UAW set to announce plans to expand strike against automakers
Additional walkouts will take place at noon Friday without serious progress in contract talks, the United Auto Workers union said.
Additional walkouts will take place at noon Friday without serious progress in contract talks, the United Auto Workers union said.
In a statement, UAW President Shawn Fain called the move “a shameful, barely-veiled threat by Ford to cut jobs” at a plant that’s not open yet.
The UAW on Friday targeted GM and Stellantis distribution centers throughout the United States. Ford was spared additional walkouts because the company has met some of the union’s demands.
A clue of possible strike targets might be found in locations where UAW locals have announced they will hold rallies and practice picketing in the coming days. Those include a Ford plant in Louisville and a GM plant in Bedford, Indiana.
Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep vehicles, said Wednesday that the layoffs are a consequence of the strike at its assembly plant in Toledo, Ohio.
The UAW’s initial list of demands was projected to cost each of the companies $80 billion over four years, according to people familiar with the companies’ estimates.
It was the first time in the UAW’s 88-year history that it walked out on all three companies simultaneously, as four-year contracts with the companies expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Union President Shawn Fain said the final decision on which plants to strike won’t be announced until 10 p.m. Thursday.
In an online address to union members, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have raised their initial wage offers, but have rejected some of the union’s other demands.
A strike of more than a couple of weeks would reduce still-tight supplies of vehicles on Detroit automakers’ dealer lots. With demand still strong, prices would rise.
The union is seeking more than 40% general pay raises over four years, restoration of pensions for newer hires, cost-of-living increases, an end to wage tiers, and other benefits.
Some 340,000 UPS employees are inching toward a strike, threatening the largest work stoppage in over half a century, that could upend a part of the broader package delivery system that Americans have come to depend on.
UPS handles roughly 28% of the 75 million packages delivered in the U.S. on a typical day, split about equally between businesses and homes.
Negotiations between the delivery company and the union representing 340,000 of its workers have been at a standstill for more than a week with a July 31 deadline for a new contract approaching fast.
A historic double strike will effectively shut down Hollywood beginning Friday, after a union representing nearly all TV and film actors failed to secure a new contract with major studios.
As the industry undergoes a historic transition from internal combustion engines to EVs, the UAW sees this year’s contract as an opportunity to ensure representation in the industry’s jobs of the future.
The first Hollywood strike in 15 years began Tuesday as the economic pressures of the streaming era prompted unionized TV and film writers to picket for better pay outside major studios.
Streaming has exploded the number of series and films that are annually made, meaning more jobs for writers. But WGA members say they’re making much less money and working under more strained conditions.
Legislation to avert what could have been an economically ruinous freight rail strike won final approval in Congress on Thursday as lawmakers responded quickly to President Joe Biden’s call for federal intervention in a long-running labor dispute.
The bill lawmakers are considering would impose a compromise labor agreement that was voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers.