Stellantis, GM follow Ford with UAW agreements – National & International News – MON 30Oct2023

Stellantis, GM follow Ford with UAW agreements.

House GOP wants to tie Israel aid to IRS cuts.

NATIONAL NEWS

Stellantis, GM follow Ford with UAW agreements

Last week, United Auto Workers (UAW) announced a tentative 4.5- year agreement with Ford following over 6 weeks of strikes. Over the weekend, Stellantis followed suit with a tentative agreement of its own. GM at first resisted, but finally struck a deal around 4 o’clock this morning after UAW struck one of their engine plants in Spring Hill, TN, over the weekend.

While the union didn’t come close to getting the 40% raises it was initially asking for, the strike did succeed in significant increases for full-time workers, ranging from 25% to 33% factoring in estimated cost of living allowances. By the end of the contract, full time workers will be making at least $40 an hour. This includes full time workers at most supporting parts distributors for Ford, GM and Stellantis. Temporary workers will see the largest increase in their salaries, ranging from 150%-168% over the life of the contract. The automakers have also committed firm timelines to flip current and future temporary workers to full-time status. This ends years of uncertainty and inequality for workers performing the same job alongside legacy workers making much higher wages.

Strikes have been suspended pending ratification of the contracts. Workers at all three companies will be returning to work in the coming days.

Division among membership on ratification

Over the coming days, national and local UAW leaders will be holding in-person meetings and livestreams to walk members through the terms of the contracts. The membership will then vote on whether to ratify the contracts. 

It’s difficult to predict at this stage whether or not workers will approve the contracts or not. While pay increases in the contracts dwarf previous contract (more than raises in the last 20 years combined), the contracts don’t have everything that workers were hoping for. Looking at feedback from workers on UAW’s social media reveals that opinions are sharply divided on the strength of these contracts.

One big sticking point cited by many workers is a lack of significant changes to pension schemes and retirement health benefits for post 2007 hires. Current retirees will be getting some yearly bonuses but little else. Active workers will see some increased employer contribution to 401ks.

Many legacy workers are also unhappy about the fact that temporary workers and lower wage-tier workers are getting the lion’s share of the gains. The implementation of wage tiers and the increasing reliance of these companies on temporary workers have been a divisive issue among members for decades.

More to come?

The consensus seems to be that that agreements on offer regain a lot of ground lost by workers since 2009. However, many were hoping for and expecting more, especially in pensions. UAW President Shawn Fain has emphasized that these contracts are “only the beginning”. He sems to be anticipating increased unionization at other automakers in the US over the next several years will increase their leverage when it comes time to negotiate again in 2028.

In a livestream on Sunday, Fain stressed that these contracts were only a first step in rebuilding the US working class. He has previously said that workers from other non-union companies have reached out to UAW since the strike began for help in organizing at their companies. Fain has called for leaders of other major unions to tie the end of their contracts to the UAW’s on April 30, 2028. That way, he says, unions across different industries could strike together on May 1, which is International Labor Day.

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House GOP wants to tie Israel aid to IRS cuts

Newly-elected House Speaker Mike Johnson has released a plan to provide $14.3 billion in immediate aid to Israel. The plan would offset the cost of the aid by reducing new spending for the IRS by the same amount. Last year, Biden and Democrats in Congress secured $80 billion (over ten years) in new spending for the agency last year for increased enforcement to investigate wealthy tax cheats.

Since taking the House this year, Republicans in the House have been seizing any opportunity to chip away at this funding. In the debt ceiling negotiations in May of this year, Biden agreed to reduce the funding by $20 billion over the next two years to avoid a catastrophic default. 

The IRS cuts alone might be enough for the Democrat-controlled Senate to reject Speaker Johnson’s bill. Democrats in both Houses, and some Senate Republicans have also said they would prefer to see aid to Israel tied to new military aid for Ukraine. Following the October 7th attack by Hamas in Israel, Biden appealed for a $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel, and border security. Before becoming Speaker, Johnson had voted against new aid for Ukraine. He now says that he wants aid for the two countries to be passed in separate bills.

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