be at work on Friday September 28/07 due to this issue will receive the short work week benefit entitlement as well as any member who is not scheduled to work the week of October 1/07 due to this issue will also receive the short work week benefit entitlement.

IF THE STRIKE CONTINUES beyond October 8/07 or you haven't been notified to return to work by October 9/07 you must register for Sub & EI at the CAW Union Hall (124 Bunting Rd.) from 9am to 12 noon on October 9/07.

Issued by:
Terry White, Chairperson
Gary Martin, Peter Barber, John Hockey, John Arntz, Dave Dean, Ron McIntosh,

Buttermore Visit
John Buttermore was in both plants on Wed Aug 28-07 reviewing each locations performance and spoke openly with the union about all aspects of the business as well as the operating plans for the respective locations. The fact that our membership is engaged and understands not only the plants processes but the big picture issues facing the automotive industry as a whole is quite impressive and certainly recognized by the decision makers in Detroit. Our membership continues to demonstrate to every level of management that we understand the auto industries ever increasing barriers and we continue to build the best powertrains and drive trains in the corporation.

More Doc 13 Events Dec 1st.
The company has informed the Union that as many as thirty more doc 13 opportunities could take place on Dec1st 07 due to the remaining surplus within the St. Catharines operations. This number is over and above the 60 that are already scheduled to retire November 1, 2007. The union continues to monitor and review every opportunity possible for additional enhanced retirements.

Oshawa 3rd Shift Layoffs
The news that GM will remove the 3rd shift from their truck plant effective Jan1st 08 is not only devastating to Oshawa with 1180 lay-off notices in the hands of their members, but to their surrounding community as well with the spin off effect of job loss in the thousands. The direct effect of this news on the St. Catharines location in regards to the products we produce for Oshawa has not yet been determined, as soon as the dust settles and the impact is clear there will be more information provided.

New Product Announcement
As of this writing an announcement of the Rear Wheel Drive Transmission program for cars is under review by GM's North American Strategy Board. With global warming now becoming a prominent issue there is mounting pressure from the public for an increase in the U.S. C.A.F.E. (corporate average fuel economy) regulations. This could have a direct impact on GM's current and planned model mix and as a direct result many of the future product portfolios are currently under review until the results of any new legislation are known. There is currently a lobby group working with the government to find common ground to resolve this issue to the satisfaction of both the auto manufacturers and the environment.

Recent Toledo Rumor
Recently there has been an ill conceived article being circulated in our plants that misleads people to believe that the Toledo Ohio plant was awarded a 6 speed rear wheel drive transmission that was destined for St. Catharines. There is no truth to this article. Your leadership is disappointed that this type of material which misrepresents the facts was used to create unnecessary stress and anxiety within the membership. Like there isn't enough stress already. Your Union Leadership continues to work hard at securing a working future for you and will continue to issue up to date and truthful, informative information.

Gate Collection
On Friday September 7,07 there was a horrific fire affecting two subsidized apartment building at 82 Roehampton Ave in St Catharines There were approximately 36 families and two buildings affected with an estimated damage of almost 2.5 million. These people lost everything and several have no insurance. The Local Union Leadership on Friday, Sept. 14/07 will hold a plant gate collection to assist these very unfortunate families

Issued by:
Terry White, Chairperson Wayne Gates, President
Peter Barber, Gary Martin, John Arntz, Dave Dean, Ron McIntosh, John Hockey,
Bruce Allen, Malcolm Allen, Mark Roy, Larry Greenhalgh, Alex Latham, Julie Bartfai, Bob Chapman, Gary Bradnam

Bill Shaw Regularly Scheduled Visit.
Bill Shaw was in the St Catharines facility on August 24/07. Union leadership met with Bill and asked when the membership should expect an announcement on the 6 speed RWD transmission. Shaw's response at this meeting was that the next mod of the RWD transmission was still in the hands of the North American strategy board. Your union leadership reaffirmed with Bill that Powertrain must continue to invest in Canadian operations creating work for all members.

John Buttermore to Visit the St.Catharines Facilities
Vice President of Global Manufacturing Powertrain John Buttermore will be in the St. Catharines facility on Aug 29/07. The purpose of his tour will be to review the St Catharines Facilities performance since his last visit on May29/06. John will tour the shop floor with St Catharines Management. Please take time to talk to John and let him know our St Catharines story and how we can make any product successful.

Buy Out Opportunities ($93,300 doc13 event)
Your Union leadership continues to drive local management in an effort to make sure that the next 60 members that are on the 2007 retirement eligibility list have their appropriate paper work completed for their Nov 1st retirement date. As the year draws to a conclusion the union will continue to monitor product volumes and possible manpower surpluses that could be translated into additional retirement opportunities for the duration of this calendar year. (the 1st of Dec. which is the termination date for the current retirement list.)

Gen 4 Volumes
Currently; due to a large surplus of trucks and full-size SUV's sitting unsold on dealer lots, the Gen 4 engine line will be removing all previously scheduled overtime. GM plans to take as many as 40,000 trucks out of the build plan across all Powertrain plants that build Gen 4 products, and run only 40 hrs scheduled work weeks. Because of surplus on the lots; the reduction in the build plan may also include some weeks out of the system in an effort to adjust inventory. Your union will continue to meet with upper management weekly on the schedules. If management intends to take weeks out of the Gen 4 V8 production, the union will inform the membership of any changes. On the other side of the plant, HFV6 will be busy as the consumer trend currently is leaning towards the crossover vehicles with a V6, as opposed to the larger SUV's with V8 engines. Hopefully the demand will increase on the V8 side again. Gas prices are certainly going to be a major determining factor in this issue.

