UAW wins historic tentative agreement with Ford; ups pressure on GM and Stellantis – National & International News – THU 26Oct2023

UAW wins historic tentative agreement with Ford; ups pressure on GM and Stellantis.

Maine: Manhunt for shooter after at least 18 killed.

Israel-Gaza War: Stakes, death toll, calls for humanitarian pause rising.

NATIONAL NEWS

UAW wins historic tentative agreement with Ford; ups pressure on GM and Stellantis

Yesterday, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain announced that union negotiators had reached a tentative 4 1/2-year labor agreement with Ford. Fain ordered Ford workers back to work while the ratification process proceeds, ending a strike of several profitable Ford plants that was approach its 7th week. Until yesterday, Ford had not submitted a new offer for two weeks. 

On Monday, UAW members walked out of Stellantis’ Sterling Heights (MI) Assembly plant, followed on Tuesday by General Motors workers in Arlington, TX. Fain had made an implicit threat last week to walk one of Ford’s largest plants in Dearborn, MI, known as the Rouge, if Ford didn’t come back to the table. Before that could happen on Wednesday, Ford came back with a new offer.

As of three days ago, the collective losses of Ford, GM, and Stellantis as a result of the strike stood at over $4 billion.

What’s in the Ford agreement?

Full details are yet to be released, but Fain and UAW VP Chuck Browning gave some key bullet points in a livestream.

In Ford’s new offer, top wage earners will see a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract, with an 11% raise upon ratification. Starting wage earners will see a wage increase of 68% over the life of the contract.

The offer also restores a pre-2009 cost of living adjustment formula. Following the 2008 recession, the UAW agreed to scale this back to bail out cash-strapped automakers, with a promise that this would be restored when times got better. The automakers later received billions in bailout money from the federal government and quickly returned to profitability, but the firms did not restore the COLA formula. Winning it back is a major victory for the union. Along with base wage increases, the COLA increase will bring top wage earners’ total compensation up by 33% compared to the 2019 contract.

The agreement also does away with divisive lower wage tiers at some Ford parts facilities. Those workers will see an immediate 85% wage increase upon ratification.

Workers will attain top-tier pay within three years, down from eight years. The agreement also offers more retirement money for current and future retirees. Temporary workers will receive a pay increase of over 150% over the life of the contract. 

The total value of the contract is more than 4x times the previous 2019 contract. Raises are more than workers have had in the last 22 years combined.

For the first time, UAW also won the right to call a strike in the event of a plant closure. Despite their prosperity in recent years, the Big Three have collectively closed about 65 plants across the US in the last two decades.

What happens now?

Stellantis and GM’s most recent offers are well behind Ford’s in total compensation, COLA, retirement, and new benefits for temporary workers. Following the news of the Ford agreement, both automakers have said they are reaching out to the union to make a deal.

The tentative agreement must still be ratified by a majority of Ford’s 57,000 UAW members. Before that happens, UAW’s national Ford council will meet in Detroit on Sunday, to decide whether or not to bring it to a vote to the wider membership. Assuming it’s approved, Fain and Browning will hold a Facebook livestream to “dig into the details” with members and make the full terms of the contract available online. The union will then hold meetings for regional leaders, who will then in turn hold local meetings to answer members’ questions.

At this stage it’s difficult to predict which way the membership will vote on ratifying the contract. While Fain and Browning tout the historic agreement, they didn’t get a lot of the things they wanted which were popular with members. For example, Ford did not meet UAW’s demands for 40% wage increases, a 32-hour workweek with 40-hour pay, and the restoration of defined benefit pensions across the board. As of yet, there also seems to be no firm guarantee of UAW representation at Ford’s EV battery plants, a condition GM agreed to nearly three weeks ago.

Earlier this month, UAW members at Mack Truck went on strike after voting by 73% to reject a tentative agreement brought to them by UAW’s negotiating team. It’s not impossible that Ford’s workers could hold out for more. However, it’s also unclear how much appetite there is to draw out strikes even longer and continue living on $500/week strike pay.

