Posts tagged Ford
Beshear calls it the world’s largest EV battery plant, now they want to unionize
February 13, 2025 // The unionization rate in Kentucky has grown the past two years, and with Ford having two organized assembly plants in nearby Louisville, the next UAW victory seems logical in Glendale. “I’m not surprised to see this union organizing drive, and my guess is, the union will be successful when it comes up for a vote, especially if there’s already, shall we say, some misunderstandings about raises and safety,” stated economist Allen. “That’s going to make Ford’s job that much more difficult.” A date will be set by the for a secret-ballot election, and if a majority of workers vote in favor of the union, the next step is negotiating a contract for what will become the 10th largest manufacturing site in the world.
Right-to-work facts vs. myths
February 12, 2025 // What’s become evident over the decades is that right-to-work laws are associated with statistically significant gains in employment, particularly manufacturing employment, job opportunities, population growth and economic growth. If New Hampshire adopts a right-to-work law, we would expect to see improvements in all of those areas, along with an improvement in state business tax revenues resulting from the additional business activity. As for freedom vs. coercion, workers have First Amendment rights not to associate with or fund membership organizations that they choose not to join. If workers want to join unions, they should be free to do so.
The value of union strikes under Trump
January 29, 2025 // Like the UAW strikes, media coverage celebrated the strikes, but the impact appears nonexistent. The Starbucks rolling strike lasted a handful of days and only affected 300 stores and 5,000 employees — a miniscule percentage of Starbucks’ 10,000-plus stores and almost 200,000 workers. The Amazon strike impacted less than 10 of Amazon’s more than 100 locations, and workers generally continued working.
GM profit sharing: Here’s the record amount UAW members will get for 2024
January 28, 2025 // The previous record of up to $12,750 for about 42,300 eligible hourly employees was set in 2023. Last year, GM paid roughly 45,000 workers up to $12,250. United Auto Workers Vice President Mike Booth said in a letter to members the payments would be distributed on Feb. 28. The payouts will amount to $640 million in cost for the company, GM CEO Mary Barra said in a letter to shareholders.
Michigan University Hospital, union feud over parking spots
January 28, 2025 // Labor unions typically bargain on behalf of employees over paid time off, worker pay and workplace conditions. But unions and employers also fight over unconventional issues such as the price of vending machine food and how many criminal offenses a teacher may have and stay on the job. Nurses prevailed last month in a struggle over parking lot protocols. The University of Michigan altered employee parking arrangements to create more spaces for patients. The Michigan Nurses Association in 2019 demanded that the university make more parking spaces available for nurses and requested to bargain over the issue.
UAW scores supermajority at BlueOval SK in 2025’s first big labor win
January 27, 2025 // The supermajority vote by workers at BlueOval SK occurred after attending a town hall-style meeting in Elizabethtown, Kentucky with UAW members from Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio last month. The Lordstown Ultium plant makes battery cells for GM and Honda electric vehicles and, like the BlueOval SK (BOSK) project, is a joint venture between one of the Detroit 3 and a Korean battery brand (in the case of Ultium, GM and LG; in the case of BlueOval SK, Ford and SK On).
Shawn Fain was Kamala Harris’ most forceful union backer. It could cost him his job
December 30, 2024 // United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain was one of the most prominent union leaders backing Vice President Kamala Harris in this year’s US presidential election and one of the harshest critics of Donald Trump while on the campaign trail. And because of that, he’ll have a powerful enemy when Trump takes back the White House on January 20.
A year later, where does the UAW’s southern organizing campaign stand?
December 11, 2024 // That's where many auto manufacturers, both foreign and domestic, are locating their plants in recent years, and that trend will continue if it means automakers can pay less for labor. In 2023, the UAW's membership shrunk to about 370,000 members, the lowest number since the Great Recession. "The rule in labor organizing is, you have to organize the critical labor market," Schurman said. But the UAW also must prepare to play the long game, even if it means losing elections on the initial try.
The UAW’s strike on General Motors might haunt workers
December 4, 2024 // The United Auto Workers at General Motors received a 33% pay raise as a result of last year’s strike, but GM announced another round of layoffs on Nov. 15. GM laid off 1,000 employees worldwide, including 507 workers at its Warren, Michigan, location. The news comes after GM’s tech center in Warren lost 634 jobs in August, and the company cut 1,314 jobs from its Orion plant in December, two months after the strike ended.
UAW says majority of workers at Ford joint-venture battery plant sign union cards
November 22, 2024 // The UAW said a "supermajority" of workers at the Ford Kentucky battery plant had signed union cards indicating their support. It did not specify the percentage. "We want to maintain a direct relationship with our employees," BlueOval SK Human Resources Director Neva Burke said in a statement. Ford directed Reuters to BlueOval SK for comment.