Issued by:
Terry White, Chairperson Peter Barber, V/Chairperson, Gary Martin, V/Chairperson
John Arntz, Dave Dean, Ron McIntosh, John Hockey

Special Enhanced Retirement Incentives
The Company has informed the Union that they will be canvassing for a fall event in the amount of $93,300.00. This event will take place October 1st or November 1st depending on how much time it takes the Company to process the necessary forms. The Company will be sending out letters to approximately 60 to 80 of our production members. The Skilled Trades that are on the 2007 retirement list will continue to go with $93,300.00 the month following the month in which they reach 30 years of credited service.

Bill Shaw's Visit
Your Negotiating Committee welcomed Bill Shaw back to St. Catharines during his visit on Tuesday, June 26, 2007. Bill congratulated our members on their overwhelming support for the memorandum of understanding to attract the new 6 speed rear wheel drive transmission. The high ratification percentages, will demonstrate to the decision makers of General Motors that St. Catharines is the right place to continue to invest in now, and in the future.

Our Members Decide Everyone's Working Future
We know that every G.M. location in North America is looking for new investment to try and avoid layoffs for their members, and build a future. We also knew that in order to secure this investment, we would need to make some significant changes in our work practices and the type of work we have grown accustomed to performing. St. Catharines would not even be in the running for this new investment if it was not for our highly skilled workforce, both production and skilled trades. During these trying times, your Leadership knew we had to negotiate a fair memorandum of understanding as it is not a new collective agreement. We also knew that the ultimate decision would be voted on by our membership. If they would have voted this agreement down G.M. would not come knocking on our door for any other new investment.
Well, we know the results and our message today is not to our members; It is directed to their Supervisors, General Supervisors, Superintendents, contract Supervision and contract Engineering. Without our hard working members decision to vote in favour of this new investment, many of you would be unemployed in the near future. Each and every one of you should have a new found respect for our members and start treating them with the respect and dignity they deserve.

The next time any member of management has the desire to exercise their authority in a negative manner, try offering our members assistance, education, instruction or encouragement instead!

Issued By:
Terry White, Chairperson, Peter Barber, V/Chairperson, Gary Martin, V/Chairperson
John Arntz, Dave Dean, John Hockey, Ron McIntosh

The Negotiating Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire membership for the overwhelming endorsement of the new Competitive Operating Agreement on Saturday June 23 2007.

The results of the vote are as follows:

Production 89% in favour of the agreement

Skilled Trades 91.3% in favour of the agreement

It certainly is refreshing to see the Union Hall at or near capacity for both the Production and Skilled Trades meetings. Your leadership thanks the membership for being involved and approving this agreement that will provide a sustainable working future for our junior members and providing the opportunity for our senior members to retire with a substantial incentive.

It was you the membership, which through their your hard work and dedication, over the last several years was instrumental in this opportunity being afforded to the St. Catharines operations, which will undoubtedly bring future opportunities. This new work for our location will also have a positive effect on our surrounding communities by providing numerous spin off jobs that are attached to every job within our plants.

It is important to note that although this agreement has been approved by the membership the agreement will not be implemented until the 6-speed transmission has been announced for the St. Catharines location.

We also want to thank the in plant committee for handling the zones in a responsible manner helping to diffuse the anxiety on the shop floor during the negotiating process.

On behalf of the entire Bargaining committee we would like to wish you a safe and enjoyable summer shutdown with your families.

We have spent numerous hours during the past four weeks negotiating with General Motors to bring new investment to St. Catharines, in an effort to secure the working futures of all our members.

At the time of writing this leaflet, we are pleased to inform our members that we are extremely close to reaching an agreement. We are confident that by Friday, June 22, 2007 we will be able to meet with the in-plant committee to review the details of this new agreement.

We have arranged for two meetings on Saturday, June 23, 2007 at the C.A.W. Hall on 124 Bunting Road to review all the details of this agreement with all of our members. Each member will be given a package containing items agreed to between the parties. Your leadership will go through the details, explain any changes, and then there will be a question and answer period followed by your vote.

Production members will meet at 10:00 a.m. and Skilled Trades will meet at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 23, 2007. We encourage all of our members to attend this important meeting.

We knew going into these negotiations that due to the announced West Side closure and our four speed transmission product’s life cycle coming to an end, our Ontario Street location would wind down by 2011. We also were made aware that our other engine products would also be ending around the same time, if not renegotiated. This meant that without significant investment our member’s job security would be in jeopardy.

We believe this agreement will secure the working futures of our members and if accepted by our members will position our location to achieve future investment.

As your Plant Chairperson, I would like to thank the in-plant committee reps. for their great job in providing representation for all our members. I would also like to extend a special thanks to Ron Allen who filled in as Plant Chairperson and did an excellent job dealing with several issues. Their leadership allowed our negotiating committee to remain focused on the task at hand, which was to reach an agreement that would help secure the future of the St. Catharine’s operations.

Issued by,

Terry White, Chairperson GM Unit
CAW Local 199

Transmission Volumes
Windsor transmission volumes will take a permanent reduction after the shut down period, our scheduled volumes will drop off the week of June 18/07 to2800 a day effecting 40 to 50 production jobs. The Warren volumes are holding at 2700/day but the company feels that this volume is slightly inflated. The union will keep a close watch on these volumes. The rest of Ontario St. will see some departmental layoffs until the week before shut down.

