#big three automakers

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Actually, the President of the United States is powerful

US Presidents have lots of things they can do beyond signing or vetoing legislation. Their administrative agencies have broad powers that allow them to act without dragging Congress behind them.

For example, Jennifer Abruzzo, the ass-kicking superhero that Biden appointed as National Labor Relations Board General Counsel, has used her powers to establish a rule that companies that break labor law during union drives automatically lose, with the affected union gaining instant recognition.

For a followup, Abruzzo is using a case called Thrive Pet Care to impose a “duty to bargain” on companies. If a company won’t bargain in good faith for a union contract, Abruzzo’s NLRB will simply force them to adhere to the contractual terms established by rival companies that did bargain with their unions, until such time as a contract is signed.

But wait, what about the dastardly Supreme Court? What if those six dotards in robes use their stolen seats on the country’s highest court to block Biden’s administrators?

Well, Biden could do what his predecessors have done. Like Lincoln, Biden could simply ignore the court, embracing popular policies he was elected to enact, revealing the Supremes to be toothless, out-of-touch, undemocratic and illegitimate.

(Andrew Jackson was a monster, but when he ignored his own Supreme Court, he proved that the Supremes’ only leverage came from their legitimacy; recall the (likely apocryphal) quote, “[Chief Justice] John Marshall has made his decision; now let him enforce it!”)

Like FDR, Biden could threaten to pack the court, creating a national debate about the court’s illegitimacy, which would add fuel to the court’s plummeting reputation amidst a string of bribery scandals.

-Joe Biden is headed to a UAW picket-line in Detroit: “I want to do it, now make me do it.”

Image: Fabio Basagni https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/:Sahara_desert_sunrise.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

#joe biden #dark brandon #uaw #strikes #fdr #labor #hot labor summer #big three automakers #manchin-synematic universe #unions #i want to do it now make me do it #pack the court #workerism #money talks bullshit walks #jennifer abruzzo #personnel are politics #nlrb #populism #deliverism #doppelganger #republicans hate workers #class war #no war but class war

[empresa-journal]

Will the Strike destroy the US Auto Industry?

The UAW strike will not destroy the US auto industry, but it could wreck the historic Big Three automakers. The United Auto Workers (UAW) struck Detroit’s historic Big Three automakers, Stellantis (STLA), Ford (F), and General Motors (GM) on 15 September 2023. This strike will disrupt the auto industry because of the UAW’s demands. For example, the UAW wants to end tiers for workers. Under…

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#Ford (F) #Ford (F) is the Best Value in Electric Vehicle Stocks #Ford Imitates Tesla (TSLA) #Stellantis (STLA) #The Big Three’s Actual Problem #The Tesla (TSLA) Menace #What are the UAW’s demands? #Will the Strike destroy the US Auto Industry? #Will the UAW Bankrupt Automakers?

[probablyasocialecologist]

Striking autoworkers tricked the “Big 3” corporations into thinking strike would be taking place at incorrect locations, foiling their anti-strike preparations and inflicting financial damage.

#UAW #united auto workers #uaw strike

[iww-gnv]

For as long as anyone can remember, the Indiana city of Kokomo has been a conservative stronghold. Ronald Reagan crushed Walter Mondale in Kokomo. Bill Clinton lost twice. So did Barack Obama. The current mayor, a Republican, is running unopposed for re-election. It’s a town known for something it would prefer to forget: a Ku Klux Klan rally in 1923 that was the largest ever. Yet somehow Kokomo produced a union leader whose rhetoric is aimed at toppling the conservative and moneyed classes — a rebel who rejects the niceties of an earlier era in favor of a sharp-edged confrontation. “Billionaires in my opinion don’t have a right to exist,” says Shawn Fain, who is leading the United Automobile Workers in a multifront labor battle against the Big Three carmakers that has little precedent and is making a lot of noise. In interviews, in speeches and on social media, Mr. Fain hammers the wealthy again and again, making the cause of the union’s 150,000 autoworkers at General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis something much broader. “There’s a billionaire class, and there’s the rest of us,” he said at an impromptu news conference outside a Ford plant in Wayne, Mich. “We’re all expected to sit back and take the scraps and live paycheck to paycheck and scrape to get by. We’re second-class citizens.”

