Good morning! It’s Friday, October 13, 2023, and that is The Morning Shift, your every day roundup of the highest automotive headlines from around the globe, in a single place. Here are the vital tales you could know.
1st Gear: Ford Says Can’t Increase Wage Offers To UAW
A senior Ford government stated earlier this week that the automaker is “at the limit” of what it will probably spend on wage will increase and advantages for placing United Auto Workers members. He additionally warned that the union’s strike on the firm’s most worthwhile manufacturing facility, which began on October 11, may hurt staff and slash earnings.
“We have been very clear that we are at the limit,” Kumar Galhotra, head of Ford’s combustion automobile unit, reportedly stated throughout a convention name October 13. “We stretched to get to this point. Going further will hurt our ability to invest in the business.” From Reuters:
Ford is open to reallocating cash inside its present supply in additional bargaining with the union to safe an settlement, Galhotra stated. Ford can also be working with the UAW on a method to convey staff at joint-venture electrical automobile battery vegetation into the UAW-Ford settlement, he stated.
UAW President Shawn Fain on Wednesday ordered a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck manufacturing facility after Ford negotiators didn’t current a richer contract proposal.
UAW negotiators turned their consideration on Thursday to talks with Chrysler mum or dad Stellantis, union President Shawn Fain stated, confirming a Reuters report.
“Here’s to hoping talks at Stellantis today are more productive than Ford yesterday,” Fain wrote on social media. Stellantis didn’t instantly remark.
The standoff between Auto Workers and Ford may quickly find yourself impacting hundreds of staff who should not UAW members.
About 4,600 Ford staff might be idled as a result of their jobs rely on manufacturing of Super Duty pickups and enormous Lincoln and Ford SUVs at Kentucky Truck, stated Ford manufacturing vice chairman Bryce Currie.
Already, 13,000 staff at Ford suppliers have been furloughed due to earlier UAW walkouts at two Ford meeting vegetation, Ford provide chain chief Liz Door stated. The shutdown of Kentucky Truck, Ford’s largest manufacturing facility, may push a fragile provide chain “toward collapse,” she stated.
UAW leaders have stated that Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis can really afford to extend pay for UAW staff past the 20-ish p.c they’ve been provided, finish lower-wage tiers for seniority and non permanent staff, and restore outlined profit pensions misplaced in 2007 if they simply rein in share buybacks and reduce government pay.
For reference, the Big Three CEOs all make between $21 and $29 million per 12 months, which works out to be about 300 occasions what their workers do.
2nd Gear: A $7 Billion Hydrogen Expansion Is Coming
President Joe Biden is predicted to announce the places of seven regional hubs to fabricate hydrogen on October 13. It’s a gasoline that has largely solely been viable to be used in California as a result of that’s the place all of the filling stations at the moment are.
Biden will make the announcement with Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm on the Tioga Marine Terminal within the Port of Philadelphia. It will finally be used to supply hydrogen from renewable and nuclear energy at a brand new Mid-Atlantic hydrogen hub comprising of elements of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. From CNN:
Seven regional hubs shall be awarded funding from a pot of $7 billion that was handed final 12 months as a part of the bipartisan infrastructure regulation. In addition to the Mid-Atlantic, the brand new hubs will embrace:
An Appalachian hub, situated throughout West Virginia, Southeastern Ohio, and Southwestern Pennsylvania – this hub would be the one largest by way of manufacturing and derive hydrogen from the area’s methane gasoline;
A California hub that may span the state and encompassing the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles and Oakland;
A Houston, Texas-based hub that might finally develop to incorporate elements of Louisiana, which can derive hydrogen from methane gasoline and renewable vitality;
An Upper Midwest hub spanning Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota, which can derive hydrogen from wind vitality and shall be used for agriculture and energy;
A second Midwest hub will span elements of Illinois, Indiana and southwest Michigan and shall be derived largely from nuclear energy;
And a Pacific Northwest hub will span elements of Eastern Washington and Oregon in addition to elements of Montana and can concentrate on hydrogen for freight and agriculture.
Officials reportedly say they’re nonetheless figuring out precise places for the hubs in every area.
The plan from the Biden administration is that these hubs will hopefully spark new U.S. industries that senior administration officers reportedly estimated may create about $50 billion in private and non-private funding and create tens of hundreds of jobs.
third Gear: GM Ultium Factory Slapped With OSHA Fine
GM’s Ultium Cells EV battery plant in Warren, Ohio is going through about $270,000 in fines after federal investigators discovered 19 well being and security violations.
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration stated on October 12 that investigators examined the reason for an explosion and hearth on the plant that occurred again in March. It led the company to hit the manufacturing facility with 17 critical violations and two different violations that impacted job security and well being. From Automotive News:
OSHA inspectors discovered Ultium — a three way partnership between General Motors and South Korea’s LG Energy Solution to supply battery cells for the automaker’s EVs — “exposed workers to machine and chemical hazards by failing to use and train workers on safety and emergency response procedures,” the company stated.
Ultium additionally didn’t adjust to federal security requirements for the usage of private protecting gear, together with respirators, investigators discovered.
OSHA stated it has issued the corporate a hazard alert letter, asking them to voluntarily scale back the buildup of metallic mud and shield workers from mud publicity.
“Our commitment to safety is paramount, and we make it a point to work closely and collaboratively with state and federal officials, as well as our local union leadership, to ensure we are operating in accordance with all relevant regulations,” Ultium spokesperson Katie Burdette stated in a press release.
“We take safety seriously and have requested a hearing with OSHA, which is the next step in this process,” she continued. “We look forward to a constructive dialogue with OSHA and hope to resolve these issues quickly and reinforce our commitment to fostering a safety-first mindset among all Ultium team members.”
OSHA stated it at the moment has one open inspection on the Ultium plant following a fireplace on June 27. It additionally has three inquiries, together with a report after a stress gauge failed in August and resulted in a battery slurry leak that quickly halted exercise in a part of the plant.
It has reportedly cited the Warren plant 11 occasions because it started battery cell manufacturing in August final 12 months.
4th Gear: Tesla Fights $230 Million In Legal Fees
Tesla is reportedly urging a decide in Delaware to reject $230 million in authorized charges which have been requested by a crew of shareholder attorneys who received a settlement in a direct pay dispute. The automaker needs the chief justice of the court docket to approve a price of not more than $64 million. From Reuters:
The maker of electrical automobiles referred to as the price request an “unwarranted windfall” that works out to an hourly charge of $10,690, one of many highest price requests ever in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, a key venue for shareholder lawsuits.
[…]
The attorneys represented a Detroit police union pension plan that sued Tesla’s administrators for extreme compensation throughout 2017 to 2020. Nearly the entire administrators’ compensation comprised inventory choices they usually solely acquired paid if the inventory rose. In latest years it swelled 10-fold.
Elon Musk’s $56 billion in compensation as Tesla’s chief government was not a part of this lawsuit. It is being challenged individually.
The 2020 lawsuit settled in July with the administrators agreeing to return to Tesla $735 million as a part of a $919 million settlement. The administrators stated their pay was truthful they usually solely settled to take away the chance of litigation.
Attorneys reportedly need their 25 p.c price for the settlement with 12 administrators. They embrace James Murdoch (the opposite Murdoch son) and Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison.
The case was introduced as a so-called spinoff lawsuit which advantages the corporate, fairly than shareholders instantly.
Tesla argued the shareholder’s attorneys exaggerated the worth of the settlement, and by extension their requested price, by pegging its worth to the fee to administrators fairly than the profit to the corporate. Tesla estimated its profit from the deal was $295 million.
The distinction within the two values boils all the way down to the inventory choices. At the time of the July settlement the choices had been value $458 million to the administrators.
But the corporate can’t train the returned inventory choices. Instead, Tesla stated in court docket papers that the good thing about getting the choices again is reversing the accounting value it recorded once they had been issued, which was round $20 million.
Musk is reportedly not contributing to the settlement, and he didn’t obtain any cash for his position on the board.
Reverse: It’s Time To Try Again
Neutral: You Must Follow My New X (Twitter) Account
Elon couldn’t deal with the warmth anymore, and my previous Twitter (or X, I don’t know) account acquired suspended. So, I’ve risen from the ashes and created a brand new account. PLS follow @AndyKalmowitz for car content and no matter else pops into my head.
On The Radio: Sheryl Crow – “Sweet Child O’ Mine”
Source: jalopnik.com