Posts tagged Big Three Automakers
Op-ed: In the wake of the UAW strike, automakers and workers should move to a state that values them
October 23, 2023 // The “us vs. them” mentality of the UAW has created an antagonistic relationship between workers and the automakers’ management, leading to outrageous demands that aren’t in their members’ best interests. Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis will not survive if they have to pay people not to work or offer outdated retirement plans that lead to bankruptcy. Workers deserve better than this. They deserve to have a collaborative relationship with automakers — the kind that leads to both higher wages for workers and stronger competitiveness for companies. That’s why more automakers should look to expand and hire in Tennessee, where we put worker freedom first.
Union Pacific seeks to rework some contracts; flags hit from UAW strike
October 20, 2023 // Union Pacific reported a smaller-than-expected drop in earnings per share to $2.51, according to LSEG data. Profit in the quarter was pressured by a 3% drop in freight volumes as elevated inflation and higher borrowing costs kept consumer demand for goods subdued and a jump in labor costs from efforts to improve services. Its operating ratio, a key metric that indicates operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, rose to 63.4% from 59.9% a year earlier. The ratio has risen over the last six quarters. "I won't sugarcoat our financials. Things cost more to make and to move, and people are buying less of them," Vena said in a letter to employees.
UAW members grow weary five weeks into strike, supply starts to thin
October 20, 2023 // Fletcher says workers are waiting for Ford and Stellantis to put all Electric Vehicle battery production in a UAW agreement similar to what GM pledged to do two weeks ago. But he said he feels Ford has given them a good enough offer he can live with. "Like I tell all these young guys – they’re wanting the moon and the stars – take what you can get before you lose what you got," he said. Experts in the auto industry are saying the strike has prompted a widening shortage of midsize trucks, which were already in short supply when the strike began in mid-September.
Ford lays off another 150 workers citing UAW strike
October 20, 2023 // Ford Motor (F.N) said late on Wednesday it is laying off another 150 workers in Michigan because of the ongoing United Auto Workers strike, bringing the total to 2,730 workers furloughed. Ford said the UAW's walkout last week at its Kentucky Truck Plant prompted the new layoffs at a Michigan axle plant. Another 16,600 Ford employees are on strike at three assembly plants, including Kentucky Truck, the company's largest plant worldwide.
More than 330K striking Americans help unions flex power
October 19, 2023 // More than 330,000 American workers — from Hollywood actors to medical technicians — have participated in strikes since the start of September, according to Cornell University's labor tracker. Why it matters: Labor unions enjoying their highest approval ratings in generations are deploying hardball tactics in far-reaching sectors of the economy.
Ford says it is ‘at the limit’ with UAW contract offer
October 13, 2023 // Ford officials said on Thursday that cutting a deal that does not allow the company to survive makes no sense and that striking the Kentucky truck plant would also hurt the UAW's profit-sharing checks. In a sign of the strike's expanding impact, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) said on Thursday it is feeling a pinch from the automotive and entertainment labor strikes. Delta President Glen Hauenstein said the UAW strike has curtailed a "significant" amount of business in Detroit. Automakers have more than doubled initial wage hike offers, agreed to raise wages along with inflation and improved pay for temporary workers, but the union wants higher wages still, the abolishment of a two-tier wage system and the expansion of unions to battery plants. The UAW has room to expand its walkouts and increase the pressure on the Detroit Three to offer bigger wage gains, richer retirement packages and more assurances that new electric vehicle battery plants will be unionized.
Donations needed for striking UAW workers as contract talks remain active
October 13, 2023 // Members of UAW Local 900, which was among the first to go on strike, have received their first check from the union's strike fund. But there's only so much $500 a week can cover. Besides the food boxes donated by United Way, items at the makeshift pantry inside Local 900's hall help them get by until the next check. "We're constantly replenishing. So what you see on the table can disappear by the end of the day or the middle of the day," said Ebony Kennedy, the community service chair for UAW Local 900. They need diapers, wipes, pull-ups of all sizes, toiletries, paper towels, toilet tissue, body wash, personal hygiene products, and cough medicine.
UAW president stoking members’ anger against auto executives
October 12, 2023 //
Auto workers escalate strike as 8,700 workers walk out at Ford Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville
October 11, 2023 // UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that the union has waited long enough “but Ford hasn’t gotten the message” to bargain for a fair contract. “If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it,” Fain said.
Musk May Face Someone Else Who’s Ready for a Cage Fight
October 10, 2023 // The long-running decline in union membership mirrors the decline in Detroit’s share of the US vehicle market. That was 90% during the industry’s, and organized labor’s, 1960s heyday. By the time of the debacle of 2009, it had fallen to about 50%. Now it’s closer to 40%. As Kevin Tynan, automotive analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, points out, the Big Three have effectively downsized by ditching cheaper models and focusing on higher-priced trucks and SUVs to chase profits. As they attempt to open up a new avenue of growth, EVs, they are confronted with big near-term costs that higher pay settlements will exacerbate. “The UAW must broaden its view if it is going to increase its membership,” says Tynan, adding “they have to stop only going back to GM, Ford and Stellantis. There is no more blood in those stones.” The UAW has been aware of this for some time, which is why it targeted foreign automakers’ factories — so called “transplants” — and Tesla itself at various points over the past decade. Such effort has been largely in vain. Tesla, meanwhile, has become profitable at scale only recently. The company’s identity as a disruptive newcomer, with plants far from the UAW’s heartland around the Great Lakes, is another barrier. It is harder to entice workers into a union when their employer is hiring at breakneck speed rather than shedding thousands of jobs. Tesla has also pushed back aggressively against unionization, as those NLRB rulings attest (Tesla is appealing several of these).