The United Auto Workers secured a new tentative labor deal with Ford Motor Wednesday night, potentially ending a six-week strike, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Negotiations are still ongoing with General Motors and Chrysler-parent Stellantis, which expanded its strike earlier this week.
The labor agreement, which is subject to a member vote before being ratified, contains a 25% wage increase during the span of the contract, including an 11% bump in the first year, according to Chuck Browning, the UAW’s lead bargainer with Ford.
Workers will also receive cost-of-living adjustments, which were suspended in 2009, and the right to strike over plant closures, Browning told the Journal. Terms of the deal additionally cut the time it takes for new hires to reach the top wage, to three years from eight in the contract that expired last month.
“We told Ford to pony up and they did,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video address Wednesday night. “We won things nobody thought was possible.” He added that the value of Ford’s offer increased 50% since the strike was called on Sept. 14.
Ford CEO Jim Farley in a statement said the company is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and is focused on getting people back to work.
If approved by workers, the deal marks the union’s biggest contract gains in decades and a resolution to Ford’s first UAW national strike in more than 40 years. It covers 57,000 UAW-represented workers at Ford’s U.S. operations.
Ford’s tentative agreement now puts pressure on and Stellantis to also reach deals. The three companies have historically tried to match terms — a process known as pattern bargaining — on key economic issues such as pay, retirement and health benefits.
“It becomes a much more existential fight if they truly try to break the pattern,” said Marc Robinson, a consultant who spent more than 30 years at GM, including on labor strategy.
Google Ordered to Pay $1 Million Over Gender Discrimination
Google will have to pay $1 million to an executive who alleged the company discriminated against her based on her gender and later retaliated when she spoke up about it, Engadget reports.
Ulku Rowe, a Google Cloud engineering director, accused the company of hiring her at a lower level, lower paid position than men with less expereince who were hired for similar roles at the same time. She also claimed she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a less qualified male colleague.
A New York jury decided that Google did commit gender-based discrimination, and now owes Rowe a combined $1.15 million for punitive damages. However, according to Bloomberg Law, it also determined that Rowe did not prove Google violated the New York equal pay law.
Rowe had 23 years of experience when she started at Google in 2017, and the lawsuit claims she was lowballed at hiring to place her at a level that paid significantly less than what men were being offered.
“This unanimous verdict not only validates Ms. Rowe's allegations of mistreatment by Google, but it also sends a resounding message that discrimination and retaliation will not be tolerated in the workplace,” said Rowe's lead attorney, Cara Greene, in a statement provided to Engadget. The verdict comes nearly five years after some 20,000 Google employees organized a walkout to demand changes around the company’s handling of sexual misconduct and discrimination.
In a statement, Google spokesperson Courtenay Mencini said that “fairness is absolutely critical to us and we strongly believe in the equity of our leveling and compensation processes.” Mencini said the jury's finding that Google didn't violate New York law supports this, but went on to dispute its decision that Google did discriminate against Rowe.
“We disagree with the jury’s finding that Ms. Rowe was discriminated against on account of her gender or that she was retaliated against for raising concerns about her pay, level, and gender,” Mencini said. “We prohibit retaliation in the workplace and publicly share our very clear policy. We take employee concerns seriously, and we thoroughly investigated Ms. Rowe’s concerns when she raised them and found there was no discrimination or retaliation.”
Nokia to Cut Up to 14,000 Jobs
Nokia said it would cut up to 14,000 jobs as part of a cost reduction plan following a plunge in third-quarter earnings, CNBC reported.
The Finnish telecommunications company said it will reduce its cost base and increase operation efficiency to “address the challenging market environment.”
The reduction in force will take the organization’s employee population to between 72,000 and 77,000 from its current 86,000.
The substantial layoffs come after Nokia reported third-quarter net sales declined 20% year-on-year to 4.98 billion euros. Profit over the period plunged by 69% year-on-year to 133 million euros.
One of the world’s largest telecommunications equipment makers, Nokia has been facing headwinds from a slowing global economy and from infrastructure spending reductions made by mobile operators, CNBC noted.
Sales from Nokia’s biggest unit by revenue, its mobile networks business, declined 24% year-on-year to 2.16 billion euros, with operating profit for the division diving 64% year-on-year.
Nokia said this was mainly driven by declines in North America. The company also described sale volumes in key market India as “moderated,” as 5G deployments “normalize.” 5G is next-generation mobile internet that promises faster speeds, and Nokia is part of India’s rollout of the technology.
Cost cutting measures have also taken place in the U.S. this year, particularly with carriers such as Verizon and AT&T.
Nokia CEO Pekka Lundmark said in a statement that the decline in mobile networks revenue was owed to “some moderation in the pace of 5G deployment in India which meant the growth there was no longer enough to offset the slowdown in North America.”
The company still expects full-year net sales in a range between 23.2 billion euros and 24.6 billion euros, sticking to its forecast.
“I remain confident in the fundamental drivers of our business,” Lundmark said.
UAW Expands Strike to Ram Truck Facility
The United Auto Workers union sent 6,800 Stellantis employees to the picket line Monday morning in a surprise, targeted strike at the company’s Ram truck facility, CNN reports.
The Sterling Heights Assembly Plant is Stellantis’ “largest plant and biggest moneymaker,” UAW said in a statement. The plant near Detroit produces the Ram 1500 pickup truck.
The union said the company, which makes vehicles under the Dodge, Ram, Jeep and Chrysler brands, has “the worst proposal on the table” in its negotiations on pay, converting temporary workers to full time and cost-of-living adjustments.
“Despite having the highest revenue...the highest profit margins, and the most cash in reserve, Stellantis lags behind Ford and General Motors in addressing the demands of their UAW workforce,” the UAW said.
Stellantis said it believed progress was being made in negotiations with the union and was caught off guard by the strike.
“We are outraged that the UAW has chosen to expand its strike action against Stellantis. Last Thursday morning, Stellantis presented a new, improved offer to the UAW,” said the company’s statement. “Following multiple conversations that appeared to be productive, we left the bargaining table expecting a counter-proposal, but have been waiting for one ever since.”
“The UAW’s continued disturbing strategy of ‘wounding’ all the Detroit 3 will have long-lasting consequences,” the company added. “With every decision to strike, the UAW sacrifices domestic market share to non-union competition.”
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