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Maine: Manhunt continues for shooter after at least 18 people killed 

Yesterday evening, a man with a semi-automatic rifle killed at least 18 people in two locations in Lewiston, ME. At least 13 people were injured, with three in critical condition. The total death toll remains unclear. The gunman first opened fire in a crowded bowling alley where a youth night event was taking place, then at a local bar. 

Police have identified a person of interest in the shooting, 40-year-old Robert Card. Card is an Army reserve petroleum supply specialist with no known overseas deployments. He was reportedly committed to a mental health facility over the summer.

Card remains at large and more than 350 members of law enforcement are out searching for him. Local officials have urged people in the area to remain indoors while the search is underway. Card reportedly owns a property in Lewiston as well as a boat. Police are also reportedly searching a nearby river for any sign of Card.

Lewiston is a college town of about 40,000 people. The two targeted venues are gathering places for members of smaller surrounding communities.

There have been at least 565 mass shootings this year. With at least 18 victims, this shooting is the deadliest so far of 2023, surpassing the Lunar New Year festival massacre in Monterey Park, CA, in January.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Israel-Gaza War: Stakes, death tolls, calls for humanitarian pause rising

The humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate after weeks of bombing and a blockade of food, water, electricity and fuel by Israel. Overnight last night, Israeli Defense Forces conducted a limited raid into Gaza, in preparation for a larger scale raid whose timeline is yet to be determined. It’s unclear why IDF has held off after calling up 300,000 reservists weeks ago. Some have speculated they are waiting for American military assets to arrive in the region to provide the IDF with cover in case Hezbollah in neighboring Lebanon responds to a Gaza invasion with rocket fire.

Fears that there will be a contagion of hostilities throughout the Middle East due to US involvement have largely gone unheeded. Josh Paul, a high-ranking State Department official, has resigned over US policy of providing unconditional military aid to Israel. Paul says the US is violating its own policy of not supplying arms when there is reason to believe they will be used against civilians. Some officials still at the State Department are reportedly preparing a dissent cable, voicing their concerns both over the humanitarian situation in Gaza as well as fears that Biden’s unconditional support for Israel’s pending incursion into Gaza may set back US interests in the Middle East for generations.

Israel clamps down on anti-war dissent

In Israel itself, over 100 Israeli citizens who have shared social media content critical of the IDF’s actions in Gaza have been arrested. A member of parliament (the Knesset) has also been suspended for speaking out against the war and calling for a ceasefire. The fever pitch of unwavering support from much of the international community for Israel’s siege of Gaza has slowly waned. Three days ago, the UN stated that the death toll from Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed over 5,000 people, mostly women and children. Today, Gaza’s health authority said the figure had reached 7,000.

As public opinion turns against them, Israel’s ruling class have gone on the defensive. In a press conference a few days ago, opposition politician and former Prime Minister Yair Lapid (himself a former journalist) called out the international news media for not favoring Israel’s position in its coverage. During his address, Lapid made a stunning admission: “If the international media is objective, it serves Hamas; if it just shows both sides, it serves Hamas”.

EU calls for “pause”; Hamas in Moscow

Today, the EU has called for “pauses” in the fighting to allow aid trucks to get into Gaza. There are thousands of aid trucks waiting at the Egyptian border crossing into Gaza at Rafah. Just in the last few days, only a few dozen trucks a day have been allowed in. UN workers say that these deliveries are a drop in the bucket relative to the need in Gaza. They also say they may have to stop handing out aid because Israel has not yet allowed in any fuel, arguing that it might fall into the hands of Hamas militants.

 Hamas officials are now in Moscow, meeting with Putin’s special Middle East envoy. They may also be meeting with Iran’s foreign minister, who is also in Moscow. Among other things, they’re discussing the evacuation of Russian and other foreign citizens trapped in Gaza. The group also said it discussed working to bring about a ceasefire and ways “to resolve the crisis as soon as possible”.