Posts tagged automakers
Writers, UAW, UPS strikes: Impact on economy
September 22, 2023 // U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Neil Bradley broke down what he referred to as "the summer of strikes." Bradley said, "You have these unrealistic, almost excessive demands on the part of union leadership across a whole host of industry that could ultimately be destabilizing for the entire economy."
UAW locals get marching orders for strike against Big Three
September 14, 2023 // At 10 p.m. on Thursday, UAW President Shawn Fain announced three locals were selected to start the strike at midnight. Those locals represent Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and General Motors Wentzville Assembly Center in Missouri. For the first time in union history all three companies came to the UAW’s Solidarity House downtown Detroit, Fain said. All three automakers have made multiple counteroffers but none of been accepted. Fain says the companies were slow to come to the table at the beginning of negotiations.
UAW workers could begin striking this week. Here’s what we know about negotiations.
September 12, 2023 //
Biden takes shot at Trump on jobs in battleground Pennsylvania
September 5, 2023 // A Reuters/Ipsos poll last month showed that the economy, unemployment and jobs remained Americans' top concern. A full 60% of Americans, including one in three Democrats, said they disapproved of Biden's handling of inflation, according to the poll. The Fed's preferred inflation gauge has moved down to 3.3%, from its peak of 7% last summer. Although the decline was a "welcome development," Fed Chair Jerome Powell said late last month, inflation "remains too high" and interest rates may need to move higher. Republicans and some economists say Democratic policies helped spark the rise in prices, making Americans pay more for rent, groceries and gasoline under Biden's watch. Economists say inflation was also stoked by the lifting of COVID-era restrictions and revival of business activity that followed.
Canadian union Unifor names Ford as bargaining target among Detroit Three
September 1, 2023 // Unifor's choice could be a boost for Ford, giving the automaker an opportunity to tailor terms of the agreement to its advantage. "We have maintained open communication with the UAW ... but we have our own priorities in Canada," Payne told a press conference.
Biden Names Veteran Union Official as Labor Policy Adviser
August 22, 2023 // Danaher until last Friday served as labor policy adviser at the Transportation Department, consulting with Secretary Pete Buttigieg on recent labor negotiations critical to supply chains involving freight railroads, West Coast ports and talks between United Parcel Service Inc. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. He also served on the administration’s supply-chain task force. “Brendan has been a trusted adviser to me and our entire Department during our ongoing work to help transportation workers secure the wages, benefits, and safe conditions they deserve,” Buttigieg said in a statement. Before joining the Biden administration, Danaher worked for two decades at a number of labor organizations including the AFL-CIO, Transport Workers Union and the American Federation of Government Employees.
New UAW Leader Already Has Issues With Detroit Automakers
April 25, 2023 // Speaking to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, Fain said members are demanding that the union win back cost-of-living pay raises and pensions they lost, and the elimination of tiers of workers who are paid differently but do the same jobs. They also want assurances that good-paying union jobs will be preserved as the companies transition from gasoline-powered vehicles to those that run on electricity. Auto companies, he said, have made billions over the last decade but workers haven’t gotten their fair share since the companies got into financial trouble in 2009. “I want to work with the companies. I want to have a good relationship,” Fain said. “But if they’re not going to treat our members with respect and not give them their due, then we’re going to have issues.”
The president of the United Auto Workers union has been ousted in an election
March 27, 2023 // A court-appointed monitor declared challenger Shawn Fain the winner over incumbent Ray Curry. Fain's slate of candidates won control of the big union, as workers rejected most incumbents in the wake of a bribery and embezzlement scandal It was the 372,000-member union's first direct election of its 14-member International Executive Board, which came in the wake of the wide-ranging scandal that landed two former presidents in prison. The vote count had been going on since March 1, and the outcome was uncertain going into Saturday because of challenges against several hundred ballots.
UAW Election Results Delayed to “Challenged” Ballots
March 7, 2023 // The outcome will be decided by 1,608 “challenged ballots.” The court-appointed monitor is determining whether the challenged ballots come from eligible voters. In many cases, the voters never included the number of their Local Union on the ballot. In other cases, the elections officer appointed by the monitor was unable to determine if the voter appeared on a list of a local union’s list of active or retired members, observers said. “The independent monitor is continuing to conduct the vote count process. No outcome has been determined,” the Curry Solidarity Team said in a Facebook post. “This is a process that make take a while,” Members United noted. So far, the elections officer has counted 137,591 votes and Fain, boosted by the fallout from a scandal, is leading by 645 votes, according to the unofficial results compiled by the monitor, who was appointed in the wake of the recent scandal during which a dozen union officials were sent to prison.
Union membership grows the fastest of any state in Tennessee over the past two years
January 24, 2023 // The number of Tennessee workers belonging to labor unions has grown over the past two years at the fastest rate of any state in the country. Fueled by a growth in unionized government employees, building trades and autoworkers, union membership in Tennessee jumped by more than 39% from the pandemic low in 2020 to reach 163,000 members last year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. For all its gains, however, organized labor still represents only a fraction of workers in Tennessee, especially in the private sector. Last year, 5.5% of all workers across Tennessee were union members, or only about half of the 10.1% share of workers nationwide who belong to a labor union, according to the statistics bureau.