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Tag: Strikes

  • UAW members at the first Ford plant to go on strike vote overwhelmingly to approve new contract

    UAW members at the first Ford plant to go on strike vote overwhelmingly to approve new contract

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    DETROIT — Autoworkers at the first Ford factory to go on strike have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a tentative contract agreement reached with the company.

    Members of Local 900 at the Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, west of Detroit voted 81% in favor of the four year-and-eight month deal, according to Facebook postings by local members on Thursday.

    Two union officials confirmed the accuracy of the percentage Thursday. Neither wanted to be identified because the vote totals had not been made public.

    About 3,300 United Auto Workers union members went on strike at the plant Sept. 15 after the union’s contract with Ford expired. They remained on the picket lines until Oct. 25, when the union announced the tentative deal with Ford.

    Production workers voted 81% to ratify the deal, while skilled trades workers voted 90% in favor. Voting at Ford will continue through Nov. 17.

    Local union leaders from across the country at Jeep maker Stellantis are meeting in Detroit Thursday to get an explanation of the company’s tentative agreement from UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Rich Boyer. If they endorse the contract, Fain and Boyer will explain it to members in an online presentation Thursday evening.

    General Motors local leaders will meet on Friday, with another contract explanation likely on Friday evening. Dates for voting at GM or Stellantis were not yet clear.

    Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who follows labor issues, said the vote at the Ford factory is a positive sign for the union. “These workers are deeply in the know about the overall situation,” he said. “I think that they responded to it with such high levels of approval it is perhaps reflective of how the broader workforce represented by the UAW feels about this contract.”

    Masters says union officials still have to make their cases to the membership, but “certainly this would appear to be a harbinger of good news.”

    The deals with all three companies are generally the same, although there are some differences. All give workers 25% general pay raises with 11% upon ratification. With cost of living pay, the raises will exceed 30% by the time the contracts end on April 30, 2028.

    Workers began their strikes with targeted walkouts at all three automakers that escalated during a six-week period in an effort to pressure the companies into a deal. GM was the last company to settle early Sunday morning.

    At its peak 46,000 union members had gone on strike at eight assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses across the nation. The union has about 146,000 members at all three of the Detroit auto companies.

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  • ‘It’s kind of a perfect storm:’ UAW’s deals highlight why labor is winning so big despite record-low unionization rates

    ‘It’s kind of a perfect storm:’ UAW’s deals highlight why labor is winning so big despite record-low unionization rates

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    U.S. labor unions are once again flexing the muscles in the national spotlight.

    The United Auto Workers’ tentative agreements with Detroit’s Big Three automakers could end the union’s six-week strike. Gridlock persists in Hollywood between actors and major studios, while hospitality workers in Las Vegas, Detroit, Southern California and beyond are fighting for better pay and protections.

    But despite historic walkouts and record contract deals seen this year, there’s a lot stacked against labor organizers. Union membership rates in the U.S. have been falling for decades due to changes in the economy, employer opposition, growing political partisanship and legal challenges.

    “Even though we’re seeing stronger support for unions, (with) the highest popularity of union favorability in polls since at least the 1960s, translating the worker desire for representation into actual representation is really hard under our current system,” Alexander Colvin, dean of Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, told The Associated Press earlier this month.

    Still, some labor advocates see growing momentum. Here’s where things stand.

    What’s driving union activity now?

    Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of workers have participated in strikes this year. Labor activism has surged in tandem with soaring costs of living and rising inequality, particularly the growing pay gap between workers and top executives. Those inequities only became more glaring during the COVID-19 pandemic as U.S. corporations raked in record profits.

    “It’s kind of a perfect storm, (so) you see a lot of union movement these days,” said Eunice Han, an assistant professor at the University of Utah specializing in labor economics.

    The tightest U.S. labor market in decades is also giving workers leverage to challenge their employers.

    The unemployment rate in the U.S. is close to 50-year lows and there are now about 1.5 open jobs for every unemployed person, according to recent government data.

    Open jobs means American workers are quitting in higher numbers because they are confident of landing a better paying job. The unemployment rate is 3.8%, further signaling leverage for workers.

    Success or partial victories in high-profile union fights can also inspire organizing across industries — and bring lessons for future contract talks. A takeaway from the UAW’s strike, for example, “is to act aggressively and creatively” while finding allies, said Cathy Creighton, director of Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations Buffalo Co-Lab and a former field attorney for the NLRB.

    UAW President Shawn Fain “didn’t do things the same way that had been done in the past,” Creighton added, noting the tactic of hitting General Motors, Ford and Stellantis at once through a build-up of targeted strikes, which were communicated to members on platforms like Facebook Live. Support from government officials, including President Joe Biden, also strengthened the campaign.

    Union rates have been falling for decades

    While pickets lines seem to be everywhere this year, union membership rates have been declining for decades. Only 6% of U.S. private-sector workers belong to unions today, a sliver of the 35% that were union members in 1953.

    Todd Vachon, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, points to the post-World War II Taft-Hartley Act, which restricted the power of labor unions — as well as factors like relocating manufacturing jobs overseas and an uptick in anti-union stances from both employers and lawmakers that grew in the 70s and 80s.

    Vachon notes one pivotal moment in particular, when President Ronald Reagan fired all striking air traffic controllers in 1981.

    “That sent a really clear signal to the business community that it’s a-okay to be completely anti-union and to be so in a very belligerent way, because even the president of the United States is doing it,” he said.

    Separately, with the rise of the gig economy, some large companies have recategorized employees as “contractors,” making it harder for them to unionize. And growth in industries that haven’t had a strong history of union membership, such as technology, has also contributed to the decline in unionization.

    Last year, the number of both public- and private-sector U.S. workers belonging to unions actually grew by 273,000, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But the U.S. workforce grew at an even faster rate, meaning the percentage of those belonging to unions fell slightly.

    What labor laws matter for workers today?

    The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 granted private-sector employees the right to unionize. A 1961 executive order from President John F. Kennedy allowed federal employees to organize. That came around the same era that states also began to pass labor laws for their own public workers.

    Some states in the South and lower Midwest “will allow police and firefighters to collectively bargain, but not state employees. Or they’ll let state employees bargain, but they can only bargain over wages,” Vachon said. “That shows you how important the labor law is. It really sets the framework for which workers can either organize a union successfully or not.”

    A handful of states also have “right to work” laws which, in unionized workplaces, require unions to represent everyone regardless of whether individuals choose to pay dues or formally join. Such legislation has been criticized for undermining the financial resources and bargaining power of unions.

    Attitudes towards unionization have become increasingly partisan, too, and also divided geographically. Politically “blue” states tend to have higher unionization rates than “red” states. Several states have also dialed back on union protections in recent years, Han said.

    Today’s economy throws up unique challenges for organizing

    Unionization efforts have expanded but many are taking place where there is little history of organized labor, creating a higher bar for workers.

    Colvin points to Starbucks workers who have seen union drives clipped in the last year. Starbucks has been accused of chilling organization by closing unionized stores and firing pro-union workers.

    There are also limits for organizers under current labor law. That means that what worked in auto workers’ labor campaign, for example, may not be possible for other industries.

    “We have a labor law that was designed in the era in the 30s and 40s, when auto plants of 10,000 workers (were organizing),” he said. Starbucks is “split into these small coffee shops of 15 workers. … They need to join together to have any kind of bargaining power against a big employer. But our labor law isn’t structured to help them do that,” Colvin said.

    Service jobs can also be hard to organize due to part-time work and high turnover rates. The same can be said for Amazon warehouses, where there have been pushes for unions.

    According to a Gallup poll, public approval of stronger unions now stands at 67%, down slightly from the 71% last year, but mirroring levels last seen in the 1960s. Creighton and others add that young people in particular are leading today’s charge.

    But the desire to organize can only go so far without policy change, experts say.

    “We’re absolutely at a turning point in people’s consciousness,” Vachon adds. “Whether that translates into actual a change of direction for union density, I think, is going to depend a lot on how that consciousness plays out in the political arena.”

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    The Associated Press

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  • General Motors reaches tentative agreement with UAW, potentially ending 6-week strike

    General Motors reaches tentative agreement with UAW, potentially ending 6-week strike

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    DETROIT — General Motors and the United Auto Workers union have reached a tentative contract agreement that could end a six-week-old strike against Detroit automakers, two people briefed on the deal said Monday.

    The agreement follows the pattern set with Ford last week and Jeep maker Stellantis over the weekend.

    The deals will last four years and eight months and include 25% general pay raises and cost of living adjustments. Combined they bring the wage increase to over 30% over the life of the contract.

    The people briefed on the matter, who didn’t want to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the deal, said the agreement was to be announced early Monday.

    The contract with GM is similar to those reached by the other two automakers, but there are some differences.

    GM was the last company to reach a deal and the union added a lucrative factory in Tennessee to the strike list on Saturday to turn up the pressure. The UAW reached tentative agreement last week with Ford and it wasted no time in hitting GM where it hurts financially.

    Nearly 4,000 unionized workers on Saturday walked out of GM’s largest North American plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, hours after the deal with Stellantis was announced. They joined about 14,000 GM workers already striking at factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

    President Joe Biden was asked about the deal Monday, as he boarded Air Force One back to the White House. He gave a thumbs-up and said: “I think it’s great.”

    Also Monday, 8,200 Stellantis workers in Canada represented by a different union, Unifor, briefly went on strike before reaching a deal that comes with base hourly wage increases of nearly 20% for production workers. General Motors and Ford workers in Canada have already voted to ratify a three-year contract agreement with the company.

