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the DON JONES
INDEX… |
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GAINS POSTED in GREEN LOSSES POSTED in RED 11/6/23... 14,884.15 10/30/23...
14,879.89 |
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6/27/13… 15,000.00 |
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(THE DOW
JONES INDEX: 10/30/23... 34,031.66; 10/30/23... 32,417.28; 6/27/13…
15,000.00) |
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LESSON for November 6th, 2023 – “IN
THE JOB...”
The
wheels of justice ground... and not, per usual, grinding the proletariat
beneath the vehicles of privilege – Hollywood may be holding out but the
largest strike to date, the United Autoworkers’ jihad against Detroit, ended in
settlements with the three American giants on terms that most view as favorable
to the workers.
If you want to understand why the United Auto
Workers union has evidently won its strikes against
Detroit’s Big Three, it helps to return to the work of a 20th-century
economist named Richard Lester, advised David Leonhardt of the New York Times.
“Lester, a longtime Princeton professor, coined a phrase to
describe wage negotiations between an employer and a worker: the “range of
indeterminacy.” It captures the fact that wages are not a reflection simply of
market forces, like a worker’s productivity or a company’s profits. In the real
world, similar workers often earn different wages... (c)ompanies
employ many workers, and losing one of them is usually manageable. For most
workers, by contrast, quitting over a pay dispute can create financial
hardship.”
Over the past week, the Big Three — General
Motors, Ford and Stellantis (which owns Chrysler) — have each agreed to wage increases that
workers, Leonhardt points out, “ surely could not have received by asking
nicely..” (NYT, Attachment Two)
After adjusting for inflation, many workers seem set
to receive roughly a 10 percent raise over the next four and a half years. By
2028, when the contract expires, many workers will make between $30 an hour and
$42 an hour, or between $60,000 and $84,000 a year for full-time work.
“The pay increases are the largest that autoworkers
have received in decades,”
Biden had multiple conversations
with the automakers and Fain before the Sept. 15 strike deadline. When it
became clear that a targeted strike would occur at a select number of plants,
according to the Associated Press (November 4th, Attachment Three),
“Biden had multiple conversations with the automakers and Fain before the Sept.
15 strike deadline. When it became clear that a targeted strike would occur at
a select number of plants,” Biden showed his support for the UAW. He issued a
statement that borrowed UAW language and said that Gene Sperling, the White House
liaison for the strike talks and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su would go to
Michigan to help with talks.
But, according to AP reporters
Josh Boak and Joey Cappelletti, the UAW
“did not want administration officials to come during the first week of the
strike, Sperling said, because of the message it might send about the status of
negotiations. By that point, there was enough trust that the misunderstanding
did little from the White House perspective to hurt the relationship. Sperling
and Su met twice in-person that next week with the
negotiators.”
Biden’s Sept. 26 visit to a
Michigan picket line — a presidential first — garnered praise from Fain, “but
little else,” the AP reported. Fain said that Biden “has chosen to stand up
with workers” and added that “we know the president will do right by the
working class and when we do right by the working class.”
Still,
President Joe has to be given some
credit for going to Detroit, as opposed to Hollywood where, reported CBS
(Attachment Four, Novenber 3rd), the
Screen Actors’ Guild described its
TV/Theatrical Negotiating Committee as being on "standby" Thursday
awaiting a response from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television
Producers, which represents the studios.
The major sticking point remains
that the union is “seeking to place limitations on the use of AI to re-create
actors' likenesses and performances, while the AMPTP has advocated for informed
consent and fair pay in situations where performers are digitally replicated,
according to the Los Angeles Times.”
CBS
also pointed out that “unless
a deal is reached this week to end the strike which has reached 113 days, the
longest in history, it will be impossible for the broadcasters to salvage half
a season of scripted television, according to the entertainment trade newspaper
Variety.”
Here, the cracks are within the
union as activists accuse each other of ratting and scabbing under the
complicated arrangement between SAG and “independent” companies and the liberal
HuffPost (Attachment Five) reported that the infighting had reached its nadir
when "Abbott Elementary" and "The Parent Trap" star Lisa
Ann Walter had “some choice words for Megan Fox after she went against
SAG-AFTRA guidance and wore a "Kill Bill" Halloween costume.”
With the srike
rolling and lolling along, the union announced its Halloween guidelines. “In
essence, it recommended that members refrain from dressing as specific
characters from struck studios (i.e. most TV shows and movies). And when Fox
took to Instagram this weekend to show off her Gogo Yubari costume, Walter, who
is a member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee, took to Twitter to
sarcastically write, "What a rebel. Keep posturing for stupid shit, pretty
lady."
"Meanwhile we’ll be working
10 hours a day — unpaid — to get basic contract earners a fair deal," she
continued, adding, "PS the post responded members questions. No one cares
about kids’ costumes. Just high pros at fancy parties. Like Megan."
Meoww!
The spat was mocked by some, such
as Ryan Reynolds, who tweeted, "I look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my
8-year-old all night. She’s not in the union, but she needs to learn."
"But sure — shit on (union
rules and regulations) over nonsense. This goes for Ryan Reynolds, too,"
Walter spat back, admitting that it was "dumb" for SAG-AFTRA to have
posted its Halloween guidelines as they were, and added, "It was only
meant for grownups who would get photographed by the press to not promote
struck work."
In a serious message to union
members on Friday night, reported the Hollywood Reporter (Attachment Six), “the
SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee added that it would be meeting Saturday morning
to prepare for discussions” with the producers’ lobby AMPTP that afternoon.
“The negotiating committee will be meeting saturday morning to prepare for across
the table talks with the amptp in the afternoon,” the
union said in its message to members. (variety,
attachment seven)
After a week of
“cautious optimism,” the latest developments suggest that a deal could be
close. The agreements with the directors guild of america and the writers guild of america
were finalized on a saturday in june
and a sunday in september,
respectively.
In an instagram message on friday,
union president fran drescher
said she hoped the studios’ response would “seal the deal.”
“let’s hope the amptp ceo’s resurface with a seal
the deal counter!,” she wrote.
The
UAW, contrastingly, played down the drama and split the opposition – first to
settle was the venerable Ford Motor Company.
On the Day of the Dead (November second, Attachment Nine), the AP
reported that UASW members had voted 81% in favor of the four year-and-eight month deal, according to
Facebook postings by local members on Thursday.
Two union officials confirmed the
accuracy of the percentage Thursday. Neither wanted to be identified because
the vote totals had not been made public.
With
Ford in their pocket, the Union then turned to its Number Two... sealing the
deal with Stellantis (as reported by the Detroit Free
Press, Attachment Ten) during a Facebook
Live session Thursday night as the fate of the deal shifts to union members for
voting.
UAW
President Fain said the Stellantis agreement represents a major win for workers at
the automaker, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands/
It also brings a midsize truck to
the idled Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, and the addition of a battery
plant and "megahub" for parts distribution
in Belvidere. The deal promises $19 billion in investments by the end of the
agreement.
'We squeezed every dime possible' out of Stellantis, Fain gloated.
With
two down and one to go, “General
Motors (GM.N) and the United Auto Workers (UAW) struck a
tentative deal on Monday, ending the union's unprecedented six-week campaign of
coordinated strikes that won record pay increases for workers at the Detroit
Three automakers.” (Reuters, Attachment
Twelve)
Workers having begun their strikes
with targeted walkouts at all three automakers that escalated during a six-week
period in an effort to pressure the companies into a deal. GM was the last
company to settle early Sunday morning.
Repurposing his post-Stellantis boast, Fain said "We wholeheartedly believe
our strike squeezed every last dime out of General Motors," UAW President
Shawn Fain said in a video address. "They underestimated us. They
underestimated you."
Like
the deals at Ford and Stellantis, the tentative
agreement at GM would provide 25% wage hikes over four and a half years, as
well as cost-of-living adjustments. (Azioa, Attachment Thirteen)
With
COLA, the top wage is estimated to rise to over $42 an hour by 2028.
It
also eliminates a despised two-tiered wage scale for newer hires, provides
permanent jobs for temp workers and boosts retirement income, including 401(k)
contributions.
“Like
the other carmakers, GM agreed to provide a path for workers at electric
vehicle battery plants to earn the same high wages under the national
bargaining agreement that other UAW members earn.”
There
will also be money for GM retirees, the UAW statement said. "Many thought
GM would never put more money on the table for their hundreds of thousands of
retirees. In this agreement, however, GM has agreed to make five payments of
$500 to current retirees and surviving spouses, the first such payments in over
15 years."
“The pact includes 25% pay
increases over the terms of the agreement. The raises and benefits such as
cost-of-living adjustments cumulatively raise the top wage to more than $42 an
hour, including an increase of 70% for starting wages to over $30 an hour, the
union said. That increase would be at least two percentage points higher than
the Ford and Stellantis deals,” reported CNBC
(Attachment Fourteen).
A GM spokesman confirmed the
tentative agreement but declined to discuss specifics of the deal.
“GM is pleased to have reached a
tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team
while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in
the U.S.,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “We are looking forward to having
everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products
for our customers, and winning as one team.”
GM
had previously told Axios that the strike was costing
$200 million a week, “adding to the challenges it's already facing in its
biggest strategic bets like electric vehicles and self-driving taxis.
“Meanwhile,
Ford said the work stoppage cost the company about $1.3 billion in lost
production.
“Stellantis is expected to share the strike impact when it
reports third-quarter results later this week.”
What's
next: Axios reported that he tentative agreements
still need to be ratified by UAW members at their respective companies,
including 57,000 at Ford, 43,000 at Stellantis and
46,000 at GM. Ratification is likely, but not guaranteed.
|
"Terrified
auto executives across the country are rushing to give their own employees
raises in the hopes of fending off the UAW," Fain has said.
