Good morning! It’s Thursday, September 14, 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 it is advisable know.
1st Gear: Less Than A Day To Go For An Agreement
The UAW says it plans to strike at sure Detroit Three crops beginning Friday, September 15, except a brand new settlement could be put in place by 11:59 p.m. tonight. That’s what President Shawn Fain is saying, no less than, whereas two of the three automakers say they haven’t gotten responses from the union to their newest presents.
During a Facebook reside stream on the Wednesday, Fain reportedly referred to as proposals giving raises of as much as 20 p.c “insulting” and stated the union would start saying the primary crops to be tarted by 10 p.m. tonight. He referred to as the technique, which the UAW has by no means used towards all three automakers on the similar time, a “stand-up strike,” a callback to sit-down strikes earlier days of the union.
“The stand-up strike will keep the companies guessing,” Fain reportedly stated throughout the livestream. “It’s going to rely on discipline, organization, and creativity. I do believe the beauty of the stand-up strike is that it provides us the maximum flexibility moving forward to have the most effective means of striking that we can put forth to get the best result for our membership.” From Automotive News:
Fain stated a full-on strike towards each plant additionally was nonetheless potential.
Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler mum or dad Stellantis, in separate statements Wednesday night, stated the UAW had not responded to presents they offered Tuesday earlier than Fain criticized them on his broadcast. Ford CEO Jim Farley stated the corporate had put 4 “increasingly generous” presents on the desk since Aug. 29 and had but to obtain “any genuine counteroffer.”
[…]
“There’s still time left,” Farley stated. “Whether there’s room in there or not, we won’t know if we don’t get feedback. We don’t understand why we can’t get feedback to make this deal to forge the future.”
Asked if the UAW was negotiating in unhealthy religion, Farley requested rhetorically: “How can you negotiate if you don’t get a well considered, genuine counteroffer?”
General Motors stated in its personal assertion that it has submitted a number of “strong offers.”
On the reside stream, Fain reportedly revealed particulars of the automakers’ most up-to-date proposals. They embody wage will increase of 20 p.c from Ford, 18 p.c from GM, and 17.5 p.c from Stellantis. All three would additionally lower the time it takes new hires to earn prime wages in half to simply 4 years.
The firms differ on the momentary employee difficulty, in line with the union. Fain stated Ford is providing to transform all present temps with 90 days of steady service into full-time standing. GM, he stated, was providing “inadequate benefits, no profit-sharing and a meager wage increase,” whereas Stellantis had an analogous supply to GM with “no path to full-time” standing.
Regarding cost-of-living changes, the union stated Ford was prepared to revive an previous COLA components however famous it will supply wage safety of “less than $1 over the next four and a half years.” He stated GM and Stellantis had been providing a components that would offer zero wage safety over the course of the subsequent contract.
He additionally stated the profit-sharing formulation supplied by the businesses can be much less beneficiant than they’re in the present day.
The three firms nonetheless differ on the problem of momentary employees. Fain apparently stated Ford is providing to transform all present temps inside 90 days of steady service into full-time standing. GM is providing “inadequate benefits” and Stellantis has “no path to full-time” standing.
Regarding cost-of-living changes, the union stated Ford was prepared to revive an previous COLA components however famous it will supply wage safety of “less than $1 over the next four and a half years.” He stated GM and Stellantis had been providing a components that would offer zero wage safety over the course of the subsequent contract.
He additionally stated the profit-sharing formulation supplied by the businesses can be much less beneficiant than they’re in the present day.
He stated all three proceed to reject all the union’s “job security,” “work-life balance” and retiree priorities. The job safety priorities embody reinstating a jobs financial institution that might proceed to pay employees after they’re laid off, and the work-life stability proposal requires a four-day work week at 5 days’ price of pay.
“We’re making progress at each of the three negotiating tables, but we’re still very far apart on our key priorities,” Fain stated, in line with Auto News. “We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifice and contributions our members have made to these companies.”
He argued that the three automakers may “double our wages and still be profitable, and he framed the push for better contracts as between the working class and the rich.
“These corporations are mountains,” Fain reportedly stated. “Together we can make these mountains move.”
