Posts tagged General Motors
Alabama Mercedes Benz plant workers file for union election, UAW says
April 9, 2024 // Union officials have claimed in filings to federal regulators that some automakers are retaliating against workers or encumbering their attempts to organize. The labor group on Wednesday filed charges against Mercedes for violating Germany’s new law on global supply chain practices, which prohibits German companies from disregarding workers’ rights to form trade unions. The company responded to some of the union's charges, saying they are inaccurate. It also said the company recognizes its employees' rights to organize.
Seeking to defy history, the UAW is coming closer to unionizing in the South
April 7, 2024 // Southern politicians have offered their own biting criticism of this latest UAW push, framing their opposition as a move to protect jobs. "Alabama has become a national leader in automotive manufacturing, and all this was achieved without a unionized workforce," wrote Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in an op-ed for the Alabama Department of Commerce. "Make no mistake about it: These are out-of-state special interest groups, and their special interests do not include Alabama or the men and women earning a career in Alabama's automotive industry."
Minnesota unions plan to wage simultaneous strikes
March 8, 2024 // Nearly 10,000 workers from a coalition of separate unions, working for a diverse group of employers, are planning a series of coordinated strikes in Minnesota this week and next. Their aim: Exert leverage at the bargaining table.
Op-ed: A right-to-work repeal warning from Michigan
February 29, 2024 // Yet Michigan should be a warning, not a beacon for other states. Evidence shows that reversing right-to-work is bad for workers, businesses, local economies, and even unions themselves. Michigan has already lost out on two major new plants from General Motors and Stellantis (Chrysler’s parent), which recently chose to invest across the state line in right-to-work Indiana. Michigan’s pain is Indiana’s gain. Approximately 150,000 Michigan employees have voluntarily left their unions since 2013. They will now be forced to pay their unions around $1,000 in annual dues, an especially painful tax given the current cost-of-living crisis.
Strike Looms: Marathon Petroleum Workers in Detroit Vote to Authorize Walkout, Union Reports
February 20, 2024 // There are 273 Teamsters working at the refinery in a variety of roles, the union said, adding that their most recent contract expired last month. "If Marathon won't offer the Teamsters whose labor makes them profitable a fair contract, workers are going to withhold their labor," said Steve Hicks, President of Local 283. The refinery has a crude oil refining capacity of 140,000 barrels per day and processes sweet and heavy sour crude oils into products such as gasoline and distillates.
Ford CEO says company will rethink where it builds vehicles after last year’s autoworkers strike
February 15, 2024 // Ford’s highly profitable factory in Louisville, Kentucky, was the first truck plant that the UAW shut down with a strike. “Our reliance on the UAW turned out to be we were the first truck plant to be shut down,” Farley told the conference. “Really our relationship has changed. It’s been a watershed moment for the company. Does this have business impact? Yes.”
Commentary: Biden Administration’s New Investments in Electric Vehicle and Battery Production Could Benefit Black Americans
February 2, 2024 // While some have suggested that transitioning to EVs would necessitate lower pay and standards for auto workers, the UAW’s gains to the contrary show how the Biden administration’s clean energy plan is actually increasing the leverage of U.S. autoworkers and helping them retain or regain a foothold in America’s middle class. These new investments and labor protections demonstrate significant progress for American workers and the auto industry relative to 2017 through 2020, which saw multiple U.S.-based auto plants close. What’s more, in U.S. history, 2023 marked the lowest annual unemployment rate for Black Americans. The strong labor market in Black communities makes it all the more crucial for automakers to invest in skills training, outreach, and their workforces in order to find and retain the requisite talent to fill the tens of thousands of new jobs created by these investments. If they do so, and efforts by the far-right to water down or repeal the Inflation Reduction Act are defeated, there is ample reason for optimism that ballooning investments in EV and battery production in Black communities will help sustain the strong labor market for Black Americans in the months and years ahead.
Workers at Alabama Hyundai plant announce union as UAW drives deeper into Southeast
February 2, 2024 // Thirty percent of the workers at the sole Hyundai plant in the U.S., in Alabama, have joined the United Auto Workers (UAW). The announcement marks the third such public union drive at an automaker in the Southeast.
Dem Demands On Automakers Could Backfire On Their Own Climate Agenda And Americans’ Wallets, Experts Say
January 17, 2024 // “EV cars require fewer workers to build,” Higgins told the DCNF, noting that greater union membership in the auto industry is probably not possible with a corresponding transition to EVs. “That’s just a fact. But that may not matter as much as you might think to the UAW. Believe it or not, only about 150,000 of the UAW’s 400,000 or so members actually work for Detroit automakers. The union has branched out into other areas, such as education, and those areas are growing… So fewer auto workers will hurt the union but not kill it.”