Posts tagged Missouri
Cannabis workers across Missouri begin push to unionize dispensaries
December 11, 2023 // One of the things that draws people to the industry is the camaraderie among employees who are passionate about cannabis, Shannon said. And that’s also what makes it the perfect breeding ground for organizing. “Cannabis workers are the right community,” he said. “This is a tight-knit community that takes care of each other. They’re already learning that … having a union backing you up, it’s the only way to truly make a difference. I’ve been telling people, ‘Wait till you feel that contract high.’”
Kansas City is quickly becoming the hub for a Half Price Books union effort
November 27, 2023 // Employees at Westport's Half Price Books voted to unionize on Nov. 17. Overland Park employees unionized in July. If workers at the Olathe store vote to unionize later this month, Half Price Books Workers United will have organized about 10% of the company. Twelve workers at Kansas City’s Half Price Books in Westport unanimously won a Nov. 17 vote to unionize, making them the 11th unionized store in the country.
GM secures new $6 billion credit line as UAW strike costs reach $200 million
October 5, 2023 // General Motors secured a new $6 billion line of credit as the automaker braces for additional strikes by the United Auto Workers union. The targeted strikes have already cost the automaker $200 million during the third quarter, GM said Wednesday. The new line of credit is “prudent” to bolstering GM’s balance sheet amid expectations that the union may expand and prolong strikes against the company, GM CFO Paul Jacobson said.
Ford makes new offer in US labor dispute, GM furloughs more workers
October 4, 2023 // The UAW declined comment Tuesday on Ford's new offer. The UAW said on Monday it presented a new contract offer to General Motors (GM.N). GM said despite the offer "significant gaps remain." The UAW also held a new round of bargaining with Chrysler-parent Stellantis (STLAM.MI) Monday. Earlier Tuesday, GM said it furloughed 163 UAW workers at GM’s Toledo Propulsion Systems plant that makes transmissions for both the automaker's Missouri and Lansing Delta Township assembly plants that are on strike.
Big Three automakers idle thousands of workers as UAW strike rages on
October 4, 2023 // Ford Motor on Monday furloughed 330 workers in Chicago and Lima, Ohio, adding to the 600 workers the automaker laid off last month at an assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan. General Motors, which on Tuesday reported a 21% increase in sales for its third-quarter earnings, has laid off more than 2,100 workers across four states. Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) has idled nearly 370 workers, Reuters reported, including 68 workers in Perrysburg, Ohio.
23 American Industries With the Highest Union Membership Today
September 29, 2023 // The most highly unionized U.S. sector is educational services, where nearly 30% of workers are union members and one in three workers are covered by union representation. This includes nearly 3.5 million of the country’s 9 million elementary and secondary school teachers who are part of organized labor. Public administration is the second-most unionized industry with about 28% union membership. For example, about 41% of the nearly 2.8 million workers involved in justice, public order, and safety activities — a category that includes police officers and firefighters — carry union cards. In third place: One out of five transportation and warehousing workers are union members.
How state unemployment benefits impact the UAW strike
September 27, 2023 // "We were very confused if we were going to get (strike pay) or not," Halle Heinz, one of the Ford employees laid off, told WXYZ-TV in Detroit. "They were trying to hold as much strike pay as they could in order to make everything survive." Under Michigan law, UAW workers generally won't qualify for unemployment if they get laid off because of a labor dispute involving other workers at the same worksite, Brett Miller, an attorney specializing in labor law for Butzel in Detroit, tells Axios. UAW's Ohio and Indiana director is also navigating murky waters when it comes to unemployment. "It's clear as mud," UAW Region 2B director David Green told Crain's Cleveland Business. "I don't want to say all our members are going to get unemployment, because that's not going to happen." Disputes over unemployment benefits could end up in court, he said.
UAW widens strike against GM and Stellantis but not Ford
September 24, 2023 // GM called the strike escalation “unnecessary” and accused union leaders of “manipulating the bargaining process for their own personal agendas.” “We have now presented five separate economic proposals that are historic,” the company said. The 20 percent raise in its latest offer would boost 85 percent of GM’s UAW workforce to base-wage earnings of $82,000 a year by the end of the contract, the company said this week. It is also offering two weeks of paid parental leave and other perks. Stellantis said it submitted a new offer to the UAW on Thursday but has not received a reply. It said its 20 percent wage increase offer would boost all its full-time UAW workers to earnings of $80,000 to $96,000 annually by the end of the contract. The company questioned “whether the union’s leadership has ever had an interest in reaching an agreement in a timely manner.”
What plants could be targeted next for a strike by the UAW?
September 20, 2023 // David Zoia, an auto expert with Ward's Automotive, believes the next group of plants could include where mid-size SUVs are made. "The GM plant in Lansing where they make the Traverse and Cadillacs, Ford Chicago where they make the Explorer and possibly the Jefferson Assembly in Detroit where they make the Grand Cherokee," Zoia said.