The Auto Workers are on Strike, and former Republican state official Glen Taylor's Strib featured "news" - WTF?
[The item has been updated, also with one correction re Elon Musk/X and the blue check for UAW having been temp. suspended, then reinstated - see in context below]
11:05 AM Saturday, September 16, 2023 - The homepage screen capture:
Lower left, top right, "cars will cost more"
This shows an anti-union bias which Taylor should think over. Labor puts his product out. Absent labor, no Strib.
Add to it, center feature, do-little politician - smooth race so far - Strib's image caption says, "She has no major Republican challenger yet in her re-election bid."
Hell, there are no major Republicans in the State, as a first point; and Amy's deserved challenger would be a populist-progressive, since she's GOP-lite.
There's an interesting range of Auto Workers Strike coverage on the web. Expect updating commentary to this post, but little more about the sad-sorry approach shown by Minnesota's largest daily news outlet. Change that last sentence to read "sad-sorry approach shown by Minnesota's mainstream media examplar."
And they wonder why MSM has critics?
_________UPDATE_________
ArsTechnica has a short but informative post - following a subheadline
It's the first time UAW workers have struck at the Big Three simultaneously.
UAW's strike action has been narrowly targeted.
Although the union represents about 146,000 members, most of them are
staying at their jobs. But 5,800 Stellantis workers at the company's
Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, are now on strike, as are 3,600 GM workers
at a plant in Wentzville, Missouri, plus 3,300 at Ford's factory in
Wayne, Michigan.
The union and automakers had been trying to reach a compromise before
the 4-year-old contract between them expired on Thursday night. Among
other things, the union has been looking to end the tiered pay structure
in the industry where new hires into a job earn less. It is also
seeking the restoration of cost-of-living increases and an end to
automakers subverting union jobs with temporary workers.
Ford, GM, and Stellantis responded to some of those demands
but fell far short of others, including a 36 percent pay raise spread
over four years and a return to defined-benefit pensions. In a
statement, Ford said that "the proposal would more than double Ford’s
current UAW-related labor costs, which are already significantly higher
than the labor costs of Tesla, Toyota, and other foreign-owned
automakers in the United States that utilize non-union-represented
labor."
UAW President Shawn Fain rejected that claim, telling CNN that
"[t]he cost of labor for a vehicle is 5 percent of the vehicle. They
could double our wages and not raise the prices of vehicles, and they
would still make billions of dollars. It's a lie like everything else
that comes out of their mouths."
It’s also about EVs
The ongoing switch to electric vehicles factors
in to this union fight. As Ford's statement notes, Tesla—which is
responsible for more than 60 percent of all new EV sales in the US—uses
non-union labor. And as we saw from Ford's financial results earlier this year, investing in EV production means a lot of red ink on the balance sheet.
The union is not opposed to electrification, but it doesn't want workers exploited in the process. In a 2021 white paper,
the UAW wrote that, "[w]hereas traditional powertrains have often been
made by automakers themselves and created quality union jobs, EV
batteries are mostly made by suppliers in other countries, with China in
the lead. And where automakers are entering battery production, they
are doing so through joint ventures with battery companies that have an
unknown track record on providing quality jobs."
As a result of the strike, there will be production disruptions for
GM's midsize trucks and full-size vans, the Ford Ranger and Bronco, and
the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator models.
Tesla
isn't involved in the United Auto Workers' negotiations with General
Motors, Ford and Stellantis, but it's the elephant in the room
regardless.
Why it matters: For the Detroit
Three, the competitive threat from non-unionized Tesla heightens the
importance of reaching a reasonable contract that allows them to build
affordable electric vehicles.
Meanwhile, the UAW has a vested
interest in obtaining lucrative deals if it ever wants to resuscitate
its efforts to organize Tesla workers — or those at any other automaker,
for that matter.
Threat level: The UAW's
deals with GM, Ford and Stellantis expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday — and
analysts at Evercore ISI and Wedbush Securities predict a greater than
85% chance of a strike at all three, which has never happened before.
The
UAW this week reportedly lowered its wage increase demand from 40% to
36%, signaling some progress at the bargaining table, but the parties
remain far apart on benefits.
Anderson Economic Group reports
that a 10-day strike at all three would lead to direct losses of $5.6
billion and a possible one-quarter recession in Michigan, Indiana and
Ohio.
Zoom in: Behind the scenes, automakers say the cost gap between them and Tesla is a big reason why they're struggling to compete with the EV titan.
Tesla
currently makes vehicles at an estimated labor cost of $45 to $50 per
hour, whereas the Detroit Three make vehicles for about $64 to $67 per
hour. Both figures include wages, benefits and profit-sharing.
