Posts tagged wages and benefits
Commentary: The UAW’s Strike Win on Plant Closures Is Too Rigid
December 2, 2023 // The transition to battery-electric vehicles is difficult enough without the addition of the UAW’s capacity alignment restrictions. Pricing and profit uncertainty within the sector is daunting, dealers seem reluctant to go all-in on the vision and the required infrastructure to ease consumer’s range anxiety will take multiple years to develop. Additionally, proposed CO2 and emission standards could add additional costs if manufacturers do not sell enough zero-emission vehicles. Manufacturers will need flexibility when transitioning from ICE-dedicated plants to dedicated BEV capacity. Rationalization is mandatory given the potential price pressure that will come from excess capacity in North America. The production volume for total light vehicles is a fixed amount. Supply does not create demand. Thus, the more manufacturers implement product and marketing strategies to fill BEV capacity, the more they will be forced to reduce ICE capacity.
U.S. labor board delays new unionization rule after business groups sue
November 20, 2023 // The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups — including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the International Franchise Association and the National Retail Federation — sued the NLRB in federal court in Texas last week to block the rule. They say the rule upends years of precedent and could make companies liable for workers they don’t employ at workplaces they don’t own. But the NLRB says the current rule makes it too easy for companies to avoid their legal responsibility to bargain with workers.
New federal rule could allow millions of workers to more easily unionize at big companies
November 16, 2023 // The rule only applies to labor relations. The Department of Labor sets its own joint employment standards for issues like meeting minimum wage requirements. Still, the new rule could have a major impact. Local franchise owners employ more than 8 million people in the U.S., according to the International Franchise Association. Millions more work for subcontractors or temporary agencies.
SEPTA, workers union reach tentative agreement on new contract: ‘It’s a really good deal’
October 31, 2023 // In an email announcing the tentative agreement, SEPTA said the focus during negotiations was to "find a way to recognize employees' hard word and ensure that SEPTA is in the best possible position to build ridership and address the looming fiscal cliff when federal COVID relief funds run out next year." SEPTA argued during negotiations that it's facing a $240M drop in operating funds in April when its COVID relief money runs out. The so-called "fiscal cliff" is believed to be why the tentative agreement reached Friday is a short-term deal.
UAW members aren’t all assembling cars. More and more are unionized grad students
October 23, 2023 // These days, the "A" in UAW might as well include academia, as roughly 100,000 of the union's 383,000 members work in higher education. They include graduate students who work as teaching and research assistants, clerical and technical workers, adjunct professors and postdocs.
St. Peter’s nurses vote to unionize in wake of information leak
October 23, 2023 // St. Peter's Health ended its contract with Mr. Commer after the internal leak of nurses' personal information. The health system, in a statement shared with Becker's on Oct. 4, described the incident as one "where a document containing sensitive information became accessible beyond the intended recipients. It is our responsibility to safeguard the privacy and well-being of our employees, and as such, we take full responsibility for this incident occurring." St. Peter's Health also confirmed it is no longer working with any third-party consultants, but said, "The more important issue is that this incident was inconsistent with our values." The organization is conducting an internal investigation and said it will "respond as appropriate based on the findings."
Ford says it is ‘at the limit’ with UAW contract offer
October 13, 2023 // Ford officials said on Thursday that cutting a deal that does not allow the company to survive makes no sense and that striking the Kentucky truck plant would also hurt the UAW's profit-sharing checks. In a sign of the strike's expanding impact, Delta Air Lines (DAL.N) said on Thursday it is feeling a pinch from the automotive and entertainment labor strikes. Delta President Glen Hauenstein said the UAW strike has curtailed a "significant" amount of business in Detroit. Automakers have more than doubled initial wage hike offers, agreed to raise wages along with inflation and improved pay for temporary workers, but the union wants higher wages still, the abolishment of a two-tier wage system and the expansion of unions to battery plants. The UAW has room to expand its walkouts and increase the pressure on the Detroit Three to offer bigger wage gains, richer retirement packages and more assurances that new electric vehicle battery plants will be unionized.
The Future of Electric Vehicles Looms Over Negotiations in the US Autoworkers Strike
October 12, 2023 // So far, neither Ford nor Stellantis has agreed to the change, which would pull employees at all 10 U.S. battery factories proposed by Detroit automakers into national contracts with the UAW, all but assuring they'll be unionized. Fain also wants workers at the plants to make top UAW assembly plant wages, which now are $32 per hour. With the UAW strike now in its fourth week, EVs and their potential impact on job security have become central to union negotiations with the automakers. Contract talks are likely to determine whether those plants — mostly joint ventures with South Korean battery companies — are union, which may have long-lasting consequences as the auto industry transforms itself.
Hospitality workers, Las Vegas casinos in crunch time for labor talks
October 4, 2023 // The Las Vegas unions are among the most powerful in the United States, covering workers who wait tables, clean hotel rooms and prepare food. Their demands mirror similar activity in the shipping, rail and auto industries where employees have sought better compensation due to the higher cost of living as unemployment stays low. "The companies have an opportunity to do the right thing and step up and get a contract done, but if not, there could be a strike any time after that," said Ted Pappageorge, Secretary-Treasurer for the culinary union. "Any time after October 6th, there could be a strike," he said.
UAW strike 2023 against Detroit automakers: Live updates, news from the picket sites
September 15, 2023 //