    Spring Hill, the plant where workers hit picket lines Saturday, produces the engines for vehicles assembled at nine plants as far afield as Mexico, including Silverado and Sierra pickups. It’s a big money maker for GM that could have potentially amplified the company’s financial pain after workers walked off the job last week in Arlington, Texas, where full-size SUVs including the Tahoe and Suburban are produced. Spring Hill also produces the electric Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Acadia and Cadillac crossover SUVs.

    Presidents of the Ford union locals voted unanimously in Detroit on Sunday to endorse that tentative contract after UAW President Shawn Fain explained its details, the union tweeted.

    As he explained the particulars to the full membership in a later livestream, Fain, along with Chuck Browning, the UAW vice president, said the deal represents a “historical inflection point” for reviving union power in an America where “we were being left behind by an economy that only works for the billionaire class.”

    “UAW members at Ford will receive more in straight general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years than we have over the last 22 years combined,” Browning said.

    Fain called the deal “a turning point in the class war that has been raging in this country for the past 40 years.”

    The Ford and Stellantis pacts, which would run until April 30, 2028, include 25% in general wage increases for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified.

    The Ford agreement revives cost-of-living adjustments that the UAW agreed to suspend in 2009 during the Great Recession.

    At Stellantis, workers get cost-of-living pay that would bring raises to a compounded 33%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $42 per hour. Top-scale workers there now make around $31 per hour.

    Starting wages for new Stellantis hires will rise 67% including cost-of-living adjustments to over $30 per hour. Temporary workers will get raises of more than 165%, while workers at parts centers will get an immediate 76% increase if the contract is ratified.

    Like the Ford agreement, it will take just three years for new workers to get to the top of the assembly pay scale, the union said. Similarly, the union won the right to strike over plant closures.

    Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that had been on strike since September, said he expected workers to vote to approve the deal because of pay raises including the immediate 11% raise on ratification. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

    The UAW began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired. At the peak, about 46,000 UAW workers were on strike — about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at all three companies.

    ____

    Bajak reported from Boston. AP writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, Corey Williams in Sterling Heights, Michigan, Haleluya Hadero in Jersey City, New Jersey, and Michelle Chapman in New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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  • Some striking UAW members carry family legacies, Black middle-class future along with picket signs

    Some striking UAW members carry family legacies, Black middle-class future along with picket signs

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    WAYNE, Mich. — As Britney Johnson paced the picket line outside Ford’s Wayne Assembly plant, she wasn’t just carrying a sign demanding higher pay and other changes.

    She also carried a legacy of car factory jobs and union wages that allowed generations of her family to enjoy middle-class lifestyles and that for years had been unattainable for many Black Americans.

    Johnson’s great-grandfather, grandfather and mother all worked on assembly lines for one or more of Detroit’s automakers, as did some of her uncles.

    “We told her she’s representing our family,” Johnson’s mother, Tracy Brooks, jokes.

    It seems the efforts of Johnson and her co-workers were starting to pay off. All striking Ford workers were called Wednesday by the United Auto Workers to return to their jobs after the union said it reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford that would give them a 25% general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30%, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract. Union members still must approve the deal.

    Ford’s deal was followed Saturday by a similar one with Stellantis and could prompt an agreement with General Motors that would end the nearly 6-week-old strikes that at the peak saw about 46,000 workers walk off their jobs and thousands more laid off.

    Union wages, and the battles to keep them, have elevated the fortunes of countless Black families, Brooks said.

    Brooks’ grandfather, Bobbie Allen Sr., left Texas in the early to mid-1900s and found work at Ford Motor Co. Despite having only an eighth grade education, Allen was able to build homes, buy 40 acres of land in rural southeastern Michigan, purchase luxury cars and take his family on vacations.

    “It meant a lot, being in the union,” Brooks said. “Those were the good jobs that were available for Blacks. They knew they could go in there and work hard, make money and obtain things like homes and cars. It allowed them to have the ability to take care of their families and help to build that Black middle class.”

    In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a “significant rise” in the Black middle class nationwide, particularly in Detroit and other metro areas, said Andre Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a program at the public policy nonprofit, the Brookings Institution.

    Black people were able to buy homes in urban neighborhoods that were once predominantly white.

    “Black people could take advantage of that and buy homes in neighborhoods throughout Detroit,” Perry said. “And as a consequence, you had also thriving commercial corridors, businesses and other ancillary enterprises that supported the rise in income among Black workers.”

    The union provided protection for Black workers who historically faced harsher treatment in the workplace than their white colleagues, Brooks added.

    “Without the union jobs, (employers) can do anything, say anything and you’re out the door,” she said. “At least with the union, you have some type of cushion.”

    Brooks, 61, was in her early 30s when she began working the assembly line at what was then Daimler Chrysler. Her seven years in that job helped pay for her training to become a preschool teacher and buy a home.

    “(My grandfather’s) goal was to have his own property,” Brooks said. “It was his, that no one could take and he worked hard to get that. Being able to own land and property, that was one of the things that was emphasized with us — that property was money.”

    Giving city residents the chance to earn a good living and buy homes in Detroit was included in a 2019 land development deal with Fiat Chrysler, which merged with PSA Peugeot in 2021 to form Stellantis. Detroit required the automaker to hire more than 3,800 residents for its new assembly plant in the city, with pay starting at $17 per hour, climbing to $28.

    “What we want is for people to own homes and raise families in this city,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in 2019 “If you’re making $60,000 you can get a nice house in the city of Detroit.”

    The auto industry and union jobs have been “so important to our quality of life and economic future here in Detroit,” said Anika Goss, chief executive of Detroit Future City, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of the city’s residents through community and economic development.

    As the auto industry muddled through downturns, car buyers’ shifting tastes and the migration of jobs overseas, cities dependent on manufacturing jobs suffered.

    In 1980, there were 84,920 people in Detroit employed as machine operators and laborers, according to U.S. Census data. A decade later, that number had dropped to 52,316.

    The Chicago and Detroit metropolitan areas each lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs between 1995 and 2005, the Brookings Institution wrote in 2006.

    Currently, individuals and families earning between $55,000-$139,000 are in the middle-class income bracket. Only about 25% of Detroit’s residents are in that range, and about two-thirds of city residents earn less than $50,000 per year, Goss said.

    Yolanda Martin, 55, is a second-generation Ford employee who has spent 34 years with the company. She said a two-tier wage system prevents newer employees from making the same financial gains as legacy autoworkers like herself and her late father, who spent 40 years at Ford.

    “That is something that I believe is so detrimental to the middle class. It basically wiped out the opportunity for them to be able to make those” higher salaries, said Martin, who has held various positions at Ford and is currently apprenticing to become an industrial electrician.

    Martin described her childhood during the 1970s and 1980s in her predominantly Black Detroit neighborhood as among the “happiest times” of her life. The Grandmont-Rosedale community was safe, had plenty of shopping and entertainment, and residents looked out for one another. Families usually had two parents and regularly took vacations, and most children received a new car once they learned how to drive because at least one parent worked for an automaker, she explained.

    The community is still strong today and unlike other areas of Detroit, Grandmont-Rosedale staved off blight and maintained its resiliency, according to Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, adding that 92% of the neighborhood’s residents are Black.

    Now living in Novi, an upper-middle-class suburb about 28 miles (45 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, Martin worries that future generations of autoworkers won’t be able to afford to live in nicer communities or send their children to better schools.

    “I shouldn’t be working next to a person who makes half of what I make, and they’re doing the exact same thing,” Martin said. “And that’s what I think the fight is about, to kind of bring it to where we’re all on an even playing field.”

    ___

    Jefferson reported from Chicago. News researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

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  • Some striking UAW members carry family legacies, Black middle-class future along with picket signs

    Some striking UAW members carry family legacies, Black middle-class future along with picket signs

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    WAYNE, Mich. — As Britney Johnson paced the picket line outside Ford’s Wayne Assembly plant, she wasn’t just carrying a sign demanding higher pay and other changes.

    She also carried a legacy of car factory jobs and union wages that allowed generations of her family to enjoy middle-class lifestyles and that for years had been unattainable for many Black Americans.

    Johnson’s great-grandfather, grandfather and mother all worked on assembly lines for one or more of Detroit’s automakers, as did some of her uncles.

    “We told her she’s representing our family,” Johnson’s mother, Tracy Brooks, jokes.

    It seems the efforts of Johnson and her co-workers were starting to pay off. All striking Ford workers were called Wednesday by the UAW to return to their jobs after the union said it reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford that would give them a 25% general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30%, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract. Union members still must approve the deal.

    Ford’s deal was followed Saturday by a similar one with Stellantis and could prompt an agreement with General Motors that would end the nearly 6-week-old strikes that at the peak saw about 46,000 workers walk off their jobs and thousands more laid off.

    Union wages, and the battles to keep them, have elevated the fortunes of countless Black families, Brooks said.

    Brooks’ grandfather, Bobbie Allen Sr., left Texas in the early to mid-1900s and found work at Ford Motor Co. Despite having only an eighth grade education, Allen was able to build homes, buy 40 acres of land in rural southeastern Michigan, purchase luxury cars and take his family on vacations.

    “It meant a lot, being in the union,” Brooks said. “Those were the good jobs that were available for Blacks. They knew they could go in there and work hard, make money and obtain things like homes and cars. It allowed them to have the ability to take care of their families and help to build that Black middle class.”