"Toyota's future won't be determined in the boardrooms. It'll be
determined on the plant floor."
(Reuters, Attachment Fifteen) The UAW has
tried and failed for years to organize nonunion U.S. auto factories, most of
them built by Asian and European legacy automakers in southern U.S. states
where so-called "right to work" labor laws make it optional for
workers to pay union dues. Other
foreign automakers are reviewing recent auto sector wage hikes. Honda told
Reuters it was evaluating the recent UAW
deals with the Detroit Three automakers
and would remain competitive. |
|
To be
clear, unions sometimes do win pay increases so large that wages exceed a
reasonable range and hobble an employer. (NYT, Attachment Two above) “ Unions can
also block necessary changes in a company’s operations. Such overreach
happened in parts of the auto industry during the 1970s, contributing to
Detroit’s decline. Today, auto executives warn of a similar risk. The unions
counter that the recent raises make up for years of wage stagnation — and
that Detroit’s executives have received even larger raises recently.” “The production losses have likely cost the automakers billions of
dollars. But the damage it’s done to the broader economy carries an even
heftier price tag,” sontended CNN on Halloween
(Attachment Sixteen). Whether the
costs will be passed on to consumers remains to be seen. “You’d
think people in the market for a new car would pay the price, by way of
higher car prices, given all the added costs the Big Three will face if the
tentative deals go into effect. “But, according to CNN’s Chris Isidore, there’s a good
chance cars won’t get more expensive because of all this. Citing changes in the supply and demand
rates, a preference to use “lower
quality or less aesthetically appealing interiors, wheels or tires” and
pressure from nonunion and foreign automakers, Isidore predicts that the Big
Three will eat their labor cost increases and “see their profits decline one way or another.” Next up for
Fain and the UAW... drives to organize U.S.
workers at those nonunion and foreign plants like Tesla, Toyota, Honda and
BMW? There is
certainly a wind blowing as raises the head of the hounds, the people and
sheeple... most of whom are anti-union based on perceptions of corruption or
plain dog-envy... because strikes are popping up all over. Now, former
Labor Secretary Robert Reich predicted in the Guardian U.K. (November 1st,
Attachment Seventeen) that this month’s contracts negotiated by the UAW,
Hollywood writers, UPS workers, Kaiser Permanente healthcare workers and even
university employees, among others, “providing significant pay increases and
more job security,” will provoke a change in attitude among the low, minimum
and sub-minimum wage earners across America. “Most
Americans are solidly behind the workers. Polls show
that the public supported autoworkers over the companies by large margins. “Confidence
in big business is at its lowest point in decades while approval of
labor unions is near its highest.” Reich
blames... or credits... this more favorable view of unions to a number of factors:: stresses caused by inflation and the plague, a
rise in populist politics ranging from Bernie Sanders on the left to Donald
Trump on the right but, principally, the union victories that have “animated
a virtuous cycle – encouraging more workers to join unions and more unions to
flex their muscles and demand wage hikes. “And then
there’s the tight post-pandemic labor market, in which consumers are spending
like gangbusters, the economy is surging, and employers worry about getting
and keeping the workers they need.” This tightness
has loosened somewhat over October, and Reich fears that Fed chair, Jerome
Powell, and his colleagues “continue to believe – wrongly – that inflation is
being pushed by wage increases rather than by corporate profits. “If they
succeed in slowing the economy to the point where workers lose whatever
bargaining leverage they now have, it’s far from clear that populist politics
or more vivid inequalities or a string of labor victories will be enough to
put organized labor on the path to where it was four decades ago.” Perhaps
government will intervene in a more positive way, perhaps not. Unionized and non-unionized workers are
pressing on... teachers in Portland, Oregon are entering their second week’s
walkout, |
If not, then international
pressure may also manifest. A GUK
article two days later cited the United Nations... blasting “Amazon,
Walmart, DoorDash for ‘shameful’ wages and union-busting (Attachment
Eighteen) for paying
such low wages “that they trap workers in poverty, forcing them to rely on
government-assistance programs to survive.”
UN
special rapporteur Olivier De Schutter has written to
the three major US corporations and the US government, requesting responses to
numerous allegations. They include a 2020 US Government Accountability
Office report that found Amazon and
Walmart were listed among the top 25 employers with workers relying on the
supplemental nutrition assistance rogram (Snap),
formerly known as food stamps, or Medicaid in nine states studied, with Walmart
ranked first and Amazon ranked sixth.
De
Schutter said that his major concerns were the US
minimum wage, wage theft by employers, unpredictable yet inflexible working
schedules, the plight of undocumented workers, the violation of union rights
and automation. The corporations
aggressively denied his contentions.
Nonetheless,
DeSchuttier claimed that wages in the United States
“have really not been keeping up with the increased cost of living. In many
countries, wages are systematically aligned with increases in the cost of
living. This is not true in the US,” said De Schutter.
“I was very surprised to see that workers with a high school diploma today make
2.7% less in real terms than they did in 1979, almost 50 years, which is really
amazing and this is of course during a period where the productivity of workers
has doubled.”
“The billionaire
class,” Fain said recently, has “spent decades” convincing workers that “we are
weak,” that “it’s futile to fight” and that workers “should be grateful for the
scraps that they decide to give us.” Fain relentlessly argues that this strike
is about defeating an idea, that what’s good for the wealthy is synonymous with
what’s good for our country because it showers benefits on everyone else. (WashPost, Attachment Nineteen)
“The labor movement
has been most successful when it embodies the larger aspirations and values of
working people throughout society,” Damon Silvers, the former political
director for the AFL-CIO, told me. He said Fain made the strike about
“inequality, wage stagnation, the rich getting everything — the fundamental
problem that has been growing in the U.S. economy for 50 years.”
“it would be a mistake to
assume that the executives are automatically correct that the wage increases
are excessive. (from NYT, Attachment Two, above), Wages make up less than 5 percent of
the cost of many vehicles. And company executives in almost every industry often
claim that wages are too high. They prefer it when wages are on the low end of
the range of indeterminacy — partly because it leaves more money for the
executives to take home.?
One
might think that the working class... who, after all, comprise a majority of
the American electorate... would regard this as their victory and enhance the working capital of UAW’s supporters
on the job, in business and in Washington.
The
AP, however, confirmed what most recent polls have augured... President Joe is
falling further and further behind former President Trump.
The White House was determined to
build trust with UAW President Shawn Fain and “look past his occasional slights
of Biden.” That approach, which included Biden meeting with workers on the picket line in
Michigan, helped to resolve the nearly 45-day set
of strikes and produced significant pay raises for workers.
“But even as Biden’s sympathies
publicly shifted toward union workers during the standoff, there are few signs
that the UAW fully warmed to the Democratic president. Biden has yet to receive
the union’s endorsement as he seeks reelection with the message that he has
delivered for blue-collar workers.
“The UAW declined to talk about
its relationship with the White House. No final decision on the endorsement is
expected to come until after contracts with the automakers are finalized, which
probably will happen later this month.”
The politics were “thorny” (AP,above)
as the president has suffered from low ratings on his economic leadership. U.S. adults have largely overlooked the
healthy 3.9% unemployment rate to focus instead on inflation, including the 20%
jump in new vehicle prices since he became president.
Polls today showed Trump with a wide and widening
lead in 2024. The exception would be if
he were convicted… a significant number of “purple” (or just plain disgusted
voters) would hold their noses and re-elect President Joe should Ol’45 be
governing from the Big House, not the White House.
Which leads us into next week’s Lesson… politics,
economics and The Law, as being interpreted in several key court cases,
|
Our
Lesson: October 30th through November 5th, 2023 |
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Monday, October 30, 2023 Dow:
32,928.96 |
Mobs rule,
inciting anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic violence worldwide. Presidential spokesman John Kirby reports
on Russian neo-Nazis storming the Dagestan airport looking for Jewish
refugees (who made a bad choice of refuge) to kill. Terror suspects hunted at Cornell as
partisan students shout and march (but don’t kill yet)... an elderly landlord
does, murdering a six year Muslim boy. On the battlefield, Israeli tanks rumble
through Gaza, closing in on Gaza City while rockets continue killing
civilians and Hamas beheads a hostage.
38 trucks of food and medicine cross the border at Rafah while a
captured Israeli soldier is rescued after three weeks in Hamas’ tunnels. “Five Nights at Freddy’s” dethrones
“Barbie” at the box office in the spirit of the season. Coroners say Matthew Perry’s cause of death
is “inconclusive” but Friends recall and his own video statements focus on at
least 65 detoxes and confessions that he’d visit Open Houses to steal pills
from the medicine cabinets. Pop icons
Josh Groban and Barry Manilow will hit Broadway while New Kids on the Block
(no longer new, no longer kids) begin a revival tour. |
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Tuesday, October 31, 2023 Dow:
33,062.87 |
It’s Halloween – and in the aftermath of
Maine’s gobbin’ ghoul Bob Card, authorities end the
shelter in place laws so the funerals of his victims can begin. And authorities in Lahaina release bodycam
footage of the fires and rescues of 8/8. The
Jewish Anti-defamation League reports a 400% increase in hate crimes and
asks: “who will ride to our rescue.”
Virginia Governor and candidate-who-is-not-a-candidate Glenn Youngkin steps up and declares he will declare war on
left wing college professors and gun control nuts. (The next Republican debate is Wednesday,
but Christ’s emissary Mike Pence won’t be onstage... he’s run out of money
and dropped out.)
