I’ve been an employee of this company for 29 years. My roots in this company run back to my Grandpa Fain hiring in at Chrysler back in 1937, the year the UAW first organized Chrysler.

Throughout my 29 years, during the best and worst of times, our members have always delivered.

Throughout my 29 years with this company, we’ve been called Chrysler, Daimler Chrysler, Cerberus, FCA and now Stellantis. Our members have endured being spun off and sold out repeatedly, but they’ve always delivered.

From 2003 forward, this company has closed plants under every agreement.

In 2003, under the guise of helping the company be more competitive, it was agreed by both parties for several plants to either be closed or sold.

In 2009, our members were told they had to be like foreign transplants, and another five plants were put on the chopping block. That was on top of our members, both active and retired, making massive sacrifices to keep this company afloat.

In 2015, more plants were spun off or idled.

Since the 2019 agreement was ratified, we’ve witnessed Belvidere Assembly being idled, METD being idled, Marysville Axle being spun off, Trenton North plant being idled, Toledo machining continuing a downward spiral with no commitment of work, and salary bargaining unit jobs being continually attacked.

We’ve seen tradespeople of 37 years be forced to work production as the lowest seniority person, on the worst production jobs, as a reward for their years of service. As a result, many of them were forced to retire.

Our members worked as essential workers through a pandemic. Some lost their lives to COVID-19, while many at corporate headquarters, three years later, are still working from home.

Our workers who have been working six to seven days a week have been denied use of PAA days.

We’ve seen this company choose to form a joint venture with Samsung to build batteries right in the backyard of all the Kokomo powertrain plants, with no commitment to our members or our master agreement terms.

Then, to top it all off, we are witnessing this company play games with our members’ lives by forcing multiple plants to critical status.

For over 20 years, our members have sacrificed repeatedly, and it is unacceptable that this company has taken many of these actions during the greatest economic expansion and most profitable years in the history of the Big Three.

Our members have busted their asses to deliver quality products to the consumer while their conditions have regressed, and their bodies endure wear and tear due to working seven-day schedules.

The hard work of our members has generated record profits for this company and the payoff is to continue to tell the workers their job security means nothing to this corporation, and we need them to give more in the name of competition.

We are constantly presented with the same tired script from the companies; that we must remain competitive, which is nothing more than a continued race to the bottom in a quest to follow the lowest bidder to pay poverty wages.

Today and during bargaining, we are going to hear about how we need to “work together,” and “find solutions to take on the competition.” Talk is cheap. Just as with safety audits or former WCM audits, if you’re going to have success, you have to live the culture year-round, not just for two weeks before an audit to look good for ratings. Bargaining is no different. You can’t preach teamwork and “working together to find solutions” while, for the past several years, “working together” has been a non-existent, one-way street.

Stellantis Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart stated how many people can’t afford our vehicles. Well, many of your workers can’t afford to buy what they build.

Mr. Stewart stated they want employees to be excited. How do you get employee excitement or loyalty? You pay a livable wage, with benefits that give them a secure retirement.

The bargaining committee, Vice President Boyer, and I will be presenting economic demands as we progress, so we’ll see how excited you want your workers to be.

As President of our union, I’m here to tell you, this is a new day for our members, and we are going in a new direction. Our members, both active and retired, have sacrificed more than their share and it’s time this company rewards their sacrifice with economic Justice.

We will not stand for the continued lack of respect for our jobs and our future.

How this round of bargaining goes will hinge on whether this company is going to treat the workers with the dignity that is long overdue.

We do not expect the traditional path of opening bargaining and spending a month and a half talking our demands to death.

September 14th is a deadline, not a reference point, so it is in the best interest for this corporation to get down to business with our bargaining committee and get to work to resolve the demands of the membership.

I want to close by saying I find a pathetic irony in the fact that we were late in getting started today because the head of Stellantis North America. Mr. Stewart was late for our 10 o’clock start time. And Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares wants to constantly talk about absenteeism when it comes to our workers, yet Mr. Tavares can’t find the time to attend the beginning of the most critical set of bargaining in this company and our workers’ history.

It’s time to get to work. We have 63 days, and the clock is ticking.

Thank you.

July 17, 2023 (Brooklyn, NY) – Today, the Children’s Law Center (CLC) staff announced that they are on strike. CLC is a 26-year-old, non-profit law firm, and the first organization in New York City dedicated primarily to the representation of children in custody, visitation, and guardianship litigation. Their attorneys, social workers, and other staff are dedicated to ensuring that the children whom they represent have a voice in the legal proceedings that have a critical impact on their lives.

In 2020, faced with enormous caseloads and low wages that did not meet industry standards, CLC staff voted overwhelmingly to unionize with the Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325, which represents 3,000 members at 25 non-profit legal services providers primarily in New York City.

In March 2021, CLC’s union presented its initial contract proposal to management. In the 838 days since, CLC Management has failed to bargain in good faith, only making a first insulting and abysmal salary offer last week and forcing the union to call for a strike.

CLC is not alone in calling for higher wages and better working conditions. Legal and human services organizations across the city have chosen to organize in recent years. The importance of our legal and social work cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, the way that CLC’s Management and Board of Directors have treated staff at the bargaining table demonstrates that, ultimately, they do not value staff’s significant experience, expertise, and dedication to improving the lives of some of New York City’s most at-risk children.

 

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Today, the UAW releases “High Risk & Low Pay: A Case Study of Ultium Cells Lordstown,” a white paper that highlights the dangerous working conditions at General Motors’ joint-venture battery cell plant in Lordstown, Ohio. It includes worker testimonials and health & safety research that show the urgent need to raise wages and safety standards in the EV battery industry.

READ THE WHITE PAPER HERE: UAW.org/Ultium

In December 2022, the workers who build electric vehicle batteries for Ultium Cells in Lordstown, Ohio, voted overwhelmingly to join the UAW.

The white paper follows a video released last week, “Our Defining Moment,” featuring the voices of Ultium workers speaking out on the risk of a failed transition to electric vehicles if companies like General Motors continue to pursue a low-road approach. View the video here.

It also follows an independent report by Good Jobs First, “Power Outrage: Will Heavily Subsidized Battery Factories Generate Substandard Jobs?” The report details the immense government subsidies going into the EV battery industry, and how corporate America is using them to drastically lower industry standards for EV workers. Read the report here.

For the full story of the Ultium workers’ fight for justice, visit UAW.org/Ultium

 

Under a provision of the Inflation Reduction Act, some factories making batteries for electric vehicles will each receive more than a billion dollars per year from the U.S. government, with no requirement to pay good wages to production workers. Thanks to the Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit, also called 45X for its section in the Internal Revenue Code, battery companies will receive tax credits that they can use, sell, or cash out.

The 45X program alone will cost taxpayers over $200 billion in the next decade, far more than the $31 billion estimated by Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation. On top of 45X and other federal incentives, factories manufacturing electric vehicles and batteries have also been promised well over $13 billion in state and local economic development incentives in just the past 18 months.

Read more on GOODJOBSFIRST.org >>>

United Auto Workers Union President Shawn Fain addressed UAW workers about concerns facing auto workers and battery workers at Ultium Cells in Lordstown.

Fain said that some of the UAW workers were struggling to get by, and stated that the big 3 automakers, GM, Ford, and Stellantis (Chrysler, Fiat) made more than $36 million nearly profit last year he said during a live stream on Facebook from Detriot, Michigan Friday.

Read the full article on WFMJ.com >>>

The UAW stands in solidarity with the 1400 members of UE Locals 506 and 618 who are on strike at Wabtec in Erie, Pennsylvania. Just like the UAW, these workers are standing up for good, green jobs, and against disinvestment in our nation’s working class communities.

Today, members of UAW Local 1112 at Ultium visited the UE picket line at Wabtec to stand in solidarity. In 2021, General Motors announced plans to work with Wabtec to build Ultium cells to power green locomotives. From Lordstown to Erie, workers are united in the fight for justice in the new green manufacturing industry.

“As we transition to green manufacturing, we have a major opportunity to reinvest in good jobs in this country,” said UAW President Shawn Fain. “But corporate America isn’t going to let that happen without a fight. Just like they’ve done for generations, UE is leading the way, on and off the job, on the picket line, and in our communities. To our UE family: we’ve got your back.”

“The UE’s fight in Erie is everybody’s fight,” said UAW Region 9 Director Dan Vicente. “An attack on UE is an attack on all union workers in this country. We need to keep good manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania, and we’ll support anyone taking action to make that happen.”

 

Today, the Supreme Court upended 50 years of precedent to make access to higher education more difficult for students of color. Students of color often come from working class families and rely on higher education to access good jobs and stable careers. Access to higher education is a labor issue.

This latest anti-worker, divide-and-conquer tactic from the Court seeks to block the pathway to good jobs both on and off campuses. The 100,000 UAW members working in higher education, from coast to coast, from the public to the private sector, stand united against this attack on working people.

“Institutionalized and systemic racism continue to disproportionately affect students of color, and affirmative action has been a small yet significant step in addressing these inequalities,” said Woohee Kim, a working member of the Harvard Graduate Students Union, UAW Local 5118. “No Supreme Court decision can erase the racism that permeates into every social fabric of our society. Affirmative action is necessary for a diverse workforce and a multicultural democracy that champions diversity, equity, and justice.”

“In California, the state’s 1995 ban on affirmative action in public education and public sector employment immediately devastated diversity at UC,” said Yunyi Li, Vice President of UAW Local 2865. “It’s a national embarrassment to see the US Supreme Court embrace this massive setback for higher education.”