auto

  • 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.

  • Auto Workers Occupy Visteon Plants in UK

    Body:
    Workers at a Visteon plant in Belfast, Northern Ireland, staged an occupation of their plant March 31 after management told them it would close in six minutes. Workers in two plants in England followed their lead, and soon 600 Visteon workers were occupying their factories.

    The plants were part of Ford Motor Company until a restructuring plan nine years ago, when Ford promised that Visteon workers’ contracts would always “mirror” Ford’s. Ford had promised “redundancy contracts”—benefits and pay workers would get if the plant were to shut down. Now Visteon is offering nothing, and workers fear they will lose their pensions as well.

    Expiration Date:
    Sun, 05/31/2009 - 9:59pm

  • UAW Officials Throw in the Towel at American Axle

    Author(s):
    Chris Kutalik

    Excerpt:
    United Auto Workers officials ended the 12-week American Axle strike with a concessions-heavy tentative agreement May 16. If approved, the contract will close two of the five struck plants by November and impose deep givebacks only marginally better than the offer that sent workers to the picket lines.

    Available Online:
    Yes

  • Auto Parts Workers Battle Demand to Cut Wages in Half

    Author(s):
    Wendy Thompson

    Excerpt:
    Picketers at American Axle talk about the need to draw a line in the sand—or snow—against spiraling concessions on wages, health care benefits, and pensions. . . .

    Available Online:
    Yes

  • Things Aren’t Always What They Appear to Be

    Author(s):
    Herman Rosenfeld

    Excerpt:
    The ongoing debate about the Canadian Auto Workers in these pages isn’t about particular tactics, it isn’t about whether or not to consider new and creative approaches (who could oppose that?), and it isn’t about underestimating the very real challenges that Canada’s largest private sector union (and all unions) face today. . . .

    Available Online:
    Yes

  • Viewpoint: CAW Committed to Militancy, Movement Unionism

    Author(s):
    Jim O’Neil

    Excerpt:
    Labor activism has never been limited to a single tactic or channel. It is this point that Herman Rosenfeld fails to recognize in his Viewpoint criticizing the recent direction of the Canadian Auto Workers union (see Labor Notes February 2008). . . .

    Available Online:
    Yes

  • Viewpoint: Canadian Auto Workers Moves from Fighting Back to Cooperating

    Author(s):
    Herman Rosenfeld

    Excerpt:
    For many labor activists around the world, the Canadian Auto Workers (CAW), a union born in the refusal to accept the concessions agenda of the 1980s, has been an inspiring example. . . .

    Available Online:
    Yes