GM Wentzville Joins UAW-GM Drive To Sign Up Potential Bone Marrow Donors
Wentzville, Mo. - The United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 2250 and the GM Wentzville Assembly Center are kicking off a bone-marrow registry drive today. Workers at GM Wentzville are volunteering as potential bone marrow and blood stem-cell donors as part of a national donor recruitment campaign sponsored jointly by the International Union, UAW Union and General Motors.
The nationwide program, known as LifeMatch, was launched in October 2000 with the goal of adding 3,000 potential donors to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) Registry. LifeMatch has surpassed its goal in less than one year but is continuing recruitment efforts throughout the United States. GM Wentzville is the eleventh stop in a nationwide tour to encourage employees to join the NMDP Registry.
A goal of the LifeMatch campaign includes raising awareness about the critical need for donors from diverse ethnic and minority groups, who tend to be under-represented in national donor registry lists.
"Through the LifeMatch program, employees at GM Wentzville actually can help save lives," said Mike Camp, plant manager at GM Wentzville. "There is a tremendous need for bone marrow, and this drive to build the Registry will give added hope to many people waiting for a bone marrow match. Through this drive we also hope to encourage other employers in the St. Louis area to join the cause by holding donor screenings at their worksites."
"The members of the UAW Local 2250 are hard working men and women who care about each other and our community," said Bill Schiltz, chairman of the UAW Local 2250, which represents hourly workers at GM Wentzville. "Today's event is another example of our employees' commitment to helping people in need." GM Wentzville workers who volunteer as potential donors will undergo a simple blood test. A small blood sample will be "typed" for markers on the surface of white blood cells, and the results will then be entered on the computerized NMDP
Each year, an estimated 30,000 children and adults are diagnosed with life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia, for which a marrow or blood stem cell transplant can be a cure. Of this total, nearly 70 percent will not find a suitable donor in their family.
Because the characteristics of marrow and blood stem cells are inherited, like hair or eye color, a person is more likely to find a suitable match within his or her own ethnic community. Since African-Americans, Hispanics and other minorities under-represented on donor registry lists, minority patients are less likely to find donor matches outside their families.
Minority groups comprise about 25 percent of GM's hourly U.S. workforce. With the LifeMatch initiative taking place at many GM facilities in the U.S., this means that the UAW-GM LifeMatch program has the potential to make a significant impact on minority donor recruitment.
"Coming forward as a volunteer donor is a powerful and personal way to join the battle against blood-related cancers," said GM Cancer Research Foundation Chairman Harry J. Pearce. Chairman of Hughes Electronics Corporation, Pearce, a bone marrow recipient and chairman of The Marrow Foundation, a partner of the NMDP, challenged other corporations to join the cause by including marrow screenings any time they sponsor a health fair or a blood drive.
"UAW-GM people have a longstanding tradition of helping to make a positive impact on people's lives across America," said UAW Vice President Richard Shoemaker, who directs the union's General Motors Department. "I'm confident we can bring that same success to the LifeMatch program."
About General Motors General Motors , the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, designs, builds and markets cars and trucks worldwide. In 2001, GM earned $1.5 billion on sales of $177.3 billion, excluding special items. It employs about 359,000 people globally.
GM has been the world's automotive sales leader since 1931. In 2001, GM set industry sales records in the United States - its largest market - for total trucks and for sport utility vehicles. GM sold more than 1 million SUVs - a first for any automaker. GM also sold more full-size pickup trucks than any other manufacturer since 1978.
GM also operates one of the world's largest and most successful financial services companies, GMAC, which offers automotive, mortgage and business financing and insurance services to customers worldwide.
More information on General Motors can be found at www.gm.com.
About Hughes HUGHES is the world's leading provider of digital television entertainment, broadband services, satellite-based private business networks and global video and data broadcasting. The earnings of HUGHES, a unit of General Motors Corporation, are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to the General Motors Class H common stock . Visit HUGHES on the World Wide Web at www.hughes.com.
About the UAW The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) is one of the largest and most diverse unions in North America, with members in virtually every sector of the economy. The union has approximately 740,000 members and over 500,000 retired members in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The UAW represents 130,000 hourly and salaried workers at General Motors.
More information on the UAW can be found at www.uaw.org.