#news #shawn fain #united auto workers #uaw #uaw strike #us news #us pol #uspol

[zvaigzdelasas]

UAW contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14

9 Sep 23

[shu-of-the-wind]

Notable quotes from this article include:

"The strike – which marks the first time all three of the Detroit Three carmakers have been targeted by strikes at the same time – is being coordinated by UAW president Shawn Fain. He said he intended to launch a series of limited and targeted “standup” strikes to shut individual auto plants around the US." "They involve a combined 12,700 workers at the plants, which are critical to the production of some of the Detroit Three’s most profitable vehicles including the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck."

"The UAW has a $825m strike fund that is set to compensate workers $500 a week while out on strike and could support all of its members for about three months. Staggering the strikes rather than having all 150,000 members walk out at once will allow the union to stretch those resources.

A limited strike could also reduce the potential economic damage economists and politicians fear would result from a widespread, lengthy shutdown of Detroit Three operations."

AND, THE BIG ONE: "Among the union’s demands are a 40% pay increase, an end to tiers, where some workers are paid at lower wage scales than others, and the restoration of concessions from previous contracts such as medical benefits for retirees, more paid time off and rights for workers affected by plant closures.

Workers have cited past concessions and the big three’s immense profits in arguing in favor of their demands. The automakers’ profits jumped 92% from 2013 to 2022, totaling $250bn. During this same time period, chief executive pay increased 40%, and nearly $66bn was paid out in stock dividends or stock buybacks to shareholders.

The industry is also set to receive record taxpayer incentives for transitioning to electric vehicles.

Despite these financial performances, hourly wages for workers have fallen 19.3%, with inflation taken into account, since 2008."

#uaw strike #strike #kylo voice: MORE #labor #labor rights #workers rights

[seat-safety-switch]

When I was growing up, people used to get all froggy about how many cylinders their car’s engine had. Mine’s a V6. Well, mine’s a V8. Nowadays, that doesn’t matter so much: if you have a V8, that’s cool and all, but technology has moved on. Now, automakers will sell you cars that come with little three-cylinder lawnmower engines. With enormous turbochargers attached.

All these big automakers are finally returning to the glories of turbocharging, after having abandoned it in the 1980s for being “too dangerous” and “kind of crap.” Modern technology has made turbocharged engines more reliable, smoother-driving, and easier to live with in general. Those of us who never abandoned the forced induction lifestyle are wondering: what took you folks so long?

I remember the first time I strapped a turbocharger to an engine. We’d lured in a handful of art-college students and made them create an intricate turbo manifold for a 1993 Plymouth Breeze. The Breeze, as you may remember, was not any good at acceleration. Adding a turbocharger made it really good at acceleration. Eventually, one of the art students defected, becoming a mechanical weirdo like ourselves, having transitioned to the cult of boost from whatever pitiful religion he used to follow. I don’t remember his name. Let’s call him Choo-Choo.

Here’s the problem with a turbocharger: once you get bored of how much power it makes, you can tell it to make a little more power, but then you will get bored again. Then, you realize that since you’ve put in infrastructure to support a turbo, you can pull it and put in a bigger turbo, very easily. Say, one from a semi truck. And then one from a bigger semi truck. And then one from a Komatsu heavy loader that requires you to cut a hole in the hood just so that the compressor housing can fit.

Choo-Choo learned the limits of human enterprise on that day, when the Breeze ejected its pitiful automatic transmission into the heavens while on its way to what we all believed would be a 10.16 pass at 139 miles an hour. He survived, albeit forever changed. The last thing he told me was that he was going to go work for Ford, to spread the gospel of the snail to them, too. We laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and yet here it is. Ford’s greatest performance monster: the base-model 1.0-litre EcoSport.

