Posts tagged pensions
Workers at Mack Trucks set to strike after rejecting tentative contract deal
October 9, 2023 // Union workers at Mack Trucks have voted down a tentative five-year contract agreement reached with the company and plan to strike at 7 a.m. Monday, the United Auto Workers union says. Union President Shawn Fain said in a letter to Mack parent company Volvo Trucks that 73% of workers voted against the deal in results counted on Sunday. The UAW represents about 4,000 Mack workers in three states. Union leaders had reached a tentative agreement on the deal on Oct. 1. The deal included a 19% pay raise over the life of the contract with 10% upon ratification. There also was a $3,500 ratification bonus, no increase in weekly health care contributions, increased annual lump sum payments for retirees and a $1,000 annual 401(k) lump sum to offset health care costs for employees who don’t get health insurance after retirement. Fain said in his letter to Volvo Trucks’ head of labor relations that employees working early Monday will exit the factories after performing tasks needed to prevent damage to company equipment.
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.
Opinion: Bernie Sanders to Big 3 CEOs: “It is time for you to end your greed.”
September 19, 2023 // Bernie Sanders: "the average American worker is worse off today than he or she was 50 years ago."
‘I have a pension; they don’t’: Why United Auto Workers are fighting to end a two-tier system for wages and benefits
August 30, 2023 // U.S. automakers over the years have justified tiering as a way to stay competitive because of globalization, Lichtenstein said. “Whether the automakers are doing well [financially] or not, they’ll say the competition, like Toyota, will eat our cake.” But “across the board, the rank-and-file hated [tiering],” said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. “It was a sore point from Day 1. They viewed it as discriminatory that people were doing same job and getting paid substantially less, and that [some workers were] treated as second-class citizens.”
UAW workers overwhelmingly vote to authorize strikes at GM, Ford, Stellantis
August 25, 2023 // "The Big Three is our strike target. And whether or not there's a strike — it's up to Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, because they know what our priorities are. We've been clear," Fain has said. Those priorities are far richer than during prior contract negotiations between the two sides. The union's demands include a 46% wage increase, restoration of traditional pensions, cost-of-living increases, reducing the workweek to 32 hours from 40 and increasing retiree benefits. The UAW said 98% of hourly workers and 99% of salaried workers at Ford voted in favor of the strike authorization. GM passed by 96%, while the action was approved at Stellantis by 95%. Voter turnout and how many votes still needed to be counted was not immediately available.
Ford union hosts strike authorization vote at Louisville Assembly and Kentucky Truck Plant
August 23, 2023 // Ford Motor Co., which operates both the Louisville Assembly Plant, LAP, and the Kentucky Truck Plant, KTP, in Louisville is facing a strike authorization vote from union members at UAW Local 862 as national UAW negotiations continue ahead of a nationwide contract expiration on Sept. 14. UAW Local 862 represents roughly 12,000 rank and file workers at both LAP and KTP. The LAP and KTP union halls were open for members to cast their strike votes from 11:30 a.m. Monday to 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. According to a UAW Local 862 News Letter [sic], polling hours were increased from previous strike authorization votes with the hope of allowing more members an opportunity to vote. "Typically, elections have very low turnouts ... but strike authorization votes typically have a much different, stronger turnout, because the strike authorization affects every single member," Sheckles said.
This group says it keeps federal unions accountable to their members
August 14, 2023 //
Magna says job cuts likely in case of labor strike
August 10, 2023 // "We have prepared for a scenario of shutdown locations, including moving around non-essential work and beyond that we're looking at laying off people in the short term," Magna Chief Financial Officer Patrick McCann said at a JPMorgan auto conference.
Amalgamated Sugar Union Workers may go on strike next week
August 3, 2023 // Employees are unhappy with new union contracts that would reportedly freeze pensions for newer employees, have employees go through a two-tier pay raise, and be able to move a person to any department in the factory. Employees are also unsatisfied with the unsanitary conditions, like using portapotties in 90+ degree weather, that haven’t been maintained.
Opinion: Unions, Washington Lackeys Exploit Ohio Rail Tragedy to Fatten Coffers
June 7, 2023 // the unionistas are pushing for a permanent requirement that all carriers use a minimum of two-person crews. This, despite the fact that the ill-fated Norfolk-Southern train itself had not two but three crew members. Mandating two on a crew would have done nothing to avert the disaster. It’s not responsive to the challenge at hand. Moreover, the make-work provisions will not affect Norfolk-Southern-sized railroads. It will primarily hurt the smaller regional and short-line railroads, which are more likely to use a one-man crew.