Posts tagged electric vehicle
GM Battery Plant Could End UAW’s Organizing Drought
November 10, 2022 // The $2.3 billion Ultium Cells plant in Northeast Ohio is critical to GM’s battery-electric-vehicle offensive, which is in danger of falling behind schedule because the automaker cannot get enough batteries to power its growing fleet of BEVs. A majority of Ultium workers have signed cards authorizing the UAW to represent them, union President Ray Curry says. The UAW has filed a petition with the Cleveland office of the National Labor Relations Board calling for an election establishing the union as the workers’ bargaining agent. Ultium Cells rejected the UAW’s request for voluntary recognition and said it would prefer a recognition election. So far there is no sign Ultium Cells and its management team, which includes several former GM employees, is preparing to run an anti-UAW campaign in the plant, Russo says.
For GM auto union workers, there’s still a lot to learn about making EVs
October 17, 2022 // As the reskilling of UAW workers continues during the Big Three automakers’ steady migration to EVs, there’s a related issue that concerns the union. Because there are fewer parts in EVs than in ICE vehicles, Volkswagen Group’s then-CEO Herbert Diess said in 2019, building an EV requires about 30% less effort, which means cutting jobs. While that figure has been repeated by other executives and researchers, there has been no empirical study to support the assertion. For its part, the UAW continues to study the matter and remains vigilant. The UAW’s current contracts with GM, Ford and Stellantis (formerly Fiat Chrysler), ratified in September 2019, help protect workers at assembly plants like Orion that switch from ICE to EV production. Essentially, the UAW and each of the companies negotiate to bring massive EV-related investments into current UAW-represented facilities to preserve jobs at those locations and offer reskilling opportunities.
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.
Stellantis CEO: ‘We have zero problem with unions’ at battery plants
September 15, 2022 // Tavares' own comments come after members of UAW Local 1166, which represents employees at Stellantis' Kokomo Casting Plant in Indiana, went on strike for almost three days over a local contract. Workers demanded repairs to the facility's heating and air-conditioning system, paid uniforms and other workplace improvements. They ratified an agreement on Monday. National contracts with both the UAW and Unifor are about a year away from their expiration date. The bargaining will mark the first for Stellantis, formed in the 2021 merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV and French automaker Groupe PSA. FCA last year pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the Labor Management Relations Act, subjecting it to a $30 million fine and three years of labor relations oversight by a court-appointed independent monitor, after three executives were found to have bribed UAW officials. Carlos Tavares, Samsung SDI in Kokomo,
Stellantis engine parts workers go on strike amid shift to EVs
September 12, 2022 // The UAW is worried about protecting jobs at ICE parts factories and wants to ensure that workers who make batteries have union representation and comparable wages and benefits. The walkout is a early sign of the tension between automakers and the union as the industry shifts to electric vehicles. Stellantis and South Korea’s Samsung SDI Co. announced in July they’re investing $2.5 billion to build a battery plant in Kokomo. The union is worried about protecting jobs at combustion-engine parts factories and wants to ensure that workers who make batteries have UAW representation and comparable wages and benefits. UAW Vice President Cindy Estrada, Jeff Schuster, LMC Automotive,
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,
Labor unions run full court press in favor of Democrats $739B Inflation Reduction Act
August 9, 2022 // Labor union bosses have praised the legislation as a big win for their members. The AFL-CIO is particularly pleased with the hundreds of billions of dollars the bill directs to climate-related initiatives. "These provisions dramatically lower the cost of clean energy, positioning the U.S. to make deep carbon emissions reductions while preserving and creating millions of jobs, with an especially big boost to manufacturing," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "Importantly for fairness and diversity, it pushes investment to fossil fuel and underserved communities. While the 'union bonus' incentives we advocated for were not included, the bill retains provisions that strengthen prevailing wage, apprenticeship and domestic content standards throughout."
UAW pushing to get EV battery plants in Michigan to unionize
August 4, 2022 // The United Auto Workers said its future could be in doubt if it doesn’t get these plants unionized. That’s because the Big Three are making a big push for electric vehicles. Detroit’s three automakers already announced plans for seven different battery plants across the country to power the electric vehicles they plan to build. One of those plants is in Lansing. Cindy Estrada, UAW Vice President, The UAW said it has more than 400,000 active members, and that number is expected to drop as companies need fewer traditional engines. Estrada is the one in charge of trying to get plants part of the electric vehicle transition, like the one being built in Delta Township, to join the UAW.
Op-Ed: Ford in bed with UAW over card check campaign
June 13, 2022 // The UAW with its years-long federal corruption trial is desperate for new members and revenue, and eagerly awaits a card check campaign. As we know in Michigan, once the UAW becomes embedded into a facility, they will never allow a recertification vote or any attempt by workers to decertify. Once voted in, workers are stuck with the UAW for generations to come. It will simply be forced upon them as a condition of employment. Over the last couple of decades, autoworkers in the South – when granted their right to a secret ballot – have demonstrated time after time that they are not interested in what the UAW has to offer. Those 11,000 future autoworkers in Kentucky and Tennessee deserve those same rights, freedoms, and protections
UAW president: Membership fell roughly 6% last year
April 4, 2022 //