2nd Gear: Teamsters Back Up UAW, Won’t Deliver Cars
Truck drivers who haul automobiles for the Detroit Three are planning to face with UAW members in the event that they go on strike at 11:59 p.m. tonight. That means they won’t be delivering automobiles for Ford, GM, or Stellantis.
“We are 100 percent supportive of UAW workers and Shawn Fain’s positions,” Kevin Moore, International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 299 president, reportedly stated. “Our Teamsters will not cross strike lines.
Moore represents about 5,000 Teamster members, and most of them drive freight car haulers. He spoke with Fain during Detroit’s Labor Day parade, and his wife is a UAW. member.
“I understand their struggles and their issues. I understand the membership of the UAW, and their really strong feelings about fighting for second-tier workers who make $11 an hour less than the full-time workers. This has been going on for years. You have a person working side-by-side with someone earning $11 an hour less than Tier 1 employees,” Moore advised the Detroit Free Press. “I understand trying to bring parity to that work group.”
More from Freep:
Moore, in Grand Rapids this week attending a statewide assembly, can be president of Michigan Joint Council #43 that encompasses all locals within the state or 35,000 Teamsters. Michigan has an extra 200,000 Teamsters retirees. The Teamsters are on standby to reply at a second’s discover to a UAW strike, he stated.
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Since Moore has run Local 299 for twenty-four years, he stated he is aware of nearly each Teamster native chief within the nation. And they symbolize a membership of 1.4 million, he stated.
Detroit Teamsters are on standby, Moore stated. “The Tier 1 workers are fighting for the Tier 2 workers. This is about fairness.”
In addition to driving vehicles, Teamsters work in warehousing, working and repairing ferries and constructing ships. The Teamsters ratified final month a five-year contract for greater than 340,000 UPS employees, elevating wages for full- and part-time staff.
The scope of assist for the UAW additionally consists of the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International (SEIU), Starbucks Workers United, American Federation of Teachers (AFT), American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) and CWA (Communication Workers of America).
“What good is it for us to deliver goods and services to companies when they have workers fighting for their pay and their conditions?” Moore advised Freep. “We have to show support.”
third Gear: Biden Wants Round-The-Clock Talks
President Joe Biden reportedly desires the UAW and the Big Three to work around-the-clock to keep away from a strike, in line with White House financial adviser Jaren Berstein. From Automotive News:
Biden has “encouraged the parties to stay at the table and to work 24 and 7 to get a win-win agreement that keeps UAW workers at the heart of our auto future,” Bernstein stated.
Asked whether or not Biden will usher in negotiators or be extra actively concerned, Bernstein stated “the president’s been very much engaged.”
Biden has met the UAW president within the Oval Office, referred to as him on Labor Day, and referred to as executives from all three automakers earlier than he left for the G20 final week to “encourage them to provide more forward leaning offers to stay at the table.”
Hopefully “the most pro-union president in American history” doesn’t stick UAW members with the identical scenario he put rail employees in.
4th Gear: A Different UAW Strike
Over 1,000 UAW members employed by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan walked off the job on September thirteenth. Workers, represented by the Detroit UAW and several other different locals throughout the state, approved the strike in late August. Negotiations first kicked off in July when employees demanded important wage will increase, higher healthcare advantages, and the return of sure outsourced jobs. From Automotive News:
Pickets had been seen in downtown Detroit on Wednesday morning because the Detroit auto present opened its doorways. The UAW’s contracts with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler mum or dad Stellantis are because of expire at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday.
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“Our main thing we’re having some concerns with is outsourcing,” Janice Hilliard, president of UAW Local 2145 in Grand Rapids, advised Crain’s. “Currently a lot of our work gets outsourced to vendors, including out of the country, such as El Salvador and the Philippines. This is work in our claims area or customer service area, so we wanted to get some type of (contract) language to pretty much stop that, so to speak.”
Hilliard stated the outsourcing has led to a dramatic discount in UAW staff at BCBSM, which represents about 1,100 in the present day, down from greater than 5,000 years in the past.
BCBSM employees additionally famous opposition to the extraordinarily excessive compensation of its CEO, Dan Loepp. It totaled about $157 million in 2022. That’s quite a lot of money.
Reverse: McKinley Gets Got
Neutral: Life Isn’t Fair
On The Radio: Pete Seeger – “Solidarity Forever”
Source: jalopnik.com