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☆ Strike Is a High-Stakes Gamble for Autoworkers and the Labor Movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Since the start of the pandemic, labor unions have enjoyed something of a renaissance. They have made inroads into previously nonunion companies like Starbucks and Amazon, and won unusually strong contracts for hundreds of thousands of workers. Last year, public approval for unions reached its highest level since the Lyndon Johnson presidency. Strikes by railroad workers and UPS employees, which had the potential to rattle the U.S. economy, were averted at the last minute. The strike by the United Automobile Workers, whose members walked off the job at three plants on Friday, is shaping up to be such a test.

Persons: Lyndon Johnson, haven’t, ’, Ram — Organizations: United Automobile Workers, —, Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: Southern California, U.S

☆ Battle Over Electric Vehicles Is Central to Auto Strike
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-16 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A battle between Detroit carmakers and the United Auto Workers union, which escalated on Friday with targeted strikes in three locations, is unfolding amid a once-in-a-century technological upheaval that poses huge risks for both the companies and the union. The strike has come as the traditional automakers invest billions to develop electric vehicles while still making most of their money from gasoline-driven cars. The negotiations will determine the balance of power between workers and management, possibly for years to come. That makes the strike as much a struggle for the industry’s future as it is about wages, benefits and working conditions. Pay is one of the biggest sticking points: The union is demanding a 40 percent pay increase over four years but the automakers have offered roughly half as much.

Persons: Ram —, Henry Ford’s Organizations: Detroit carmakers, United Auto Workers union, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: Ohio , Michigan, Missouri

☆ U.A.W. Strike Hits 3 Plants as It Seeks Big Raises and Other Gains
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-15 | by ( Jack Ewing | More About Jack Ewing | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Autoworkers walked off the job on Friday at three factories that produce of some of the Detroit carmakers’ most popular vehicles, the opening salvos in what could become a protracted strike that hurts the U.S. economy and has an impact on the 2024 presidential election. Nearly 13,000 members of the United Auto Workers at plants in Ohio, Michigan and Missouri joined early Friday in what the union described as a targeted strike that could expand to more plants if its demands for pay raises of up to 40 percent and other gains were not met. The union’s four-year contracts with three automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, which owns Chrysler, Jeep and Ram — expired Thursday, and the companies and the union remained far from striking new deals. The U.A.W.’s president, Shawn Fain, used sweeping language on Thursday to describe why his members were going on strike against all three automakers at the same time — something the union had never done in its nearly 90-year history.

Persons: Autoworkers, Ram —, ’, Shawn Fain Organizations: Detroit, United Auto Workers, —, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep Locations: U.S, Ohio , Michigan, Missouri

☆ Standoff Over Electric Vehicle Workers Poses Risk for Biden
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Noam Scheiber | More About Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden has been highly attuned to the politics of electric vehicles, helping to enact billions in subsidies to create new manufacturing jobs and going out of his way to court the United Automobile Workers union. The union, under its new president, Shawn Fain, wants workers who make electric vehicle components like batteries to benefit from the better pay and labor standards that the roughly 150,000 U.A.W. The Detroit automakers counter that these workers are typically employed in joint ventures with foreign manufacturers that the U.S. automakers don’t wholly control. The companies say that even if they could raise wages for battery workers to the rate set under their national U.A.W. contract, doing so could make them uncompetitive with nonunion rivals, like Tesla.

Persons: Biden, Ram —, Shawn Fain, Tesla Organizations: United Automobile Workers, —, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep, Detroit automakers, U.S, don’t

☆ U.S. Automakers Face a Huge Strike. Here’s What to Know.
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( J. Edward Moreno | More About J. Edward Moreno | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The United Auto Workers union, which represents about 150,000 workers at U.S. car plants, could strike against three of the country’s largest automakers on Friday if the union and the companies are unable to reach new contracts. The president of the U.A.W., Shawn Fain, said that Thursday was the “deadline, not a reference point.”The union is negotiating a separate four-year contract with each automaker. has never struck against all three companies at once, preferring to target one at a time. But Mr. Fain has said he and his members are willing to strike against all three this time. is demanding 40 percent wage increases over four years, which Mr. Fain says is in line with how much the salaries of the companies’ chief executives have increased in the past four years.

Persons: Ram —, Shawn Fain, Fain Organizations: United Auto Workers union, U.S, —, Motors, Ford Motor, Chrysler, Jeep

☆ Jeep-maker Stellantis is offering buyouts to some of its most senior employees — and blaming it on EVs
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Alexa St. John | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Stellantis is offering thousands of employees buyout packages, The Wall Street Journal reported. The move comes weeks after crosstown rival General Motors offered employees buyouts. The salaried employees getting the offers have 15 or more years of experience, according to the Journal. In the memo, Stewart attributed the move to the EV transition, writing, "The competition is fierce, and the cost of electrification cannot be passed on to the customer," The Wall Street Journal reported. Stellantis last offered buyouts to salaried US employees last fall.

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