The second crazy co-pilot meltdown in two weeks occurs as the perp
threatens to shoot the pilot and crash the aeryoplane
before being tackled and subdued by the rest of the crew and passengers. Another fright night is averted when a
“heavily armed man” is found dead at an amusement park in Colorado... police
argue over whether he accidentally blew himself up, committed suicide or God
intervened and struck him down. |
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Wednesday, November 1, 2023 Dow: 33,274.98 |
Halloween
is over and now and to Hell with Thanksgiving... its time for Two Black
Months of marching and Mariah Carey emerges from hibernation with another
Christmas album. Rememberers
will remember all the weird costumes of the 2023 Joneses and celebrities are
manifesting on mass, social and anti-social media. Heidi Klum (a worm in 2022) dresses up as a
peacock. NBC is gratified. On CBS, George Stephanopolous
debuts his costume – eyeglasses. Back in the real world, FBi director Link... er, Chris... Wray says that the
terrorists are coming and they will KILL YOU ALL! An assassin targets the Jewish Senator
Jacky Rosen (D-Nv) and, in the interest of fairness, brings up the
anti-Islamic boy stabber. By the way,
he adds, “don’t panic.” Mother Nature is out for scalps too... a
massive cold snap from the Canadian to Mexican border brings heavy snow to
Chicago and record freezes in places that had record high only days ago. Speaker Johnson starts his regime off with
a bang! legislating aid to Israel but nothing for Ukraine or for humanitarian
aid to starving and dying Gaza civilians.
“I cannot believe the world is so ugly,” says a teenage girl. Crusader Rabbit will pay for it by cutting
IRS agents (which will make the fraudulent members of the donor class really,
really happy). |
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|
Thursday, November 2, 2023 Dow:
3 |
It’s the Day of the Dead... and planes full
of dead snakes are departing Phoenix for various homebound destinations after
the Rangers slaughter the Diamondbacks four games to one. Indoors, college ballers in Indiana and
elsewhere remember the famously competent (and angry) Coach Bobby Knight.
Scary scares as other-directed construction workers plow through a gas
main and incinerate homes in upstate New York, injuring fifteen,
while police remain baffled by ginormous warehouse fire in Reading, PA. Health scares emerge and are put down for
Drew Barrymore, Missy Elliott and Mary Lou Retton.
Fresh off their acquittal of national embarrassment George Santos
(“Thank you!” say grateful latenite comedians),
even fellow Republicans are enraged as Sen. Tommy Tubervile
(sic) blocks military promotions for heroes of multiple wars so as to fight
abortion.
Under new speaker Johnson, the House approves the measure to aid
Israel while stiffing Ukraine and Palestinian civilians... President Joe says
he will veto it, but it’s likely to be deep-sixed by the Senate. |
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|
Friday, November 3, 2023 Dow:
34,031.66 |
It’s National Sandwich Day. Biden travels to Maine to attend funerals
and visit survivors of Mr. Card’s rampage (and maybe enjoy a little lobster
salad grinder). SecState Blinkin begins his Fool’s Tour of the Mideast,
stopping off in Israel where he gently suggests that Netanyahu declare a “humanitarian
pause” in his bombing and invasion of Gaza City civilians in order to scoop
up a few Hamas terrorists. Bibi kicks
him out, but Egypt allows 79 Americans across the Rafah station into
sanctuary in Cairo. Hundreds remain
stuck in Gaza plus, of course, the Gazans.
FBI Director Christopher Wray warns that peaceful protests in the
U.S.A. give cover to terrorists and pro-Hamas demonstrator block traffic in,
of all places, Durham N.C. (just up the road from Mayberry). Then, the FBI raids the home of NYC Mayor
Eric Adams’ fundraiser, alleging corruption.
(Think what you will, but Wray can’t be accused of partisanship.)
Outrage grows among even quarrelsome Republicans as Sen. Tommy
Tuberville (R-Al) continues to block military promotions to protest abortion
policies. Soldiers, sailors, veterans
and committee chairs rise up and warn that Tubby is rendering our military
leaderless and that the Messrs. Xi and Putin are watching us and looking for
opportunities. Tuberville says he’ll
keep blocking the appointments and national security can go to Hell. |
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|
Saturday, November 4, 2023 Dow:
Closed |
Evicted from Israel, Blinken hitchhikes to
Jordan where he meets with leaders of five Arab states, all of whom give him
hell from the other direction as he pleads for a “humanitarian pause” in the
war (which he calls a “semantic substitute”) for a cease fire. Hamas offers a counterproposal – hostages
will be releaed if its fighters are exiled to
Egypt. America and Israel reject
this... Egypt is not consulted. The bombing, shelling and
ground invasion continues. A
Palestinian child says: “This is what a world without mercy looks like.” President Joe’s comfort
crusade collapses when survivors and families of the victims whose funerals
he’s been crashing demand that he do something about banning assault
weapons. He blames Republicans in
Congress but is not believed, ducks and covers and runs away. Security geeks freek out when an Arkansas man drives his Toyota through
the security gate of a nuclear plant, but is arrested before he can do what
he came to do, “There was something
that was not right about this individual,” say police. At least the auto strikes are
nearing their end and there’s even some good news on the economy... according
to the Fed. A jobs report even weaker
than the 170K openings and unemployment rising to 3.9% means that they won’t
raise any more interest rates for another month. Investors love this – the Dow gains over a
thousand points. The unemployed and
homeless... not so much. |
|
|
Sunday, November 5, 2023 Dow: Closed |
President Joe (by phone), SecState Blinken (in person) and assorted humanitarian lobbies try
and fail to stop Israel’s attacks on civilians. Doctors Without Borders call the war a “new
low in unconscionable violence.” ABC
reporter Ian Pannell compares the destruction in Gaza City to Mosul during
the Iraqi War. Hamas contends that the
shellings have already killed sixty hostages and
that the death toll in Gaza is 9,400. Blinken meets PA/PLO* leader Abbas, then heads to
Baghdad, then Turkey while, in America, anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish
protesters (most peaceful, some not) take to the global streets, accusing Blinken of having blood on his hands while Face the
Nation’s Mahmoud al-Ghoul says the horror is driving Paltestinians
to “desperation.” Republican candidates (but
not Trump) head to Florida in advance of Wednesday’s debate. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds enrages The Donald
with surprise endorsement of Ron DeSantis.
The family Trump heads back to court for more testimony (above) and
maybe jail for contempt? Sunday talksters
include Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La), defending the House bill to fund arms to
Israel financed by cutting more IRS agents to investigate billionaire tax
cheats like Sam Bankman-Fried (above), but zilch to Ukraine or humanitarian
aid while deputy National Security Agent Jon Finer opposes. Gov. Glen Youngkin
(R-Va) is coy about jumping into the Presidential
race (a year from Tuesday). ABC This
Week trots out former GOP chair Reince Priebus who says that Trump’s crushing
Biden in polls comes from angry Americans who want to give “a middle finger”
to the status quo, while author Jonathan Karl believes Djonald
UnHinged is becoming “increasingly detatched from reality.” In Cincinnati, someone guns
down six children on the street, killing one.
Authorities have no suspects nor motive, but do not believe it as a
terrorist attack (at least not a political one). |
|
|
*As a public relations gesture,
the once formidable Palestinian Liberation Organization changed its name to
the Palestinian Authority after being out-fringed by the fringier Hamas and
Hezbollah. The weak jobs report was bad
news to unemployed Don Joneses, but catnip to the Fed which kicked the can of
more interest rate increases to December, just as the busy, busy Congress
tackles the debt crisis with Crusader Johnson admitting that more can-kicking
might be up nest. This delighted
investors and the Dow recovered most of what it lost over the gloomy occurrances of October.
Consequently, the Don slogged through another more or less even (up
4.26 points) index going into stormier weeks of economic and political
volatility to come. ** (below) Positive index – except for
Arizonans. |
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CHART of CATEGORIES
w/VALUE ADDED to EQUAL BASELINE of 15,000 (REFLECTING…
approximately… DOW JONES INDEX of June 27, 2013) See a further explanation
of categories here… ECONOMIC INDICES (60%)
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SOCIAL
INDICES (40%)
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ACTS of MAN |
12% |
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World Affairs |
3% |
450 |
10/9/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
450.29 |
450.74 |
Trickle
down trickles of relief trucks cross Rafah into Gaza with tricks and treats
of food and medicines (but no fuel); handfuls of foreign nationls
allowed to cross out. Washington
worries what to do... why not put Senator and Egyptian spy Bob Menendez in
charge? |
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War and terrorism |
2% |
300 |
10/30/23 |
-0.4% |
11/13/23 |
288.51 |
287.36 |
Anti-Semitic
mobs storm Russian airports in search of Jews to kill as both the Gaza and
Ukraine wars rumble on like tanks through Gaza City. The Jewish Defense League cites a 400% rise
in US hate crimes as Cornell and Stanford students arrested for plotting to
bomb kosher dining hall or otherwise kill Jews, and pro-Hamas mobs invade
Congress (legally) to shout down DefSec Austin and SecState Blinken, sending him
scurrying off to the Mideast for more abuse from all parties concerned. FBI director Wray warns wave of wicked terroriss entering America via the southern border, but
adds; “Don’t panic!” |
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Politics |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
480.92 |
481.40 |
Off-year
elections Tuesday feature abortion ballot measures and Governorships in
Kentucky and Mississippi. Voters say
President Joe is too strong or too weak on gun control – he blames
Congress. Congress blames the voters
and SCOTUS promises to decide the issue.
Several states seek to keep Donald Trump off the 2024 ballot, citing
Civil War provisions of the 14th Amendent
banning political campaigns by insurrectionists. |
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Economics |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
428.74 |
429.17 |
Economy
adds only half as many new jobs in October as in September... causing the Fed
to postpone rate hikes and the stock market to surge. Thanksgiving meal foodies find turkey and
raw cranberry prices down, canned sauce up.
Shutdown day creeps closer as Congressional partisans bicker...
