Why September will be a momentous month for US industry
It is one of the great set-piece moments in the US industrial calendar.
At the start of pay negotiations, which take place every four years ahead of the expiry of existing contracts in September, the leaders of the big three US carmakers traditionally shake hands in front of the cameras with the leader of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union.
The tradition goes back almost a century: Wayne State University in Detroit, America’s car-making capital, has unearthed photographs dating back to the 1930s showing the UAW leaders of the time shaking hands with a leader from Ford, Chrysler or General Motors.
The then UAW president Ron Gettelfinger and Ford president Alan Mulally take part in the ceremonial handshake in 2007
This was the precursor to another established tradition under which the UAW would select a lead company with which to negotiate. Then, once a deal had been struck, the other carmakers would follow the first company’s lead in a process known as ‘pattern bargaining’.
So it was a seismic moment when, in July this year, the UAW’s new president, Shawn Fain, declined to take part in the handshake.
Instead, he held what were described as a “member’s handshake”, during which he met with workers at the big three (Chrysler is now owned by Stellantis, also the parent company of European carmakers Peugeot and Fiat) as they came off their shifts.
It was intended to lay down a marker to the carmakers that this was a very different UAW leadership.
Mr Fain, 54, was narrowly elected president of the UAW in March this year on a platform of promising a tougher approach to pay negotiations.
His victory, over the existing president Ray Curry, was historic in that it was the first in which the president, and other leading officials, were chosen by a direct ballot of members rather than in a proverbial smoke-filled room in which delegates chose the leadership.
Shawn Fain, pictured in July, shaking hands with members outside a Ford assembly plant in Michigan
Mr Fain, in winning, toppled a faction of the union that had controlled it for decades.
On being elected, Mr Fain – who began his career as an electrician with Chrysler – immediately served notice on the carmakers that he did not intend this to be business as usual, declaring: “We’re here to come together to ready ourselves for the war against our one and only true enemy: multibillion corporations and employers that refuse to give our members their fair share. It’s a new day in the UAW.”
If that didn’t make the carmakers sit up and take note, Mr Fain’s refusal to take part in the traditional handshake did, as he told the union’s 389,000 members on his social media feed: “I’m not shaking hands with any CEOs until they do right by our members, and we fix the broken status quo with the big three. The members have to come first.”
For good measure, he very publicly threw a Stellantis pay offer in a bin.
Mr Fain’s approach is making waves on Wall Street.
There are real concerns that Mr Fain – who carries around with him one of his grandfather’s payslips from Chrysler in 1940 – will bring out his members at all three carmakers if a deal is not reached by the time the existing contracts expire on 14 September. Such action would be unprecedented.
Read more business news:
Bank of England’s ‘regrettable mistakes fuelled inflation’
B&M to snap up 51 Wilko stores
Birmingham City Council effectively declares bankruptcy
Members at the three have voted for strike action in the event of negotiations breaking down, by an average of 97%.
Strikes would cause immense disruption at a time when the carmakers are having to invest billions in electrification while trying to cut their costs in response to inflation.
Yet, with Wall Street putting the odds of strike action at the big three as better than events, the two sides look set for collision.
The UAW is not only seeking to restore past benefits lost in previous pay negotiations, but also to cut the working week to 32 hours.
It is also seeking a significant pay rise, the extent of which it has not made public, but which has been reported by the Wall Street Journal as 46%.
That would severely hobble the big three’s competitiveness against foreign rivals, from Germany and Japan – which tend to have less union representation in their workforces, as well as the likes of non-unionised Tesla.
Some 150,000 of the UAW’s members work for Ford, GM and Stellantis but strikes at all three would be huge because the union has traditionally singled out an individual carmaker for strike action rather than attacking several targets at once. It would also be a risk.
The union has a strike fund of $900m (£716m) – half of which would be eaten by a six-week stoppage in which striking members at the big three were each paid $500 (£398) a week.
That is why it has been suggested that Mr Fain may adopt another tactic, bringing out its members at the car parts makers instead, in time depriving the big three of components and forcing them to temporarily close plants while still having to pay workers.
UAW President Shawn Fain
That, though, would also be a risk for the UAW, as it is not nearly as well represented among the parts makers.
