Posts tagged outsourcing
Union demands answers as Sparrow Lansing outsources 379 jobs
May 29, 2026 // Union members at the University of Michigan Health-Sparrow’s Lansing location are demanding answers after they say the hospital has decided to “outsource” jobs in support and nutrition services. UAW Local 4911 President Kim Wheeler says 379 employees in the Food and Nutritional Services and Support Operations Services, also referred to as Environmental Services, have been affected by the move.
UAW calls off strike authorization vote at Ram truck plant after reaching deal
May 11, 2026 // The Sterling Heights plant that employs about 6,000 union workers is critical for the company as it builds the highly profitable Ram 1500 pickup, one of the automaker's top sellers. The facility has recently been run at full capacity, on "emergency status," to churn out as many pickups as possible and make up for previous production hiccups related to an engine shortage, the union leader said. Spencer previously told The Detroit News that union officials had grown increasingly frustrated over the last year and filed a series of grievances after Stellantis hired outside contractors to do certain work inside the plant, rather than letting the plant's own union-represented skilled tradespeople bid on the jobs. Such projects by workers who include electricians, pipefitters and millwrights might involve repairing a production line, or installing new lights inside the plant.
Trump hails US Steel-Nippon deal, says steelmaker will be ‘controlled by the USA’ — but offers few details
June 1, 2025 // "I have to approve the final deal with Nippon and we haven't seen that final deal yet," Trump told reporters on the tarmac following the Pittsburgh event. "But they've made a very big commitment, and it's a very big investment." In his remarks at the rally, the president said U.S. Steel will maintain all of its current operating blast furnaces at full capacity for a minimum of 10 years.
Union workers at downsizing tractor factory weigh Biden vs. Trump
July 16, 2024 // Trump and his populist strain of protectionist policies such as tariffs on Chinese goods accelerated a drift toward Republicans by unionized workers. A question in this year’s race is whether unions such as the UAW can reverse this migration. “Joe Biden is the most pro-union president in American history, the first president to walk a picket line, the defender of more than 1 million pensions, and a champion for working people over greedy corporations," a Biden campaign spokesperson said. A campaign spokesperson meanwhile said Trump has made "historic gains with longtime Democrat constituencies including African Americans, young people and union workers."
NEA’s Staff Union Is on Strike—Halting NEA’s Biggest Annual Gathering
July 6, 2024 // “We have witnessed excessive, even exorbitant, spending on just the NEA president’s physical appearance. Their failure to provide basic details about outsourcing makes us wonder what else the National Education Association is hiding,” NEA Staff Organization President Robin McLean said in a prepared statement. “For a public-service union that purports to oppose outsourcing members’ work, it is unconscionable that NEA would spend hundreds of millions of NEA member dues on contractors while union-busting and shrinking its staff unions.”
Fury as one of America’s oldest companies slashes jobs in the Midwest as it shifts work to Mexico: ‘It’s greed’
June 30, 2024 // The layoffs come after 10,000 unionized John Deere workers went on strike for five weeks in October 2021. The strikes were among the most prominent during 'Striketober', where thousands of workers from Nabisco, Kellogg's, McDonald's and others walked out for weeks or even months to protest low pay in the wake soaring company profits.
Post Hollywood labor strike, industry members say they are unable to find work
March 19, 2024 // But regular production is far from back. Not-for-profit FilmLA says shoot permits are down by about 10% and shoot days are down by about 12% from this time last year. After a viral post on LinkedIn by producer and writer Patrick Caligiuri detailing his struggles, many industry workers came forward with similar tales of struggling to find jobs.
UAW, Blue Cross leaders reach tentative ‘verbal agreement’ that could end 77-day strike
November 29, 2023 // Phone calls between BCBSM CEO Daniel Loepp and UAW President Shawn Fain over the past several weeks produced a "verbal agreement" between the two leaders towards the establishment of a collective bargaining agreement, Blue Cross said late Tuesday. The tentative agreement includes "significant general wage increases," a $6,500 ratification bonus for Blue Cross Blue Shield employees and a $5,000 ratification bonus for employees of BCBSM's Blue Care Network HMO, according to the UAW." Over the years, we have lost so much work. They've taken our work and given it to outside contractors," Gates said in mid-September when the BCBSM employees went on strike. "At one point we were over 4,000, 5,000 people (in the union) across the state. Now we have 1,300 people. So we're tired of bleeding. We're tired of them taking our work.
Workers at Chinese-state-owned hotel in SF on strike after foodborne illness complaints
November 15, 2023 // Workers at the Chinese-state-owned BEI Hotel in SF suffered food poisoning after the hotel "unilaterally laid off its cooks and outsourced cafeteria meals," starting in May of this year, a press release said. The BEI is a 400-room hotel owned by Beijing Tourism Group, an enterprise managed by a subsidiary of the Beijing government.
75,000 Kaiser Permanente workers are on strike
October 4, 2023 // The multi-state strike comes during a time of elevated labor activity in the United States. Several large-scale strikes have paralyzed companies and entire industries in recent months. The United Auto Workers are on strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — the first time the union has struck all three simultaneously. The entertainment industry also contended with dual strikes this summer after Hollywood’s writers’ and actors’ unions went on strike at the same time for the first time since 1960. The leadership of the Writers Guild of America reached a tentative agreement with Hollywood studios last month, but the actors’ guild strike is ongoing. The health care industry has been particularly affected by rising strike activity. From the start of 2022 through August of this year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has tracked 42 work stoppages of 1,000 or more strikers. Its count shows a third of those strikes were in health care. That’s up from 24% of major strikes in 2019, the year before the pandemic. The increased number of health care strikes have happened despite health care workers making up only about 9% of private sector union members nationwide.