Between the lines: Tesla's profits per vehicle are higher than any of its global rivals, and CEO Elon Musk is using that advantage as a weapon in a price war that is squeezing industry rivals.
Aside from paying lower wages and benefits, Tesla has padded its profit margins by winnowing production costs at its factories.
It
uses large castings in place of many small metal parts, for example,
and brought many parts of its supply chain, including battery
manufacturing, in-house.
For its next model, a $25,000 global car, it's building an even more efficient assembly plant in Texas.
Those efficiencies have enabled Tesla to rapidly scale its operations, posing a growing threat to the established U.S. automakers.
In 2017, GM's sales volume was 85 times larger than Tesla's. By 2022, that had shrunk to less than a five-fold advantage.
"The
competition in the auto industry is fierce, and the UAW, GM, Ford and
Stellantis need to keep that foremost in mind when they negotiate this
contract," Anderson Economic Group CEO Patrick Anderson tells Axios.
Ars, again, Musk being an asshole - [local update correction: Apparently not Elon in a snit, but X policy to temp. suspend X user blue check mark, if a user image is changed; see Intercept opening, here.]
After a report called out Musk's union-busting, UAW's blue check got reinstated.
The move seemingly makes it harder for UAW to maximize reach for its
posts on X, just as workers have begun striking, demanding better wages
and other benefits.
Ford has claimed that the deal UAW was negotiating would have doubled
automaker labor costs, and the Intercept noted that often wage
increases won by union workers "trickle down" to non-unionized workers
like Tesla's. That perhaps worried Musk, who seemingly has a financial
interest in keeping autoworker wages low and a history of union-busting.
Earlier this year, Musk lost a court battle and had to delete a tweet that threatened Tesla workers attempting to unionize.
A UAW official told The Intercept that the union had paid for X
verification and confirmed that the account had been marked as verified
until earlier today when UAW said it was removed without any
notification from X.
By midday Friday, UAW's verified check was reinstated. The Intercept's reporter, Ryan Grim, posted on X, writing, "Elon put the blue check back up. Maybe the Big Three will fold this fast too."
To a request for comment, X only sent Ars an auto-response, saying,
"Busy now, please check back later." (To be fair, in this case "check
back later" is a good summary of what happened.)
[...] Musk's stake in the strike could go beyond wage questions, though.
UAW's negotiations also seek to expand benefits for union workers
involved "in the production of electric vehicles and the batteries
needed to power them," The Intercept reported, and those conversations
could also impact Tesla operations.
On top of the backlash over Musk's union-busting tweet, Tesla has a history of violating labor laws.
[...]
ANDMusk is not the only As to self-promotinganti-labor assholes in the land these days. Remember things. Mistakes can be avoided.
Back to the strike. Best coverage on the issues - Guardian, an ocean away.
It’s the latest in a series of strikes called or threatened by workers in industries including shipping and logistics, TV and movie production and hotel and leisure. Given its scale, the strike could deal a significant blow to the US economy as well as the auto industry.
Why is it happening?
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union says workers have never been fully compensated
for the sacrifices they made after the 2008-09 financial crisis, when
they agreed to a raft of cuts to save the industry. The carmakers
received huge bailouts and soon returned to record profits.
Workers are pushing
for at least a 40% wage increase over four years in a new contract; an
end to two-tier wage systems in which new hires are paid significantly
less for doing the same work; an increase to benefits for retirees and
return of a defined pension instead of a 401k; reinstatement of
cost-of-living adjustment raises; a 32-hour working week; job security
protections; and protections for workers affected by plant closures.
How big is the pay gap?
The vast disparity in pay between workers and their bosses is one of the UAW’s biggest bones of contention.
General Motors CEO Mary Barra made $29m in 2022 – 362 times the median wage of $80,034 at the company.
Ford CEO Jim Farley made $21m in 2022 – 281 times the median worker of $74,691.
Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares made $24.8m in 2022 – 365 times the average worker’s $67,789 wage.
CEO pay at the big three companies jumped by
40% between 2013 and 2022. Meanwhile, auto manufacturing workers have
seen their average real hourly earnings fall 19.3% since 2008, according
to the Economics Policy Institute.
Starting
wages at GM’s Ultium Cells battery plant in Lordstown, Ohio, are just
$16.50, according to the UAW. Meaning it would take 16 years for a
full-time worker to earn what Barra earns in a week.
Who’s leading the charge?
The
UAW president, Shawn Fain, was elected to head the union as part of a
reform campaign within its ranks, aimed at taking a more aggressive
approach towards bargaining after workers had accepted concessions amid
bankruptcies during the 2008 economic recession. Workers have yet to
regain those concessions, or a share in the $250bn profits the big three automakers have raked in over the past decade.