America is “on a collision course with reality,” warns Rep. Ken Buck (R-Co), |
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Crime |
1% |
150 |
10/30/23 |
+0.3% |
11/13/23 |
247.25 |
245.51 |
Nasty
nurse Heather Pressker arrested - murdering
nineteen patients by injecting them with insulin. Jersey janitor poisons food in school cafeteria. Memphis cop rats out four colleagues for
murdering traffic violater killed for DWB. Funerals in Maine begin for Bob Card’s 18
shooting victims. |
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ACTS of GOD |
(6%) |
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Environment/Weather |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
398.20 |
398.60 |
Record
summer heat turns to record winter cold as autumn disappears. Chicago and
Denver snowed in. But by the weekend,
the East is warm again while heavy rain pelts Seattle. |
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Disasters |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
nc |
11/13/23 |
422.56 |
422.56 |
Nepal
earthquakes kill hundreds. Lahaina
police release bodycam footage of Maui wildfires that killed 99. Crazy co-pilot tries to shoot pilot, crash
plane; send such incident in two weeks.
Comedian Colbert says New York deposed to only America’s third rattiest
city. New champ: Chicago |
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LIFESTYLE/JUSTICE INDEX |
(15%) |
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Science, Tech, Educ. |
4% |
600 |
10/30/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
639.86 |
640.50 |
President
Joe cracks down on “junk fees” and signs an Executive Order requiring
Artificial Intelligence transparency as AI morphs old tapes into new Beatles’
song. California grounds San Francisco
crashtastic robotaxiss
while Toyota recalls 1.8M Rav Fours that catch fire
and a lawyer calls Tesla “driverless car” advertising false because the
vehicles need “a driver.” |
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Equality (econ/social) |
4% |
600 |
10/30/23 |
+0.2% |
11/13/23 |
634.27 |
635.54 |
Black
female overcomes Tubervillee roadblock to join the
National Security Council. Mayor of
Smith’s Station, AL exposed as trannie and commits suicide. |
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Health |
4% |
600 |
10/30/23 |
-0.1% |
11/13/23 |
472.49 |
472.02 |
Doctors
say cell phone use lowers male sperm counts.
FDA warns of toxic eyedrops and baby food and proposes ban on soda flavoured with BVOs (brominated vegetable oils). |
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Freedom and Justice |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
nc |
11/13/23 |
469.63 |
469.63 |
Lawyers
argue whether Trump calling Chris Christie a “fat pig” violates the gag order
terms of his civil suit as he migrates from the New York courtroom to Iowa,
calling Sioux City Sioux Falls Melania says his golden showers weren’t true.. @ installs a
golden toilet. |
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MISCELLANEOUS and TRANSIENT INDEX |
(7%) |
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Cultural incidents |
3% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
+0.4%** |
11/13/23 |
507.55 |
509.58 |
Texas
rattles Diamondbacks to win world series four games to one. Ohio State upends Georgia in first college
football bowl poll (conflicted Michigan 3rd, Florida State 4th). NYC marathon draws 50K runners, 2M
spectators, no mad bombers. Tamirat Tolan of Ethiopia wins the men’s race, Kenya’s
Helen Obin the women’s. Celebrities and talking heads remember
Matthew Perry. Halloween is over and
to Hell with Thanksgiving; Mariah Carey’s Christmas songs are out of
hibernation. (Cher tries to
compete,) Awards season rocks and
rolls, inducting Missy Elliott, Sheryl Crow and Chaka Khan (see full list here) and CMAs
on tap Wednesday. RIP: Indiana basketball coach Bobby
Knight, soap star Tyler Christopher, astronaut Ken Mattingly, |
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Misc. incidents |
4% |
450 |
10/30/23 |
+0.1% |
11/13/23 |
487.18 |
487.67 |
Spooks
shell out the swag on Halloween pet costumes... Spider Man and Barbie are the
favorites (as for people, too).
Teenage techies apply AI to teenage concerns... i.e.
creating pornography. 170 cocaine
hippos escape El Chapo’s mansion and frolick in
Colombian swamps while authorities debate sterilizing or exterminating
them. (Why not eat them?) |
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The Don Jones Index for the week of October 30th through November 5th,
2023 was UP 4.26 points
The Don Jones Index is sponsored by
the Coalition for a New Consensus: retired Congressman and Independent
Presidential candidate Jack “Catfish” Parnell, Chairman; Brian Doohan,
Administrator. The CNC denies,
emphatically, allegations that the organization, as well as any of its officers
(including former Congressman Parnell, environmentalist/America-Firster Austin
Tillerman and cosmetics CEO Rayna Finch) and references to Parnell’s works,
“Entropy and Renaissance” and “The Coming Kill-Off” are fictitious or, at best,
mere pawns in the web-serial “Black Helicopters” – and promise swift, effective
legal action against parties promulgating this and/or other such slanders.
Comments, complaints, donations
(especially SUPERPAC donations) always welcome at feedme@generisis.com or: speak@donjonesindex.com.
ATTACHMENT – From the New York Times
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By David Leonhardt |
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Good morning.
We’re covering the autoworkers’ victories — as well as the invasion in Gaza,
artificial intelligence and Halloween. |
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Moving up the range |
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If you want
to understand why the United Auto Workers union has evidently won its strikes
against Detroit’s Big Three, it helps
to return to the work of a 20th-century economist named Richard Lester. |
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Lester, a
longtime Princeton professor, coined a phrase to describe wage negotiations
between an employer and a worker: the “range of indeterminacy.” It captures
the fact that wages are not a reflection simply of market forces, like a
worker’s productivity or a company’s profits. In the real world, similar
workers often earn different wages. Their wages fall somewhere in Lester’s
range of indeterminacy. |
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Why? Most
workers don’t know exactly how valuable their contributions are and therefore
what their true market wage should be. |
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Company
executives typically don’t know either, but the executives do have more
information — about how much money different workers make and how productive
each is. Employers also have more leverage. Companies employ many workers,
and losing one of them is usually manageable. For most workers, by contrast,
quitting over a pay dispute can create financial hardship. |
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For these
reasons, workers’ pay often settles at the low end of the range of
indeterminacy. In the relationship between an employer and an individual
employee, the employer has more power. But there is an important adjective in
that previous sentence: individual. |
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When
employees band together, they can reduce the power imbalance. They can share
information with one another and exert some leverage of their own on the
bargaining process. A business that can afford to lose one worker over a pay
dispute may not be able to lose dozens. |
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Of course,
there is a term for a group of workers who come together to increase their
bargaining power: a labor union. |
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Is Tesla next? |
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Over the past
week, the Big Three — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis (which
owns Chrysler) — have each agreed to wage increases that workers surely could
not have received by asking nicely. The G.M. deal, announced yesterday, was
the last of the three. |
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After
adjusting for inflation, many workers seem set to receive roughly a 10
percent raise over the next four and a half years. By 2028, when the contract
expires, many workers will make between $30 an hour and $42 an hour, or
between $60,000 and $84,000 a year for full-time work. |
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The pay
increases are the largest that autoworkers have received in decades, my
colleagues Neal Boudette and Jack Ewing explain.
The raises are also a reminder that organized labor has an unmatched
record in reducing economic inequality. |
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A large
academic study, using Gallup surveys covering millions of workers over
decades, found that unionized workers typically made 10 percent to
20 percent more than similar non-unionized workers. The extra
pay generally does not harm economic growth, the economists found. It instead
often comes out of executive salaries and business profits, reducing
inequality. Unions alter the division of the economic pie more than the pie’s
size. |
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Or to put
the idea in Lester’s terms, unions shift wages out of the low end of the
range of indeterminacy. |
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To be clear,
unions sometimes do win pay increases so large that wages exceed a reasonable
range and hobble an employer. Unions can also block necessary changes in a
company’s operations. Such overreach happened in parts of the auto industry
during the 1970s, contributing to Detroit’s decline. Today, auto executives
warn of a similar risk. The unions counter that the recent raises make up for
years of wage stagnation — and that Detroit’s executives have received even
larger raises recently. |
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I don’t pretend
to know whether these wage increases will look reasonable in hindsight. It
will depend partly on whether Chrysler, Ford and G.M. make more appealing
vehicles in the years ahead than they did in the 1970s. |
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But it
would be a mistake to assume that the executives are automatically correct
that the wage increases are excessive. Wages make up less than 5 percent of
the cost of many vehicles. And company executives in almost every industry
often claim that wages are too high. They prefer it when wages are on the low
end of the range of indeterminacy — partly because it leaves more money for
the executives to take home. |
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A hat
tip: I learned about Lester’s work from Lawrence Katz, a leading labor
economist today. You can read The Times’s
1998 obituary of Lester. |
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More on the deals |
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ATTACHMENT THREE – From the Associated Press
During Strike Talks, Biden Worked To Build Ties
To The UAW’s Leader. They Have Yet To Fully Pay Off
FILE - President Joe Biden joins striking United
Auto Workers on the picket line, Sept. 26, 2023, in Van Buren Township, Mich.
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
BY Josh Boak and Joey
Cappelletti Updated
10:31 AM EDT, November 4, 2023
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden called the
head of the United Auto Workers union to congratulate him this past week on
getting a new contract with General Motors and
to wish him a happy 55th birthday — a sign of how the relationship had evolved
since their first get-to-know-you meeting in the Oval Office on July 19.
UAW President
Shawn Fain launched the strike against GM, Ford and
Chrysler-owner Stellantis with
a willingness to force political leaders to choose between backing unions or
corporations. Biden had long straddled this line. He proclaimed in speeches
that unions built the middle class, but he also heralded his credentials as a
former senator from the “corporate capital of the world,” also known as
Delaware.
