Less than three years after acquiring a manufacturer of metal components with operations in Muncie, JD Norman Industries Inc. has decided to close the facility and terminate its 130 employees in December.
Persuading workers at General Motors' Indianapolis metal-stamping plant to accept a pay cut would be a feat, but it won't be the last challenge that JD Norman Industries would face.
The UAW’s regional office appears to be arranging a contract vote by mail-in ballot. Word on the shop floor is that a ballot will accompany a new proposal, which includes $70,000 cash for union members who work for JD Norman for two years. The offer is double the amount in a previous proposal.
It seems that all the pundits from Rush Limbaugh to the World Socialist Website have entered the fray concerning the fate of the Indianapolis stamping plant, while the real culprits escape scrutiny and feign innocence.
A businessman seeking to buy General Motors Co.'s Indianapolis metal-stamping plant met with workers Sunday at Lucas Oil
Stadium to urge them to accept pay cuts allowing the sale.
It’s puzzling to us that leaders of the United
Auto Workers Local 23 are against members even casting a vote on the proposed takeover of GM’s Indianapolis metal-stamping plant by Illinois-based J.D.
Norman Industries.
The owner of Illinois-based JD Norman Industries came to Indianapolis to make a personal plea for United Auto Workers Local
23 to allow a vote on his proposed five-year contract.
JD Norman Industries advertisement tells employees that its proposal to buy the plant would guarantee
their GM transfer rights without having to close the facility.
Indiana Commerce Secretary Mitch Roob said he was completely surprised by local General Motors workers’ refusal to vote on
a proposed contract by JD Norman Industries, a decision that appears to set up the plant for certain closure.
Fliers circulating at General Motors' Indianapolis plant show that union members will be offered cash payments of $25,000
to $35,000 and an opportunity to keep a foot in the door with GM, if they agree to work for JD Norman Industries.
The UAW in Detroit said Local 23 will vote Monday on Illinois-based JD Norman's proposal to buy an Indianapolis stamping
plant where more than 600 work, but a local rep says workers don't want to negotiate.
Negotiations for wage cuts meant to grease the sale of a General Motors stamping plant slated for closure will proceed over
public protest of 650 local union
workers.
There’s more time for Illinois-based JD Norman Industries to hammer out a deal to buy a General Motors stamping plant
in Indianapolis, potentially saving hundreds of local jobs.
United Auto Workers official Maurice "Mo" Davison is making one last attempt
to put a deal together for a Chicago-area firm to buy the General Motors stamping plant southwest of downtown Indianapolis,
which is slated to close in 2011.
UAW official says General Motors and prospective buyer are working on a “real aggressive” schedule to have the acquisition
completed by the end of June.
