December 2024

Seasons greeting brothers and sisters. Here we are again at the end of another year. I hope this edition finds you happy, healthy and ready to spend Christmas and the holiday season with family. As with any year, 2024 didn't disappoint when it comes to high and low points. This year provided all those variations in my personal and professional life. As I committed to myself and wrote about in previous editions, I have worked to maintain a middle temperament and avoid the extremes in attitude and treatment of others that come with such wide variations presented in life. Professionally, we here at the Local have experienced exciting news of future products being allocated to our Lansing Grand River Assembly plant as we entered 2024. Yet during this year, our assembly side reduced members and slowed production, and then we were presented with the news that the coming battery plant would not continue under the GM nameplate. On the supplier side, we negotiated a very strong agreement in our Avancez Unit and added shifts to all our supplier units, adding membership to Local 652. We hope to settle a strong new agreement with our Ryder Unit to close out the year. Through all of these fluctuations, we as a Local performed amazingly when it came to our community giving and charitable donations this year.

Moving forward, I am optimistic that in the coming year, we will learn many more details about our future products for our Lansing Grand River Assembly plant and get a more defined timeline on the renovation project necessary for us to begin producing the vehicles that will take GM into the future. I understand that we will be producing our cars throughout the entire calendar year of 2025. However, 2026 is a total unknown to us as of this publication. This is still a positive for Local 652 and the entire Lansing area.

My hope for 2025 is that we can remember that we are far stronger together than we are divided. Uniting for a better working-class landscape in the Lansing area benefits us all in the long run. In closing, I would like to wish you all health and happiness during this holiday season and I pray you have a safe and prosperous 2025. From my family to all of yours, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ben