This is issue #29 of

"The Barking Dog,"

an independent, pro-worker, pro-union newsletter put out by Caroline Lund, a member of UAW Local 2244, at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, CA. It is dated September 5, 2000.

"Give 'Em An Inch and They'll Take A Mile!"

QC people at the 99 Line are concerned and angry over a Company proposal to give 4 driver jobs over to Toyota contract workers (lower-paid, non-union employees).
A meeting took place August 29 up in "The Church," where Management was supposed to explain the changes to NUMMI workers involved. I was invited by some of the workers to attend and write up a story for "The Barking Dog" to alert the whole plant as to what is happening.

About 30 determined people filed into the room, together with a number of union reps. Bob McCullough, General Manager for Human Resources, first tried to say the meeting was only for the handful of drivers who are directly affected, and asked everyone else to leave. Nobody moved.
Then Bob said UAW Chairman Art Torres should come outside the room with him and discuss the matter. Art didn't budge. After standing at the door for a few moments, Bob saw there was nothing to do but continue with the meeting with everybody there.
Bob said the Toyota-NUMMI proposal was to do away with the shipping gate (outside the plant), have Toyota take possession of vehicles at the end of the 99 Line, and have Toyota contract employees drive the vehicles off to refueling and the storage lot. This means the 4 NUMMI drivers who have been driving vehicles to the shipping gate would lose their jobs and be reassigned in the plant.
Bob said that NUMMI hopes to get "after-market assembly" jobs (which NUMMI gave to Toyota workers years ago) back into the plant, so that the proposal would not amount to any net job loss.

Then the workers spoke up, raising question after question about how this proposal would not improve things at all. It became clear that the workers knew a lot more about the process than Bob, who had to repeatedly ask his other management friends how to answer the questions.Chairman Art Torres said his position was that these jobs were historically our union jobs, and that replacing our drivers with contract workers expresses that management has no confidence in our members' ability to do the job. He said he had no problem with them doing away with the shipping gate, but let NUMMI workers keep the driving jobs.

Bargaining Committee members Victor Quesada, Leo G. Garcia, and George Nano III also opposed giving up the 4 jobs.
One QC worker came straight to the point: "If we give 'em an inch, they'll take a mile," she said. "They'll bring the contract workers in and little by little they'll take over all of QC."

NUMMI says this proposal will save the Company money. But if we let them continue "saving money" by having lower-wage contract workers take over our jobs all over the plant, our union's power and leverage will be shattered.

Some management people present seemed not to care what the workers had to say. One was playing video poker and another snickered and mocked while a union person spoke.

* Caroline Lund

Big Money

It's said that NUMMI is also looking at Stamping and tire areas to bring in outside contractors for certain jobs. Where does it end?

A week ago we had 80 vehicles with shortages in the east yard. NUMMI's agreement with Toyota is that all repairs and shortages go back down the 99 Line. But with the flow of vehicles already coming down the line, NUMMI let Toyota come into our area and drive those cars to the shipping gate. That used to be the job of NUMMI 99-Line drivers.

I feel that if management wants to change a job, there should be a meeting of labor relations, the union, and the Team Members in that area, all together, so that everyone's concerns can be addressed. Don't' just make changes and worry about it later.

Management has no concern for Team Members. What they get out of this is Big Money.

* Sandra Barrios

Modular Assembly: Outsourcing Gone Wild

NUMMI's weekly News Summary carried an article from the June 5, 2000, issue of Automotive News about a GM plant in Mexico. The subhead says, "In Ramos Arizpe, GM is taking a dramatic leap into modular assembly.

With the UAW's quiet cooperation, GM is bringing the methods to the United States."

Modular assembly means supplier companies do the designing, assembling, and warranty on big chunks of a vehicle -- such as the instrument panel, engines, doors, etc. Then GM assemblers just put together the chunks of the vehicle. This means a lot fewer GM workers (higher-paid, union) and a lot more supplier workers (mostly lower-paid, non-union).

Automotive News says: "Workers at General Motors' assembly plant in Ramos Arizpe, Mexico, pull together the new 2001 Pontiac Aztek like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

"The pieces, 32 major modules and hundreds of parts and subassemblies, arrive just in time through nearly 60 doors along a skinny, T-shaped building.

"Modules range from complete instrument panels to dressed engines to simpler stamped metal assemblies. They come from suppliers based on-site and at three nearby industrial parks."

At the last UAW convention, President Stephen Yokich called modular assembly just another name for outsourcing and layoffs. And yet, the union seems to be going along with it, so long as GM doesn't use the word and draw attention to what's happening.

Automotive News says GM has already moved toward modular assembly in its plants in Lansing, Mich., Wilmington, Del., and Lordstown, Ohio.

Will NUMMI be next?

New Hires Quit, Injuries Up, Double Shifts

"Why are they messing with us so much, when it is so hard for them to replace us?" asks Darrell from Conveyance. "They bring in 20 new hires and how many last? The new people can't take the overloaded jobs. Final 1 (Cars) recently got 4 new hires. Only one remains.

"But even though the company has such a hard time replacing us, they keep screwing us over, adding work, limiting rotation so our bodies wear out, and making it harder to take a day off.

"I would like someone in management to explain to me the logic of this.

"All the changes they're making are creating problems. We haven't been able to make production goals for six months now. Manpower is so scarce they are bringing in people to work double shifts for absentee replacement and training. They never allowed that before. All those tired people working on the line is not going to be good for quality, or for safety.

"Injuries are increasing. They try to put new hires on the easier jobs so they won't quit, but there are people on the Transfer List waiting for those jobs.

"And things are going to get even worse, as they continue to cut jobs, and as they try to shrink the line into less space with the jobs squeezed up against each other. Tensions are high. I hardly have time now to do my job and they want to add more work!

"How are we going to get our new product next year with all these problems? It's like management is trying to sabotage our future!"

In-Plant Child Care

The following item was submitted by Alternate Committeeman Joe Randez.

From Baby Talk magazine, dated September, 2000:

Toyota Motor Manufacturing has a 24-hour child-development center at its production facility near Lexington, Kentucky, which accommodates more than 230 kids during the day and 150 at night, including infants as young as 6 weeks. Although the center's cost is about average for the area, the on-site facility offers convenience, saves parents time, and allows them to eat lunch with their kids.

Letters to the Barking Dog

Dear Ms. Lund,

I am a NUMMI Team Member who has been forced out on an industrial leave of absence for almost 2 years now (without pay, mind you). Therefore I have missed the pleasure and enlightenment of reading your publication. I am writing to you to ask if it wouldn't be too much trouble for you to forward to me via email the back and current issues of The Barking Dog, and perhaps add me to your mailing list if you maintain one.

I truly value your taking the time to shadow our ignorance. I've been set out to pasture so to speak and have lost touch with what's really going on. Please provide new grounds for me to graze upon. Thanking you in advance,

* Sincerely, Juanita

Note: If you would like to receive the Barking Dog by email, so that you don't miss an issue, just send me your email address.

Dear Caroline,

I enjoy reading your Barking Dog. In your last issue you gave Cesar Chavez as an example of a real union leader and said could you imagine him "going over to management because they offered him more money or more prestige or an easier life."

You may not have known it, but this actually happened. In fact he was offered a post at the White House by President Kennedy, but he refused the offer, saying he belonged with his fellow working people.

Keep up the good work!

* Amador Urrabazo

Quote of the Month

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration."

* Abraham Lincolm, message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

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