concessions

  • Steelworkers Take Fight at Canadian Mine Global

    Steelworkers at nickel giant Vale Inco’s operations in Sudbury and Voisey Bay in Canada have been on strike since July. After rejecting contracts calling for deep concessions, Steelworkers (USW) members there find themselves in the midst of one of the largest battles in their history.

  • "Irresponsible" Striking

    We’ve known for a while now that the economic crisis has dampened the willingness of workers to head out on strike (with some courageous exceptions). That’s partly due to the business class and the corporate press, who take every opportunity to poison the atmosphere against rank and filers who dare to resist corporate demands.

  • San Francisco Hotel Workers Walk Out
    Catherine-Mercedes B. Judge
    Nov 10 2009 - 4:20pm

    Hotel workers at two San Francisco hotels have announced three-day strikes in the last week. The actions come during a major push at the city's hotels, where union workers are fighting a host of concession demands.

  • Ford Workers Should Be Applauded, Not Ridiculed

    Editor’s note: Ford workers rejected a proposed concessions package last week that included a six-year wage freeze for new hires (who make half of current workers’ pay), combining of skilled trades, and giving up the right to strike for contract improvements. Ford had made some weak assurances of continued work and offered a $1,000 bonus.

  • 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.

  • UNITE HERE Won't Concede to Big Hotels
    Paul Abowd
    Oct 28 2009 - 10:22am

    UNITE HERE has launched another round of contract battles with hotel giants. After civil disobedience actions workers in Chicago and San Francisco authorized strikes, escalating a nationally coordinated “bargain to organize” campaign.

  • 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.

  • Boston-area Workers to March and Rally against "Jobless Recovery"
    Rand Wilson
    Sep 26 2009 - 10:44pm

    With the Massachusetts jobless rate now at 9.1 percent and rising, workers are increasingly frustrated by employers exploiting the recession to attack them, and the failure of politicians and policy makers to address the growing jobs crisis.

  • Chicago Teamsters Strike to Save Health Insurance
    Jane Slaughter
    Aug 31 2009 - 10:27pm

    You take your kid to the dentist and go to pay the $20 co-pay. “Oh, no,” says the receptionist. “You have to pay the whole bill—you don't have insurance.” That’s how a member of Teamsters Local 743 in Chicago found out that his employer, SK Hand Tools, had unilaterally and without notice cancelled health insurance for the workforce.