UAW win helps nonunion workers too as Tesla is latest to hike pay
Tesla has announced that it will raise factory worker pay for some workers at its Nevada Gigafactory by 10% or more. The news comes not long after UAW’s historic strike wins, in which it earned 25% pay increases at all of the Big Three American automakers.
After VW, Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda did the same recently, this shows how union wins tend to affect entire industries, raising conditions for even nonunionized companies who have to compete for workers.
CNBC reported that Tesla internal documents confirmed that workers at the Gigafactory will receive “cost of living adjustments” of between $2.00 and $8.30 per hour, with raises of 10% or more for most hourly workers at the plant. It will also “streamline” wage tiers and reduce the differences in pay between them.
These are two major points of the UAW negotiation, which not only sought raises but also cost-of-living adjustments (which UAW gave up as part of negotiations after the 2008 financial crisis and only just got back in this year’s negotiations) and the elimination or reduction of tiered pay structures. CNBC’s report doesn’t state whether Tesla’s timelines have been made shorter, but the wage progressions will be compressed to have fewer tiers.
Tesla is currently in the sights of UAW as a potential target for unionization. But UAW is not the only union targeting Tesla. The automaker is currently facing a strike from workers in Sweden as the nation’s largest industrial union, IF Metall, wants Tesla to sign a collective bargaining agreement (an agreement the likes of which 90% of Swedish workers are covered). This strike has been gradually expanding via sympathy strikes over time.
The new pay raises will take effect starting January 2024, just two weeks from now.
Other companies have also raised pay
Tesla’s raises aren’t the only similar recent announcement from a nonunionized company.
Last month, Volkswagen of America announced that it would increase wages in a press release. It was pretty light on details but said that the wage increase would start in December and that a compressed wage progression timeline would begin in February.
Volkswagen of America annually evaluates compensation for our production team members at the end of the year to ensure we continue to offer a competitive and robust compensation package designed to attract and motivate employees who make our daily operations possible at the plant.
Prior to that, Hyundai announced a 25% pay increase for nonunionized workers by 2028, matching the headline 25% gain that UAW won in its negotiations. Hyundai COO Jose Munoz said, “Hyundai continuously strives to maintain competitive wages and benefits commensurate to industry peers.”
Also, Honda raised the wages of some workers by 11%, along with a faster progression to the top of the wage scale and additional benefits like child care and student loan help. Honda said it “continuously reviews our total rewards packages to ensure we remain competitive within our industry.” The company also said, “We will continue to look for opportunities to ensure that we provide an excellent employment experience for Honda associates.”
And Toyota took the opportunity to hike the pay of most of its US assembly workers by 9.2% immediately after the UAW deals were announced. After Toyota’s pay hike, UAW President Shawn Fain recognized that it was a response to his union’s new contract, saying, “Toyota, if they were doing it out of the kindness of their heart, they could have chosen to do it a year ago.”
The “UAW Bump”
Fain called these wage increases “the UAW bump” and said, “UAW, that stands for ‘U Are Welcome.’”
UAW wants to maintain this momentum and has openly stated that it wants to unionize more nonunionized companies in the US. In UAW’s original strike victory announcement, Fain said that it plans to come back to the bargaining table in 2028 on May 1, otherwise known as May Day or International Workers’ Day, but that time, it “won’t just be with a Big Three, but with a Big Five or Big Six.”
At the time, he didn’t specify who exactly those extra two or three companies would be, but later, we found out when UAW launched a campaign to unionize the entire auto industry at once. So perhaps UAW is aiming for even more than a Big Five or Big Six at this point.
Tesla specifically has been brought up, too. President Biden said he would support UAW’s push to unionize Tesla and Toyota, with Honda’s pay raise announcement coming right after that well-publicized meeting.
(Note: this article has been updated multiple times as more automakers have announced pay raises for US factory workers since UAW’s win)
Electrek’s Take
Unions are having a bit of a moment in the US, reaching their highest popularity ever since surveys started asking about them.
Much of union popularity has been driven by COVID-related disruptions across the economy, with workers becoming unsatisfied due to mistreatment (labeling everyone “essential,” companies ending work-from-home) and with the labor market getting tighter with over 1 million Americans dead from the virus and another 2-4 million (and counting) out of work due to long COVID.
Unions have seized on this dissatisfaction to build momentum in the labor movement, with unions striking successfully across many industries and organizers starting to organize workforces that had previously been nonunion.
Announcements like these show how high union membership has a tendency to improve working conditions for every worker and why the US has had gradually lower pay and worse conditions over the decades since union membership peaked. It’s really not hard to see the influence when you plot these trends against each other.
It’s quite clear that lower union membership has resulted in lower inflation-adjusted compensation for workers, even as productivity has skyrocketed. As workers have produced more and more value for their companies, those earnings have gone more and more to their bosses rather than to the workers who produce that value. And it all began in the 80s, around the time of Reagan – a timeline that should be familiar to those who study social ills in America.
Conversely, these raises show the impact that unionized workers can have, not only for their own shops but for nonunionized workplaces as well. If workers gain a big pay increase in one part of an industry, all of a sudden, workers at other companies might start thinking they want to jump ship, maybe move over to another company where they can get better pay or better conditions. To retain workers, companies then need to raise wages.
In addition, nonunionized companies may want to keep their employees nonunionized and thus see the pay raises as a way to satiate their employees into maintaining the status quo. If workers at Toyota see that UAW workers are getting huge pay increases and lots of additional benefits, maybe they’ll think that UAW can bring them the same benefits and start talking about unionizing.
Companies generally think they should avoid having a unionized workforce because a unionized workforce means more pay for workers, which to them means less pay for the executives and shareholders making the decisions. So they’ll offer whatever carrots they can to keep workers from organizing to have their voices heard collectively. Individually, workers have little influence over what their pay and conditions should be.
All of this isn’t just true in the US but also internationally. If you look at other countries with high levels of labor organization, they tend to have more fair wealth distribution across the economy and more ability for workers to get their fair share.
We’re seeing this in Sweden right now, as Tesla workers are striking for better conditions. Since Sweden has a 90% collective bargaining coverage, it tends to have a happy and well-paid workforce, and it seems clear that these two things are correlated. And while that strike is continuing, meaning we haven’t yet seen the effects of it, most observers think that the workers will eventually get what they want since collective bargaining is so strong in that country.
These are all reasons why, as I’ve mentioned in many of these UAW-related articles, I’m pro-union. And I think everyone should be – it only makes sense that people should have their interests collectively represented and that people should be able to join together to support each other and exercise their power collectively instead of individually.
This is precisely what companies do with industry organizations, lobby organizations, chambers of commerce, and so on. And it’s what people do when sorting themselves into local, state, or national governments. So naturally, workers should do the same. It’s just fair.
And it’s clear that it helps – so even if you aren’t unionized yourself or have a job that doesn’t lend well to unionization, you should probably be happy about other union efforts since they tend to buoy entire economies for the people who are creating the value in the first place – the workers.
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![Watch Kia's new EV4 hatch carve up the Nurburgring, nearly on two wheels [Video]](https://i0.wp.com/electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/11/Kia-EV4-Nurburgring.jpeg?resize=1200,628&quality=82&strip=all&ssl=1)
Kia’s upcoming entry-level EV has finally made its way to the famous Nurburgring for testing. The EV4 hatch was spotted ripping across the track, nearly on two wheels at one point, as Kia preps for its big debut.
According to Kia, the EV4 is “an entirely new type of EV sedan. ” It was first unveiled last October during Kia’s first annual EV Day, alongside the EV3 and EV5 as part of its new low-cost lineup.
The EV5 launched in China last year, while the EV3 is already rolling out in Korea and Europe. Next up, we will finally see the production version of the EV4.
Although its four-door format suggests it’s a sedan, Kia said the EV4’s bold design is a symbol of the company’s innovation. Its low nose, long-tail silhouette, and added roof spoiler give it an almost racecar-like feel.
With its official debut approaching, Kia’s EV4 has been spotted out in the wild several times. Last week, it was caught testing in the US for the first time.
A hatchback model has also been spotted. It was first caught on European roads this summer and in the US earlier this month.
Kia EV4 hatch takes on the Nurburgring as debut looms
After the EV4 was spotted racing across the Nurburgring for the first time, we are getting our best look yet at the upcoming Kia model.
The video from CarSpyMedia shows the EV4 hatch carving up sections of the track. Several times, you can see the EV4 is being pushed to the limits, nearly going up on two wheels.
However, with a low center of gravity and likely added stabilization tech, the EV4 appears to handle it with ease. You can also see the difference between the sedan model and the hatchback, with the bulky backside.
As it takes on the track, it almost looks like the 576 hp EV6 GT, Kia’s fastest and most powerful car. At least for now.