[carsthatnevermadeitetc]

Ford Falcon Squire, 1962. The first generation Falcon was introduced in 1960 as was the first compact model offered by the big three automakers (Chrysler/Ford/GM). Ford wanted their compact range to be to reflect their larger cars in a smaller package so the Falcon Squire as a shrunken version of the County Squire

#Ford #Ford Falcon #Ford Falcon Squire #1962 #woody wagon #station wagon #1960s #long roof #woody #compact car

[mariacallous]

When the United Auto Workers announced the expansion of their strike on Friday morning, the cleverness of their strategy was immediately apparent. The union has gradually turned up the heat on the “Big Three” — as well Joe Biden, who now plans to head to Michigan on Tuesday in what is likely to be an unprecedented show of union solidarity by a sitting president.

The UAW started its work stoppage a week ago by walking out at three assembly facilities, one apiece for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. Then, this morning, the union’s president, Shawn Fain, said the UAW would expand its strike significantly — to 38 parts distribution facilities — but only at those belonging to GM and Stellantis, which owns the Jeep and Dodge brands.

Any parent understands what the union is doing here: Fain is patting one child on the head and giving her a candy bar, while sending the other two out back to rake leaves.

Fain made clear in a Friday speech that he felt Ford had made significant movement in talks and was determined to reach a good-faith deal. “At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story,” Fain said. Ford had made satisfactory proposals on cost-of-living increases, the elimination of “tiered” pay scales, and job security measures, the union leader explained, while its competitors still fell short in those areas.

When the union announced only limited strikes to start, some militant workers and supporters understandably grumbled that the union was holding back. But it’s obvious a big part of this plan — dubbed the “Stand Up Strike,” an homage to the UAW’s famous “sit-down strikes” of the 1930s — has always been to leave more options on the table. Not only can the union tighten the vise by adding more facilities to the work stoppage, it can punish or reward any of the Big Three individually as it sees fit. There is still plenty of time for the strategy to succeed or fail, but it’s hard to say the upsides aren’t becoming more clear.

Not only does this playbook keep the automakers on their toes, it continues to generate headlines in a way a more standard strike could not. Any expansion of the work stoppage will be newsworthy, ensuring the strike grows in scope and impact rather than peters out — and in turn courts responses from the White House as the political and economic stakes of the showdown grow.

Until now, Biden has voiced support for the workers but walked a careful line regarding the contract dispute. He said in public comments last week that the Big Three should “go further” with their offers, and that “record corporate profits” for the automakers should translate into “record contracts” for union members. “I respect workers’ right to use their options under the collective bargaining system. And I understand the workers’ frustration,” he said.

But Biden’s support is likely to look much stronger next week. Fain invited the self-described “most pro-union president” ever to stand side by side with striking workers, and Biden tweeted Friday afternoon that he plans to oblige. A presidential visit to a picket line will put even more pressure on the automakers to reach a deal with the UAW. And thanks to its strategy, the union still has more room to escalate.

[workersolidarity]

FORD CAVES TO UAW STRIKERS. 38 MORE LOCALS JOIN STRIKES AGAINST GM AND STELLANTIS

United Auto Workers, which has had just under 13'000 of its workers striking against the Big Three Automakers: Ford, GM and Stellantis ever since September 15th, is calling on 38 more locals to strike.

The 38 Locals represent another 5'625 workers to strike against GM and Stellantis.

Ford, which has largely already caved, is giving up its two-tiered pay system, increasing its Profit-Sharing offer to 13.3%, restoring Cost-Of-Living increases it dropped in 2009, and has agreed to immediate conversion of all Temp employees to Full-time employees, as well as agreed to the Union's Right to strike over plant closings. And so, no other Ford Locals have been added to the strike.

#uaw strike #strikes #striking #labor #labor rights #labor news #us news #news #socialism #communism #marxism leninism #socialist politics #socialist news #socialist worker #socialist revolution #socialist #communist #marxism #marxist leninist #progressive politics #politics #workersolidarity #worker solidarity news #worker solidarity #worker news #unions #trade unions #unions news

[mostlysignssomeportents]

UAW strikes created the middle class, this one can bring it back

Big strikes like this one are about more than the striking workers. When the UAW struck GM in 1945/46, they transformed the American labor bargain. That strike gave birth to the defined-benefits pension, employer-provided healthcare, the cost-of-living allowance, and worker pay raises linked to employer profits. The UAW strike of ’45 created the American middle class.