How did the strike begin?
In late August, the UAW announced members voted about 97% in favor of the strike authorization. The union has never gone on strike at the big three automakers simultaneously.
A
minute before midnight on Thursday, after their contracts expired, UAW
members walked out at three assembly plants in Michigan, Missouri and
Ohio. The union said that about 13,000 workers were affected.
The Detroit Free Press reported that the Stellantis complex in Toledo, Ohio, erupted in cheering and honking of horns as the strike began.
When did the UAW last strike?
Workers at General Motors last went on strike in 2019. It lasted 40 days and cost the carmaker $3.6bn. In 2019, contracts were reached with Fiat-Chrysler, now Stellantis, and Ford without a strike occurring.
What happened to talks?
Talks
are going on, “in good faith”, General Motors chief executive Mary
Barra said on Friday morning. But management and workers failed to reach
an agreement by the midnight deadline when current contracts expired
and so the strike began. Fain has previously posted video updates on
negotiations in which he has thrown copies of proposals from the
automakers in the bin, criticizing the companies’ offers.
In the UAW’s most recent negotiation update,
Fain criticized the counteroffers from Ford, Stellantis and GM, saying
they keep in place two-tiered wages for workers; rejected their
retirement and pension proposals; called wage proposals from Ford and GM
“shameful and insulting”; and characterized Stellantis’s offer as
“deeply inadequate”. The union has called for significant wage increases
that reflect the salary increases of the companies’ CEOs.
“It
doesn’t make up for inflation, it doesn’t make up for decades of
falling wages and it doesn’t reflect the massive profits we generated
for this company,” said Fain.
The automakers have criticized the union’s proposals and claimed they are not “feasible”.
How serious could it get?
In the first instance, the UAW planned “standup” strikes aimed at individual auto plants, with members from three plants walking out overnight after talks failed.
Under
this strategy, a strike flares without warning at targeted, individual
plants. Then additional locations follow – ramping up the pressure on
the companies. UAW says as time goes on, more locals may be called on to
join the strike.
“This gives us maximum
leverage and maximum flexibility in our fight to win a fair contract at
each of the big three automakers.” The option to strike across all
facilities is “still on the table”.
What are the costs?
The automotive industry contributes about 3-3.5% of the US gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of the economy.
Vehicle
supply – just recovering from pandemic shortages – would be hit hard. A
month-long strike at the three automakers could cut output by as many
as 500,000 vehicles, according to Sam Fiorani, vice-president of global
vehicle forecasting for AutoForecast Solutions.
Ten-day
strikes at all three automakers could cost manufacturers, workers,
suppliers and dealers more than $5bn, according to economic consulting
firm Anderson Economic Group.
Is the White House getting involved?
Biden
appeared to support the strikers when he spoke at a press briefing
hours after the strike began on Friday. The president said in his White
House address: “Record corporate profits … should be shared by record
contracts for the UAW.”
He also expressed
regret that the strike had not been averted but urged both parties to
return to the negotiating table. “No one wants a strike but I respect
workers’ rights to use their options under the collective bargaining
system and understand their frustrations,” Biden said.
Shawn Fain, UAW Board leader, on YouTube. He does not talk like Bernie. But what he says is what Bernie has been saying. There is a staged dimension to the presentation, a background "choir" used, but so far each of the three, Ford, GM and Fiat-Chrysler, (whatever they call themselves now), each with a single plant closure, so far, with it clear that the strike can escalate, while the union and firms still have the bulk of the industry currently operating. Whether crucial choke-point plants have been targeted, or simply representative facilities is unclear from reporting.
Old timers can remember when the Democratic Party was the unions' party, the workers' party, before the Clintons and before Schumer. What was, can be again.
FURTHER: Glen Taylor's Strib editors will not give a fair hearing to this side of things. Have you seen this telling of a story on FOX? Is Trump talking about anything besides his being sued by prosecutors in four places? Think about it.
Yes, you can say that the linked UAW YouTube item is propaganda. Not gross, but itself telling only one side of things. However, MSM is not supposed to have a dog in this hunt, instead it should be fair and balanced.
Is it?
_________FINAL UPDATE________
Paycheck-to-paycheck worry, and more, the UAW strike is a step toward a fairer economy, hence a fairer America.
Said by the man who should be our President speaking at a UAW rally. Video image quality is off. The quality of the thoughts, spot on.
His age is immaterial. His mental capacity is unquestioned. His continuing the quest is most admirable. A video only 18 minutes long encapsulates what sensible dissatisfaction in America is about - not gun ownership and white Angst. Not about these people:
