Folks,
Greetings from the Burgh, where it’s been a wild day trying to figure out the contract ratification vote totals at GM.
GM Contract Will Pass By Lower Margin Than in 2019
According to the UAW’s ratification tracker, with over 31,972 votes cast, the union’s tentative agreement is passing by a margin of only 54% to 46%.
The vote margin is likely to narrow even more after votes from GM’s Lansing Delta, where 62% of the 2,100 workers at GM’s Lansing Delta plant voted no, are counted. It does appear that the contract will pass narrowly.
However, the contract will pass by a narrower margin than in 2019, when GM workers approved a tentative agreement by a margin of 57%-43%.
Many workers say they were upset that the UAW sent the current contract before even putting it up for a vote in the membership. In 2019, UAW leadership allowed members to read and debate the agreement before deciding whether to return to work. (For more on member grievances, check out our newsletter from yesterday)
For a full breakdown, check out the UAW ratification tracker.
UAW Uses Scare Tactics to Force Rejected Mack Truck Contract
Last month, 5,000 workers at Mack Truck voted to reject a tentative agreement pushed by UAW President Shawn Fain. Now, the UAW is using scare tactics to pressure workers to accept the tentative deal proposed by Mack Truck.
“If the Master (agreement) is voted down, there will be no $3500 ratification bonus and the Company will implement their last offer,” wrote the UAW in a letter obtained by PennLive. “That being said the Company will also hire replacement workers.”
As Payday went to press, the UAW announced that members had voted to agree to a tentative agreement.
Hotel Workers to Picket Golden Globes & Critics Choice Awards
When the SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative agreement last week, many hoped that award ceremonies would continue. However, the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice Awards, and other award shows may face pickets from UNITE HERE 11 if working conditions don’t improve at the venues hosting those shows.
“What’s become clear in this year is that the fight for a living wage is not just a fight for hotel workers, but it’s a fight for actors and writers and Hollywood professionals, because we’re all facing these extraordinary, soaring housing costs,” Unite Here Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen told Hollywood Reporter. “We have walked together on picket lines. They’ve been at our hotels, we’ve been at the studios, and we built amazing Solidarity with the unions and with members.”
For more, check out Hollywood Reporter.
National Nurses Union Calls for Ceasefire in Gaza
This week, the National Nurses Union became the third international union in the US to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. They join the American Postal Workers Union, and United Electrical Workers (UE) has the only three international unions in the US to call for a ceasefire.
“Nurses believe that our patients and their families have the right to health care and to the necessities required to sustain life and health,” said the nurses union in a statement. “The siege imposed by the Israeli army has prevented civilians in Gaza from accessing necessities including food, water, electricity, fuel, and life-saving medical supplies, while also preventing the safe movement of civilians currently trapped in Gaza.”
For more, check out the National Nurses Union site.
Indian Trade Unions Protest Guest Worker Program to Replace Palestinian Workers
Finally, trade unions in India are protesting a plan proposed by Modi, which would allow Indian guest workers to replace Palestinian workers who are no longer allowed to work in India.
“India’s trade union movement must rise in solidarity with Palestinian workers and reject this disastrous idea,” read a statement released by many of India’s leading trade unions. “Let’s resolve that we will not work to replace Palestinian workers in Israel! India and Indian workers should boycott Israelian products! Indian workers, as their counterparts in some western countries, should refuse to handle the Israeli cargo!”
Links & Strikes Happening Elsewhere
- As Providence nurses strike, replacements cross the picket line
- UCSF Healthcare Workers Stage Walkout for Gaza
- Justine Bateman Slams SAG-AFTRA Tentative Deal’s AI Provisions
- Staffers at the nation’s largest union, NEA, just voted to authorize a strike
- Honda to increase pay for US autoworkers following UAW strike
- Deputy Undersecretary Thea Lee Condemns Violent Crackdown Against Trade Unionists In Bangladesh
- Finally, after a decades-long fight, IWW won a historical marker for the Centralia Massacre.
Alright yinz, that’s all for today. Keep sending tips, story ideas, comments, and complaints to [email protected]
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Love & Solidarity,
Melk