Kia is expected to officially reveal the EV4 by the end of the year, with deliveries starting in 2025. Prices are expected to be in the $30,000 to $40,000 range. The hatchback model is likely aimed at Europe, but it could also find a market in the US as buyers drift toward more efficient options.
Ahead of the LA Auto Show later this week, Kia is teasing five new vehicles for the US, at least one being an EV. Will it be the EV4? EV3?
Source: CarSpyMedia
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Elon Musk is hinting at Tesla making bigger electric cars, but you shouldn’t hold your breath as it’s not the first time he said that.
In the last few hours, Musk responded to two fans on X, asking Tesla to build bigger vehicles to support larger families.
Musk often promotes the idea of having bigger families as he is afraid of declining populations due to low birth rates in some countries.
With the first one, the CEO responded with a simple “OK,” and with the other, he elaborated a bit more by referencing the recently unveiled Tesla Robovan and “some other things”:
Musk appears to be hinting at Tesla’s work on a bigger electric vehicle that has yet to be unveiled.
While interesting, it’s hard to give too much weight to the comment, considering Musk claimed that Tesla has been working on a higher passenger capacity vehicle for years.
A “high passenger-density urban transport” vehicle has been in Tesla’s official product roadmap since 2016 and has yet to be unveiled, unless you count the Robovan unveiled last month, but that’s completely attached to Tesla’s self-driving effort as the vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals.
As part of Tesla’s shift toward autonomous driving, the automaker has pulled back plans for several new electric vehicle programs in favor of those without any driver inputs, like Cybercab and Robotvan.
Musk has also discussed the possibility of Tesla making an electric van on several occasions in the last few years.
Tesla is expected to soon unveil two new vehicles to be launch next year, but those are based on the Model 3 and Model Y and therefore, they aren’t likely to be bigger vehicles.
Electrek’s Take
Like most things Elon says lately, it goes in my “I’ll believe it when I see it” folder.
That said, I think an electric van that can be configured for cargo, camper, or passenger, would make a ton of sense in Tesla’s vehicle lineup.
Of course, it’s harder to get the greenlight for a vehicle program like that if your CEO is perpetually convinced that the company is on the verge of achieving self-driving and making steering wheels obsolete.
I’m more of the opinion that Tesla should have played it more careful and continue working on growing its human-driveable EV lineup while working on self-driving.
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Penske Truck Leasing is rolling out rooftop solar on its US truck leasing, rental, and maintenance buildings, starting in Illinois.
Penske Truck Leasing, which offers an electric truck fleet leasing program, wants to cut emissions and save energy, so it’s activated its first rooftop solar system at its new facility in Channahon, Illinois (pictured). The 200 kW system is expected to generate about 80% of the building’s energy needs, and the rest will be supplied by the local utility.
The next Penske Truck Leasing rooftop solar system to come online will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan, “in the coming months,” followed by another in Linden, New Jersey, in 2025. All three of these new buildings are part of Penske’s LEED building program, which is designed to reduce energy use and promote sustainability.
Seven of Penske’s existing facilities in California will also get solar retrofits. These locations, which include Fresno, Hayward, La Mirada, National City, Riverside, San Diego, and San Leandro, are expected to generate about 600 kW of renewable energy in total.
Penske has teamed up with Sunrock Distributed Generation under a power purchase agreement to make the California upgrades happen. The company is also working with ForeFront Power, based in San Francisco, as its lead consultant for the solar rollout.
On average, these solar-powered Penske facilities will generate around 1 million kWh of renewable energy each year, preventing about 442 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually. That’s equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power nearly 90 homes for a year.
Drew Cullen, senior vice president of fuels and facility services at Penske, highlighted the significance of this move, noting:
Our solar program is an important piece of our renewable energy strategy, and ForeFront Power continues to be an outstanding partner in helping us bring these projects to fruition.
These investments will allow us to directly generate our own renewable energy to power our locations and continue to support our customers with sustainable solutions.
Penske Truck Leasing, part of Penske Transportation Solutions, is headquartered in Reading, Pennsylvania, and operates over 437,000 vehicles across North America, with nearly 1,000 maintenance facilities and more than 2,500 rental locations. Its investment in solar power is a key part of its broader sustainability strategy to cut emissions and reduce reliance on traditional energy sources.
Read more: Penske and Hitachi just launched a big electric truck charging pilot
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