THE OFFICIAL UNOFFICIAL UAW Local 1977

UAW members at Guide ratify agreement on plant closures

UAW members at Guide Corp. have ratified a plant closure agreement in voting conducted in Monroe, La., and Anderson, Ind., Jan. 29-31.

Guide announced in December that it would close its operations in Anderson and Monroe after General Motors Corp. shifted its work to suppliers in Canada, China and Mexico. GM was Guide’s sole customer.

“Our members at Guide have been building high-quality head and tail lamps for decades,” said UAW Vice President James Settles, who directs the union’s Guide department. “Once again, hardworking people are paying the price of our country’s unfair trade policies and our failure to address the health care crisis in this nation.”

Members of Local 663 in Anderson, and Local 1977 in Monroe, will be offered separation options through a Special Attrition Program negotiated by the UAW, Guide and General Motors.

Under the Special Attrition Program, workers who are eligible under the normal/voluntary provisions of the pension plan will be eligible for a $35,000 lump-sum payment.

Workers who are at least 50 years old with 10 years of credited service may retire early under the Mutually Satisfactory Retirement program. Workers with at least 26 years, but fewer than 30 years of service can grow into a 30-and-out pension under the Pre-Retirement Program and receive a monthly benefit ranging from $2,750 to $2,900.

Workers with 10 or more years seniority may voluntarily separate and receive a $140,000 lump-sum payment; workers with fewer than 10 years of service also may opt to for a voluntary separation and receive a $70,000 lump-sum payment. In all cases, UAW members’ vested pension benefits will remain intact.

The closure agreement maintains the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement through its expiration on March 20, 2009, providing Supplemental Unemployment Benefits (SUB), health care benefits, tuition assistance and other benefits for employees who do not separate under the Special Attrition Program options.

“We were able to negotiate terms and conditions for the closing that will help workers through this time of transition,” said UAW Region 5 Director Jim Wells. “Because our members at Guide have union representation and a union contract, they’re going to have some options – options that would not be available to workers at a non-union facility.”

The UAW also negotiated a Special Employment Hiring Opportunity agreement with General Motors that will allow Guide workers to apply for jobs at GM beginning in February 2007. Former GM employees who have not exhausted their transfer rights may return to GM as openings permit. Consideration will be given to Guide workers who do not have GM seniority based on their Guide seniority.

“We were able to secure GM’s agreement to stand behind the promises and commitments made by Guide in these agreements,” said UAW Region 3 Director Mo Davison. “We will continue to support the laid off and retired membership of our Guide local.”

Industry watchers and United AutoWorkers have never really believed that Guide Corp. was an independent company.

They've always said General Motors continued to operate a shadow ownership even after it spun off the unit in 1998 and was later acquired in 2001 by consultant B.N. Bahadur, a turnaround specialist with long ties to GM.

Employees at Guide's Monroe and Anderson, Ind., plants would always accompany talk of their independence from GM with winks and nods.

Even more evidence of GM's shadow ownership came during a filing this month with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
In that filing GM said it expects to take a $200 million after-tax charge in the fourth quarter for severance packages for employees who work in Guide's Monroe and Anderson automotive lighting plants, which will be closed next year.

The size of the charge could change depending on the results of negotiations between UAW and Guide.

Since the two plants continue to be included in GM's financial results, it seems clear that GM has continued to pull the strings even after declaring Guide's independence in 1998.

A story in last week's Automotive News reported that Guide ranks No. 124 of the top 150 suppliers to North America with North American original-equipment automotive parts sale of $304 million in 2005, down from $355 million in 2004.

"It's difficult to make a go of lighting today," Phillip Fioravante, managing director of Magneti Marelli Holding N.A., parent of Automotive Lighting, told the Automotive News. "Lighting is highly competitive and highly capital intensive normally things that don't mix too well."

The story said there have been efforts to sell Guide, but buyers balked at the prospect of acquiring massive old plants and a unionized work force.

Automotive News also reported that Automotive Lighting Corp., of Wixom, Mich., Hella North America Inc., of Plymouth, Mich., Magna International Inc. of Aurora, Ontario, and Valeo Inc. of Auburn Hills, Mich., are most likely to pick up GM's lighting business with Guide out of the picture.

Guide officials announced last month they will dissolve the entire company in 2007, eliminating about 675 jobs and a $53 million payroll at the Monroe plant.

Company officials said most of the employees would be laid off during the period beginning Dec. 17, "with the cessation of production being completed by June 1.2007."

But The News-Star reported last week that Guide has scheduled an auction for its plant and equipment on March 7-8, so that timetable for stopping production appears to be earlier than next summer. Maynards (www.maynards.com) is conducting the auction.

Greg Hilburn is the business editor for The News-Star. His column is published on Sundays. Contact him at ghilburn@thenewsstar.com, 362-0288 or P.O. Box 1502, Monroe, La. 71201.

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UAW members at Guide ratify agreement on plant closures