Auto Workers Issues
Opel and Vauxhall in Europe threatened with more job cuts
By our reporters, February 20, 2012
There are growing indications that the European subsidiaries of General Motors at Opel and Vauxhall are facing a new round of layoffs and wage cuts.
GM posts record profits, prepares more cuts
By Patrick Martin, February 18, 2012
The largest US automaker is relying on the United Auto Workers union to enforce cuts in both its North American and European operations.
Ford closes Minnesota truck assembly plant
By Ron Jorgenson, January 9, 2012
Ford Motor Company has permanently closed the St. Paul truck assembly plant, laying off 800 workers.
Union imposes real wage cut on Australian Toyota workers
By Peter Byrne and Patrick O’Connor, January 6, 2012
The agreement brokered by the union is part of the international restructuring of the auto industry, with the major corporations demanding poverty-level wages everywhere.
Obama’s “Car Czar” says workers should have taken deeper cuts
By Jerry White, December 21, 2011
In an appearance at the Detroit Economic Club last week, Steven Rattner said the government should have imposed even deeper concessions on United Auto Workers members in 2009.
Contract workers denounce low wages in US auto industry
By Jerry White, December 14, 2011
The modern automotive assembly plant in the US increasingly resembles, despite the vast differences in technology, the auto factory of the 1930s.
Italy’s Fiat terminates collective bargaining agreements
By Marc Wells, December 2, 2011
The decision by Fiat’s CEO Sergio Marchionne to terminate collective bargaining agreements starting by January 2012 is an historic attack on basic rights won by workers over decades of bitter struggle.
Former owner GM blocks Saab takeover
By Jordan Shilton, November 28, 2011
The future of Swedish automaker Saab remains undecided following a decision by former owner General Motors to block a proposed takeover by two Chinese firms.
UAW-run trust fund to cut retiree health benefits
By Jerry White, November 17, 2011
The medical benefits of approximately 820,000 retired auto workers and their spouses in the US are in danger of being sharply reduced or eliminated outright, as the retiree health care trust fund, run by the United Auto Workers union, is in danger of insolvency.
India: Maruti Suzuki union leaders given huge payouts after ending strike
By Deepal Jayasekera, November 12, 2011
Within days of the October 21 deal between the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union and the company, MSEU President Sonu Gujjar and Secretary Shiv Kumar received large cash payments from Maruti Suzuki for resigning their jobs.
“We need a revolution to get rid of the UAW”
UAW contracts set stage for global attack on auto workers
By Jerry White, November 10, 2011
Two weeks after the United Auto Workers signed a new round of labor agreements with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, it is becoming clear that the deals only set the stage for a further offensive against workers in the global auto industry.
US automakers to cash in from new UAW contracts
By Jerry White, November 1, 2011
Wall Street analysts and the news media say Detroit’s Big Three automakers—General Motors, Ford and Chrysler—will see a boost in profits from the four-year labor agreements just signed by the United Auto Workers union.
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