Engine plant Volumes
HF-V6 volumes look like they might become stabile until shutdown and there is a possibility of another week out sometime towards the end of May. The Gen 4 volumes are stable with the chance of some possible additional volume although authorization from Powertrain is still pending.

Maintenance Trades Agreement
Now that all skilled trade workers in St. Catharines are fully employed, the parties have agreed that maintenance trades and tool trades can now perform incidental work during a breakdown or imminent breakdown situation. The parties also clarified that incidental work can be performed on a breakdown or imminent breakdown situation on overtime, but only if the line is running scheduled production. Incidental work can only be performed in these circumstances and only when the correct trade classification is not available. This type of flexibility is designed to produce more uptime of production equipment and in turn increase efficiency in an effort to assist in bringing back our Production Sisters and Brothers. The Union leadership needs to be creative in finding ways to promote more products in an effort to secure everyone’s future and we believe this is a step in the right direction to achieve that goal.

Future RWD Product Programs
Bob Lutz of General Motors has been quoted lately that GM is reconsidering their plans to offer a wide range of rear wheel drive cars for the North American market. The Bush administration has called for higher corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) and there is a lot of uncertainty over carbon dioxide regulations, for these reasons Lutz has said that RWD cars are on hold until the U.S. government decides on CAFÉ regulations and CO2 levels. John Smith Vice President of GM global product planning continues to say at this time their will be no changes to product allocation meaning no change to the Camaro project (Zeta). The Camaro should be on track for the early part of 2009 just in time for the auto shows as they are already committed to bring that product to the market as well as the Pontiac G8, anything after that is questionable. The unfortunate side effect of governments and politicians on both sides of the border trying to out green everybody with unrealistic goals is that our manufacturing jobs will suffer if there isn’t a realistic and balanced approach to environmental issues.

Extension of shift overtime
The elimination of extension or 12 hour shifts will not happen unless the entire membership says no to working this overtime. When management doesn’t properly cover long-term S&A, spa, or vacation and their only plan to address these issues is 12 hour shifts, then the membership must say no. This will allow your Union leadership the ability to argue for the proper manpower levels in each area. Continual acceptance of 12 hour shifts allows the company to under populate some areas of each plant which further enables the company to reduce manpower which in the end affects us all.

Issued by:
Terry White, Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
John Arntz, Peter Barber, Dave Dean, John Hockey, Gary Martin, Ron McIntosh

Maintenance Trades Reach Full Employment
After numerous meetings the Union was successful in convincing the Company to agree to recall all of the remaining laid off Maintenance Skilled Trades. 5 Dyno Mechanics, 16 Millwrights and 9 Welders will be recalled no later than May 10, 2007. By achieving stability of employment for the Maintenance Trades we were able to find common ground in the area of trades flexibility. Details will be in the next Maintenance Skilled Trades Update leaflet this week.

Vice Chairpersons Election
A compromise has been reached on the position of Vice Chairperson, thereby avoiding the need for a costly election that had the potential to split the Shop Committee. Both the Tool Trades and Maintenance Trades will now have equal representation in the position of Vice Chairperson for the duration of the next term. This understanding is an attempt to seek common ground through a more balanced demographic and recognition that there is value in all views and experience levels. The leadership believes this is a good formula for everybody.

Reduced Volumes
The plant manager has informed the shop committee that additional weeks may be taken out of the Ontario Street plant due to reduction in the Windsor and Warren four speed transmissions volumes. The strut line on the west side of Ontario Street may also be affected with more weeks out of the system due to reduced volume for that product as well. The Glendale facility had been appearing to be some what more stable until this point where the union has now learned that the Lansing Grande River plant is still launching slow and to add insult to the slow launch this product is not selling nearly as well as expected. This in turn could cause some time out of the HFV6 area also.

Production Buyouts
The company continues to state that they need to develop a summer vacation plan so there is sufficient manpower to cover the prime time vacation weeks. This plan will take most of the surplus manpower that is currently within both facilities to enable as many employees as possible to enjoy the vacation time that is entitled to under the collective agreement. This will more then likely mean that any opportunity for a buy out before the fall is unlikely in production but your committee will continue to work diligently towards resolving this issue.

Market Share
On Thursday March 4th/07 GM released their four Quarter financial results for the year 2006. GM said that they had shown some growth through the last quarter of /06 but overall had still lost over $2 billion last year which makes consecutive years of multi-billion dollar losses. Furthering this dilemma GM’s combined market share has dropped from almost 26% in 2005 to 24.1% by the end of 2006, this coupled with a volatile U.S. housing market and the continued instability with rising gas prices analysts are predicting a slow year in vehicle sales. With industry conditions tougher than ever for The Big 3 and the UAW-GM bargaining fast approaching there will definitely be a focus on more plant closings with thousands of more U.S. based jobs lost making it ever increasingly difficult to secure new core work for our location. In respect to that your committee will continue to relentlessly pursue work to sustain this location thereby providing all our members an opportunity to retire in the future.

Issued by: Terry White, Plant Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee:
John Hockey, Gary Martin, Peter Barber, Brian Bonnar, Terry Kuchar, John Arntz

Powertrain Review
Powertrain manufacturing manager Bill Shaw was in the St Catharines facilities on Jan 18/07. This was one of many visits Shaw will make to this location during 2007. During his visit, there was a review of this locations start up plan following the Christmas holidays; Shaw was impressed with the plants start up after the conclusion of the holiday shut down period and how well it was executed by our members.

While in St. Catharines he met with both the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson to have discussion concerning volumes for the high feature V-6 in relation to the time line to reach total production. Shaw’s response was that the Delta Lansing plant that we supply was launching at a slower pace than originally anticipated and that the corporation would be monitoring the progress in Lansing. The difficulties being encountered in Lansing are having an effect here and dictating that we will possibly be remaining on two shifts for longer than originally anticipated. Overall there seems to be a very positive view of the St. Catharines facilities and the abilities of our members that work in them.

Possible Inventory Adjustments
V8 and Rad volumes continue to remain stable, while in the transmission there are approximately 45-thousand 4T40/45 transmission assemblies over and above the corporate requirements at this time, which may result in some time out to allow inventory adjustment. The 4T60/65 Warren volume may also be temporarily impacted due to the Oshawa car assembly plants contemplating taking some time out of their production schedules.

Election and Innuendo Time
Bargaining committee elections will take place the week of March 5, 2007. The entire committee has worked extremely hard over the past three years to ensure decisions that your leadership has made were in the best interests of the membership at heart. Elections are the membership’s time to judge their leadership; unfortunately it is also an opportunity for a few to try to tear down the unity built by using negatives and innuendo to have their voice heard once every three years. We ask the membership to consider candidates that have raised issues to your leadership during the past three years and not just at election time. All serious candidates running should be aware that once the election is completed, should they be successful, that they will have to develop a working relationship with the committee to properly serve our entire membership. Our success has come from acting as ONE.

Plant Gate Collection
As your Chairperson and on behalf of the Bargaining committee we would like to take this opportunity to thank the membership for their overwhelming support at the recent plant gate collection for the workers on strike from First Ontario Credit Union, $7500.00 was raised.

Issued by: Terry White, Chairperson
Gary Martin, Vice Chairperson
On behalf of the Bargaining Committee
John Arntz, Peter Barber, Brian Bonnar, John Hockey, Terry Kuchar

POWERTRAIN MEETING

On December 13, 2006 there was a meeting at the GM Powertrain headquarters in Pontiac, Michigan with John Buttermore (the head of Powertrain,) the Union, Bill Shaw and Plant Manager Bill Kulhanek. This meeting was one of great importance to this membership for a number of reasons.

The union along with the plant manager had the opportunity to meet one on one with John Buttermore (the Head of Powertrain.) This opportunity gave both the union and the plant manager the ability to show St. Catharines can meet and surpass any criteria that Detroit demanded from us. The ability of the union to have vision, and the perception of what it takes to succeed in the quest for long-term sustainable core work, as well as understanding the Plant Manager’s turn-around plan, was viewed by the Head of Powertrain as a positive attribute of the St. Catharine’s location.

While in Pontiac, Michigan, the union leadership met with Bill Shaw and Ken Dosenbach, Powertrain managers of both Engines & Transmissions respectively. With all that being said the union left the Powertrain headquarters with a definite positive impression that, with the support of the membership, we will be able to continue to move forward towards our collective goal.

The Union Leadership, from the top down, need to continue to support only initiatives that truly produce results to protect and promote our reputation to the decision makers of GM. The ability of this membership to give our location the chance to save over 1.8 million in the last ten months is a tremendous asset that is without a doubt, recognized from the top of the GM house. This membership has continued to give the leadership the right to go to Powertrain in Pontiac and confidently state the gains this membership have made as one of the reasons why additional volumes, additional core work be allocated in St. Catharines. New Powertrain products need to come to a plant that has laid the roadmap over the last decade through vision, productivity, and the ability to be a profitable location to invest in with a predictable return.

TRANSFERS

In accordance with Supplement No. 1 of the Local Seniority Agreement, all applications for transfer made in accordance with Paragraph 62 of the Master Agreement will become null and void on January 22, 2007.

Paragraph 62 applications for 2007 will be accepted commencing January 15, 2007 and will be considered valid January 29, 2007.

Employees will be permitted to have a maximum of four (4) valid requests for transfer on file at any one time. Should a subsequent application be filed, only the latest dated application will be considered valid.

December 18th week
The HF-V6, V8 East and V8 West will take the week of December 18th out of their schedules. Due to our good performance our location has the least downtime in the aforementioned products; other locations are being closed for two and three weeks. In the Ontario St. location the Transmission division will not run any 4T65 Warren final drive products which has resulted in a reduced schedule throughout this area. This reduction will impact members throughout the transmission division the same week.

COLA
The cost of living allowance will decrease by 9 cents per hour due to the average cost of living index being lowered during the last quarter of 2006.

Next Retirement Date
The next Enhanced Doc 13 retirement date will be March 1st 2007. This event will encompass 30 production workers, one (1) millwright, one (1) dyno mechanic, one (1) electrician. All will receive $93,300.

Auto Insurance Payout
The Union has had the company generate a list of St. Catharines members that still have not yet received the $1000.00 insurance payout. The company has informed the Union that this issue should be resolved shortly, if you are owed this payout and have not received it by the new year please contact your union rep. so this matter can be brought to conclusion.

Christmas Pay Eligibility
Basic Qualifying Provisions: The employee must have worked both the employee’s last scheduled workday prior to, and first scheduled workday after each specified holiday and each Christmas Holiday Period, and on such days the employee must work at least as many hours as the employee is scheduled to work, less one, unless the employee’s tardiness beyond one hour is excused by supervision.
The last scheduled workday is December 22, 2006, unless on temporary layoff status. The next scheduled workday after the Christmas Holiday is January 2, 2007. Failure to work either the employee’s last scheduled workday prior to or the next scheduled workday after each Christmas Holiday Period will disqualify the employee for the two holidays in the Christmas Holiday Period, which follow or precede such scheduled workday.
When a specified holiday falls within an eligible employee’s approved vacation period or during a period in which the employee receives jury duty pay pursuant to Paragraph 164 (a) of the Master Agreement, and the employee is absent from work during the employee’s regularly scheduled work week because of such vacation or jury duty, the employee shall be paid for such holiday.
When an eligible employee is on an approved leave of absence and returns to work following the holiday but during the week in which the holiday falls, the employee shall be eligible for pay for that holiday.

Bill Shaw’s Visit:

Bill was impressed with the progress our members had achieved since his last visit. The Company had set some very tough goals to achieve the last time Bill Shaw and John Buttermore visited our location. The toughest goal was to turn our red ink into black ink by the end of the year. If the Gen III and the Forge continue producing at our current pace we will be able to show John Buttermore on December 13, 2006 that we did turn a profit in 2006 and that we are on track to once again be the best of the best.

Work Practice Issues

The Company has issued a directive to Skilled Trades managers throughout the city, to have Skilled Trades perform each others work, providing it can be performed safely. Plant Chairperson, Terry White and Vice Chairperson, Gary Martin informed Labour Relations that the Company is implementing work practices that do not exist and have not been agreed to between the parties. However, as a union we need to recognize that moving forward we are going to discuss incidental tasks and flexibility as a way of expediting repairs, especially if we are to make ourselves attractive for new work in the future. The Company knows that stability and full employment will trigger these types of discussions.

Attendance Policy

The Company introduced an attendance policy several years ago, at the Glendale location. Your Union did not negotiate this policy. The Chairperson and the Shop Committee at that time agreed in principle that our members who are sick or require time off could use their negotiated contractual time to excuse these absences. Since the attendance policy was introduced at our Glendale location the Company has implemented further restrictive measures that will negatively impact our members at all of our locations. Your Shop Committee is currently involved in meetings in an effort to correct these unfair work practices contained within the Company’s attendance policy.

Membership List
The Plant Chairperson and the Vice Chairperson investigated the possibility of our membership’s seniority list being used by one of our local GM Dealerships. These letters were addressed using a marketing database. These lists have been available for several years. Normally sales people use these databases to solicit your business by calling you on the phone. In this case the dealership decided to make it more personal by sending you hand-addressed letters. We are now at this time, certain that this local dealership is not in possession of a GM seniority list and if any contradictory information surfaces in the future, the membership will be advised.

Important dates to remember:
Members who are on the active role as of December 3, 2006 will receive their Special Payment of $1700.00 on their pay stub the week of December 4th. December 6, 2006 at 11:00 a.m. a moment of silence will be observed in our plants in memory of women who have died due to acts of violence. December 7th will be our annual Community Service gate collection.

Reminder
The Local 199 Children’s Christmas party will be held at the Local Union Hall on December 10th at 10am for the Ontario St. members and 1pm for the Glendale site members.

The week of October 9/2006 management informed the union that there would be a surplus of manpower for Jan 1st/07 and that they will be going to the new retirement list just negotiated. The company informed the union that 40 production retirement incentives will be offered for January 1/2007.

There will also be the following retirement incentives offered for the trades for January 1/2007.

1 Carpenter
3 Cutter Grinders
1 Dyno Mechanic
4 Electricians
3 Machine Repair
4 Millwrights
1 Pipefitter
2 Sheet Metal
2 Truck Mechanics
3 Welders
3 Toolmakers

Canvassed members will receive letters over the next week which will state if they are able to retire with a $93,300 incentive or not. Some will receive letters that will state they are not able to retire on January 1/2007. Those that have received a refusal letter will still remain on the list for the duration of the retirement window from January to December 1/2007 and as surpluses become available will be able to retire in seniority order.

For those that have bought or leased a new GM North American vehicle and have received the $2,000 negotiated discount, the $1000 insurance discount will be paid out in your regular pay as early as November. The $1000 is a taxable benefit and the net amount should be in the neighborhood of $700. All active members will receive a letter containing the details and explanations in regards to the new collective car insurance program, this letter should be arriving approximately near the end of October. Interested members can also go to www.cawinsurance.com for information or an online quote. Also available is a call center that can be reached at 1-877-229-4677.

The shop committee thanks all General Motors employees for their generous donations collected on October 5/2006. The total amount collected was $11,300.00 .
THANK YOU

The retirement seminar held on September 25th was well attended. The information provided to our members during this meeting will hopefully help them in making this very important and personal decision. The Company has not been able to identify a definite number of retirements that will be allocated in the 2007 calendar year. As soon as this information becomes available, the Shop Committee will notify all our members.

During the first week of August the Union submitted a policy grievance to the Company for failing to have discussions under Appendix “R” concerning the purchase and rework of some racks. The Union also raised two other issues surrounding Millwrights and Welders, further the Union sighted the project was in need of additional Millwrights. The Union also knew something had to be done for our four (4) most senior Welders that have been on layoff for over three years. These Welders would run out of IMP monies and benefits by November 2006. The Plant Chairperson, Terry White and the Vice Chairperson, Gary Martin held ongoing meetings with Labour Relations staff members, the Director of Engineering and Superintendents in an effort to reach a resolve to these issues.

Despite the issues listed above, and the fact that St. Catharines has a current surplus of Welders and we are in the midst of canvassing for retirements, the Union was successful in negotiating the recall of five (5) Millwrights and four (4) Welders to resolve these issues. The Company is making an effort to recall these trades by October 10, 2006.