Mr Fain’s election is not just rattling Wall Street – but also in Washington. Mr Fain has refused to say whether the union will endorse and provide support to Joe Biden as he seeks re-election to the White House next year.
He told the Boston Globe at the weekend: “I’ve tried to be clear with people: The days of us just freely giving endorsements are over. Our endorsements have to be earned.”
Those comments speak to his unease that, as the Biden administration offers huge subsidies to businesses involved in the transition to net zero, it is not doing so with sufficient protection for carmakers.
He was particularly unhappy at a $9.2bn (£7.3bn) loan awarded by the Biden administration in June to a joint venture between Ford and a South Korean company to build three battery factories in Kentucky and Tennessee.
Mr Fain felt the loan should have come with strings attached on wages and working conditions.
He told the Globe: “We support a green economy. We have to have clean air, clean water, but this transition has to be a just transition. Workers can’t be left behind.”
Mr Fain’s election must also be seen in the context of changing circumstances in America’s unions.
The powerful Teamsters union, like the UAW, has also jettisoned the ruling faction that has run it for decades in favour of more radical leadership. Its aggressive stance is credited with having won it a pay deal with United Parcel Services reckoned to be the most generous in the company’s history.
Part-time workers at UPS were awarded a reported 50% pay rise while other concessions agreed by the company included a promise to instal air conditioning in all of its trucks.
Mr Fain is clearly optimistic that he has the wind to his back and can secure similar wins for his members. If he succeeds, other union leaders will be taking note.
It is why the month of September promises to be a momentous one for US industry.
BP has signalled an accelerated effort to bring down costs ahead, refusing to rule out further job losses as artificial intelligence (AI) technology helps drive efficiencies.
The company, which revealed in January that it was to axe almost 8,000 workers and contractors globally as part of a cost-cutting plan, said alongside its second quarter results that it was to review its portfolio of businesses and examine its cost base again.
Money latest: Aldi ‘loses cheapest supermarket title’
BP is under pressure to grow profitability and investor value through a shareholder-driven refocus on oil and gas revenues.
Just 24 hours earlier, the company revealed progress through its largest oil and gas discovery, off Brazil’s east coast, this century.
BP said it was exploring the creation of production facilities at the site.
It has made nine other exploration discoveries this year.
BP’s share price has lagged those of rivals for many years – a trend that investors have blamed on the now-abandoned shift to renewable energy that began under former boss Bernard Looney.
BP boss Murray Auchincloss is facing shareholder pressure to grow profitability
His replacement, Murray Auchincloss, has reportedly come under shareholder pressure to slash costs further, with the Financial Times reporting on Monday that activist investor Elliott was leading that charge based on concerns over high contractor numbers.
Mr Auchincloss said on Tuesday that AI was playing a leading role in bolstering efficiency across the business.
In an interview with Sky’s US partner CNBC, he said: “We need to keep driving safely to be the very best in the sector we can be, and that’s why we’re focused on another review to try to drive us towards best in class… inside the sector, and technology plays a huge part in that.
“Just technology is moving so fast, we see tremendous opportunity in that space. So it’s good for all seasons to drive cost discipline and capital discipline into the business. And that’s what we’re focused on.”
When contacted by Sky News, a BP spokesperson suggested the company had no plans for further job losses this year and could not speculate beyond that ahead of the conclusions of the new cost review.
BP reported a second quarter underlying replacement cost profit of $2.4bn, down 14% on the same period last year but well ahead of analyst forecasts of $1.8bn. Much of the reduction was down to lower comparable oil and gas prices.
It moved to reward investors with a 4% dividend increase and maintained the pace of its share buyback programme at $750m for the quarter.
BP said it was making progress in driving shareholder value through both its operational return to oil and gas investment and cost reductions, which stood at $1.7bn over the six months.
Shares, up 3% over the year to date ahead of Tuesday’s open, were trading 2% higher in early dealing.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said of the company’s figures: “Production increases, strong results from trading activities, favourable tax rates, and better volumes and margins downstream all played their part.
“It’s also upping the ante when it comes to exploration and development, culminating in this week’s announcement of an oil find at the offshore Brazilian prospect Bumerangue.
“Its drilling rig intersected a staggering 500m of hydrocarbons. Taking into account the acreage of the block, it’s given BP the confidence to declare the largest discovery in 25 years.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike