Posts tagged automakers
Workers at new GM joint venture EV battery plant vote to join union
December 12, 2022 // Barra said Thursday that UAW representation at the Ultium Cells plants does not automatically mean the joint venture faces a cost disadvantage against nonunion competitors. But she said, "We've got to be competitive. We don't have a right to exist. We've got to be competitive to have a company and go forward. We have that conversation with employees on the floor and they get it."
United Auto Workers Appear to Rebuke Leaders in First Vote by Members
December 5, 2022 // Insurgent candidates showed strength, citing corruption scandals and calling for a tougher bargaining approach. The union president seems headed for a runoff. The first United Auto Workers election open to all members appears to have produced a wave of opposition to the established leadership, signaling the prospect of sweeping changes for a union tarnished by a series of corruption scandals. As the count neared completion on Friday, the current president, Ray Curry, was in a close contest with an insurgent challenger, Shawn Fain, with each getting slightly under 40 percent. The remaining votes were scattered among three dark-horse candidates. If those results are confirmed by a court-appointed monitor overseeing the count, Mr. Fain and Mr. Curry will head for a runoff election in January.
UAW ballots to be mailed out this week for direct elections of top leaders
October 20, 2022 // More than 900,000 members were slated to receive their ballots in the first batch of mailings that began Monday, according to a representative for the UAW’s independent monitor in response to questions from the Free Press. Additional mailings to another 100,000 members are planned over the next few days, followed by more ballot distributions on Monday and Nov. 11. Those additional mailings will include members who have become active or joined the union in recent weeks, according to the monitor's office. The monitor, former assistant U.S. attorney Neil Barofsky, was picked to oversee the union and the election process as part of an agreement between the federal government and the union in connection with the union's corruption scandal.
Next up for US unions: Major contracts for 700,000 workers
September 20, 2022 // Each of these unions seek not only lucrative contracts but significant changes in work rules and assurances of job security that could make it difficult to avoid work stoppages.
The Motor City is moving south as EVs change the automotive industry
August 15, 2022 // Detroit is the city that “put the world on wheels,” but it’s towns like Spring Hill and others in neighboring states that are attracting the most investments from automakers in recent years, as production priorities shift to a battery-powered future with electric vehicles. Companies more than ever want to build EVs where they sell them, because the vehicles are far heavier and more cumbersome to ship than traditional models with internal combustion engines. They also want facilities for battery production to be close by to avoid supply chain and logistics problems. SPRING HILL, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota, Hyundai Motor, Rivian Automotive, workforce, supply chain and logistics, lowest electricity prices,
UAW members challenge Ray Curry for union presidency
July 5, 2022 // Instituting direct elections of United Auto Workers' international officials is leading some members to step up and challenge President Ray Curry to the union's top role, even from within Solidarity House. Passage last year of the "one member, one vote" system by a referendum vote of the membership was brought on by a years-long corruption scandal, implicating 17 people, including two former UAW presidents. It's setting up a historic leadership selection process ahead of next year's critical contract negotiations with the Detroit Three automakers as their transition to electrification increasingly affects shop floors and as the union covers an increasingly diverse swath of members. court-appointed UAW monitor, Reuther or Administrative Caucus, pension and retirement health-care benefits, socialist,
“Nonunion drivers are getting paid better than us:” Car haul truckers in US determined to strike Tuesday night
May 31, 2022 // We had a lot of guys leave because it’s better pay everywhere else. But there are perks to the union and that’s why I’m still here; the union is a family, but we got to get this pay right. “All of the other drivers who are nonunion are getting paid better.” Referring to the so-called Teamsters reformers in charge of the union, including new president Sean O’Brien, he said: “We are not elevating the appropriate people.
UAW Vice President Estrada, head of Stellantis department, to retire
March 9, 2022 // "As I complete my term, I will continue my work on strategic national organizing campaigns in the EV sector to demand that new EV work be union built and existing members in the traditional technologies are not abandoned," Estrada wrote. "The new economy must create good union jobs, racial justice, benefit the communities and protect our planet."