Today, that middle class is an endangered species. American oligarchs have spent decades siphoning away the wealth of workers and gathering it into fewer and fewer hands. Today, “autocrats of trade” have replaced the aristocrats that American revolutionaries overthrew at the nation’s birth.

These new aristocrats are powerful and ruthless, but they’re also vulnerable. They lack the executive function and the solidarity to stop draining the American economy as it grows increasingly brittle. The plute’s “efficiency” comes from long, fragile supply chains, skeleton crews working punishing overtime, and regular federal bailouts for companies that are designed to be both too big to fail and too big to jail.

The UAW only has enough money in its strike fund to support all its workers for 90 days. Car bosses — like other C-suite sociopaths — are prepared to halt production for years in order to smash worker power.

But the UAW doesn’t need to send all of its workers to the picket line to shut down production. Their bosses have made themselves terribly vulnerable, by eliminating backup suppliers and by relying on workers accepting “voluntary” overtime to meet production quotas. Simply by shutting down just a few facilities and refusing overtime at a few more, UAW members can immobilize US car production while barely touching the strike fund.

-Joe Biden is headed to a UAW picket-line in Detroit: “I want to do it, now make me do it.”

Image: Fabio Basagni https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/:Sahara_desert_sunrise.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

#joe biden #dark brandon #uaw #strikes #fdr #labor #hot labor summer #big three automakers #manchin-synematic universe #unions #i want to do it now make me do it #pack the court #workerism #money talks bullshit walks #jennifer abruzzo #personnel are politics #nlrb #populism #deliverism #doppelganger #republicans hate workers #class war #no war but class war

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

After securing large pay raises and improved benefits from the biggest U.S. automakers, the United Auto Workers union is moving to unionize Tesla, Honda, Toyota and others.

[probablyasocialecologist]

#uaw #united auto workers #strike #usa

[iww-gnv]

Last year, populist reformer Shawn Fain won the UAW presidency. He embraced slogans such as “EAT THE RICH” and used new strategies to secure record victories in contract talks for around 150,000 workers the union represents at Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and Stellantis NV. After a six-week strike, the union secured terms that will raise many workers’ pay 33% by 2028. Fain is now trying to translate the momentum from those victories into unionization at companies that have long eluded the UAW. The Alabama plant is the biggest of Mercedes’s U.S. plants. In the U.S., European and Asian automakers compete both with Detroit’s three big unionized automakers and with non-union firms such as Elon Musk’s Tesla Inc. Unionization can cause companies to pay their workers more, and restricts management’s ability to unilaterally dictate workplace conditions and policies. That would mean less flexibility for executives, and more say for workers. The Mercedes speech signals a contentious struggle ahead with the UAW, which is mounting an audacious campaign to organize the non-union U.S. plants of 13 automakers, including several European and Asian firms. The UAW’s executive board this week voted to commit $40 million to organizing campaigns among auto and battery workers. The Mercedes plant in Vance is one of three where the union has signed up more than 30% of the workforce. The others are a Hyundai Motor Co. site that’s also in Alabama and a Volkswagen AG facility in Tennessee. Once the percentage reaches 70%, the UAW will seek formal recognition and collective bargaining.

#labor news #news #auto industry #uaw #united auto workers #alabama news #mercedes

[zvaigzdelasas]

13 Jul 23

[loving-n0t-heyting]

The Stellantis deal additionally includes not only the right to strike over plant closures, which was also won at Ford, but the right to strike over product and investment too. (It is not yet known whether the GM deal includes this provision.) The UAW also secured Stellantis’s assent to reopen its idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Belvidere, Illinois. The idling of that plant on March 1 of this year scattered UAW members to other facilities throughout the country. While Stellantis said the closure was for financial reasons, many workers viewed it as an unnecessary move meant to cow the UAW. Its reversal was a major priority within the union.

Some impressive sounding wins from the UAW tentative agreements

#in our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold