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Workers at Alamo Drafthouse, the movie theater chain known for dine-in service and strict policies on etiquette, have voted to unionize at the Downtown Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan venues in elections held Friday, September 29th and Thursday, October 12th, respectively.
In Manhattan, 65% of Alamo employees voted in favor of unionizing with United Auto Workers Local 2179 on Thursday. The bargaining unit consists of approximately 100 full-time and part-time employees, including wait staff, line cooks, bartenders, box office, custodians and dishwashers. This does not include Brooklyn’s bargaining unit of approximately 190 workers.
This victory comes less than two weeks after Downtown Brooklyn became the first Alamo Drafthouse venue to win union recognition. The workers of two of Alamo’s most profitable locations will now force the company to negotiate and create a contract that ensures sustainable livelihoods for all.
The company launched an anti-union campaign of misleading and poorly written fliers and staff meetings with management (including CEO Michae Kustermann and founder Tim League). The workers challenged and rejected such efforts and will now exercise their right to bargain with the 12th largest cinema chain in the country.
For years, Alamo workers have tried to solve problems through dialogue with management, to no avail. Now Alama Drafthouse must meet us at the bargaining table as we join the fight against the billionaires and hedge funds who are cannibalizing the American economy and its working class.
“We’re incredibly excited to join the UAW family and to hold Alamo Drafthouse accountable to their employees,” said Jordan Baruch, who works at the Alamo Drafthouse in Downtown Brooklyn. “Solidarity to Alamo workers and theater workers across the country!”
DETROIT – The UAW has just released a video showing that Big Three CEOs make far more than their counterparts at rival automakers and can easily afford the union’s demands. The new video, “Competition,” shows that average pay last year for the CEOs at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis was $25 million — five times the $5 million average for their counterparts at other leading automakers.
The video can be accessed at this link, and the media is invited to use the footage.
“Competition” uses a host of statistics to show how the Big Three have been plowing money into excessive CEO pay and outsized returns for rich investors.
- Over the last four years, the Big Three’s profits in North America have shot up 65%.
- Over the same period, Big Three CEO pay has risen 40%.
- Last year, the Big Three CEOs made 500% more than their counterparts at Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Kia, and Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes.
- Ford, GM and Stellantis have also poured money into stock buybacks, which have risen an astonishing 1,500 percent over the last four years.
The video also shows that Big Three price gouging, not UAW pay, has been responsible for rising car prices in recent years. Average new car prices went up 34% over the last four years while pay for UAW members rose just 6%.
The cost of labor for the Big Three is around 4 to 5 percent of total operations. The video notes that Ford, General Motors and Stellantis could double UAW wages, not raise car prices and still make billions of dollars.
UAW President Shawn Fain narrates the video, and here is an excerpt from his remarks:
“The Big Three want you to believe that what we are asking for is dangerous and unrealistic. What is truly unrealistic is to keep making record profits year after year and then think that the workers who made those profits are just going to settle for scraps. What is truly dangerous is for corporations and the billionaire class to continue making out like bandits while the working class gets left further and further behind.
“That is why these companies and the corporate media are so desperate to try and convince the American people that unions are the problem. We are NOT the problem. This so-called ‘competition’ is the problem. Corporate greed is the problem. Our solidarity is the solution.”
The UAW’s historic Stand Up Strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis began on Sept. 15. The Stand Up Strike is a new approach to striking. It is the first time the union has struck all Big Three automakers at the same time. But instead of all 150,000 UAW autoworkers walking out at once, select locals have been called on to “Stand Up” and strike.
Currently, 25,000 UAW members are on strike against the Big Three. Members at five assembly plants and 38 parts distribution centers in 21 states have joined the walk out. If the automakers fail to make substantial progress in negotiations toward a fair contract, more locals will be called on to Stand Up and join the strike.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – In an unannounced move, 8,700 UAW members walked off the job today at 6:30 p.m. ET, shutting down Ford Motor Company’s iconic and extremely profitable Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville. The strike was called by UAW President Shawn Fain and Vice President Chuck Browning after Ford refused to make further movement in bargaining.
The surprise move marks a new phase in the UAW’s Stand Up Strike. Previous expansions of the strike occurred at a deadline set in advance by the union. The move comes one day before the four-week mark since contracts expired at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
Local 862 members at Kentucky Truck Plant make the Ford Super Duty pickups as well as the Ford Expedition and the Lincoln Navigator.
President Fain will host a Facebook Live at 10 a.m. on Friday, October 13 to give bargaining updates and take further action if needed.
Workers from Stellantis rallied with UAW leaders and local city officials yesterday at Manz Field in Detroit to demand the end of the exploitive supplemental employee system utilized at the automaker.
UAW Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock, Vice President Rich Boyer, and Region 1 Director LaShawn English attended the event to offer their solidarity and support to those in attendance.
The event was emceed by Local 7 Recording Secretary Lynda Jackson. Detroit’s elected leaders also stood strong with Supplemental workers. Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield, District 4 City Council Member Latisha Johnson and At-Large Council Member Mary Waters all came out in support.
Supplemental employees, commonly referred to as temporary workers, usually aren’t temporary at all. Often, they work for the Big Three for years on end making inferior wages and benefits than their permanent coworkers. They are commonly subject to more erratic work schedules than permanent employees as well.
Tenisha Hodges, who works at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant (JNAP) as a temporary employee, says she was only scheduled to work three days this week and none the week prior.
When JNAP went down for retooling in April 2022, Human Resources told Hodges she’d have to go work at the company’s complex in Toledo, OH, for two to four weeks if she wanted to keep her job. She ended up being forced to work there until August. January 6, 2024, will mark her third year working for Stellantis as a “temporary worker” with no job security of any kind. She still hasn’t been made a permanent employee at the company.
Supplemental workers at Stellantis hire in at $15.78 per hour. Because of the low wages and uncertain hours, many temporary workers hold one or two additional jobs outside of Stellantis.
“Many workers like me are jumping from paycheck to paycheck,” said Mubarak Mozeb, who works at JNAP. “A lot of us are jumping from job to job. Imagine working 10 hours at a factory, heading downtown to bus tables until one o’clock in the morning, then having to decide if it’s worth going to sleep, because you’re going to get up in three hours for the next shift.”
“We are fighting to end the abuse of so-called ‘temps’ who are exploited at low wages for years at a time and denied the full benefits and wages despite working endless hours to keep these companies going,” UAW President Shawn Fain said on a recent Facebook Live. “Temporary workers should be converted to full-time after 90 days with full pay, benefits, and profit-sharing.”
Sacramento – UAW members are disappointed to hear that Governor Newsom has vetoed Assembly Bill 504 (Reyes), which passed both chambers of the Legislature earlier this year. AB 504 would have prohibited contract language restricting public-sector workers’ right to honor each other’s picket lines, an important step towards making the collective bargaining process work as intended.
“No worker should be forced to cross a picket line,” said Neal Sweeney, President of UAW Local 5810, which represents 12,000 Postdoctoral Scholars and Academic Researchers across UC. “At a time when workers and communities across California and the nation are taking action to fight economic injustice, this veto represents a missed chance to level the playing field between employers and workers.”
“California has missed a major opportunity to lead on labor rights,” said Rafael Jaime, President of UAW Local 2865, representing over 35,000 Academic Workers at the University of California. “AB 504 would have allowed workers across the state to honor their conscience – but more than that, it would have leveled the playing field between workers and employers at a time when workers across the country are standing up to fight economic inequality.”
“UAW members are disappointed to see Governor Newsom veto an innovative bill to codify the fundamental right of every public worker to respect a picket line,” said Mike Miller, Director of UAW Region 6. “UAW members across the country are standing up and fighting billionaire corporations to build the middle class and create a more equal world. As a public employer, the state of California should always treat workers with dignity and respect, but as we saw last year, Academic Workers at UC had to strike for 40 days to force UC to bargain in good faith. AB 504 would have promoted an equal playing field in collective bargaining by giving every public worker the right to respect their fellow workers’ picket lines. California should be a leader in leveling the playing field between workers and employers.”
After voting by 73% to reject a tentative agreement, nearly 4,000 UAW members at Mack Trucks in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida walked out on strike at 7 a.m. on Monday, October 9.
“I’m inspired to see UAW members at Mack Trucks holding out for a better deal, and ready to stand up and walk off the job to win it,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “The members have the final say, and it’s their solidarity and organization that will win a fair contract at Mack.”
After weeks of failing to address core economic issues, the company reached a tentative agreement with just minutes to spare before the initial deadline on October 1. On Sunday, October 8, Mack Trucks UAW members voted down the deal. UAW leadership then issued a strike notice to the company, citing “many topics [that] remain at issue, including: wage increases, cost of living allowances (COLA), job security, wage progression, skilled trades, shift premium, holiday schedules, work schedules, health and safety, seniority, pension, 401(k), healthcare and prescription drug coverage, and overtime.”
UAW Locals 171, 677, 1247, 2301, and 2420 in UAW Region 8 and Region 9 represent workers at Mack Trucks in Macungie and Middletown, Pennsylvania; Hagerstown and Baltimore, Maryland; and Jacksonville, Florida.
The Mack Trucks strikers bring the total number of striking UAW members to over 30,000 workers across 22 states.
In a new video, UAW Archivist at the Walter P. Reuther Library, Gavin Strassel, shares one of the most unique and interesting objects in the library’s extensive collections: a carved wooden middle finger gifted to iconic UAW President Walter Reuther.
“Walter was a straitlaced man,” Strassel explains. “He didn’t drink or smoke. And he did not swear. So, supposedly the story goes, somebody gave this to him and said, “Walter, any time that you want to swear at somebody, but you can’t, put this on your desk and you can just point at it. The lore goes that this stayed on his desk for quite a while and it’s a unique object in the UAW archives.”
DETROIT – UAW President Shawn Fain announced today that General Motors will include electric vehicle battery production work in the UAW’s national master agreement with the company. GM’s commitment is a historic step forward, guaranteeing that the transition to electric vehicles at GM will be a just transition that brings good union jobs to communities across America.
Fain made the announcement just after 2 p.m. on Facebook Live. He also announced that UAW negotiators had made major progress in negotiations with all three automakers. As a result, the union will not expand its Stand Up Strike this week against any of the Big Three, though the UAW may call other members to Stand Up at any time if companies fail to make further progress toward a fair agreement.
Here is the full transcript of UAW President Shawn Fain’s Facebook Live:
Good afternoon UAW family,
It’s happened again. Moments before this broadcast, we have had a major breakthrough that has not only dramatically changed negotiations but is going to change the future of our union and the future of our industry.
We were about to shut down GM’s largest money maker, in Arlington Texas. The company knew those members were ready to walk immediately. Just that threat provided a transformative win. GM has now agreed in writing to place their electric battery manufacturing work under our national master agreement.
We have been told for months this is impossible. We have been told the EV future must be a race to the bottom. We called their bluff.
What this will mean for our membership cannot be understated. The plan was to draw down engine and transmission plants, and permanently replace them with low-wage battery jobs. We had a different plan. And our plan is winning at GM. And we expect it to win at Ford and Stellantis as well.
So today, we are going to give some updates on the state of bargaining. If it wasn’t clear already, things move fast. It’s hard to give an update that won’t be obsolete by the time the update is done. So here’s a snapshot, and a punchline.
Here’s the snapshot: GM has been falling behind. Today, under threat of a major financial hit, they leapfrogged the pack in terms of a just transition. And here’s the punchline: Our strike is working. But we’re not there yet.
Everything we’ve done to this point has been with one goal in mind: to win a record contract that reflects the Big Three’s record profits, and the historic sacrifices our members have made to generate those profits. We have been very public about our demands, about our expectations, and about our priorities.
Everybody and their brother knows that we have been fighting for economic justice, for a just transition, for COLA, for meaningful wage increases, for retirement security, to end tiers, to win work-life balance, and more. I wish I were here to announce a tentative agreement at one or more of these companies. But I do want to be really clear: we are making significant progress.
In just three weeks, we have moved these companies further than anyone thought possible. Let’s take a look at where things started, and where we are now.
WAGES
Our first wage proposal from the companies was a 9% raise from Ford. Now, three weeks into the strike, our top offer is 23% from the same company. That’s two and a half times higher than they started. It’s not where we need it to be, but it’s a hell of a lot further along. Both GM and Stellantis are behind Ford, at 20%. We think they can catch up and then some.
COLA
We heard for years that COLA was a thing of the past. That we couldn’t go back to the cost-of-living adjustment formula that protected against the worst of inflation. Suddenly, three weeks into our Stand Up Strike, we’ve got two of the Big Three automakers committed to returning to our 2007 COLA formula. Ford and Stellantis have agreed to reinstate COLA, GM isn’t far behind. We will get them there.
TEMPS
Let’s talk about temps who have been abused and exploited by the Big Three for far too long. This part of the workforce used to be a small group, used only to cover for short periods. Now, they’re an entire subsection of our union, who have few rights, low pay, and an uncertain future. In three weeks, we have won raises for temps to $20 an hour at GM and Stellantis, and $21 an hour at Ford. All three have made commitments around converting temps, but there is still work to be done, both on the wages and conversions. Still, we are making big strides that will end up changing the lives of thousands of our members.
PROGRESSION
Another area of serious progress is the progression. Going into these negotiations, it took 8 years for workers to make it up to top rate. Taking almost a decade to get to the top wage is unacceptable. And since the Great Recession, the length of the progression has reduced the quality of life for tens-of-thousands of UAW members. We have cut that timeline down to three years at Ford, while GM and Stellantis are still behind, at four-year progressions.
We need to keep pushing, but it means that all those temps we convert will go from second-class citizen to top rate well within the life of this contract. That’s a big deal.
PROFIT SHARING
All three companies wanted concessions on profit-sharing. We said HELL NO. Not only did we beat back Ford’s concessionary profit sharing formula, but we made enhancements. We have also successfully beat back the concessionary demands being made by GM and Stellantis.
JOB SECURITY
Two weeks ago, we let Ford off the hook in our strike expansion because they agreed to some core job security proposals, like the right to strike over plant closures, which our union has never had. Last week, at the last minute, Stellantis agreed to the right to honor picket lines, and made other important moves on job security. And now today, because of our power, GM has agreed to lay the foundation for a just transition.
SKILLED TRADES
On Skilled Trades, all of the Big Three wanted to give little or nothing. We are fighting for a $2 an hour tool allowance. Now, thanks to our Stand Up Strike strategy, Ford has given up a $1.50 tool allowance.
Stellantis has given up a $1 an hour. But GM is still refusing to budge.
RETIREMENT SECURITY
Finally, we are still fighting hard to win retirement security, for both our pre-2007 and post-2007 hires. For those members who still have a pension, we know you’ve gone far too long without an increase, and we are pushing hard to change it. For those members who never got a pension or post-retirement healthcare, we are fighting like hell for real retirement security. But the companies are fighting like hell to keep our retirement uncertain and insecure.
As people who give their lives to these companies, we never should have lost those rights. This strike is about righting the wrongs of the past, and winning justice for all of our members.
SUBCOMMITTEES
I also want to lift up one major change from the past in this round of negotiations. For the first time, we are on track to get all of our subcommittee’s issues addressed. Subcommittees cover everything from work rules to discipline to scheduling. They include the demands and proposals our members submit in advance of bargaining, the demands we debate over at our special bargaining convention.
In the past, they’ve simply been shut down when it’s time to settle the contract, and many issues ignored. This time around, ALL of our subcommittees are being seriously addressed, and we’ve made a ton of progress in these areas. We’re doing things differently and we’re getting results.
So that’s where we are on some of our core bargaining priorities. Here’s the bottom line: we are winning. We are making progress. We are headed in the right direction.