The Company informed the Union that we have a surplus of Welders throughout the calendar year of 2006 and 2007. In an effort to try and avoid any permanent layoffs for these trades there was a need to find a way to sustain them within WFG’s budget. The parties reached an agreement to create an up to (8) person “Project Crew” to perform construction related activities within the departments of SKOOA and SKOOM. The composition of this “Project Crew” will be identified and adjusted based on job assignment(s) and traditional skill set(s) required. The classifications that may be required for the Project Crew are: Millwright, Welder, Sheetmetal and Pipefitter. These trades will work to the level of their ability without regard to traditional lines of demarcation, provided the work can be performed safely. This “Project Crew” will work as a separate entity on isolated projects within either plant. The Company will make every effort to restrict their work to five days per week and their overtime will lie in their respective departments. The Company will be canvassing for volunteers from departments SKOOA and SKOOM. In the event that senior employees decline this opportunity, the most junior employees within the identified classifications will be assigned to the “Project Crew”. The “Project Crew” will start January 2, 2007.

In an effort to maintain and more effectively utilize our service Welders, they will be allowed to perform incidental tasks to assist other maintenance trade classifications that have no one on indefinite layoff. This arrangement will take affect upon the recall of the nine (9) maintenance trades.

We will need to continue to find creative ways to employ all our trades going forward. We all know the Company has a template to attrite construction and building maintenance activities in any location that wants new investment. If St. Catharines is fortunate enough to be offered an opportunity for new investment, the Company will certainly negotiate using the Powertrain template. This type of “Project Crew”, (if successful) maybe one of the methods we could use to maintain a number of our steady dayshift construction and building maintenance jobs in the future.

The Union has always told the Company that stability brings flexibility. This agreement was reviewed and supported by the entire Shop Committee, and we ask for your support on this issue and please welcome these trades back that have been on layoff since September 28, 2003.

The Company has informed the union that they will be exhausting the remainder of the negotiated 2006 Doc 13 list due to a surplus of manpower during the remaining months of this year. There will be a new enhanced Doc 13 canvass for the 2007 calendar year as a result of anticipated surpluses in Production and the Skilled Trades occurring throughout 2007. The company will initiate a canvass during September of this year of employees who become eligible to retire within 2007 or are currently eligible to retire at this time. Any employee who is already eligible or will become eligible during 2007 and wishes to retire under the provisions of the enhanced Doc 13 is encouraged to make their intentions known. Once the list is complete all enhanced Doc 13 retirements will be as a result of employees contained within this list only and in seniority order. Retirements for this canvass will fall within a window between January 1, 2007 and December 1, 2007 as determined by management taking into consideration skill set and cross training requirements.

There will be a 28 cent per hour C.O.L.A. increase effective September 4, 2006. This will be followed by our negotiated increase in your base rate of 30 cents per hour effective September 18, 2006.

The Union has established a seminar date of September 25, 2006 at 7 p.m. at the CAW Hall on Bunting Rd. for any members that are thinking of retiring. This is a great opportunity to ask all the financial and other questions you may have to assist you in making your decision to retire. You are encouraged to bring your spouse or partner.

The car insurance program negotiated in 2005 bargaining will be set up within the next few months. This insurance provides a $1000.00 discount for any vehicle purchased under the $2000.00 discount plan that was also negotiated in 2005 bargaining. We will be getting more details this week at our GM/CAW Council meetings and issue an update to you as soon as possible.

General Motors announced they have begun to turn the corner during the second quarter of 2006 in their North America operations. GM’s record revenue of 54.4 billion in the second quarter of 2006 has come at a cost though. The sale of 51% of GMAC and the cutting of structural costs along with attrition plans (the selling of union jobs in the way of retirement incentives) is something that we have all witnessed. The next immediate challenge facing GM is the ever-rising market share by Toyota. Five years ago, GM outsold Toyota by over 2.5 million vehicles, whereas at this time, GM is only expected to out sell Toyota by 100,000 this year and in 2007 be surpassed by Toyota out selling GM by 200,000. The threat of Toyota becoming the number one auto manufacturer in the world is real and certainly places our livelihoods in jeopardy as this will result in GM having to continually restructure to reflect their market share.

Our politicians need to heed the concerns of Union leaders in this country and develop policies that allow a level playing field as well as pressure the countries that have barriers in place such as Japan that prevent our products from equal access to their markets.

The mass departure of UAW Delphi members to retirement, or a one time buyout, is truly a sign of how terrified these working people are of the unknowns of what Delphi will represent when they emerge from the restructuring currently taking place.

Delphi’s plan is to buy out the high paying jobs so it can reinvent itself with a newer younger workforce with a lower tier of wages in an effort to become more competitive in the global market. This being the case of elimination of these higher paying jobs will ultimately mean the loss of people to buy our North American made products which in turn will have a trickle down effect on the North American economy in general.

General Motors is currently reviewing what auto analysts are saying could be one of the largest alliances in the automotive world. The possible alliance would be based on the principle of utilizing a common supplier chain to lower costs as well as Nissan having the ability to assemble their products in GM plants that are underutilized. The underlying theme to this alliance seems to center on Billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s desire to oust Rick Wagoner and replace him with Nissan/Renault boss Carlos Ghosen and speculating this move would reap major return on his 9.9% stock holdings. The leadership view on this issue is that if this alliance matures and Ghosen ultimately replaces Wagoner, we will see restructuring like never before. Ghosen’s reputation is one of an anti-union extremist earning him the nickname “The Destroyer”.

The membership in gen3 has continued to prove that when presented with a challenge they will overcome all obstacles put in their way. This has been proven by this division displaying excellent production counts over the past two months, which can only strengthen St. Catharines opportunities for new product allocation in the future.

With a strong Canadian dollar, it is imperative that we all continue to meet our targets, as even with this obstacle, we believe that we have a workforce capable of meeting any of these daily production needs, whether they are in numbers, quality or responsiveness.

June 29, 2006 John Buttermore Vice President and General Manager of Powertrain, met with both your Chairperson and Vice Chairperson. Bill Shaw and Plant Manager Bill Kulhanek along with the Head of Labour Relations, Claude Denoncourt was also present. Buttermore commented on the remarkable transformation that’s occurred outside of the old foundry and Gen 1 E area.

Buttermore also spoke about how General Motors has made considerable investment in the Glendale Plant being HFV6 and the Gen 3. Since the volume reduction in the Gen 3; he thought that St. Catharines had struggled with hitting its attainment and that St Catharines is the only plant of the 23 Powertrain facilities in North America to still be in the ‘red’. Buttermore reminded local management that they need to look at all forms of waste, not just at headcount and that just purely reducing headcount in all areas is not the answer to becoming efficient.

Buttermore felt assured that the Union and its Membership were fully engaged in the day to day processes in the plant and he was fully aware of the sacrifices the Membership has made since April 19, 2006. Since those changes, the Gen 3 continues to improve and do exactly what we have done in the past, which is to show management there isn’t any challenge too overwhelming.

The Shop committee will continue to showcase this Memberships skills and abilities to the top GM decision makers in anticipation of new core work announcements in the August/September time frame. The strong work ethic and desire of this membership to be number 1 at whatever products we produce make this location the right choice for new core products in the opinion of this Union.

With the elections over, and now behind us the Shop Committee would like to welcome every one back from hopefully a relaxing and enjoyable summer shut-down, there is still plenty of good weather ahead of us to enjoy as well as our upcoming Local 199 picnic, Saturday Aug 12/06 that we hope everyone can attend. It will be held at Fantasy Island, tickets are $18.00 Canadian and can be picked up at the Union Hall.

GM has announced that they will remove one million vehicles out of production, which also removes one million powertrains out of production. Therefore the threat of losing more volume in the products we produce in St. Catharines is a very real threat. Although St. Catharine’s quality is second to none, our costs are not in line with other locations that make the same products. GM in an effort to expedite their turnaround plan have told all plants to be within budget by the end of June rather than the end of December for 2006. This is going to be an extremely difficult task for any location to accomplish. Even with the changes being implemented, especially in our assembly areas, our location will need assistance in achieving substantial cost savings in order to make their budget by June. GM approached the Union with a number of issues that they felt would substantially reduce their costs. The Union certainly had some tough decisions to make; were we going to be part of the solution as well as lessen the impact to the Membership? Or, allow GM to implement their plan, which would have created a much greater impact to our Membership and force the Union into a reactive position. After several meetings the Shop Committee is unanimous in implementing the following four changes:

1) The non-contractual relief breaks for all assembly areas in both locations will become consistent. Currently the HFV6 and the Gilman Assembly areas receive (two) ten minute non-contractual relief breaks and the Gen III Assembly and Rad Line Assembly receive more than this. Therefore, the Gen III Assembly and the Rad Line Assembly areas will now receive (two) ten minute non-contractual relief breaks, instead of what they currently receive.

2) The Union raised concern with the lack of manpower and the Union Awareness deficiencies in the Gen III Assembly area. The Company has agreed to allow additional manpower to address these training issues. However, they did raise an issue that this could create situations were we could have surplus people. We have agreed to allow the Company to send some additional people to Union Awareness to help offset these additional costs. We have agreed that the start time for Union Awareness will be changed to 7:30 a.m. instead of 7:00 a.m. This will allow Supervision 20 minutes from the start of shift to inform these extra people (if there are any) that they are required to attend Union Awareness. This allows our members 40 minutes to get to class. If this concept is successful, we can address other areas of concern.

3) There will be a new division set up to perform re-pack work. Although we do not own re-pack work, the Company has agreed to allow any 65 placement worker, who is not currently on a routed job to flow to this new division. This creates value added work for our restricted workers, as they will sort everything other than a third party sort. This should also assist in the placement of our restricted members.

4) The Company will exit the Wheelabrator work we currently perform at our Ontario Street location. This will directly impact 6 production members and 2 skilled trades members. The production impact will be handled through retirements and the skilled trades impact will trigger retirements in July 2006 instead of October 2006. The Company also issued 8 documents 12’s for this event. The above represents significant change and significant cost savings. We believe these costs savings will demonstrate to the GM decision makers that St. Catharine’s is the right place to do business. We all need to be part of a workable solution in order to continue to attract new work. We need our members to understand that these changes are necessary if we are to maintain our current volumes and at the same time, try to attract new investment in St. Catharines. Our members work very hard and they understand how important it is in all areas to reach attainment. We have the quality and now we have some additional run-time to help reach the attainment. Let’s work together and watch these changes bring about more positive changes for St. Catharines.

The Company has agreed to let the remainder of the 167 Production members who applied for the $93,300.00 buyout, the opportunity to retire July 1, 2006. There will be some members that will be required to stay a few months longer in order to acquire enough pension credits to reach their thirty years.

