TPT November 2007

From the AmericaS

built cars are expected to increase their fuel economy by 0.4 to 30.5mpg, while cars imported for sale in the US are expected to post the largest gain – 1.2mpg – to 31.7mpg. • In its fall term Congress was set to resume consideration of an energy bill that includes a standard of 35mpg for all vehicles by 2020. The auto industry prefers a more flexible target of 32 to 35mpg by 2022, saying the 35mpg target is unworkable. Mr Friedman, for the scientists, and other environmentalists maintain that auto makers could improve fuel economy 4 per cent a year every year if they were to use available technology wisely. Elsewhere in automotive . . . › Citing a slump in sales of pickups, General Motors of Canada said it will cut about 1,100 jobs at a truck plant in Ontario. GM on 30 August said it would cut production of two pickup models from three shifts to two in Oshawa, starting in January. Of the five GM plants in North America producing pickup trucks, only the Oshawa plant has three shifts; hence the decision to economize there, according to David Paterson, vice-president of GM Canada. After losing more than $12 billion over the past two years, General Motors Corp is in the middle of slashing more than 34,000 jobs and closing 12 plants in North America. › GM said 22 August that it had cut production at six plants that make large sport utility vehicles and pickups, citing fuel prices and market competition. The change was to remain in effect for the rest of the year. A GM spokesman said in Detroit that the company had eliminated previously scheduled overtime production at plants in Arlington, Texas; Janesville, Wisconsin; Fort Wayne, Indiana; Flint, Michigan; Silao, Mexico; and Oshawa, Ontario (Canada). [These earlier Oshawa cuts are not included in those mentioned in the first item, above]. › In a rare piece of good news from an auto parts maker, the Canadian company Magna International reported a 36 per cent rise in second-quarter profit on increased sales worldwide. Magna (Aurora, Ontario) said its net profit rose to US$262 million from US$193 million a year earlier. Quarterly revenue rose 6 per cent to US$6.7 billion from US$6.3 billion. “Whether we look at North America or Europe, we’re starting to see improvements,” Don Walker, co-chief executive of Magna, said on 10 August. “So it’s not just in one area, it’s pretty much throughout the whole organization.” › Things also began to look up for Delphi Corp (Troy, Michigan) when members of a union representing about 2,000 of its hourly workers voted to ratify a new four-year contract with the auto parts supplier. Seventy-five per cent of the membership of the International Union of Electronic Workers-Communications Workers of America at locals with Delphi employees voted in favour of the deal, the union announced on 18 August. The bankruptcy court had earlier approved Delphi’s new agreement with its biggest union, the United Auto Workers, which represents 17,000 of its workers. Delphi, the former parts division of General Motors, which spun it off in 1999, gained protection from its creditors in October 2005. The company has said that agreements with its unions are crucial to its effort to emerge from bankruptcy; also that it needs union concessions if it is to compete against suppliers whose labour costs are lower.

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N ovember /D ecember 2007