What has moved the needle is our willingness to take action, to be flexible, to be aggressive when we have to, and to be strategic. Throughout this strike, I have been heartened to see our members talking about and debating our strategy. We are thinking together about the core question of the labor movement: how do working class people build the power we need to win what we deserve?
So let’s talk strategy.
I want to be clear on one thing: Our goal throughout this process has always been to win a record contract. Our mission as your elected leadership is to fight like hell for the best deal possible. We don’t strike for the hell of it. We know what it’s like to hold a picket sign at 3am. We know what it’s like to be unsure when you’ll get a real paycheck.
The CEOs are trying to trivialize our strike. They are saying It’s just theatrics.
And yes, we are loud and proud about our fight. We want the public to understand our fight, and to side with us, as poll after poll shows they do.
But it’s not about theatrics. It’s about power. The power we have as working-class people. We have shown the Big Three that we are NOT afraid to use it. And we have shown the Big Three that we are ready for a record contract when they are.
Theatrics don’t cause companies to agree to double digit pay increases.
Theatrics don’t result in the right to strike over plant closures.
Theatrics don’t win COLA.
Theatrics don’t result in GM battery cell manufacturing to be under our national agreement.
Strikes — and the threat of strikes by a unified membership — are what delivers. Our goal here is not just to pound the table and show management how angry we are. We are angry. And our members are angry. And they should be. We have made that crystal clear to these companies at the bargaining table.
And that anger has moved these companies, to a point. But our goal is not just to get mad and shut it all down. Our goal is to outsmart and out-organize corporate America.
I’m reminded of the words of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., reflecting on the UAW of a former generation. Dr. King said: “Power is the ability to achieve purpose, power is the ability to affect change, and we need power.”
What is power? Walter Reuther said once that “power is the ability of a labor union like UAW to make the most powerful corporation in the world—General Motors—say yes when it wants to say no.”
That’s power. I’ll tell it to you straight: The billionaires and company executives think us autoworkers are dumb. They think we don’t get it. They think we only understand the power of a supervisor yelling at us, or an assembly line coming at us.
They look at me and see some redneck from Indiana. They look at you and see somebody they would never have over for dinner, let ride on their yacht, or fly on their private jet.
They think they know us. But us autoworkers know better.
We may be foul-mouthed, but we’re strategic.
We may get fired up, but we’re disciplined.
We may be rowdy, but we’re organized.
Not everything is about pulling out the bazooka. We’ve been very careful about how we escalate this strike. We have designed this strategy to increase pressure on the companies – not to hurt them for its own sake, but to MOVE them. To get them to say YES when they want to say NO.
Today is a perfect example of that. We know their pain points. We know their money makers. We know the plants they really don’t want to see struck. And they know we’ve got more cards left to play. We won’t let one company fall behind and wait for movement at another table.
We won’t let them sit back and lowball us while the others make progress. We expect results at EVERY company. We have been crystal clear about how you catch a strike and how you avoid one.
Two weeks ago, Ford agreed to some core job security proposals, showing us they were ready to bargain.
Last week, Stellantis did the same.
This week, GM did something that was unthinkable until just today: they agreed to put the future of this industry under our national agreement. This victory is the direct result of the power of our membership.
It is your willingness to Stand Up when called. It is your commitment to winning what you are owed.
The companies see it. The world sees it. Today, I was ready to call on one of GM’s biggest and most important plants to Stand Up. It was that threat that brought GM to the table.
The Big Three know we are not messing around. They know, if they want to avoid further strikes, Then they will have to pony up.
I have heard members who want to bring down the hammer. Strike all the truck plants. Hit the Big Three where it hurts. There is a time and place for that. And believe me: if the Big Three don’t continue to make progress, then that time will be coming soon.
We are not going to wait around forever. We’re not here to start a fight, we’re here to finish one.
To our counterparts at the Big Three, we’ll see you at the bargaining table.
Tomorrow, we’ll join our striking union family in Chicago for a Stand Up Rally.
Today we made GM say YES when they’d rather say NO. Next up is Ford, Stellantis, and three record contracts.
Thank you.
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