auto

  • GM’s “Northern Strategy”: Go Non-Union

    The “reinvention” of the “New GM” has begun with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event was remarkable not only because the Brownstown plant signals GM’s return to the production of an electric vehicle but also because, for the first time in about 30 years, GM has opened a non-union plant in the U.S.

  • Asbestos Rains Down on Chilly Delphi Workers, but UAW's in a Deep Freeze

    The slumlord at the GM-owned Delphi plant in Lockport, New York, turns off the heat every day between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m. "Little Hitler," as the general foreman is known, thinks his dial-down saves GM money. Hammering pipes and raining asbestos may ring a different tune on the company cash register, but Little Hitler can’t see the dollars wasted for the pennies he’s counting.

  • Non-Majority Auto Union in North Carolina Fights to Soften the Blow of Layoffs
    Tiffany Ten Eyck
    Jan 22 2010 - 10:34am
    ** Print only

    Most union workers laid off in the economic crisis had recall rights—a promise they’d get called back before their employer could hire new workers along with the ability to maintain seniority. But millions of workers simply lost their jobs. That’s what happened to nearly 200 workers at the Cummins engine plant in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in March last year. . . .

  • ‘There Are No Tea-baggers in Soup Lines’

    Auto workers outshone the tea-party types as dueling demonstrations took place in the snow outside the Detroit Auto Show today. Small numbers of auto workers gathered to say government should use its role in the auto bailout to direct the factories toward job-creating green products such as high-speed trains and wind turbines—and should enact Medicare for All.

  • Auto Workers, Tea Partisans Square Off in Detroit

    Auto workers, retirees, and supporters will gather in front of this year’s Detroit Auto Show on January 11 to make clear the notion of a “jobless recovery” is no recovery at all in a state with the highest unemployment in the nation (officially at 14.7 percent).

  • One Million Climate Jobs Now

    As a member of Autoworkers’ Caravan, I was happy to see "One Million Climate Jobs Now," a pamphlet from union members in Britain. It shows very plainly and simply how to create the new jobs that are needed if we are going to avoid disastrous climate change—that is, global warming.

  • More Ford Workers Voting No

    Despite heavy pressure from United Auto Workers officials, Ford workers are voting against concessions this week. The two largest ‘no’ votes came from assembly plants in Kansas City and Walton Hills, Ohio: 92 and 88 percent.

    Bloomberg News reported today that thus far four plants with 6,100 UAW members have voted yes and seven plants with 11,400 members have voted no. In most locals reporting a ‘yes’ majority the margin is slim, as at Local 900 west of Detroit, with 51 percent in favor.

  • Ford Workers Say ‘We Gave Enough!’

    It started with a simple question, “Can you hear me?” United Auto Workers International Vice President Bob King was inside Ford’s Dearborn Truck Plant, near Detroit, ready to tell a crowd of rank-and-file members why they should vote for more concessions to the profitable automaker.

  • Labor History: Concessions Trend Begins at Chrysler
    Labor Notes Staff
    Oct 20 2009 - 1:09am

    November 20, 1979, Issue #10: Labor Notes Special Report. There were a number of historic firsts in the United Auto Workers-Chrysler agreement ratified this month. For one, Doug Fraser, president of the union, was elevated to the company board of directors.

  • Delegates to UAW-Ford Council Oppose More Concessions
    Ron Lare
    Aug 28 2009 - 10:10pm

    Delegates to the United Auto Workers’ national Ford Council opposed reopening their contract in early August to make more concessions. Ford made a $2.3 billion profit in the second quarter of 2009, though the company attributes that to debt swaps and one-off cuts.