    In the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a “significant rise” in the Black middle class nationwide, particularly in Detroit and other metro areas, said Andre Perry, a senior fellow at Brookings Metro, a program at the public policy nonprofit, the Brookings Institution.

    Black people were able to buy homes in urban neighborhoods that were once predominantly white.

    “Black people could take advantage of that and buy homes in neighborhoods throughout Detroit,” Perry said. “And as a consequence, you had also thriving commercial corridors, businesses and other ancillary enterprises that supported the rise in income among Black workers.”

    The union provided protection for Black workers who historically faced harsher treatment in the workplace than their white colleagues, Brooks added.

    “Without the union jobs, (employers) can do anything, say anything and you’re out the door,” she said. “At least with the union, you have some type of cushion.”

    Brooks, 61, was in her early 30s when she began working the assembly line at what was then Daimler Chrysler. Her seven years in that job helped pay for her training to become a preschool teacher and buy a home.

    “(My grandfather’s) goal was to have his own property,” Brooks said. “It was his, that no one could take and he worked hard to get that. Being able to own land and property, that was one of the things that was emphasized with us — that property was money.”

    Giving city residents the chance to earn a good living and buy homes in Detroit was included in a 2019 land development deal with Fiat Chrysler, which merged with PSA Peugeot in 2021 to form Stellantis. Detroit required the automaker to hire more than 3,800 residents for its new assembly plant in the city, with pay starting at $17 per hour, climbing to $28.

    “What we want is for people to own homes and raise families in this city,” Mayor Mike Duggan said in 2019 “If you’re making $60,000 you can get a nice house in the city of Detroit.”

    The auto industry and union jobs have been “so important to our quality of life and economic future here in Detroit,” said Anika Goss, chief executive of Detroit Future City, a nonprofit focused on improving the lives of the city’s residents through community and economic development.

    As the auto industry muddled through downturns, car buyers’ shifting tastes and the migration of jobs overseas, cities dependent on manufacturing jobs suffered.

    In 1980, there were 84,920 people in Detroit employed as machine operators and laborers, according to U.S. Census data. A decade later, that number had dropped to 52,316.

    The Chicago and Detroit metropolitan areas each lost more than 100,000 manufacturing jobs between 1995 and 2005, the Brookings Institution wrote in 2006.

    Currently, individuals and families earning between $55,000-$139,000 are in the middle-class income bracket. Only about 25% of Detroit’s residents are in that range, and about two-thirds of city residents earn less than $50,000 per year, Goss said.

    Yolanda Martin, 55, is a second-generation Ford employee who has spent 34 years with the company. She said a two-tier wage system prevents newer employees from making the same financial gains as legacy autoworkers like herself and her late father, who spent 40 years at Ford.

    “That is something that I believe is so detrimental to the middle class. It basically wiped out the opportunity for them to be able to make those” higher salaries, said Martin, who has held various positions at Ford and is currently apprenticing to become an industrial electrician.

    Martin described her childhood during the 1970s and 1980s in her predominantly Black Detroit neighborhood as among the “happiest times” of her life. The Grandmont-Rosedale community was safe, had plenty of shopping and entertainment, and residents looked out for one another. Families usually had two parents and regularly took vacations, and most children received a new car once they learned how to drive because at least one parent worked for an automaker, she explained.

    The community is still strong today and unlike other areas of Detroit, Grandmont-Rosedale staved off blight and maintained its resiliency, according to Tracy Hadden Loh, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, adding that 92% of the neighborhood’s residents are Black.

    Now living in Novi, an upper-middle-class suburb about 28 miles (45 kilometers) northwest of Detroit, Martin worries that future generations of autoworkers won’t be able to afford to live in nicer communities or send their children to better schools.

    “I shouldn’t be working next to a person who makes half of what I make, and they’re doing the exact same thing,” Martin said. “And that’s what I think the fight is about, to kind of bring it to where we’re all on an even playing field.”

    ___

    Jefferson reported from Chicago. News researcher Rhonda Shafner contributed from New York.

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  • Agreement reached to end strike that shut down a vital Great Lakes shipping artery for a week

    Agreement reached to end strike that shut down a vital Great Lakes shipping artery for a week

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    A deal has been reached to end a week-long strike that had shut down a major shipping artery in the Great Lakes, halting the flow of grain and other goods from the U.S. and Canada

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 29, 2023, 10:21 PM

    MINNEAPOLIS — A deal was reached Sunday to end a week-long strike that had shut down a major shipping artery in the Great Lakes, halting the flow of grain and other goods from the U.S. and Canada.

    Around 360 workers in Ontario and Quebec with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, walked out Oct. 22 in a dispute over wages with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.

    Seaway Management said ships will start moving again when employees return to work at 7 a.m. Monday.

    “We have in hand an agreement that’s fair for workers and secures a strong and stable future for the Seaway,” CEO Terence Bowles said in a statement Sunday.

    Unifor said a vote to ratify the deal will be scheduled in the coming days.

    “Details of the tentative agreement will first be shared with members and will be made public once an agreement is ratified,” said a union statement.

    The strike shut down 13 locks on the seaway between Lake Erie and Montreal, bottling up ships in the Great Lakes and preventing more ships from coming in.

    The St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes are part of a system of locks, canals, rivers and lakes that stretches more than 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from the Atlantic Ocean to the western tip of Lake Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It carried over $12 billion (nearly $17 billion Canadian) worth of cargo last year. Ships that travel it include oceangoing “salties” and “lakers” that stick to the lakes.

    It’s the first time that a strike has shut down the vital shipping artery since 1968.

    The Chamber of Marine Commerce estimated that the strike, which took place during one of the busiest times of the year for the seaway, caused the loss of up to $100 million per day in economic activity across Canada and the U.S.

    “We are pleased that this interruption in vital Seaway traffic has come to an end, and we can focus once more on meeting the needs of consumers around the world,” chamber president Bruce Burrows said in a statement Sunday.

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  • Agreement reached to end strike that shut down a vital Great Lakes shipping artery

    Agreement reached to end strike that shut down a vital Great Lakes shipping artery

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    A deal has been reached to end a week-long strike that had shut down a major shipping artery in the Great Lakes, halting the flow of grain and other goods from the U.S. and Canada

    ByThe Associated Press

    October 29, 2023, 10:21 PM

    MINNEAPOLIS — A deal was reached Sunday to end a week-long strike that had shut down a major shipping artery in the Great Lakes, halting the flow of grain and other goods from the U.S. and Canada.

    Around 360 workers in Ontario and Quebec with Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union, walked out Oct. 22 in a dispute over wages with the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corp.

    Seaway Management said ships will start moving again when employees return to work at 7 a.m. Monday.

    “We have in hand an agreement that’s fair for workers and secures a strong and stable future for the Seaway,” CEO Terence Bowles said in a statement Sunday.

    Unifor said a vote to ratify the deal will be scheduled in the coming days.

    “Details of the tentative agreement will first be shared with members and will be made public once an agreement is ratified,” said a union statement.

    The strike shut down 13 locks on the seaway between Lake Erie and Montreal, bottling up ships in the Great Lakes and preventing more ships from coming in.

    The St. Lawrence Seaway and Great Lakes are part of a system of locks, canals, rivers and lakes that stretches more than 2,300 miles (3,700 kilometers) from the Atlantic Ocean to the western tip of Lake Superior in Minnesota and Wisconsin. It carried over $12 billion (nearly $17 billion Canadian) worth of cargo last year. Ships that travel it include oceangoing “salties” and “lakers” that stick to the lakes.

    It’s the first time that a strike has shut down the vital shipping artery since 1968.

    The Chamber of Marine Commerce estimated that the strike, which took place during one of the busiest times of the year for the seaway, caused the loss of up to $100 million per day in economic activity across Canada and the U.S.

    “We are pleased that this interruption in vital Seaway traffic has come to an end, and we can focus once more on meeting the needs of consumers around the world,” chamber president Bruce Burrows said in a statement Sunday.

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  • UAW escalates strike against lone holdout GM after landing tentative pacts with Stellantis and Ford

    UAW escalates strike against lone holdout GM after landing tentative pacts with Stellantis and Ford

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    DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union has widened its strike against General Motors, the lone holdout among the three Detroit automakers, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with Jeep maker Stellantis.

    The escalated walkout began Saturday evening at a Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, GM’s largest in North America, just hours after the Stellantic deal was reached. Its nearly 4,000 workers join about 14,000 already striking at GM factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

    The UAW did not immediately explain what prompted the new action after 44 days of targeted strikes. The added pressure on GM is substantial as Spring Hill makes engines for vehicles assembled in a total of nine plants as far afield as Mexico, including Silverado and Sierra pickups. One plant already on strike it supplies with engines, in Arlington Texas, makes full-size SUVs including the Tahoe and Suburban. Vehicles assembled at Spring Hill include the electric Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Acadia and Cadillac crossover SUVs.

    “The Spring Hill walkout affects so much of GM’s production that the company is likely to settle quickly or close down most production,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor. The union wants to wrap negotiations with all three automakers so “Ford and Stellantis workers don’t vote down (their) tentative agreements because they want to see what GM workers get.”

    The Stellantis deal mirrors one reached last week with Ford, and saves jobs at a factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that Stellantis had planned to close, the UAW said.

    On Sunday, presidents of the union locals involved voted to endorse their tentative contract with Ford after UAW President Shawn Fain explained it, said a union official who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to make the information public. The vote count was not immediately known.

    Fain was to address the full membership, which will now vote on the pact, on Facebook later Sunday.

    GM said it was disappointed with the additional strike at the Spring Hill plant, which has 11 million square feet of building space, “in light of the progress we have made.” It said in a statement that is has bargained in good faith and wants a deal as soon as possible.

    In a statement, Fain lamented what he called “GM’s unnecessary and irresponsible refusal to come to a fair agreement.”

    “Everybody’s really fired up and excited,” Spring Hill assembly line worker Larry Montgomery said by phone on Sunday. He said workers were taken by surprise by the strike call. “We thought it was going to happen earlier.”

    UAW Local 1853 President John Rutherford in Spring Hill didn’t immediately return a telephone message.

    Fain said in a video appearance Saturday night that 43,000 members at Stelantis would have to vote on the deal — just as Ford workers must. About 14,000 UAW workers had been on strike at two Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and several parts distribution centers across the country. The company makes Jeep and Ram vehicles.

    The pact includes 25% in general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified. Workers also will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to a compounded 33%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $42 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.

    Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run through April 30, 2028.

    Under the deal, the union said it saved jobs in Belvidere as well at an engine plant in Trenton, Michigan, and a machining factory in Toledo, Ohio.

    “We have reopened an assembly plant that was closed,” Fain said. The deal includes a commitment by Stellantis to build a new midsize combustion-engine truck at the Belvidere factory that was slated to be closed. About 1,200 workers will be hired back, plus another 1,000 workers will be added for a new electric vehicle battery plant, the union said.

    Vice President Rich Boyer, who led the Stellantis talks, said the workforce will be doubled at the Toledo, Ohio, machining plant. The union, he said, won $19 billion worth of investment across the U.S.

    Fain said Stellantis had proposed cutting 5,000 U.S. jobs, but the union’s strike changed that to adding 5,000 jobs by the end of the contract.

    Gordon, the University of Michigan professor, said the Stellantis deal “shows that the car companies feel they are at the mercy of the UAW, that the UAW is not going to give any mercy, and that companies will be co-governed by their boards and the UAW.”

    He said competing companies with non-unionized workforces, which include Toyota and Tesla, “couldn’t have gotten a better year-end gift.”

    Under the Stellantis contract, a top-scale assembly plant worker’s base wage will exceed all increases in the past 22 years. Starting wages for new hires will rise 67% including cost-of-living adjustments to over $30 per hour, it said in a statement. Temporary workers will get raises of more than 165%, while workers at parts centers will get an immediate 76% increase if the contract is ratified.

    Like the Ford agreement, it will take just three years for new workers to get to the top of the assembly pay scale, the union said.

    The union also won the right to strike over plant closures at Stellantis, and can strike if the company doesn’t meet product and investment commitments, Fain said.

    Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that has been on strike since September, said he expects workers will vote to approve the deal because of the pay raises above 30% and a large 11% raise immediately. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

    Some union members had complained that Fain promised 40% raises to match what he said was given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was merely an opening bid.

    “Ultimately, the numbers they did come to agree with is what the UAW wanted,” said Jermaine Antwine, a 48-year-old Stellantis worker who had been picketing the automaker’s Sterling Heights, Michigan, plant Saturday. A team leader in materials at the plant, the Pontiac, Michigan man has has 24 years with the automaker.

    Negotiations between the UAW and Stellantis had intensified Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced.

    The union began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired. At the peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against all three companies, about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit three.

    With the Ford deal, which set a template for the other two companies, workers with pensions will see small increases when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases.

    Other union leaders who followed aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also secured pay hikes and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some wins in compensation, length of employment and other areas.

    ____

    Bajak reported from Boston. AP writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, Corey Williams in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Haleluya Hadero in Jersey City, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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  • UAW escalates strike against lone holdout GM

    UAW escalates strike against lone holdout GM

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    DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union has widened its strike against General Motors, the lone holdout among the three Detroit automakers, after reaching a tentative contract agreement with Jeep maker Stellantis.

    The escalated walkout began Saturday evening at a Spring Hill, Tennessee plant, GM’s largest in North America, just hours after the Stellantic deal was reached. Its nearly 4,000 workers join about 18,000 already striking at GM factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri and Tennessee.

    The UAW did not immediately explain what prompted the new action after 44 days of targeted strikes. The added pressure on GM is substantial as Spring Hill makes engines for vehicles assembled in a total of nine plants as far afield as Mexico, including Silverado and Sierra pickups. One plant already on strike it supplies with engines, in Arlington Texas, makes full-size SUVs including the Tahoe and Suburban. Vehicles assembled at Spring Hill include the electric Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Acadia and Cadillac crossover SUVs.

    “The Spring Hill walkout affects so much of GM’s production that the company is likely to settle quickly or close down most production,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor. The union wants to wrap negotiations with all three automakers so “Ford and Stellantis workers don’t vote down (their) tentative agreements because they want to see what GM workers get.”

    The Stellantis deal mirrors one reached last week with Ford, and saves jobs at a factory in Belvidere, Illinois, that Stellantis had planned to close, the UAW said.

    GM said it was disappointed with the additional strike at the Spring Hill plant, which has 11 million square feet of building space, “in light of the progress we have made.” It said in a statement that is has bargained in good faith and wants a deal as soon as possible.

    In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain lamented what he called “GM’s unnecessary and irresponsible refusal to come to a fair agreement.”

    “Everybody’s really fired up and excited,” Spring Hill assembly line worker Larry Montgomery said by phone on Sunday. He said workers were taken by surprise by the strike call. “We thought it was going to happen earlier.”

    UAW Local 1853 President John Rutherford in Spring Hill didn’t immediately return a telephone message.

    Fain said in a video appearance Saturday night that 43,000 members at Stelantis would have to vote on the deal — just as Ford workers must. About 14,000 UAW workers had been on strike at two Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and several parts distribution centers across the country. The company makes Jeep and Ram vehicles.

    The pact includes 25% in general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified. Workers also will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to a compounded 33%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $42 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.

    Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run through April 30, 2028.

    Under the deal, the union said it saved jobs in Belvidere as well at an engine plant in Trenton, Michigan, and a machining factory in Toledo, Ohio.

    “We have reopened an assembly plant that was closed,” Fain said. The deal includes a commitment by Stellantis to build a new midsize combustion-engine truck at the Belvidere factory that was slated to be closed. About 1,200 workers will be hired back, plus another 1,000 workers will be added for a new electric vehicle battery plant, the union said.

    Vice President Rich Boyer, who led the Stellantis talks, said the workforce will be doubled at the Toledo, Ohio, machining plant. The union, he said, won $19 billion worth of investment across the U.S.

    Fain said Stellantis had proposed cutting 5,000 U.S. jobs, but the union’s strike changed that to adding 5,000 jobs by the end of the contract.

    Gordon, the University of Michigan professor, said the Stellantis deal “shows that the car companies feel they are at the mercy of the UAW, that the UAW is not going to give any mercy, and that companies will be co-governed by their boards and the UAW.”

    He said competing companies with non-unionized workforces, which include Toyota and Tesla, “couldn’t have gotten a better year-end gift.”

    Under the Stellantis contract, a top-scale assembly plant worker’s base wage will exceed all increases in the past 22 years. Starting wages for new hires will rise 67% including cost-of-living adjustments to over $30 per hour, it said in a statement. Temporary workers will get raises of more than 165%, while workers at parts centers will get an immediate 76% increase if the contract is ratified.

    Like the Ford agreement, it will take just three years for new workers to get to the top of the assembly pay scale, the union said.

    The union also won the right to strike over plant closures at Stellantis, and can strike if the company doesn’t meet product and investment commitments, Fain said.

    Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that has been on strike since September, said he expects workers will vote to approve the deal because of the pay raises above 30% and a large 11% raise immediately. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

    Some union members had complained that Fain promised 40% raises to match what he said was given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was merely an opening bid.

    “Ultimately, the numbers they did come to agree with is what the UAW wanted,” said Jermaine Antwine, a 48-year-old Stellantis worker who had been picketing the automaker’s Sterling Heights, Michigan, plant Saturday. A team leader in materials at the plant, the Pontiac, Michigan man has has 24 years with the automaker.

    Negotiations between the UAW and Stellantis had intensified Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced.

    The union began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired. At the peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against all three companies, about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit three.

    With the Ford deal, which set a template for the other two companies, workers with pensions will see small increases when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases.

    Other union leaders who followed aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also secured pay hikes and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some wins in compensation, length of employment and other areas.

    ____

    Bajak reported from Boston. AP writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, Corey Williams in Sterling Heights, Michigan, and Haleluya Hadero in Jersey City, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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  • AP Sources: Auto workers and Stellantis reach tentative contract deal that follows model set by Ford

    AP Sources: Auto workers and Stellantis reach tentative contract deal that follows model set by Ford

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    DETROIT — Jeep maker Stellantis has reached a tentative contract agreement with the United Auto Workers union that follows a template set earlier this week by Ford, two people with knowledge of the negotiations said Saturday.

    The deal, which still has to be ratified by members, leaves only General Motors without a contract with the union. The agreement could end a six-week strike by more than 14,000 workers at Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and at parts warehouses across the nation.

    Like workers at Ford, the strikers at Stellantis are expected to take down their picket lines and start returning to work in the coming days, before 43,000 union members vote.

    The people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the talks, said most of the main points of the deal at Ford will carry over to Stellantis.

    The Ford pact includes 25% in general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified. Workers also will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to over 30%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $40 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.

    Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run through April 30, 2028.

    The deal includes a new vehicle for a now-idled factory in Belvidere, Illinois, which the company had planned to close.

    Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that has been on strike since September, said he expects workers will vote to approve the deal because of the pay raises above 30% and a large raise immediately.

    “Eleven percent is right on the hood,” he said. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

    Some union members have been complaining that Fain promised 40% raises to match what he said was given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was UAW President Shawn Fain’s opening bid.

    “Anybody who knows anything about negotiations, you always start out much higher than you think is realistic to get,” he said.

    Jermaine Antwine and other Stellantis workers picketing outside the automaker’s Sterling Heights, Michigan, were excited Saturday after hearing news of a tentative deal.

    “Anytime you reach a tentative agreement, it’s a good thing,” said Antwine, 48, of Pontiac, Michigan. “It shows both sides have come to a mutual agreement somewhere within the numbers they started with.”

    “Ultimately, the numbers they did come to agree with is what the UAW wanted,” said Antwine, who has spent 24 years with the automaker and is a team leader in materials at the Sterling Heights plant.

    Talks were under way with General Motors on Saturday in an effort to reach a similar agreement. Over 14,000 workers at GM remain on strike at factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

    The union began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired.

    The union and Stellantis went into intense negotiations on Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced, and finalized the agreement on Saturday.

    UAW workers began their targeted strikes with one assembly plant from each company. The strikes were expanded on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that, and then the union hit Ford hard, taking down the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the company’s largest and most profitable factory.

    At the peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against all three companies, about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit three. Automakers laid off several thousand more as parts shortages cascaded through their manufacturing systems.

    Under the Ford deal, workers with pensions also will see small increases when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases. For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories. Temporary workers also will get large raises, and Ford agreed to shorten to three years the time it takes for new hires to reach the top of the pay scale.

    Other union leaders who followed more aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also secured pay hikes and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some wins in compensation, length of employment and other areas. This summer, the Teamsters also secured new pay hikes and benefits for unionized UPS workers after threatening a nationwide strike at the delivery company.

    ____

    AP Business Writer Haleluya Hadero contributed to this report from Jersey City, New Jersey. AP Staff Writer Corey Williams contributed from Sterling Heights, Michigan.

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  • AP Sources: Auto workers and Stellantis reach tentative contract deal that follows model set by Ford

    AP Sources: Auto workers and Stellantis reach tentative contract deal that follows model set by Ford

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    DETROIT — Jeep maker Stellantis has reached a tentative contract agreement with the United Auto Workers union that follows a template set earlier this week by Ford, two people with knowledge of the negotiations said Saturday.

    The deal, which still has to be ratified by members, leaves only General Motors without a contract with the union. The agreement could end a six-week strike by more than 14,000 workers at Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and at parts warehouses across the nation.

    Like workers at Ford, the strikers at Stellantis are expected to take down their picket lines and start returning to work in the coming days, before 43,000 union members vote.

    The people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the talks, said most of the main points of the deal at Ford will carry over to Stellantis.

    The Ford pact includes 25% in general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified. Workers also will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to over 30%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $40 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.

    Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run through April 30, 2028.

    The deal includes a new vehicle for a now-idled factory in Belvidere, Illinois, which the company had planned to close.

    Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that has been on strike since September, said he expects workers will vote to approve the deal because of the pay raises above 30% and a large raise immediately.

    “Eleven percent is right on the hood,” he said. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”

    Some union members have been complaining that Fain promised 40% raises to match what he said was given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was UAW President Shawn Fain’s opening bid.

    Anybody who knows anything about negotiations, you always start out much higher than you think is realistic to get,” he said

    Talks were under way with General Motors on Saturday in an effort to reach a similar agreement. Over 14,000 workers at GM remain on strike at factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.

    The union began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired.

    The union and Stellantis went into intense negotiations on Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced, and finalized the agreement on Saturday.

    UAW workers began their targeted strikes with one assembly plant from each company. The strikes were expanded on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that, and then the union hit Ford hard, taking down the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the company’s largest and most profitable factory.

    At the peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against all three companies, about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit three. Automakers laid off several thousand more as parts shortages cascaded through their manufacturing systems.

    Under the Ford deal, workers with pensions also will see small increases when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases. For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories. Temporary workers also will get large raises, and Ford agreed to shorten to three years the time it takes for new hires to reach the top of the pay scale.

    Other union leaders who followed more aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also secured pay hikes and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some wins in compensation, length of employment and other areas. This summer, the Teamsters also secured new pay hikes and benefits for unionized UPS workers after threatening a nationwide strike at the delivery company.

    ____

    AP Business Writer Haleluya Hadero contributed to this report from Jersey City, New Jersey.

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  • Many Americans say their household expenses are outpacing earnings this year, AP-NORC poll shows

    Many Americans say their household expenses are outpacing earnings this year, AP-NORC poll shows

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    NEW YORK — About 2 in 3 Americans say their household expenses have risen over the last year, but only about 1 in 4 say their income has increased in the same period, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

    As household expenses outpace earnings, many are expressing concern about their financial futures. What’s more, for most Americans, household debt has either risen in the last year or has not gone away.

    Steve Shapiro, 61, who works as an audio engineer in Pittsburgh, said he’d been spending about $100 a week on groceries prior to this past year, but that he’s now shelling out closer to $200.

    “My income has stayed the same,” he said. “The economy is good on paper, but I’m not doing great.”

    About 8 in 10 Americans say their overall household debt is higher or about the same as it was a year ago. About half say they currently have credit card debt, 4 in 10 are dealing with auto loans, and about 1 in 4 have medical debt. Just 15% say their household savings have increased over the last year.

    Tracy Gonzales, 36, who works as a sub-contractor in construction in San Antonio, Texas, has several thousand dollars of medical debt from an emergency room visit for what she thought was a bad headache but turned out to be a tooth infection.

    “They’ll treat you, but the bills are crazy,” she said. Gonzales said she’s tried to avoid seeking medical treatment because of the costs.

    Relatively few Americans say they’re very or extremely confident that they could pay an unexpected medical expense (26%) or have enough money for retirement (18%). Only about one-third are extremely or very confident their current financial situation will allow them to keep up with expenses, though an additional 42% say they’re somewhat confident.

    “I’ve been looking forward to retirement my entire life. Recently I realized it’s just not going to happen,” said Shapiro, of Pittsburgh, adding that his wife’s $30,000 or so of student debt is a financial factor for his household. The couple had hoped to sell their house and move this past year, but decided instead to hold on to their mortgage rate of 3.4%, rather than facing a higher rate. ( The current average long-term mortgage rate reached 7.79% this month. )

    About 3 in 10 Americans say they’ve foregone a major purchase because of higher interest rates in the last year. Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults have student debt, with the pandemic-era payment pause on federal loans ending this month, contributing to the crunch.

    Will Clouse, 77, of Westlake, Ohio, said inflation is his biggest concern, as he lives on a fixed income in his retirement.

    “A box of movie candy — Sno-Caps — that used to cost 99 cents is now a dollar fifty at the grocery store,” he said. “That’s a 50% increase in price. Somebody’s taking advantage of somebody.”

    Yet even as Americans have expressed gloomy sentiments about the economy, many have continued spending, which drove a strong quarter of growth from July though September, when the economy expanded at an annual pace of 4.9%.

    Even so, wages and salaries have largely trailed inflation since the pandemic, leaving most households worse off, though economists debate which measures are the best to use. In the past 12 months, however, average hourly pay has started to pull ahead of prices, rising 0.5% faster.

    Americans are generally split on whether the Republicans (29%) or the Democrats (25%) are better suited to handle the issue of inflation in the U.S. Three in 10 say they trust neither party to address it.

    Geri Putnam, 85, of Thomson, Georgia, said she’s been following the ongoing auto workers strikes with sympathy for the workers’ asks.

    “I don’t think it’s out of line, what they’re asking for, when you see what CEOs are making,” she said. “I think things have gotten out of control. When you can walk into a store and see the next day, across the board, a dollar increase — that’s a little strange. I understand supply and demand, the cost of shipping, et cetera. But it seems to me everyone’s looking at their bottom lines.”

    Putnam also said she sees her six children struggling financially more than her generation did.

    “They all have jobs and have never been without them,” she said. “They’re achievers, but I think at least two or three of them will never be able to buy a home.”

    A slight majority of all Americans polled (54%) describe their household’s financial situation as good, which is about the same as it’s been for the last year but down from 63% in March of 2022. Older Americans are much more confident in their current finances than younger Americans. Just 39% of 18- to 29-year-olds describe their household finances as good, compared to a majority (58%) of those who are 30 and older. People with higher levels of education or higher household incomes are more likely than Americans overall to evaluate their finances as solid.

    About three-quarters of Americans describe the nation’s economy as poor, which is in line with measurements from early last year.

    Among those who are retired, 3 in 10 say they are highly confident that there’s enough saved for their retirement, about 4 in 10 are somewhat confident, and 31% are not very confident or not confident at all.

    Clouse, of Ohio, said the majority of his money had gone towards caring for his wife for the past several years, as she’d been ill. When she passed away this past year, his household lost her Social Security and pension contributions. He sees the political turmoil between Republicans and Democrats as harming the economy, but remains most frustrated by higher prices at the supermarket.

    “Grocery products going up by 20, 30, 40%. There’s no call for that, other than the grocery market people making more money,” he said. “They’re ripping off the consumer. I wish Mr. Biden would do something about that.”

    About 4 in 10 Americans (38%) approve of how Biden is handling the presidency, while 61% disapprove. His overall approval numbers have remained at a steady low for the last several years. Most Americans generally disapprove of how he’s handling the federal budget (68% disapprove), the economy (67%), and student debt (58%).

    ___

    The poll of 1,163 adults was conducted Oct. 5-9, 2023, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, designed to represent the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

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  • Autoworkers reach a deal with Ford, a breakthrough toward ending strikes against Detroit automakers

    Autoworkers reach a deal with Ford, a breakthrough toward ending strikes against Detroit automakers

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    DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union said Wednesday it has reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford that could be a breakthrough toward ending the nearly 6-week-old strikes against Detroit automakers.

    The four-year deal, which still has to be approved by 57,000 union members at the company, could bring a close to the union’s series of strikes at targeted factories run by Ford, General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis.

    The Ford deal could set the pattern for agreements with the other two automakers, where workers will remain on strike. The UAW called on all workers at Ford to return to their jobs and said that will put pressure on GM and Stellantis to bargain. Announcements on how to do that will come later.

    “We told Ford to pony up, and they did,” President Shawn Fain said in a video address to members. “We won things no one thought possible.” He added that Ford put 50% more money on the table than it did before the strike started on Sept. 15.

    UAW Vice President Chuck Browning, the chief negotiator with Ford, said workers will get a 25% general wage increase, plus cost of living raises that will put the pay increase over 30%, to above $40 per hour for top-scale assembly plant workers by the end of the contract.

    Previously Ford, Stellantis and General Motors had all offered 23% pay increases. When the talks started Ford offered 9%.

    Assembly workers will get 11% upon ratification, almost equal to all of the wage increases workers have seen since 2007, Browning said.

    Typically, during past auto strikes, a UAW deal with one automaker has led to the other companies matching it with their own settlements.

    GM said in a statement it is “working constructively” with the union to reach an agreement as soon as possible. Stellantis also said it’s committed to reaching a deal “that gets everyone back to work as soon as possible.”

    Browning said temporary workers will get more in wage increases than they have over the past 22 years combined. Temporary workers will get raises over 150% and retirees will get annual bonuses, he said.

    “Thanks to the power of our members on the picket line and the threat of more strikes to come, we have won the most lucrative agreement per member since Walter Reuther was president,” Browning said. Reuther led the union from 1946 until his death in 1970.

    Fain said that the union’s national leadership council of local union presidents and bargaining chairs will travel Sunday to Detroit, where they’ll get a presentation on the agreement and vote on whether to recommend it to members. Sunday evening the union will host a Facebook Live video appearance and later will hold regional meetings to explain the deal to members.

    While on the picket line at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant west of Detroit Wednesday night, local union leaders invited workers across the road to the union hall for a briefing on the deal. As they trickled out of the building, many were smiling and most were relieved.

    “It’s an emotional time for me. I’m emotional,” worker Keith Jurgelewicz said as his eyes welled up with tears. “But just super excited that this is over with. I just can’t wait to get back to work and just get on with my life.”

    Jurgelewicz said he is happy that the end of the strike came during his shift on the picket lines, where he has faithfully appeared for all of his shifts.

    “Hopefully, GM and Stellantis can get their deals done. … Historic day for us,” he said.

    In a statement, President Joe Biden, who had visited GM picketers near Detroit early in the strikes and has billed himself the most union-friendly president in American history, praised the settlement. “I’ve always believed the middle class built America and unions built the middle class,” Biden said. “This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on.”

    Workers with pensions also will see increases for when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases, Browning said. For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories, he said.

    “That means they can’t keep devastating our communities and closing plants with no consequences,” Browning said. “Together we have made history.”

    Ford said it is pleased to have reached the deal, and said it would focus on restarting the huge Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, as well as the Chicago Assembly Plant. The Louisville plant alone employs 8,700 workers and makes high profit heavy duty F-Series pickup trucks and big truck-based SUVs.

    In all, 20,000 workers will be coming back on the job and shipping the company’s full lineup of vehicles to customers, Ford said.

    Ford’s statement made no mention of the cost of the contract. Company executives said last week they were at the limit of what they could pay while still being able to invest in new vehicles and the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles. All three companies have said they don’t want to be saddled with high labor costs that could limit their ability to invest in future vehicles and potentially force them to raise prices.

    “This agreement sets us on a new path to make things right at Ford, at the Big Three, and across the auto industry. Together, we are turning the tide for the working class in this country,” Fain said.

    ___

    Associated Press Writer Mike Householder contributed from Wayne, Michigan.

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  • Union workers arrested on Las Vegas Strip for blocking traffic as thousands rally

    Union workers arrested on Las Vegas Strip for blocking traffic as thousands rally

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    LAS VEGAS — Thousands of hotel workers fighting for new union contracts rallied on the Las Vegas Strip, halting rush hour traffic Wednesday night before police arrested dozens sitting in the street in stepped-up labor unrest that organizers say aims to draw attention to negotiations with three major casino companies.

    Dozens of workers sat in two separate circles across multiple lanes of the Strip, stopping cars in both directions before police officers with zip ties started taking protesters into custody. They were led into a white police bus with red and blue lights flashing.

    For about a half-hour, traffic ground to a halt on one of the most recognizable stretches of the Strip with views of the Bellagio fountain, the Eiffel Tower replica and Caesars Palace.

    Las Vegas police said they had no immediate estimate of the number of arrests. The casinos had no immediate comment.

    The Culinary Workers Union said ahead of the protest that 75 workers could be arrested for “civil disobedience” after they blocked traffic between the iconic Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas resorts — an area already facing significant road closures due to construction for the Formula 1 races scheduled to take over the Strip next month.

    Kimberly Dopler, a cocktail server at Wynn Las Vegas since it opened in 2005, said in an interview as the protest began Wednesday that she planned to halt traffic. She said the fact that dozens of workers were willing to get arrested speaks volumes about the way casino companies view their employees.

    “I’m hoping that the companies will listen to us and realize that we’re not joking. We’re ready to walk out,” she said.

    Union leaders said the action was intended to signal a show of force ahead of any potential strike.

    Visiting from Missouri, Cindy Hiatt and Michelle Shirley said as the rally began they won’t return to Las Vegas again during any potential strike by hotel workers.

    “The hotels are going to have to realize that they’re not going to have people wanting to come to Vegas without these workers,” Hiatt said.

    The rally follows the union’s overwhelming vote last month to authorize a strike if they don’t soon reach agreements with MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts. The companies did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on the union’s latest job action.

    It also comes at the same time casino workers in Michigan, including employees of the MGM Grand Detroit, are on strike.

    In Las Vegas, a strike deadline has not yet been set as the union and casino companies return to the bargaining table this week. But Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary and treasurer, told reporters this month that thousands of workers who keep the Strip’s hotel-casinos humming could walk off the job in the coming weeks if the latest round of negotiations aren’t productive.

    The culinary union is the largest labor union in Nevada with about 60,000 members. Contracts for about 40,000 of them in Las Vegas expired recently, and negotiations have been underway for months over topics such as pay and working conditions.

    Bethany Khan, the union’s spokesperson, has said all members currently receive health insurance and earn about $26 hourly, including benefits. Khan declined to say how much the union is seeking in pay raises because “we do not negotiate in public,” although the union has said it is asking for “the largest wage increases ever negotiated” in its history.

    The union hasn’t gone on strike in more than three decades. A walkout would be the latest in a series of high-profile job actions around the country, including walkouts in Hollywood and the auto production lines in Detroit.

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  • Thousands of Las Vegas hotel workers fighting for new union contracts rally, block Strip traffic

    Thousands of Las Vegas hotel workers fighting for new union contracts rally, block Strip traffic

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    LAS VEGAS — Thousands of hotel workers fighting for new union contracts rallied Wednesday night on the Las Vegas Strip, snarling traffic during rush hour as dozens took to the street vowing to be arrested to bring attention to the labor union’s negotiations with three major casino companies.

    Dozens of workers sat in two separate circles across multiple lanes of the Strip, stopping cars in both directions. Police officers stood by with zip ties but did not immediately arrest the workers.

    The Culinary Workers Union said ahead of the protest that 75 workers could be arrested for “civil disobedience” after they blocked traffic between the iconic Bellagio and Paris Las Vegas resorts — an area already facing significant road closures due to construction for the Formula 1 races scheduled to take over the Strip next month.

    Kimberly Dopler, a cocktail server at Wynn Las Vegas since it opened in 2005, said in an interview as the protest began Wednesday that she was among those who planned to halt traffic. She said the fact that dozens of workers were willing to get arrested speaks volumes about the way casino companies view their employees.

    “I’m hoping that the companies will listen to us and realize that we’re not joking. We’re ready to walk out,” she said.

    Union leaders said the action was intended to signal a show of force ahead of any potential strike.

    Visiting from Missouri, Cindy Hiatt and Michelle Shirley said as the rally began they won’t return to Las Vegas again during any potential strike by hotel workers.

    “The hotels are going to have to realize that they’re not going to have people wanting to come to Vegas without these workers,” Hiatt said.

    The rally follows the union’s overwhelming vote last month to authorize a strike if they don’t soon reach agreements with MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts. The companies did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment on the union’s latest job action.

    It also comes at the same time casino workers in Michigan, including employees of the MGM Grand Detroit, are on strike.

    In Las Vegas, a strike deadline has not yet been set as the union and casino companies return to the bargaining table this week. But Ted Pappageorge, the union’s secretary and treasurer, told reporters this month that thousands of workers who keep the Strip’s hotel-casinos humming could walk off the job in the coming weeks if the latest round of negotiations aren’t productive.

    The culinary union is the largest labor union in Nevada with about 60,000 members. Contracts for about 40,000 of them in Las Vegas expired recently, and negotiations have been underway for months over topics such as pay and working conditions.

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  • Women across Iceland, including the prime minister, go on strike for equal pay and no more violence

    Women across Iceland, including the prime minister, go on strike for equal pay and no more violence

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    HUSAVIK, Iceland — Schools, shops, banks and Iceland’s famous swimming pools shut on Tuesday as women in the volcanic island nation — including the prime minister — went on strike to push for an end to unequal pay and gender-based violence.

    Icelanders awoke to all-male news teams announcing shutdowns across the country, with public transport delayed, hospitals understaffed and hotel rooms uncleaned. Trade unions, the strike’s main organizers, called on women and nonbinary people to refuse paid and unpaid work, including chores. About 90% of the country’s workers belong to a union.

    Prime Minister Katrin Jakobsdóttir said she would stay home as part of the strike — “kvennaverkfall” in Icelandic — and expected other women in her Cabinet would do the same.

    Iceland, a rugged island of around 380,000 people just below the Arctic Circle, has been ranked as the world’s most gender-equal country 14 years in a row by the World Economic Forum, which measures pay, education, health care and other factors.

    No country has achieved full equality, and there remains a gender pay gap in Iceland.

    Tuesday’s walkout, running from midnight to midnight, was billed as the biggest since Iceland’s first such event on Oct. 24, 1975, when 90% of women refused to work, clean or look after children, to voice anger at discrimination in the workplace.

    In 1976, Iceland passed a law guaranteeing equal rights irrespective of gender. Since then there have been several partial-day strikes, most recently in 2018, with women walking off the job in the early afternoon, symbolizing the time of day when women, on average, stop earning compared to men.

    Iceland’s chools and the health system, which have female-dominated workforces, said they would be heavily affected. National broadcaster RUV said it was reducing television and radio broadcasts for the day, and reported that only one bank branch in the country was open.

    Gatherings on Tuesday were held across Iceland, the largest in Reykjavik, where much of the capital’s center was closed to traffic and tens of thousands gathered on the grassy Arnarhóll hill for a rally.

    Speakers listed grim facts about economic inequality and sexual violence in Iceland, ending by asking, “You call that equality?” The crowd thundered back: “No!”

    “We have not yet reached our goals of full gender equality and we are still tackling the gender-based wage gap, which is unacceptable in 2023,” Jakobsdóttir told news website mbl.is. “We are still tackling gender-based violence, which has been a priority for my government to tackle.”

    Jakobsdóttir’s Cabinet is evenly split between male and female ministers, and nearly half of lawmakers in Iceland’s parliament, the Althingi, are women.

    But while women in Iceland have pushed or broken the glass ceiling to top jobs — from bishop to leaders of the national wrestling association — the lowest-paying jobs, such as cleaning and child care, are still predominantly done by women.

    The work, essential to Iceland’s tourism-dominated economy, also depends heavily on immigrants, who on the whole work longer hours and take home the lowest salaries. Around 22% of the female workforce is foreign-born, according to Statistics Iceland.

    “Foreign women are more vulnerable,” said Alice Clarke, an artist and designer from Canada who has lived in Iceland for 30 years. “Hopefully what is being done today will help to change that.”

    Iceland’s 1975 strike inspired similar protests in other countries including Poland, where women boycotted jobs and classes in 2016 to protest a proposed abortion ban. In Spain, women staged a 24-hour strike in 2018 on March 8, International Women’s Day, under the theme “If we stop, the world stops.”

    Spain’s acting equality minister, Irene Montero, said Tuesday that the 2018 strike was inspired by Iceland’s 1975 walkout and expressed full support for the latest protest.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Jill Lawless in London and Ciarán Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.

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  • UAW strikes at General Motors SUV plant as union begins to target automaker cash cows

    UAW strikes at General Motors SUV plant as union begins to target automaker cash cows

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    DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union has turned up the heat on General Motors as 5,000 workers walked off their jobs Tuesday at a highly profitable SUV factory in Arlington, Texas.

    The move comes just a day after the union went on strike at a Stellantis pickup truck factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan, north of Detroit.

    The Texas strike brings the total of UAW members that have walked off their jobs to 46,000 in a series of strikes that is entering its sixth week.

    UAW President Shawn Fain last week threatened further strikes in an effort to get GM, Ford and Stellantis to increase their pay offers.

    But GM CEO Mary Barra said on Tuesday morning’s earnings conference call that the company already has made a record offer and won’t agree to a contract that jeopardizes the company’s future.

    The Arlington factory makes large truck-based SUVs that are among GM’s most profitable vehicles. They include the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.

    The union said the move came just hours after GM announced quarterly earnings and four days after Fain said GM’s latest offer wasn’t large enough.

    GM on Tuesday posted a net profit of just over $3 billion for the quarter, down 7% from a year ago. But the company reported strong demand and prices for its vehicles.

    Fain said in a prepared statement that GM beat Wall Street expectations, and its offer lags behind Ford, preserving a two-tier wage structure and offering the weakest 401(k) contribution of all three companies at 8%. “It’s time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share,” Fain said.

    Barra said GM’s record offer rewards employees but doesn’t put the company or UAW jobs at risk. “Accepting unsustainably high costs would put our future and GM team member jobs at risk, and jeopardizing our future is something I will not do,” she said in a statement.

    After the Arlington strike was announced, GM said that it’s disappointed in the escalation, calling the strike “unnecessary and irresponsible.” The strike is harming employees and will have “negative ripple effects on our dealers, suppliers, and the communities that rely on us.”

    Automakers have made layoffs since the strike began and blamed walkouts for the job cuts.

    Last week GM made an offer that increased its previous offer by about 25% in total value, the company said.

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  • Autoworkers strike cuts into GM earnings, company sees further loses if walkouts linger

    Autoworkers strike cuts into GM earnings, company sees further loses if walkouts linger

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    DETROIT — A strike by auto workers against General Motors is expected to cut pretax earnings by $800 million this year, and another $200 million per week after that, the company’s chief financial officer said.

    And those figures include only factories that are on strike now with less than a third of the company’s workforce on the picket lines, so if more plants are added by the United Auto Workers union, the losses will pile up further, CFO Paul Jacobson told reporters.

    Those strike are already taking a toll.

    GM on Tuesday posted net income of more than $3 billion from July through September, down 7% from the same period last year due to lost production from the strike, and also increased warranty costs, Jacobson said. The company also withdrew its previous full-year pretax earnings estimates, citing uncertainty over the length of the strike and how many factories would be shut down

    However, excluding one-time items, GM said made $2.28 per share, handily beating Wall Street estimates of $1.87. Revenue of $44.13 billion rose 5.4% and also exceeded estimates of $42.48 billion, according to data provider FactSet.

    That sent shares up 3% before the opening bell Tuesday.

    The UAW has been on strike since Sept. 15 — nearly six weeks — against GM and its Detroit competitors, Ford and Jeep maker Stellantis. So far the union has spared factories that make GM’s most profitable vehicles, pickup trucks and large SUVs, from its targeted strikes. Yet the UAW demonstrated again this week that risks to those money making facilities can rise the longer the strike goes on.

    On Monday, the union shut down Stellantis’ huge Ram pickup truck plant north of Detroit in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Two weeks ago workers walked off their jobs at Ford’s largest and most profitable plant, one that makes pickups and big SUVs in Louisville, Kentucky. So far only 28% of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit Three are on strike.

    Jacobson said the third-quarter strike loss was $200 million, since the walkouts were only in effect the final two weeks of the period. He predicted another $600 million of losses from October through December.

    “We remain optimistic and hopeful that we’ll make progress and get this resolved going forward,” Jacobson told reporters.

    He said many have expressed concerns about the company taking on higher labor costs, but GM has planned for it by cutting in other areas. For example, GM’s annual fixed costs will be $2 billion lower than 2022 by the end of 2024, Jacobson said. The company also is slowing electric vehicle production to adjust to slower short-term growth in demand.

    Last week GM announced that it’s postponing production at one Michigan electric pickup truck factory from this year until late 2025 to keep manufacturing in line with demand. That decision will save the company $1.5 billion next year, Jacobson said.

    GM is sticking with plans to increase manufacturing capacity to 1 million EVs per year in North America by the end of 2025, he said. But earlier guidance of building 400,000 EVs in North America through the middle of next year have been scrapped. Jacobson said GM still expects to start turning low-to-mid single-digit profit margins on electric vehicles in 2025.

    Demand for vehicles and prices remained strong through the third quarter, which helped keep GM’s profit high. The company’s U.S. sales rose 21%, and Jacobson said the average U.S. selling price for GM vehicles was $50,750, down only slightly from the previous quarter.

    “So far the consumer has held up remarkably well for us, as evidenced by the average transaction prices,” Jacobson said. “They continue to hang in and I think exceeded most expectations that were set at the beginning of the year.”

    Jessica Caldwell, head of insights for the Edmunds.com auto site, said GM’s sales numbers looked good on the surface, but that could change in the next few months. As cold weather arrives, those in the market are usually looking for larger four-wheel-drive vehicles. But she said a lingering strike could close plants, cut production of those lucrative vehicles and “be harbingers of sales declines during an important stretch of the calendar ahead.”

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  • Autoworkers add key Stellantis pickup truck plant to strikes

    Autoworkers add key Stellantis pickup truck plant to strikes

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    The United Auto Workers union has once again escalated its strikes against big Detroit automakers, this time adding a factory that makes Ram pickup trucks for Stellantis.

    The union says that 6,800 members walked out Monday morning and shut down the Sterling Heights, Michigan, Assembly Plant, a huge profit center for the company.

    The newest strike action comes just three days after union President Shawn Fain reported progress in talks with General Motors and Stellantis but said the companies will have to make better offers. No progress was reported with Ford, which last week said it had the best offer of the three.

    The union went on strike Sept. 15 at one assembly plant from each company. About 41,000 workers are now on strike against all three automakers. The strikes, now in their sixth week, cover seven assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses. About 28% of the union’s work force at the three companies are now on strike.

    General Motors, which increased its offer last week, and Ford were spared in the latest escalation. At first the union avoided striking at pickup and large SUV plants, which at all three produce vehicles that make the most money for the companies. But that changed two weeks ago when the UAW took out a giant Ford heavy-duty pickup and SUV plant in Louisville, Kentucky.

    In previous strikes the union has targeted a particular company and reached an agreement that served as a pattern for a deal with the other two.

    In a statement, the union said that offers from Stellantis, formed in the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and France’s PSA Groupe, lag Ford and GM despite the automaker having the most revenue and highest profits of the three.

    Stellantis has the worst offer on cost of living raises, how fast workers move to the top of the pay scale, temporary worker pay, converting temps to full time, and other issues, the union said.

    In a statement, Stellantis said it was “outraged” that the Sterling Heights plant was added to the strike list because the company improved its offer on Thursday but has not received a response from the UAW. The new offer included a 23% wage increase over four years, nearly a 50% increase in retirement savings contributions and added job security provisions, the company said.

    “Our very strong offer would address member demands and provide immediate financial gains for our employees,” the statement said. “Instead the UAW has decided to cause further harm to the entire automotive industry as well as our local, state and national economies.”

    With every plant it adds, the union “sacrifices domestic market share to nonunion competition,” hurting the company’s ability to invest and compete, the statement said.

    The union expects to make counteroffers to Stellantis and GM soon.

    By taking down the Stellantis factory, the union is signaling Ford and GM to improve their offers, Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said. Last week it appeared a deal might be in the works, but Fain said Friday that the companies will need to pay more.

    “It takes a potential deal that appeared on the table — at least for now — off of it,” Ives said, predicting the the union will announce new strike locations later this week. “There could be some tough talks ahead,” Ives said.

    On Friday, Fain said Stellantis and GM have made wage offers that matched Ford’s 23% over the life of a four year contract. But, speaking in his characteristic sharp tones, the union president insisted that the companies can go further.

    “We’ve got cards left to play, and they’ve got money left to spend,” Fain said.

    While Fain said the companies keep touting that they’ve made record offers to the UAW, he said they’re insufficient to make up for how much ground workers have lost during the past two decades. Each time the automakers make an offer, Fain said, they insist it’s the best they can do, only to return days later with a better offer.

    “What that should tell you,” Fain said, is that “there’s room to move.”

    ____

    Koenig reported from Dallas.

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  • The Hollywood actors strike hits 100 days. Why hasn’t a deal been reached and what’s next?

    The Hollywood actors strike hits 100 days. Why hasn’t a deal been reached and what’s next?

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    LOS ANGELES — While screenwriters are busy back at work, film and TV actors remain on picket lines, with the longest strike in their history hitting the 100-day mark Saturday after talks broke off with studios. On the same day, the actors’ union and an alliance representing major studios announced in a joint statement that negotiations will resume next week on Tuesday, with several studio executives expected to join. Here’s a look at where things stand, how their stretched-out standoff compares to past strikes, and what happens next.

    Hopes were high and leaders of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists were cautiously optimistic when they resumed negotiations Oct. 2 for the first time since the strike began 2 1/2 months earlier.

    The same group of chief executives from the biggest studios had made a major deal just over a week earlier with striking writers, whose leaders celebrated their gains on many issues actors are also fighting for: long-term pay, consistency of employment and control over the use of artificial intelligence.

    But the actors’ talks were tepid, with days off between sessions and no reports of progress. Then studios abruptly ended discussions Oct. 11, saying the actors’ demands were exorbitantly expensive and the two sides were too far apart to continue.

    “We only met with them a couple of times, Monday, half a day Wednesday, half a day Friday. That was what they were available for,” SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher told The Associated Press soon after the talks broke off. “Then this past week, it was Monday and a half a day on Wednesday. And then, ‘Bye-bye.’ I’ve never really met people that actually don’t understand what negotiations mean. Why are you walking away from the table?”

    The reasons, according to the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, included a union demand for a fee for each subscriber to streaming services.

    “SAG-AFTRA gave the member companies an ultimatum: either agree to a proposal for a tax on subscribers as well as all other open items, or else the strike would continue,” the AMPTP said in a statement to the AP. “The member companies responded to SAG-AFTRA’s ultimatum that unfortunately, the tax on subscribers poses an untenable economic burden.”

    Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos, one of the executives in on the bargaining sessions, told investors on an earnings call Wednesday, “This really broke our momentum unfortunately.”

    SAG-AFTRA leaders said it was ridiculous to frame this demand as though it were a tax on customers, and said it was the executives themselves who wanted to shift from a model based on a show’s popularity to one based on the number of subscribers.

    “We made big moves in their direction that have just been ignored and not responded to,” Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, SAG-AFTRA’s national executive director and chief negotiator, told the AP. “We made changes to our AI proposal. We made dramatic changes to what used to be our streaming revenue share proposal,” Crabtree-Ireland said.

    The studios said just after the talks broke off that the per-subscriber charge would cost them $800 million annually, a figure SAG-AFTRA said was a vast overestimate.

    The AMPTP later responded that the number was based on a union request for $1 per customer per year, which was lowered to 57 cents after SAG-AFTRA changed its evaluation to cut out nonrelevant programming like news and sports.

    The actors are in unscripted territory. Their union has never been on a strike this long, nor been on strike at all since before many of its members were born. Not even its veteran leaders, like Crabtree-Ireland, with the union for 20 years, have found themselves in quite these circumstances.

    SAG-AFTRA says it is willing to resume at any time, but that it won’t change its demands.

    “I think that they think that we’re going to cower,” Drescher said. “But that’s never going to happen because this is a crossroads and we must stay on course.”

    The writers did have their own false start with studios that may give some reason for optimism. Their union attempted to restart negotiations with studios in mid-August, more than three months into their strike. Those talks went nowhere, breaking off after a few days. A month later, the studio alliance came calling again. Those talks took off, with most of their demands being met after five marathon days that resulted in a tentative deal that its members would vote to approve almost unanimously.

    Hollywood actors strikes have been less frequent and shorter than those by writers. The Screen Actors Guild (they added the “AFTRA” in a 2011 merger) has gone on strike against film and TV studios only three times in its history.

    In each case, emerging technology fueled the dispute. In 1960 — the only previous time actors and writers struck simultaneously — the central issue was actors seeking pay for when their work in film was aired on television, compensation the industry calls residuals. The union, headed by future U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was a smaller and much less formal entity then. The vote to strike took place in the home of actors Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, the parents of current SAG-AFTRA member and vocal striker Jamie Lee Curtis.

    Mid-strike, the actors and studios called a truce so all could attend the Academy Awards — a move forbidden under today’s union rules. Host Bob Hope called the gathering “Hollywood’s most glamorous strike meeting.”

    In the end, a compromise was reached where SAG dropped demands for residuals from past films in exchange for a donation to their pension fund, along with a formula for payment when future films aired on TV. Their 42-day work stoppage began and ended all within the span of the much longer writers strike.

    A 1980 strike would be the actors’ longest for film and television until this year. That time, they were seeking payment for their work when it appeared on home video cassettes and cable TV, along with significant hikes in minimum compensation for roles. A tentative deal was reached with significant gains but major compromises in both areas. Union leadership declared the strike over after 67 days, but many members were unhappy and balked at returning to work. It was nearly a month before leaders could rally enough votes to ratify the deal.

    This time, it was the Emmy Awards that fell in the middle of the strike. The Television Academy held a ceremony, but after a boycott was called, only one acting winner, Powers Boothe, was there to accept his trophy.

    Other segments of the actors union have gone on strike too, including several long standoffs over the TV commercials contract. A 2016-2017 strike by the union’s video game voice actors lasted a whopping 11 months. That segment of the union could strike again soon if a new contract deal isn’t reached.

    The return of writers has the Hollywood production machine churning again, with rooms full of scribes penning new seasons of shows that had been suspended and film writers finishing scripts. But the finished product will await the end of actors strike, and production will remain suspended on many TV shows and dozens of films, including “Wicked,” “Deadpool 3” and “Mission Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part 2.”

    The Emmys, whose nominations were announced the day before the actors strike was called, opted to wait for the stars this time and move their ceremony from September to January — though that date could be threatened, too.

    The Oscars are a long way off in March, but the campaigns to win them are usually well underway by now. With some exceptions — non-studio productions approved by the union — performers are prohibited from promoting their films at press junkets or on red carpets. Director Martin Scorsese has been giving interviews about his new Oscar contender “ Killers of the Flower Moon.” Stars and SAG-AFTRA members Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone and Robert DeNiro haven’t.

    ___

    This story has been corrected to reflect that the actors strike was called the day after Emmy nominations were announced, not on the same day.

    ___

    For more coverage of Hollywood’s labor unrest, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/hollywood-strikes/

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