Posts tagged electric vehicle
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.
Tennessee for Worker Freedom Companies that get subsidies couldn’t bar secret ballots in union organizing elections.
February 22, 2023 // It would be better if states didn’t pick winners and losers with taxpayer dollars. While Tennessee doesn’t have a personal income tax, it imposes a 6.5% corporate tax rate plus a gross receipts tax, which make the state less attractive to businesses relative to others in the Sun Belt. Mr. Sexton says he also wants to cut the corporate tax rate, which is good to hear. But if states are going to give businesses handouts, it makes sense to condition them on respecting worker rights. Competition among states is heating up. Kudos to Tennessee Republicans for seeking to make their state friendlier to workers as well as business.
As Federal Cash Flows to Unions, Democrats Hope to Reap the Rewards
February 13, 2023 // In places like West Virginia, money from three major laws passed by Congress is pouring into the alternative energy industry and other projects. “I think it’s a renaissance for the labor movement,” said one union official. Beyond the inflation act, Democrats, with help from a few Republicans, were able to add prevailing wage requirements to the semiconductor bill. And both the Energy and Transportation Departments are making clear that access to unions, payment of prevailing wages and commitments to local hiring will be big advantages for competitive bidders seeking infrastructure and highway electrification projects, though Republican governors like Joe Lombardo in Nevada are trying to block some of those requirements.
GM and LG Energy Solution Give Up on Fourth Joint Battery Plant in the U.S.
January 23, 2023 // GM already has one Ultium plant working in Lordstown, Ohio, and is building two others with LGES: one in Michigan and the other in Tennessee. When the United Auto Workers (UAW) decided to organize the Lordstown plant, the automaker was willing to accept a “card check” process, which would only depend on more than half of the workers wanting to unionize. LGES has one more person on Ultium’s board and refused to follow this faster process. That forced an election process that UAW won anyway. In other words, Ultium only wasted time with something the South Korean supplier may have believed it could avoid.
Reuters Analysis: Biden’s climate agenda has a problem in not enough workers
January 17, 2023 // The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law last year, provides for an estimated $370 billion in solar, wind and electric vehicle subsidies, according to the White House. Starting Jan. 1, American consumers can take advantage of those tax credits to upgrade home heating systems or put solar panels on their roofs. Those investments will create nearly 537,000 jobs a year for a decade, according to an analysis by BW Research commissioned by The Nature Conservancy.
Stellantis has blamed rising EV costs for idling an Illinois plant that makes Jeep Cherokee
December 14, 2022 // Stellantis said it issued WARN notices to both hourly and salaried employees. This refers to the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act), which requires employers with more than 100 employees to provide 60 days’ advance written notice prior to a mass layoff that is expected to affect at least 50 employees at any single site.
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."
Voting opens in key UAW test to organize U.S. battery plants
December 8, 2022 // Workers begin two days of voting on Wednesday to decide whether to unionize at a General Motors (GM.N)-LG Energy (373220.KS) battery cell manufacturing joint venture in Ohio. Workers at an Ultium Cells plant near Cleveland are voting on Wednesday and Thursday after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union petitioned to represent about 900 workers. Results of the election overseen by the National Labor Relations Board are expected on Friday. Last week, GM CEO Mary Barra told Bloomberg TV the company is "very supportive of the plant being unionized ... The employees are going to be voting, but we’re very supportive." In a trip to South Korea in May, President Joe Biden expressed support for workers seeking to unionize JV battery plants. The Detroit Three automakers all have battery plants in the works with South Korean partners.
Workers to vote on unionizing at new Ohio GM-LG battery plant
November 28, 2022 // Workers at Ultium Cells LLC in Warren, Ohio, will vote on 7th and 8th December after the United Auto Workers (UAW) petitioned to represent about 900 workers, said the National Labor Relations Board. The vote is a crucial test of the ability of the UAW to organize workers in the growing electric vehicle (EV) supply chain, and came after most employees signed cards authorizing the union to represent them.