Due to a surplus of employees in the Gen 3 and Final Drive Transmission brought about by reduced volumes, the Shop Committee was successful in negotiating 90 additional opportunities to retire. Members that are on the current list of 302 will be able to retire between October 1, 2006 and December 1, 2006 with an enhanced Document 13 incentive of $93,300.00. Any member currently on the list that declines their offer of retirement will forfeit their opportunity for an enhanced document 13 for the life of the current collective agreement.

In response to enquiries from a few of our members with respect to a re-canvass, the answer is clear. Every member who would be eligible to retire by December 1, 2006 had the opportunity to be included on the current list. Your Shop Committee has always maintained that if we were able to increase the number of retirees above the negotiated 167, any member on the current list from the 2005 canvass will be able to retire prior to a re-canvass.

The Shop Committee believes there will continue to be a surplus of manpower due to reducing volumes of transmission work at the Ontario St. location in 2007 and 2008. With this in mind, your Shop Committee will continue to meet with Labour Relations and the Plant Manager to discuss dealing with the resulting surplus of manpower through attrition via enhanced retirement incentives.

We are pleased to report that we have been successful in having the Company agree to provide at least 130 Document 12’s due to GM’s continued restructuring. These additional Document 12’s should provide enough $93,300.00 buyout opportunities to cover any surpluses we may have for Production and/or Skilled Trades through the life of this agreement.
This is comforting news for our senior members who may want to retire during the life of this agreement and it is even more comforting for our less senior members knowing their chance of being permanently laid off is greatly reduced.

In the Gen 3 our engine build numbers have increased significantly and we would like to thank all our Production members for their hard work in making this happen. In light of this, all workers, especially those that are line tied need to be treated with dignity, respect and have their issues dealt with immediately by supervision. If your supervisor is not doing these three things, please notify your Union Representative with the details.

The Shop Committee has set up a meeting with Michael Grimaldi, the President of G.M. of Canada to discuss future new product opportunities for St. Catharines. We have received a letter to confirm that this meeting will be in mid to late April, as the actual date is yet to be confirmed. Securing Document 12’s while beneficial is not the answer to all of our challenges going forward; we must also continue to negotiate to secure new work for our members and the community in which we live.

Open For Business
Although bargaining was concluded some months ago it would appear to the Shop Committee that at least two other locations, Oshawa and Windsor, have entered in to discussions with the company to secure new core work. These two locations are currently attempting to put together Memorandums of Understanding with the company to facilitate securing work. The company is looking to obtain significant work practice changes in order to consider these locations for some of this ever elusive new core work. They include such things as the outsourcing of non-trades maintenance work, restrictions on transfers/job postings during model changes, flexibility on outsourcing and in sourcing of work, full implementation of GMS principles, eliminate flowing between plants in Oshawa during layoffs and reduced relief time are some of the production issues. In the Skilled Trades some issues are, outsourcing of some Skilled Trades work, changes to the full utilization language, eliminate the Skilled Trades construction departments and other cost savings.

Cold Irony
The irony in what is occurring at these other two locations is that over the last 4 sets of bargaining the Shop Committee at this location has bargained responsibly on behalf of our membership to better position us for new core work having the foresight to bargain language to support this. We have successfully secured over a Billion dollars of core work investment for the city of St.Catharines at the bargaining table. The Shop Committee believes the Company was aware of this new core work during 2005 bargaining and we have requested top level meetings with the CAW National Union and GM to allow the Company to explain why these discussions did not take place at 2005 bargaining.

In Review
With respect to the previous two paragraphs. Management at this location, is intent on driving as many productivity and efficiency improvements in every possible area, citing the current financial turmoil that GM finds itself in today as the cause. During a recent visit, Joe Ponce (the head of the Powertrain engine division) stated, “GM is in survival mode and that GM St. Catharines must make the necessary productivity gains in order to try and maintain their current business”. On a weekly basis, GM Headquarters reviews each plants financial performance within the entire powertrain operations to decide which plants will survive and which plants are to be considered for new core work. On Friday Feb 17/06 the Shop Committee reviewed the St. Catharines productivity and financial performance charts that definitely suggest that if this location continues to perform at current levels further volume reductions in key production areas will likely occur. Fortunately for St. Catharines we have enough high seniority members who have opted to retire, avoiding our lower seniority members from being permanently laid off due to these necessary productivity gains the company will make during 2006.

The National Union and the Company informed the Shop Committee that sometime after negotiations the parties reached an agreement to allow a one-time buyout opportunity for construction related trades. This document will be listed in the Master Agreement as Document 100. This document allows each location to negotiate buyout opportunities for these types of trades in an effort to reduce construction to a more manageable size without layoffs.

The Company informed the Union that there is a current surplus of Skilled Trades in St. Catharines. There is also another surplus projected for later this year. The current surplus declared is as follows: 22 Toolmakers, 16 Machine Repair, 1 Die Sinker, 3 TMAA’s, 2 Cutter Grinders, 9 Electricians, 4 Millwrights, 5 Welders and 1 Truck Mechanic. The projected surplus for later this year is as follows: 8 TMAA’s and 3 Machine Repair. Although Document 100 is only for construction related trades, the Shop Committee was able to include both Maintenance and Tool Trades in the St. Catharine’s Memorandum of Understanding. This will allow all trades other than Pipefitter and Dyno Mechanic an opportunity to take a special enhanced buyout of $93,300. A canvass has already started, as it has to be completed within two weeks in order to get our members who opt to retire April 1, 2006 their monies. Although the vast majority of trades will be allowed to retire April 1, 2006, t