At the April 3rd, 2005 regular monthly membership meeting a motion was made to have the general election as described in Local 2000 By-Laws. The membership present at the meeting voted in favor of the motion.

I (Tim Donovan, President) advised the membership that an appeal was at the UAW President’s Office challenging the UAW National Ford Director’s decision for us to go to a 2 Unit facility, Unit 1 and Unit 3.

I spoke with the UAW International President’s Office early Monday morning and was told a decision on the appeal would be made timely and in accordance with the UAW Constitution and our By-Laws, as not to interfere with our local union election.

At this time, the election is being planned as directed by the membership at Sunday’s meeting. I have delayed the mailing of the notification of election. This is the prudent thing for me to do at this time. The plan was to mail the notification a week earlier than normal. An earlier mailing would have given us more time to respond to mail returned due to wrong addresses. It also would have given candidates a week longer to have their number for their campaign materials.

If the notification were done on Wednesday as I had planned and if the UAW International President’s Office ruled in favor of the UAW National Ford Director’s decision, we would have to do another notification of election mailing. This would create confusion. I am not willing to give ANYONE cause to appeal this election before the first vote is even cast.

Rest assured, the notification, when mailed to the membership, will be proper and in line with past practices of Local 2000 elections. The dates of nomination would change to April 18th through April 24th with the drawing of numbers on Monday April 25th, 2005.

TRANSFERS TO KANSAS CITY: Contrary to rumors in the plant, nothing has changed with the opportunities to transfer to Kansas City. The UAW National Ford Department has assured me that transfers to Kansas City will be done in accordance with Article 8 Section 24(b) of the UAW/FORD National Agreement.

There are still many details to be worked out. As information becomes available, the National Department will funnel the information to Region 2-B, then to the local union leadership. The membership will be informed immediately through future Information Bulletins.

Tim Donovan, President
U.A.W. Local 2000