HOW TIMES CHANGE

Less than two years ago, in June of 2009, General Motors executive, Amy Farmer stood on a small stage in Orion’s Final Process area to announce that GM was filing for bankruptcy protection and that Orion Assembly would be placed on idle status. Immediately following that near-death experience the Local Union Leadership met to go over ideas that could move us from idle to open for business.
We knew that three plants had been placed on idle status, us, Spring Hill, TN and Janesville, WS. One of those plants would be awarded a new “small car project” that was scheduled for a plant in Mexico but was being brought back to the U.S. thanks to the International UAW and Ron Gettelfinger, who had seen an opening when GM asked the U.S. for money. The other thank you goes to the Democratic Administration and Barack Obama who took the phone call concerning this matter and acted on it.
The local went to work. We knew if we could get the word out to all the folks who would make the decision concerning the small car project that we would have as good a chance as anyone to get it. It was decided a video would be produced that listed all the reasons why Orion should be awarded this project. The content of that video focused solely on Orion and our accomplishments. On the night of June 14, 2009, we e-mailed that video to every International UAW Rep, General Motors Executive and Government Official that we thought might have a hand in making the decision to keep Orion open. On June 26, 2009 our efforts were rewarded with the news that Orion Assembly would be re-tooled to be the small car plant. Orion Assembly would be the factory of the future.
Of course the factory of the future would have innovative operating procedures called the COA and we would have to reach 100 percent of those new rules. Orion will ultimately start production with fewer workers, more automation and a greater mix of Tier II employees but on January 14, 2011 the first, Pre-production Chevrolet Sonic came off the end of the line a Column B-42 and a new era has begun.
Certainly Orion Assembly and UAW Local 5960 will operate in new ways with fresh ideas but something else may be afoot. Remember those charts and graphs that used to be shown at State of the Business Meetings that depicted General Motors Market Share and the United Autoworkers Membership taking paths similar to the last flight of the Hindenburg? Well maybe, just maybe, we have found a solution to a problem that has eluded us for the last 30 years.
The last time that GM, or any car company built sub-compacts (today they call them B segment cars) in the U.S. Ronald Reagan was the President of the United States and Disco Fever was sweeping the country. It is a new time. Orion Assembly and the Membership of UAW Local 5960 are a firewall against the past. We are that “new beginning” that has gotten away from GM and the UAW for so many years. It is easy now to look back and see how mistakes were made. The tough part is to look forward and chart a course to success. We are on a path that has not been traveled for many years and the trail is laden with twists and turns, many of which can take us in the wrong direction. But Orion Assembly and UAW Local 5960 have always been able to navigate through uncertain times and this will be no different. One thing for sure . . . there is no going back. We are the first to travel in this direction for some time and to look back you will only see your own footprints fading in the distance. When we manage our way to success others will follow, hopefully many others. Orion Assembly will be duly noted as the place where it all began . . . the re-birth of the American auto industry. Our plant and our local will put Michigan back on the map and the UAW and GM back in the driver’s seat. The next time a GM executive takes the stage at our plant to address the entire workforce it will be at Orion Assembly’s Grand Opening.

Thanks for listening,
Tony