Posts tagged Pension
Strike ends for Mack Trucks workers after 39 days on the picket line
November 16, 2023 // Reggie Benjamin and his union brothers strike and walk a pickett line along Eisenhower Blvd. in Lower Swatara Township, Pa., Oct. 11, 2023. Benjamin is a Reman Technician working on assembly line transmissions and is from Lewisberry, Pa. Mark Pynes | pennlive.com Reggie Benjamin and his union brothers strike and walk a pickett line along Eisenhower Blvd. in Lower Swatara Township, Pa., Oct. 11, 2023. Benjamin is a Reman Technician working on assembly line transmissions and is from Lewisberry, Pa. Mark Pynes | pennlive.com © Mark Pynes | pennlive.com/pennlive.com/TNS The Mack Trucks employee strike has ended after more than a month of picketing. “After 39 days on strike, UAW members at Mack Trucks have voted by 93% to ratify their new contract with significant local improvements,” United Auto Workers said on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Wednesday evening. People Born Before 1969 Eligible For Walk-In Tubs People Born Before 1969 Eligible For Walk-In Tubs Ad profind.com Workers had been out demonstrating at the Mack Trucks plant along Commerce Drive in Lower Swatara Township and along Eisenhower Boulevard in Swatara Township as well as plants in the Lehigh Valley, Hagerstown, Maryland, and at distribution centers in Baltimore and Jacksonville, Florida. United Auto Worker Local 677 members strike along Eisenhower Blvd. in Lower Swatara Township, Pa., Oct. 11, 2023. Mark Pynes | pennlive.com United Auto Worker Local 677 members strike along Eisenhower Blvd. in Lower Swatara Township, Pa., Oct. 11, 2023. Mark Pynes | pennlive.com © Mark Pynes | pennlive.com/pennlive.com/TNS “UAW leadership has informed us that their members have ratified the new five-year agreement,” Mack Trucks said on its website. “The agreement guarantees significant wage growth and delivers excellent benefits for our employees and their families. At the same time, it will safeguard our competitiveness and allow us to continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products. We look forward to welcoming our employees back to our sites on Monday, November 20, for your usual shift.” Related video: Congressman Trone rallies UAW strikers at Mack Truck Plant in Hagerstown (WDVM Hagerstown) Maryland Congressman David Trone spent the morning at the Mack Current Time 0:14 / Duration 0:44 WDVM Hagerstown Congressman Trone rallies UAW strikers at Mack Truck Plant in Hagerstown 0 View on Watch View on Watch The vote for the new contract took place on Wednesday, after the United Auto Workers 677 negotiating committee said in a letter to its members that it met with the company and put formal requests across the table to address members’ needs but the company rejected all of the proposals. The negotiating committee did say that the company agreed to “some significant changes” since the strike began but that members would be voting on the same contract that was voted down in early October. The letter said that the negotiations were over and the contract would come up for a vote. Most notably, the letter warned of the repercussions of voting down the contract, which included possible lost of jobs, loss of insurance after Dec. 1 and a loss of a $3,500 ratification bonus.
Even the AFL-CIO has union troubles
October 20, 2023 // After staffers picketed in D.C. last week, and two days of talks this week, the AFL-CIO proposed a revised contract to the union on Tuesday. Their last deal expired back in February and the last proposal from the AFL-CIO, in September, was overwhelmingly rejected — 97% of members said no. A vote on the latest proposal is expected by early next week.
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.
‘I want to work’: UAW members face financial turmoil amid strike, share frustrations
September 22, 2023 // "This doesn't just affect me," Mitchell said. "This plant runs the city. This is affecting other people because now our suppliers are out of work. And the way they said it works in Ohio is, if you are laid off because of a strike you can't get unemployment." Desia Clement, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, confirmed that workers involved in a labor dispute such as a strike may not be eligible for unemployment benefits, but noted that every claim is unique and decided on a case-by-case basis.