The White House was determined to build trust with
Fain and look past his occasional slights of Biden. That approach, which
included Biden meeting with workers on the picket line in
Michigan, helped
to resolve the nearly 45-day set of strikes and produced significant pay raises
for workers.
But even as Biden’s sympathies publicly shifted
toward union workers during the standoff, there are few signs that the UAW
fully warmed to the Democratic president. Biden has yet to receive the union’s
endorsement as he seeks reelection with the message that he has delivered for
blue-collar workers.
The UAW declined to talk about its relationship with
the White House. No final decision on the endorsement is expected to come until
after contracts with the automakers are finalized, which probably will happen
later this month.
The relationship between Fain and Biden could be
crucial to the outcome of the 2024 election. More than 380,000 UAW members are
scattered in states that include Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, places
where narrow margins have decided the overall winner of the past two
presidential contests.
Gene Sperling, the White House liaison for the
strike talks, was in daily contact with executives at the UAW and the three
automakers. Biden tasked the economic adviser who has served in three
Democratic White Houses to develop a bond with the UAW but also preserve
connections with the automakers that are helping to deliver on Biden’s electric
vehicle agenda.
Sperling told The Associated Press that he followed
a set of principles in communicating with all sides: “We’re not here to
intervene. We’re not here to mediate. But we want to be in touch. We want to be
helpful.”
As the weeks stretched on, though, Biden and his
team did less straddling and publicly stepped ever closer to the union.
At one point, Sperling stressed to the automakers
the UAW’s position that new contracts needed a built-in cost-of-living
adjustment, so that wages could be adjusted for inflation. That adjustment
became part of the tentative agreement, which for GM workers also includes a
30% pay bump through April 2028, when the contract would expire.
Biden staked out his position that the autoworkers
had made sacrifices during the 2008 financial crisis to keep their employers
afloat. Now that automakers were pulling in billions of dollars in profits, the
president said, those same workers should share in the rewards.
The politics were thorny as the president has
suffered from low ratings on his economic
leadership. U.S.
adults have largely overlooked the healthy 3.9% unemployment rate to focus
instead on inflation, including the 20% jump in new vehicle prices since he
became president.
But union households have also been a decisive
constituency for Democrats. They represent only 16% of voters nationwide, but
Biden won the group by a solid 56% in 2020, according to AP VoteCast,
a national survey of the electorate.
While organized labor has overwhelmingly backed
Biden, the UAW remains a key holdout. Fain has criticized Donald Trump, the
front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, yet in the
weeks leading to the strike and afterward, the labor leader could be out of
sync at times with Biden.
When Fain went to the White House on July 19 to meet
with senior officials, Biden insisted on a 30-minute meeting in the Oval Office
without aides, Sperling said.
But Labor Day showed cracks in relations between the
union and the White House. Asked by reporters about prospects for a strike that
had yet to be declared, Biden tried to play down the risk.
“I’m not worried about a strike until it happens,”
Biden said on Sept. 4. ”I don’t think it’s going to
happen.”
Fain responded to a separate group of reporters by
suggesting that Biden was misguided: “He must know something we don’t know.
Maybe the companies plan on walking in and giving us our demands on the night
before. I don’t know, but he’s on the inside on something I don’t know about.”
Sperling said the president was trying to be
supportive of the unions with his comment. When the president saw how his
remarks were interpreted, he called Fain directly to clarify.
Biden had multiple conversations with the automakers
and Fain before the Sept. 15 strike deadline. When it became clear that a
targeted strike would occur at a select number of plants, Biden showed his
support for the UAW. He issued a statement that borrowed UAW language and said
that Sperling and acting Labor Secretary Julie Su would go to Michigan to help
with talks.
But the UAW did not want administration officials to
come during the first week of the strike, Sperling said, because of the message
it might send about the status of negotiations. By that point, there was enough
trust that the misunderstanding did little from the White House perspective to
hurt the relationship. Sperling and Su met twice
in-person that next week with the negotiators.
Yet Fain took umbrage at Biden publicly suggesting
that the negotiations had broken down and that this had led to the strike.
“We agree with Joe Biden when he says ‘record
profits mean record contracts.’ We don’t agree when he says negotiations have
broken down,” Fain said in a statement.
UAW officials told Sperling that Fain really wanted
Biden to visit the picket lines, not as a political event but as a show of
support for workers. Biden liked the idea. After that invitation was accepted,
Sperling relayed to the automakers that Biden would meet with striking workers.
The companies were unhappy but it did not derail talks.
Biden’s Sept. 26 visit to a Michigan picket line — a
presidential first — garnered praise from Fain, but little else. Fain said that
Biden “has chosen to stand up with workers” and added that “we know the
president will do right by the working class and when we do right by the
working class.”
But the UAW president declined to endorse the president
who had engaged in the historic outreach.
“We’ll just see how things proceed,” Fain told The
Associated Press at the time. “That’s up not just to me. It’s up to our
leadership and our membership. And we have our process we follow. So as I said we’ll do that when it’s time.”
Still, the White House saw itself as building trust
with the UAW as the talks progressed. Ford reached a tentative deal on Oct. 25,
followed by Stellantis on Oct. 28, and GM was on the
verge of a deal.
Sperling, boarding an unrelated red-eye flight,
texted GM CEO Mary Barra and a UAW official to message him in case there was an
agreement while he was midair. As soon as a tentative agreement was in place,
Barra told the gathered negotiators that she needed to text the White House.
___
ATTACHMENT FOUR – From CBS
UNION
REPORTS NO PROGRESS ON EFFORTS TO END ACTORS' STRIKE
UPDATED
ON: NOVEMBER 3, 2023 / 9:30 PM PDT / KCAL NEWS
The actors' union is awaiting a response Friday from
the studios on their comprehensive counter-proposal and counter-proposal on
artificial intelligence.
"Our team looks forward to continuing
bargaining with the companies tomorrow," the Screen Actors Guild-American
Federation of Television and Radio Artists said in a statement released
Thursday night.
The union described its TV/Theatrical Negotiating
Committee as being on "standby" Thursday awaiting a response from the
Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the studios.
The union is seeking to place limitations on the use
of AI to re-create actors' likenesses and performances, while the AMPTP has
advocated for informed consent and fair pay in situations where performers are
digitally replicated, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The studios have warned that unless a deal is
reached this week to end the strike which has reached 113 days, the longest in
history, it will be impossible for the broadcasters to salvage half a season of
scripted television, according to the entertainment trade newspaper Variety.
ATTACHMENT FIVE – From Huffpost
"ABBOTT ELEMENTARY" AND "THE PARENT
TRAP" STAR LISA ANN WALTER HAD SOME CHOICE WORDS FOR MEGAN FOX AFTER SHE
WENT AGAINST SAG-AFTRA GUIDANCE AND WORE A "KILL BILL" HALLOWEEN
COSTUME.
Earlier this month, the actors' union — which is
currently on strike — announced its Halloween guidelines. In essence, it
recommended that members refrain from dressing as specific characters from
struck studios (i.e. most TV shows and movies). It was
a move that was mocked by some, such as Ryan Reynolds, who tweeted, "I
look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8-year-old all night. She’s not in the union,
but she needs to learn."
The union subsequently said in a statement that
the guidelines were in response to members' questions about honoring the strike
during Halloween, noting, "It does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on
strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one
priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can
get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to
work."
However, when Fox took to Instagram this weekend to
show off her Gogo Yubari costume, she even went as far as to tag SAG-AFTRA in
her caption.
Fox appears to have not made any statements over the
strike or have gone to the picket line.
Walter, who is a member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating
committee, subsequently took to Twitter to sarcastically write, "What a
rebel. Keep posturing for stupid shit, pretty lady."
"Meanwhile we’ll be working 10 hours a day —
unpaid — to get basic contract earners a fair deal," she continued,
adding, "PS the post responded members questions. No one cares about kids’
costumes. Just high pros at fancy parties. Like Megan."
She then cited existing SAG-AFTRA rules around rest
periods (at least 10 hours from time dismissed to first call) and relocation
fees (ensuring that performers are compensated for having to relocate for
shoots); she continued, "Bet she likes turnaround rules and relocation
fees and our ongoing battle for AI protections & streaming residuals… The
union did that."
"But sure — shit on them over nonsense. This
goes for Ryan Reynolds, too," Walter continued.
She then said that it was "dumb" for
SAG-AFTRA to have posted its Halloween guidelines as they were, and added,
"It was only meant for grownups who would get photographed by the press to
not promote struck work."
And then, when someone said that they would call Fox
"wack" if she "showed up on the picket
line," Lisa Ann replied, "Please don’t hold your breath — we want you
healthy."
ATTACHMENT SIX – From the Hollywood reporter
SAG-AFTRA NEGOTIATIONS SET TO CONTINUE INTO WEEKEND
AFTER STUDIOS DELIVER LATEST OFFER
Both sides met on Friday as talks move forward on a
deal that could end the 113-day actors' strike.
BY KATIE KILKENNY, PAMELA MCCLINTOCK NOVEMBER 3, 2023 9:51PM
SAG-AFTRA and Hollywood studios will be working into
the weekend in an attempt to reach a new three-year contract deal after the
companies delivered their latest offer to the union on Friday.
Both sides met on Friday as the negotiations
continue over a deal that could end the 113-day actors’ strike, which has
become the longest TV/theatrical strike in the union’s history. One studio-side
source said the meeting between the two parties seemed to go well, and that the
ball is now in SAG-AFTRA’s court.
In a message to union members on Friday night, the
SAG-AFTRA negotiating committee added that it would be meeting Saturday morning
to prepare for discussions with the AMPTP that afternoon.
