Happy Thanksgiving!

On behalf of all of the officers and staff of Local 245 I wish each of you a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you enjoy your long weekend as well as time with family and friends!

UAW-Ford Food Drive

Today marks the start of the 2008 UAW-Ford Christmas Food and Clothing Drive. Boxes were delivered to target areas on Friday and should be in place by tomorrow. If you have large donations or don’t see a box in your building, feel free to drop donations off at the Union Hall. We will collect food and clothing until
December 19, 2008 and then deliver it to the shelter the following week prior to Christmas break. We do realize that the economy is terrible and everyone is tightening their belt, but the Food Shelters have high demand this year and anything you can give would be most appreciated. Please continue to call your Senators and Congressional leaders and let their office know of your support for the big three Loan. It is absolutely essential that the big three receive this loan to get them through this credit crunch initiated by Wall Street. If you have already called Thank you…but call again or call a different representative from another state! If anyone is interested in taking Collective Bargaining classes at Region 1-A on January 10, 2009 please give me a call and reserve a spot…Thanks!!

Call Capital Hill in support of our Jobs!

Today is the day in which the Big Three CEO's, Ron Gettelfinger and countless Mayors and elected people from major manufacturing states testify before Congress for the need to approve loans for the Big Three. As Chairman Rick Waggoner of GM mentioned Sunday on Flashpoint, the current state of the Auto company is due to the Financial breakdown of Wall Street as well as the credit crunch and it is trickling down to Main Street. Please call all of the Senators and Congresspeople that you can and voice your opinion in support of the Big three! Thank you!

Help our good friend Congressman Dingell

For decades, Congressman John Dingell has been the driving force behind groundbreaking progress on everything from environmental protection to health care access and support for the auto industry. His leadership is vital to our state and our country as we work together to turn our economy around.

Congressman Dingell's position as Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is under attack, and we need your help. Please visit http://www.michigandems.com/sendletter.php to join the effort to keep Chairman Dingell in this important role.

The attempt to unseat the Chairman is not only an attack on his position but on the working families and citizens he has fought to protect. Please share this petition with your friends and family across the country who have also benefited from Chairman Dingell’s service.

As Dean of the Michigan delegation and the United States Congress, Chairman Dingell's expertise and ability find compromise to get results is unparalleled. Please make sure your voice is heard in this critical fight.

Please call Congresswoman and Speaker of the House Pelosi to show our support for Congressman Dingell!
Call her and show your support for Chairman Dingell at (202) 225-0100.

Thank you.

ATTENTION MEMBERS!

November 16, 2008

Your efforts in the past to call our Washington Congressional members have proved invaluable. I am asking for you to ring their phones once again in regards to the Loans being requested by the big three automakers.
As you know I feel strongly that the excessive executive compensation is not meritorious of the great jobs they do. I also think that some past decision making has helped bring us to the point we are at now, but let me stress passionately that the major underlying cause of the demise of the entire manufacturing base being in disarray in America is due to lack of support from Washington D.C.
If all of the Big 3 automotive manufacturers were to cease operations, nearly 3 million jobs would be lost in the U.S. during the first year alone. It would mean a loss of nearly $400 billion of personal income in the first three years and a loss of over $150 billion in government tax in that same time period.
A 50 percent cut in Big 3 operations would mean a loss of 2.5 million jobs in the U.S. economy in the first year alone. It would result in the loss of more than $275 billion in personal revenue over the course of a 3 year period and a loss of $108 billion in government revenue during that same period.
The globalization of the auto industry means that most auto parts manufacturers also supply not only the Big 3, but also the foreign automakers with plants in the U.S. The collapse of one or more of the Big 3 would cause a major wave of supplier bankruptcies, resulting in severe disruption for the foreign automakers as well. The ripple effects would continue in Canada and Mexico as most U.S. auto parts suppliers also serve auto manufacturing there.
Ford, GM and Chrysler provide health care to 2 million Americans. The collapse of the Big 3 and the loss of health care benefits to these Americans would create more stress on the already overwhelmed U.S. health care system.
Contact your Congressional Representative and U.S. Senator to advocate support for the U.S. auto industry by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 1-866-220-0044

Solidarity Forever!



Keith W. Brown


www.house.gov

www.senate.gov

From the President's Blog

Congratulations Brothers and Sisters!

This is a historic time for our Country and I congratulate each of you on our new President Elect Obama! I wish to thank everyone that has participated over the last twelve months in this election. Thanks to the aggressive work of our CAP committee, all of the elected and appointed leadership from ALL units, countless members as well as our Regional and International staff combined with an awesome ground attack from the National and Statewide Campaign for Change we were able to deliver the most decisive Democratic Victory in History! This comes at a time when we are in desperate need of a Labor friendly administration for the sake of our future. I am extremely proud of the UAW Local 245 leadership who has led by example throughout this process. Not only did they talk the talk but they walked the walk...Literally! The process started last December when we organized and mobilized to fight the Right to Work legislation in the January Primary. It continued from there all year with an ever increasing work load in the last few weeks. These folks gave up weekends, vacation time and family time to be involved in this campaign! This Election Day we had over 30 members of the Leadership team as well as many members working on behalf of the Michigan Campaign for Change. I am proud to stand with each of them and work with them every day throughout this Election Process and thank all of you for your tireless efforts! It is because of all of your efforts that we made history last night! Enjoy the victory and be proud of the work that we can do when we unite together for a common goal!

Keith W. Brown
President
UAW Local 245
313-561-7500