UAW’s Shawn Fain calls GM’s contract counteroffer ‘insulting’: What’s in it
September 8, 2023 // GM presented the counteroffer around 10 a.m. Thursday to UAW leaders. It comes just days after the UAW filed unfair labor practice charges against GM and Stellantis. The National Labor Relations Board is investigating those charges now and the outcome could impact a potential strike. "After refusing to bargain in good faith for the past six weeks, only after having federal labor board charges filed against them, GM has come to the table with an insulting proposal that doesn’t come close to an equitable agreement for America’s autoworkers," Fain said in a statement to the Free Press. In a letter to the employees midmorning, which GM provided to the Detroit Free Press, GM wrote, "Our offer includes well-deserved wage improvements that far exceed the 2019 agreement and reward you for your hard work. We still have work to do, but we wanted to make this offer to show our good faith efforts to keep the process moving." For all hourly employees, GM said it will recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday, giving a new total of 16 to 18 paid holidays per year. Ford declined to recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday, Fain has said. GM hourly employees would also receive a $5,500 bonus for ratifying the contract, which matches Ford's offer.
Orange County’s Police Unions Are Increasingly Electing, Unseating Their Own Bosses
August 30, 2023 // But in both Anaheim and Santa Ana, the police unions account for some of the largest political spending on citywide elections. And in both cities, the result has been massive raises for police officers, despite concerns from some residents that such raises were fiscally irresponsible – forcing Anaheim residents to dip into their general fund reserves in 2020. At the county, big Sheriff Deputy raises created conditions where critical investments in public health couldn’t be made, an impact largely unnoticed by the public. Until the pandemic arrived.
Yellow closure affecting 800 Hoosier union truckers
August 21, 2023 // The nearly 100-year-old company was known for its “less-than-truckload” business model, meaning it delivered freight for multiple customers on the same truck. The company was significantly popular, growing to be one of “the Big Three” carriers in the country until trucking was deregulated in 1984. That meant nonunionized carriers could come to market, building competition for the big three.
Navy Shipbuilders’ Union Approves 3-Year Labor Pact at Bath Iron Works
August 21, 2023 // The contract, which takes effect Monday, raises pay a range of 2.6% to 9.6% in the first year with differences due to a mid-contract wage adjustment that already took effect for some workers, and will be followed by a 5% increase in the second year and 4% increase in the third. Workers are receiving an increase in contributions to their national pension plan while health insurance costs will grow. Machinists’ Union Local S6, which represents about 4,200 production workers, touted the biggest pay raises by percentage since the union's founding in the 1950s.
OPINION: Pritzker risks bankrupting Illinois to curry favor with Big Labor
August 14, 2023 // Members of AFSCME Council 31 eagerly voted in local union meetings over the past two weeks to ratify the contract, which negotiators had tentatively agreed to on July 1. And who could blame them? The contract also includes a $1,200 “stipend” paid to every worker merely for ratifying the contract. Pritzker, a Democrat, included these bonuses in his last contract negotiation in 2019, ostensibly to compensate workers for the financial “hardship” of being state employees under his Republican predecessor, Bruce Rauner. Predictably, such payoffs have now become standard operating procedure. The governor celebrated his and AFSCME’s windfall by tweeting out, “Illinois is a pro-worker state through and through.” The pronouncement was eerily reminiscent of Biden’s one-time campaign promise to become the “most pro-union president you ever saw.”
Teamsters Plan 22,000-Worker Strike at Trucking Firm Yellow
July 20, 2023 // Pension accruals and health-care benefits will be suspended July 23 if Yellow doesn’t make the necessary payment, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said Tuesday in a statement. The union said it’s preparing for a strike as early as July 24. Yellow, the third-largest less-than-truckload carrier, has been struggling financially as it seeks to refinance more than $1 billion of debt that matures in 2024. Its stock has been in a tailspin, plunging about 60% in 2023 and more than 90% since the beginning of last year. Less-than-truckload competitors — such as Old Dominion Freight Line Inc., XPO Inc. and FedEx Corp.’s freight unit — “stand to gain from the drama unfolding at Yellow,” Lee Klaskow, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence, wrote in a note.