Anonymous Strike Diary: A Writer's Back-to-Work
Hangover
The talks have haltingly progressed all week, and
how the contract will tackle AI has been a focal point. SAG-AFTRA offered the
studio side a new AI proposal on Wednesday as the union sought to close any
potential loopholes that could jeopardize the work of its members. As the labor
group’s negotiating committee told members on Thursday night, the union also spent
several days awaiting responses to a “comprehensive” proposal package that
touched on multiple issues that they delivered to companies on Saturday.
Still, hopes have generally been high that the two
sides are at least nearing a denouement to the negotiations
saga, if slowly. On Tuesday, SAG-AFTRA’s chief negotiator Duncan
Crabtree-Ireland told members that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the
negotiations, after his negotiating committee one day earlier said that they
and management were “far apart on key issues.” On Tuesday, multiple sources
told THR that they felt a deal was at least in sight.
By Wednesday, a studio-side source said, “Things are
still moving but slow.”
SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher posted a photo of
herself on Instagram on Friday with a friend at an engagement party, noting
that it was taken after a “long day at the office.” She wrote, “Finding balance
is important. TGIF! Let’s hope the amptp ceo’s resurface with a seal the deal counter!” Time will
tell if SAG-AFTRA negotiators believe that Friday’s proposal will do just that.
ATTACHMENT SEVEN – From Variety
HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
DELIVER OFFER THEY HOPE WILL END SAG-AFTRA STRIKE
By Gene Maddaus and Michael Buckner
UPDATED with
SAG-AFTRA statement: Hollywood’s major studios made an offer to SAG-AFTRA on
Friday that they hope will end the 113-day actors
strike.
The Alliance of
Motion Picture and Television Producers had previously warned the actors union
that if a deal could not be reached by the end of this week, the networks would
have to cancel certain TV shows and there would be further delays in 2024
summer theatrical releases. Late Friday, SAG-AFTRA released a short message to
its members confirming that it will meet again with AMPTP representatives
Saturday afternoon.
The CEOs of four
studios — Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal, Disney and Netflix — are
expected to rejoin the talks, after more than weeklong absence from the
bargaining table.
“The Negotiating
Committee will be meeting Saturday morning to prepare for across the table
talks with the AMPTP in the afternoon,” the union said in its message to
members.
After a week of
“cautious optimism,” the latest developments suggest that a deal could be
close. The agreements with the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild
of America were finalized on a Saturday in June and a Sunday in September,
respectively.
In an Instagram
message on Friday, union president Fran Drescher said she hoped the studios’
response would “seal the deal.”
“Let’s hope the amptp ceo’s resurface with a seal
the deal counter!,” she wrote.
So far, the AMPTP
has not communicated to the union that its counter will be a “last, best and
final” offer. That is a term of art in labor negotiations, which is meant to
indicate that the employer will make no further concessions of any
significance. But given that SAG-AFTRA is already on strike, the union could
simply refuse to accept it and remain on strike.
Though they have
not invoked the phrase “last, best and final,” the studios have communicated
that the offer presented on Friday is intended to bring the negotiations to a
close. SAG-AFTRA is expected to review the proposal before giving its response.
SAG-AFTRA has said
that it made a counteroffer last Saturday, and has been waiting since then for
a response. The union also gave a three-hour presentation on Wednesday on its
latest proposals on artificial intelligence.
The union has been
holding out for certain items — including on AI — that it considers to be
“existential” for actors. The studios have grumbled that the actors are
conjuring up more and more AI scenarios, and are not progressing toward an
agreement.
The negotiation has
also featured more than a dozen other items, which are the subject of the
Saturday counter from SAG-AFTRA.
This story has been
updated with the outcome of the meeting.
ATTACHMENT EIGHT – From the Huffington Post
"Abbott Elementary" and "The Parent
Trap" star Lisa Ann Walter had some choice words for Megan Fox after she
went against SAG-AFTRA guidance and wore a "Kill Bill" Halloween
costume.
Earlier this month, the actors' union — which is
currently on strike — announced its Halloween guidelines. In essence, it
recommended that members refrain from dressing as specific characters from
struck studios (i.e. most TV shows and movies). It was
a move that was mocked by some, such as Ryan Reynolds, who tweeted, "I
look forward to screaming ‘scab’ at my 8-year-old all night. She’s not in the union,
but she needs to learn."
The union subsequently said in a statement that
the guidelines were in response to members' questions about honoring the strike
during Halloween, noting, "It does not apply to anyone’s kids. We are on
strike for important reasons, and have been for nearly 100 days. Our number one
priority remains getting the studios back to the negotiating table so we can
get a fair deal for our members, and finally put our industry back to
work."
However, when Fox took to Instagram this weekend to
show off her Gogo Yubari costume, she even went as far as to tag SAG-AFTRA in
her caption.
Fox appears to have not made any statements over the
strike or have gone to the picket line.
Walter, who is a member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating
committee, subsequently took to Twitter to sarcastically write, "What a
rebel. Keep posturing for stupid shit, pretty lady."
"Meanwhile we’ll be working 10 hours a day —
unpaid — to get basic contract earners a fair deal," she continued,
adding, "PS the post responded members questions. No one cares about kids’
costumes. Just high pros at fancy parties. Like Megan."
She then cited existing SAG-AFTRA rules around rest
periods (at least 10 hours from time dismissed to first call) and relocation
fees (ensuring that performers are compensated for having to relocate for
shoots); she continued, "Bet she likes turnaround rules and relocation
fees and our ongoing battle for AI protections & streaming residuals… The
union did that."
"But sure — shit on them over nonsense. This
goes for Ryan Reynolds, too," Walter continued.
She then said that it was "dumb" for
SAG-AFTRA to have posted its Halloween guidelines as they were, and added,
"It was only meant for grownups who would get photographed by the press to
not promote struck work."
And then, when someone said that they would call Fox
"wack" if she "showed up on the picket
line," Lisa Ann replied, "Please don’t hold your breath — we want you
healthy."
ATTACHMENT NINE – From the Associated Press
UAW MEMBERS AT THE FIRST FORD PLANT TO GO ON STRIKE VOTE OVERWHELMINGLY
TO APPROVE NEW CONTRACT
BY TOM KRISHER Updated 10:52 AM EDT, November 2, 2023
DETROIT (AP) — Autoworkers at the first Ford factory
to go on strike have voted overwhelmingly in favor of a tentative contract
agreement reached with the company.
Members of Local 900 at the Michigan Assembly Plant
in Wayne, Michigan, west of Detroit voted 81% in favor of the four year-and-eight month deal, according to Facebook postings by local
members on Thursday.
Two union officials confirmed the accuracy of the
percentage Thursday. Neither wanted to be identified because the vote totals
had not been made public.
About 3,300 United Auto Workers union members went
on strike at the plant Sept. 15 after the union’s contract with Ford expired.
They remained on the picket lines until Oct. 25, when the union announced the
tentative deal with Ford.
Autoworkers are
the latest to spotlight the power of US labor. What is the state of unions
today?
Production workers voted 81% to ratify the deal,
while skilled trades workers voted 90% in favor. Voting at Ford will continue
through Nov. 17.
Local union leaders
from across the country at Jeep maker Stellantis are
meeting in Detroit Thursday to get an explanation of the company’s tentative
agreement from UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Rich Boyer. If they
endorse the contract, Fain and Boyer will explain it to members in an online
presentation Thursday evening.
General Motors local leaders will meet on Friday,
with another contract explanation likely on Friday evening. Dates for voting at
GM or Stellantis were not yet clear.
Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who
follows labor issues, said the vote at the Ford factory is a positive sign for
the union. “These workers are deeply in the know about the overall situation,”
he said. “I think that they responded to it with such high levels of approval
it is perhaps reflective of how the broader workforce represented by the UAW
feels about this contract.”
Masters says union officials still have to make
their cases to the membership, but “certainly this would appear to be a
harbinger of good news.”
The deals with all three companies are generally the
same, although there are some differences. All give workers 25% general pay
raises with 11% upon ratification. With cost of living pay, the raises will
exceed 30% by the time the contracts end on April 30, 2028.
Workers began their strikes with targeted walkouts
at all three automakers that escalated during a six-week period in an effort to
pressure the companies into a deal. GM was the last company to settle early
Sunday morning.
At its peak 46,000 union members had gone on strike
at eight assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses across the nation. The union
has about 146,000 members at all three of the Detroit auto
companies.
ATTACHMENT TEN – From the Detroit Free Press
UAW'S
FAIN: 'WE SQUEEZED EVERY DIME POSSIBLE' OUT OF STELLANTIS
By Eric D. Lawrence
UAW President Shawn Fain touted the record contract
improvements in the union's tentative agreement with Stellantis
during a Facebook Live session Thursday night as the fate of the deal shifts to
union members for voting.
He also opened his speech with an offer to Toyota
workers, who are being granted pay raises in
light of the UAW's tentative agreements with the Detroit Three,
to join the UAW.
Fain, who appeared via livestream along with UAW
Vice President Rich Boyer and the union's National Stellantis
Council, said the Stellantis agreement represents a
major win for workers at the automaker, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler,
Dodge and Fiat brands.
"Rich and I are bringing this contract to you
because we wholeheartedly believe we squeezed every dime possible out of the
company, but what happens next is up to all of you. You have the final say. So
now is the time for debate and discussion, and no matter the outcome, we will
move forward together as a united UAW," Fain said.
Stellantis spokeswoman Jodi Tinson
declined to comment on the Facebook Live session.
The deal, announced by the union Saturday,
marked the second agreement secured between the United Auto Workers union and
members of the Detroit Three, and ended a 44-day strike against Stellantis. It followed an agreement with Ford Motor Co.
and preceded one with General Motors.
The contract — which would be in effect through
April 30, 2028, if ratified — follows the pattern set at Ford, but includes
numerous additional items.
