SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP (SKBU)

FOR RELEASE: April 10, 2002

United Auto Workers And General Motors Sponsored Child Passenger Safety Program Reaches New Milestone

250,000 Seats Inspected

WASHINGTON, D.C. - SAFE KIDS BUCKLE UP (SKBU) -- the nation's leading private sector child passenger safety program -- announced today that it has checked the installation of 250,000 child safety seats in communities across the nation.

The milestone will be celebrated today (4:30 p.m. at Jordan's Restaurant, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW) at an event that will also include the unveiling of one of 30 new mobile child passenger safety check-up vans that will be placed in service in the near future as part of the SKBU program.

SKBU is a multimillion-dollar program that began in 1996. It is a partnership between the UAW-GM Center for Human Resources, General Motors Corporation and the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.

Since 1996, more than $25 million has been donated to the SKBU program to address the critical issue of child passenger safety. In addition to the 250,000 child safety seats checked, the SKBU program has held more than 6,200 child safety seat checkup events, donated more than 162,000 child safety seats, and sponsored nearly 700 GM dealership educational workshops. In 1999, SKBU introduced the nation's first-ever fleet of mobile car seat checkup vans -- fifty-one vans are deployed nationwide (one for each state and the District of Columbia).

Last year, the UAW and GM recommitted their support of SKBU by agreeing to fund child safety seat donations for low-income families and at-risk children, establishing 30 new permanent child safety seat inspection stations, and placing 30 new mobile child passenger safety check-up vans in communities across the country.

SKBU also provides bilingual educational materials, a public service campaign, a toll-free hotline (800-441-1888) and millions of dollars in local grants to allow SAFE KIDS coalitions to take this most important service to the public. Additional child safety seats have been donated to families in need through a distribution program with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Council of La Raza.

Each year, nearly 1,700 children die and nearly 250,000 are injured as occupants of motor vehicles. Child safety seats are extremely effective when properly used and installed, reducing the risk of death by up to 71 percent.

Scheduled to be on hand for the SKBU celebration are: Cindy Suemnick, UAW International health and safety coordinator; Larry Knox, co-executive director, GM, UAW-GM Center for Human Resources; Marion Blakey, chairman, National Transportation Safety Board; Annette Sandberg, deputy administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Robert Lange, executive director, structure & safety integration, General Motors; Martin Eichelberger, president, National SAFE KIDS Campaign and Heather Paul, executive director, the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.

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.

General Motors operates 78 plants in the U.S. and employs 185,000 hourly and salaried workers in the U.S. GM is the world's largest vehicle manufacturer, assembling cars and trucks in the United States under the following brands: Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, GMC, Saturn, and HUMMER.

The UAW-GM Center for Human Resources (CHR) was jointly established in 1984 to meet the education and training needs of UAW-represented workers at General Motors. The Center has become one of the world's largest privately operated training centers, serving the needs of over 130,000 UAW active and retired employees of General Motors. From its headquarters in Detroit, Michigan, the Center offers a wide variety of programs addressing: occupational health and safety and wellness, skill development and education, work-family issues, product quality, and programs that benefit the communities in which UAW members and retirees work and reside.

The National SAFE KIDS Campaign is the first and only national nonprofit organization dedicated solely to the prevention of unintentional childhood injury - the number one killer of children ages 14 and under. Three hundred state and local SAFE KIDS coalitions in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico comprise the Campaign. Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc.D., is chairman of the Campaign.