Employees of auto-parts supplier consider joining UAW
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Jun 25, 2008, 2:28:12 PM6/25/08
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Employees of auto-parts supplier consider joining UAW
By GREG MENZA/gme...@c-dh.net
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About 125 employees of Johnson Controls Inc. of Mt. Pleasant attended a meeting to discuss the possibility of forming a union and affiliating with UAW Local 1853. JCI supplies seats and interior consoles for the new Chevrolet Traverse being manufactured at the GM/Spring Hill Manufacturing Plant. Courtesy photo by Jack Cobb
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If organizers are successful, about 400 new members may soon be added to the rolls of United Auto Workers Local 1853.
Employees of Johnson Controls Inc. in Columbia met last week with union members from GM/Spring Hill Manufacturing to discuss the possibility of JCI's workers joining Local 1853.
The company currently employs 150 and has scheduled interviews at the South Central Tennessee Career Center to fill new positions within the next eight weeks. JCI expects to employ about 400 workers by August.
JCI workers gathered at the Fraternal Order of Police Hall near the Pepsi plant Friday to discuss forming a union. Johnson Controls builds seats and interior consoles for the
new Chevrolet Traverse being built at the former Saturn manufacturing plant.
Employees of Johnson Controls Inc. in Columbia met last week with union members from GM/Spring Hill Manufacturing to discuss the possibility of JCI's workers joining Local 1853.
The company currently employs 150 and has scheduled interviews at the South Central Tennessee Career Center to fill new positions within the next eight weeks. JCI expects to employ about 400 workers by August.
JCI workers gathered at the Fraternal Order of Police Hall near the Pepsi plant Friday to discuss forming a union. Johnson Controls builds seats and interior consoles for the
new Chevrolet Traverse being built at the former Saturn manufacturing plant.
Union leaders of Local 1853 said the response from JCI's employees was overwhelming. More than 125 attended the first meeting to ask questions and learn more about the advantages of joining with the GM employees union.
"These team members deserve a better quality of life than they are currently receiving," Local 1853 Mike O'Rourke said. "We negotiated a contract at the former seat supplier that paid workers $18 an hour. There's no doubt the automotive market is competitive, but these workers deserve more than $10 an hour."
Intier of Lewisburg was GM's supplier prior to last year's shutdown of the Spring Hill plant for retooling. Johnson Controls received the contract for the Traverse based on its seating design for the new GM crossover vehicle.
"JCI's proprietary seat design allows seven or eight adults to sit comfortably in the Traverse. They hold the patent for the unique seating configuration, so they got the contract," Local 1853 Chairman Mike Herron said.
"These team members deserve a better quality of life than they are currently receiving," Local 1853 Mike O'Rourke said. "We negotiated a contract at the former seat supplier that paid workers $18 an hour. There's no doubt the automotive market is competitive, but these workers deserve more than $10 an hour."
Intier of Lewisburg was GM's supplier prior to last year's shutdown of the Spring Hill plant for retooling. Johnson Controls received the contract for the Traverse based on its seating design for the new GM crossover vehicle.
"JCI's proprietary seat design allows seven or eight adults to sit comfortably in the Traverse. They hold the patent for the unique seating configuration, so they got the contract," Local 1853 Chairman Mike Herron said.
Herron added he was confident the JCI employees would be joining with Local 1853.
"About 95 percent of the JCI team members we spoke with appear to be in favor of the idea. We'll know by next Thursday what steps will be necessary to help the team members at JCI form their union," Herron said.
Herron said the JCI union would be a subset of Local 1853 with its own leadership and bargaining team.
"We are looking forward to having these new members join the union. We are launching a new world class product, and it would be an added bonus to have the seats supplied by a UAW-represented supplier in the U.S.," Herron said.
Phone calls to JCI's office Monday afternoon were not immediately returned.
As GM's only plant manufacturing the Traverse, Spring Hill/GM Manufacturing is expected to produce between 160,000 to 180,000 new Traverse Crossovers in the next year. UAW has more than 73,000 members who work at 82 U.S. facilities including assembly and parts plants and warehouses. More than 3,500 are employed at the GM facility.
"About 95 percent of the JCI team members we spoke with appear to be in favor of the idea. We'll know by next Thursday what steps will be necessary to help the team members at JCI form their union," Herron said.
Herron said the JCI union would be a subset of Local 1853 with its own leadership and bargaining team.
"We are looking forward to having these new members join the union. We are launching a new world class product, and it would be an added bonus to have the seats supplied by a UAW-represented supplier in the U.S.," Herron said.
Phone calls to JCI's office Monday afternoon were not immediately returned.
As GM's only plant manufacturing the Traverse, Spring Hill/GM Manufacturing is expected to produce between 160,000 to 180,000 new Traverse Crossovers in the next year. UAW has more than 73,000 members who work at 82 U.S. facilities including assembly and parts plants and warehouses. More than 3,500 are employed at the GM facility.
Story created Jun 24, 2008 - 16:18:33 EDT
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