The agreement includes a 25% wage increase, with 11%
upon ratification, the reinstatement of the cost-of-living allowance, a $5,000
ratification bonus, rules that prevent skilled trades from being forced into
production roles, conversions of temporary (supplemental) workers who will also
see a starting wage of $21 an hour, the addition of Juneteenth as a holiday, a
right to strike over plant closures, a vehicle lease program, an outsourcing
moratorium for salaried bargaining unit members, paid parental leave and other
improvements, according to the union.
It also brings a midsize truck to the idled
Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois, and the addition of a battery plant and
"megahub" for parts distribution in
Belvidere. The deal promises $19 billion in investments by the end of the
agreement.
Boyer, who heads the union's Stellantis
Department, said the union went into the negotiations "knowing that we had
to save Belvidere."
A highlighter, posted on the UAW website, also
references "Mopar heartburn," noting that the company gave the union
the choice to consolidate Mopar parts facilities and gain jobs or close them
and lose jobs. In return for agreeing to Mopar consolidation, the union said
the lower wage tier there was eliminated and it got a guarantee of job security
and the right to bargain for an expanded moving allowance beyond "the
$37,500 we already won."
It was not immediately clear which Mopar facilities
would be closed or consolidated.
ATTACHMENT ELEVEN – From CNBC
UAW-STELLANTIS
DEAL INCLUDES $18.9 BILLION IN INVESTMENTS, NEW TRUCK FOR IDLED PLANT
By Michael Wayland PUBLISHED THU, NOV 2 20237:39 PM EDTUPDATED THU, NOV 2 20238:57 PM EDT
KEY
POINTS
·
The United Auto Workers union
said Chrysler parent Stellantis plans to invest $18.9
billion in the U.S. by April 2028.
·
The 4½-year tentative agreement
must still be ratified by the roughly 43,000 UAW members covered by the deal at
Stellantis.
·
The deal was reached after
roughly six weeks of targeted labor strikes by the union against Stellantis, General Motors and Ford Motor.
DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union said
Chrysler-parent Stellantis plans to invest $18.9 billion in the
U.S. by April 2028, including $1.5 billion for new midsize pickup truck
production at an idled factory in Belvidere, Illinois.
The investments are expected to be completed during
the term of the 4½-year tentative agreement, which must still be ratified by
the roughly 43,000 UAW members covered by the proposed contract at Stellantis.
Details of the tentative agreement were released
Thursday night after local UAW leaders approved the pact, which UAW President
Shawn Fain called the “most lucrative contract our union has won in decades.”
The tentative labor agreement was reached Saturday after
roughly six weeks of targeted strikes by the union against Stellantis, General Motors and Ford Motor. The work stoppages began Sept. 15 after the
sides failed to reach deals covering 146,000 UAW members with the automakers by
a strike deadline.
“For the first time in a long time, we’ve done the
unthinkable: Reopened a plant,” Fain said during an online broadcast Thursday,
referring to the Belvidere factory, which was idled in February 2022. “We
didn’t do it by begging the company or agreeing to work terrible hours, or take
a pay cut, or pursue a race to the bottom. We didn’t do it by giving back. We
did it by fighting back.”
Heading into the talks, UAW Vice President Rich
Boyer, who led the Stellantis talks, made product commitments a priority and
stressed that the Belvidere plant was a make-or-break issue.
The details announced Thursday include $8.1 billion
in product commitments secured by union negotiators from Stellantis,
the UAW said.
In addition to Belvidere, other planned investments
include $1.5 billion each to a Dodge-Jeep plant in Detroit and Jeep complex in
Ohio; $1.4 billion at a Ram plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan; and $600
million for Stellantis’ Warren Truck plant in
suburban Detroit.
The union said the company also plans to invest $3.2
billion in a new joint-venture battery plant in Belvidere that’s slated to open
in 2028. The deal further lists previously announced battery investments of
$6.2 billion for two joint-venture battery facilities in Kokomo, Indiana.
Fain said UAW members at the battery plant in
Belvidere will be represented by the union through the company leasing the
employees to the joint venture. It’s unclear if the already announced plants
will be under the same terms. A UAW spokesman did not immediately comment
following the announcement of the agreement details.
A Stellantis spokeswoman
declined to comment on the union’s announcements.
The UAW said negotiators also secured a car-lease
program for employees that mirrors that of company management. They said it
includes discounted prices, unlimited miles, insurance and maintenance and
repairs.
Like the UAW’s tentative agreement with Ford,
the deal includes significant pay increases, bonuses and other enhanced
benefits for autoworkers such as profit-sharing payments and a $5,000
ratification bonus.
The 25% raises include an 11% increase upon
ratification, followed by a 3% bump-up the next three years and then a 5%
increase in September 2027.
UAW members at Ford have already started voting on
that tentative agreement: 82% of workers at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant
voted in support of the pact this week. The suburban Detroit plant was among the first to strike alongside
other assembly plants with GM and Stellantis.
UAW members with Stellantis
and GM are expected to vote on the deals over the next couple weeks. A simple
majority is needed to ratify the deals.
ATTACHMENT TWELVE – From Reuters
UAW REACHES DEAL WITH GM, ENDING LABOR STRIKE
By David Shepardson and Joseph White October 30, 20239:33 PM EDT
Oct 30 (Reuters) - General Motors (GM.N) and
the United Auto Workers (UAW) struck a tentative deal on Monday, ending the
union's unprecedented six-week campaign of coordinated strikes that won record
pay increases for workers at the Detroit Three automakers.
The accord follows deals the union reached in recent
days with Ford Motor (F.N) and Chrysler-owner Stellantis (STLAM.MI) - significant
victories for auto workers after years of stagnant wages and painful
concessions following the 2008 financial crisis.
"We wholeheartedly believe our strike squeezed
every last dime out of General Motors," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a
video address. "They underestimated us. They underestimated you."
The union officially suspended its strike against
the Detroit Three. UAW local leaders will come to Detroit on Friday to consider
the deal with GM, before taking terms to all union workers for ratification.
"We are looking forward to having everyone back
to work across all of our operations," said GM CEO Mary Barra.
The new contracts will significantly raise costs for
the automakers. The companies and some analysts have said the deals will make
it harder for the Detroit Three to compete with electric-vehicle leader
Tesla (TSLA.O) and
nonunion foreign brands such as Toyota Motor (7203.T).
The UAW won from GM roughly the same package of wage
increases agreed with the other two automakers. Pay for veteran workers will
rise by 33% and GM will give $2,500 in five payments to retirees through 2028.
Sources have said pension benefits were a sticking
point in the UAW's negotiations with GM, which has more retirees than Ford or Stellantis.
Fain said the union's move on Saturday to strike a
key GM engine factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, "landed the knockout
blow" that got the deal.
The contract reverses years of efforts by GM to
create lower-paid groups of UAW workers at units such as component plants,
parts warehouses and electric vehicle battery operations. It puts workers at
GM's battery joint-venture with South Korea's LG Energy under the national
agreement.
Fain said some workers at GM's component operations
will get pay increases of as much as 89%.
The contract also restricts use of lower paid
temporary workers. "We have slammed the door on having a permanent
underclass of temporary workers at GM," Fain said.
The UAW also gained more sway over the companies'
investment decisions by securing the right to strike over future plant
closures.
All three companies have said they do not plan to
close existing factories as they shift to EVs. Yet the contract could force
them to keep unprofitable plants open during a recession or period of slow
sales for new models.
HIGHER COSTS
A series of walkouts began on Sept. 15, and nearly
50,000 workers out of nearly 150,000 UAW members at the Detroit automakers
eventually joined. The strategy of escalating strikes cost the Detroit Three
and suppliers billions of dollars.
UAW leaders called their contract fight part of a
larger movement to reverse decades of economic setbacks for working-class
Americans. Some analysts agreed.
"This is more than an auto industry story; it
is a signal to the entire country that unionized workers can demand and get big
wage increases," said Patrick Anderson of the Anderson Economic Group.
The new contract will cost GM $7 billion over 4.5
years in higher labor costs, two sources told Reuters. Ford said last
week it would add $850 to $900 per vehicle in
labor costs.
"Consumers will bear some of the cost burden
over time ... automakers will not have an easy time passing along all of the
costs ... and will have to seek efficiencies in other ways, or further limit
production to more expensive vehicles that can absorb higher labor costs,"
Cox Automotive's chief economist, Jonathan Smoke,
said.
PRAISE FROM BIDEN
U.S. President Joe Biden and politicians from both
parties weighed in to support the UAW as the union's fight gained popularity
with voters. Michigan will again be a crucial swing state in the 2024
presidential election, and Fain made support for the union's fight a condition
of winning his endorsement. The UAW still has not formally endorsed Biden's
re-election.
"This historic contract is a testament to the
power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs
while helping our most iconic American companies thrive," Biden said in a
statement. His aides had worried that a prolonged strike would damage the U.S.
economy and the Democratic president's chances of re-election in 2024.
The UAW has said it is committed to organizing
workforces at other carmakers, making negotiations in 2028 between the union
and the "Big Five or Big Six."
Momentum toward deals accelerated over the past two
weeks after UAW workers walked out at three of the most profitable factories in
the world. The UAW eventually struck against nine plants.
"We have shown the companies, the American
public and the whole world that the working class is not done fighting"
Fain said. "In fact, we're just getting started."
Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and
Joseph White in Detroit Additional reporting by Shivansh
Tiwary, Kannaki Deka and Richard Francis in Bengaluru
Writing by Deepa Babington and Sayantani Ghosh Editing
by David Gaffen, Alistair Bell, Peter Henderson,
Matthew Lewis and David Gregorio
ATTACHMENT THIRTEEN – From Axios
UAW REACHES
TENTATIVE DEAL WITH GM, LAST OF 3 AUTOMAKERS HIT BY STRIKE
By Joann Muller
The United Auto
Workers union on Monday announced a tentative contract agreement with General
Motors, the last of the three U.S. automakers to settle a costly strike that
lasted nearly seven weeks.
Why it matters: The
proposed agreement, similar to deals struck in recent days with Ford and Stellantis, would provide big gains in wages and benefits
plus increased job security.
• The deal must be ratified by GM's 46,000
UAW workers. In the meantime, UAW members at all three companies are going back
to work immediately.
Details: Like the
deals at Ford and Stellantis, the tentative agreement
at GM would provide 25% wage hikes over four and a half years, as well as
cost-of-living adjustments.
• With COLA, the top wage is estimated to
rise to over $42 an hour by 2028.
• It also eliminates a despised two-tiered
wage scale for newer hires, provides permanent jobs for temp workers and boosts
retirement income, including 401(k) contributions.
• Like the other carmakers, GM agreed to
provide a path for workers at electric vehicle battery plants to earn the same
high wages under the national bargaining agreement that other UAW members earn.
• UAW leaders had feared the transition to
EVs would mean fewer jobs, or lower-paying jobs.
• There's also money for GM retirees, the UAW
statement said. "Many thought GM would never put more money on the table
for their hundreds of thousands of retirees. In this agreement, however, GM has
agreed to make five payments of $500 to current retirees and surviving spouses,
the first such payments in over 15 years."
What they're
saying: President Biden in a statement lauded the "historic contract,
which he said "is a testament to the power of unions and collective
bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic
American companies thrive."
• GM Chair and CEO Mary Barra said the
company "is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW
that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to
invest in our future and provide good jobs" in the U.S.
• "We are looking forward to having
everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products
for our customers, and winning as one team," Barra said.
The big picture:
The fallout from the contentious labor battle has been costly for all three
companies.
• GM said last week the strike was costing
$200 million a week, adding to the challenges it's already facing in its
biggest strategic bets like electric vehicles and self-driving taxis.
• Meanwhile, Ford said the work stoppage cost
the company about $1.3 billion in lost production.
• Stellantis is
expected to share the strike impact when it reports third-quarter results later
this week.
What's next: The
tentative agreements still need to be ratified by UAW members at their respective
companies, including 57,000 at Ford, 43,000 at Stellantis
and 46,000 at GM. Ratification is likely, but not guaranteed.
What to watch:
Carmakers should be able to make up lost production before the end of the year,
but only if suppliers that were forced to lay off workers during the strike can
get their own workforces back quickly to restart operations.
ATTACHMENT FOURTEEN – From CNBC
GM REACHES TENTATIVE DEAL
WITH UAW, ENDING STRIKES AT DETROIT AUTOMAKERS AFTER SIX WEEKS
By Michael Wayland and Phil LeBeau PUBLISHED MON, OCT 30
20239:31 AM EDTUPDATED MON, OCT 30 20235:00 PM EDT
A GM spokesman confirmed the tentative agreement but
declined to discuss specifics of the deal.
GM said Tuesday the strike had cost it about $800 million.
ATTACHMENT FIFTEEN – From Reuters
UAW GEARS UP TO ORGANIZE AT TOYOTA,
OTHER NONUNION AUTOMAKERS
By Joseph White and David
Shepardson November 2, 20238:19 PM
DETROIT/WASHINGTON, Nov 2
(Reuters) - The United Auto Workers on Thursday signaled the next step in the
union's campaign to capitalize on its success in bargaining with the Detroit
Three: launching organizing drives at Toyota (7203.T),
Tesla (TSLA.O) and other nonunion U.S. auto factories.
UAW President Shawn Fain began
his video comments on the Stellantis (STLAM.MI) contract
with an appeal to workers at Toyota, which on Wednesday offered
pay and benefit increases after the Detroit Three contract talks
concluded.
"They could have just as
easily raised wages a month ago or a year ago," Fain said of Toyota.
"They did it now because the company knows we're coming for 'em."
He said the UAW's new contracts
were so good they had even led to nonunion auto workers getting raises.
"Terrified auto executives
across the country are rushing to give their own employees raises in the hopes
of fending off the UAW," Fain added. "Toyota's future won't be
determined in the boardrooms. It'll be determined on the plant floor."
The UAW has tried and failed for
years to organize nonunion U.S. auto factories, most of them built by Asian and
European legacy automakers in southern U.S. states where so-called "right
to work" labor laws make it optional for workers to pay union dues.
Other foreign automakers are
reviewing recent auto sector wage hikes. Honda (7267.T) told
Reuters it was evaluating the recent
UAW deals with the Detroit Three automakers and would remain
competitive.
Before Fain spoke, Toyota said
working together with its plant workers had provided a history of stable
employment and income for its employees.
"The decision to unionize
is ultimately made by our employees," the Japanese automaker said in a
statement.
Fain has used recent video
addresses to telegraph the union's determination to organize workers at
nonunion automakers after record wage increases won in tentative agreements
with Stellantis, General Motors (GM.N) and
Ford (F.N).
"One of our biggest goals
coming out of this historic contract victory is to organize like we’ve never
organized before," Fain said on Sunday. "When we return to the
bargaining table in 2028, it won’t just be with the Big Three, but with the Big
Five or Big Six."
UAW Region 8 director Tim Smith,
whose territory covers many nonunion auto factories in the southern United
States, said workers at those plants have been reaching out to the UAW.
"If (Toyota workers) come
calling, which they have, we're going to educate them and be there for
them," Smith told Reuters.
UAW staff are keeping track of
the calls, many from Toyota's sprawling assembly operation in Georgetown,
Kentucky. The Toyota complex is not far from one of the UAW's largest local
unions, which represents Ford's Kentucky Truck and Louisville Assembly plants.
Smith said it was important
workers consider the total wages and benefits and not just the wage rate.
Recently, the union tried and
failed to win enough support from workers at Tesla's Fremont, California,
factory to hold an organizing vote. Tesla's Fremont plant was once a UAW shop
when it was jointly owned by GM and Toyota and known as NUMMI.
"Nothing stopping Tesla
team at our car plant from voting union. Could do so tmrw if they wanted. But
why pay union dues & give up stock options for nothing?" Tesla CEO
Elon Musk tweeted in 2018.
The UAW filed a complaint with
the National Labor Relations Board over that tweet, and the NLRB ruled the
tweet violated laws prohibiting management threats against workers for
supporting unionization. A U.S. appeals court this year upheld the NLRB ruling.
WIDENING COST GAPS
The UAW's organizing efforts
from 2015 through 2020 were hindered by a federal investigation of corruption
in the UAW's top ranks.
Fain won the UAW presidency this
year by vowing wide-ranging reform.
Toyota's move earlier this week
to raise wages is in line with the strategy the Japanese automaker and other
nonunion automakers have used to keep UAW organizers at bay.
Nonunion automakers have kept
hourly wages close to the UAW rates at the Detroit Three. But they have lower
labor costs overall because they pay less for health and retirement benefits
than the unionized automakers. They also use more temporary workers, who are
paid less.
The result is that average
hourly labor costs in total at foreign automakers are $55 an hour, compared
with $64 an hour under the old UAW contract, Ford
sources estimated ahead of the new contract agreements. U.S. hourly labor costs
at Tesla are estimated at $45 to $50.
The gaps will get wider,
assuming UAW workers at the Detroit Three ratify agreements that call for
increasing pay for veteran workers by 25%, restoring cost-of-living allowances
and boosting pay for temporary workers by as much as 150%.
Analysis by Elisabeth Buchwald, CNN Updated 6:06 AM
EDT, Tue October 31, 2023
This news comes after all three automakers reached tentative deals with
the union.
Their estimate takes into account:
·
Lost wages for striking workers and other workers who were laid off or
forced to work fewer hours
·
Lost earnings for the Big Three automakers
·
Dealer and customer losses as a result of indefinite delays of new
vehicles
What will this mean for car prices?
Here are a couple of reasons why:
One last thing — none of this is a done deal
ATTACHMENT SEVENTEEN
– From CNN
IS THE PENDULUM OF POWER SWINGING TOWARDS US
UNIONS?
By Robert Reich Wed 1 Nov
2023 06.07 EDT
It was
America’s postwar social contract.
Is the
pendulum now swinging back?
So far
this year, there have been 22 major strikes, 17 of them at corporations.
Partly, I think, it’s the harsh inequalities exposed by the pandemic.
So, will the pendulum continue to swing toward unions?
I’d love to think so. But I frankly worry about the Fed chair, Jerome
Powell, and his colleagues.
·
ATTACHMENT EIGHTEEN – From
the Guardian U.K.
UN BLASTS AMAZON, WALMART, DOORDASH FOR ‘SHAMEFUL’ WAGES AND
UNION-BUSTING
By Michael Sainato Thu 2 Nov 2023 07.00 EDT
Is
the pendulum of power swinging towards US unions?
The letters
and requests were made public on 31 October.
Amazon reportedly spent
more than $14.2m on anti-union consultants in 2022.
ATTACHMENT NINETEEN – From the Washington Post
THE AUTOWORKERS’ BIG WIN EXPOSES THE ABSURDITY OF TRUMP’S POPULISM
Opinion by Greg
Sargent November 1, 2023 at 6:45 a.m.
EDT
“The
billionaire class,” Fain said
recently, has “spent decades” convincing workers that “we are weak,”
that “it’s futile to fight” and that workers “should be grateful for the scraps
that they decide to give us.” Fain relentlessly argues that this strike is
about defeating an idea, that what’s good for the wealthy is
synonymous with what’s good for our country because it showers benefits on
everyone else.