Strike possibility looms for Fiat Chrysler - WXYZ.com

 

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The United Auto Workers have warned Fiat Chrysler that they are facing a strike.

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DETROIT (AP) - The United Auto Workers union is threatening to go on strike against Fiat Chrysler after its membership rejected a tentative contract deal with the company.

In a statement, Fiat Chrysler said Tuesday that it received a strike notice from the union, and that it continues to work toward reaching an agreement.

A letter to Fiat Chrysler that was posted on the UAW website Tuesday says the union is ending its contract with FCA at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday.

Union members overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement with the company last week, with members calling for an end to a two-tier pay structure, more specific guarantees of new vehicles for U.S. factories and a return of cost-of-living pay raises that the union gave up to help the company in bad times. Now that Fiat Chrysler is making healthy profits, members want a bigger slice.

Sixty-five percent of FCA's 40,000 union workers voted against the four-year deal. UAW President Dennis Williams said after the rejection that he would return to the bargaining table with Fiat Chrysler in an effort to get a deal that would be ratified.

Kristen Dziczek, director of the labor and manufacturing group at the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank, said the contract termination notice sounds to her like the membership's demands weren't received well at Fiat Chrysler's headquarters.

"If they strike, I don't think it will be very long. It puts too much pain on both sides," Dziczek said. The rejected contract, she said, was a middle ground between company and union needs, but the membership found it unacceptable.

"The members, I think, are emboldened," she said. "If you're not going to get back the things you gave up now, when are you going to get the things back? Why not ask for the moon?"

Dziczek said the strike notice doesn't necessarily mean a strike will happen. The union also could put Fiat Chrysler bargaining on hold and shift its efforts to either General Motors or Ford.

But she said a strike could cause Fiat Chrysler to eventually shift more of its production to Mexico.

The union's four-year contracts with all three automakers expired on Sept. 14, but workers have remained on the job under a contract extension.

A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from a UAW spokesman.

Strike possibility looms for Fiat Chrysler - WXYZ.com

Labor leaders say Illinois under attack by Rauner - Quad-Cities Online: Local

 

ROCK ISLAND -- Gov. Bruce Rauner is attacking the middle class and those without a voice, according to labor leaders at a Monday night program.

Dr. Christopher Whitt, chairman of the political science department at Augustana College, moderated the Quad City Federation of Labor program, "Communities Under Attack," at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, 630 9th St., Rock Island.

"We want to have strong communities," Dr. Whitt said. "We're seeing cuts to education, seeing cuts to many other elements of day-to-day life for average Americans."

About 80 people attended the event, including Marshall Douglas, treasurer of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, Rock Island, who said there are serious deficiencies in Illinois' public works and infrastructure -- much of it due to the lack of a state budget.

"It's no joke," he said. "When you drive down the streets, show me a smooth street or highway where you're not taking a beating."

Mr. Douglas said Gov. Rauner's anti-union positions, such as opposing existing prevailing wage laws, would hurt the middle class.

"Without a prevailing wage, it would open up a door for cheap out-of-state workers to come right into our communities like they do in Davenport and Bettendorf right now," Mr. Douglas said. "That means they can pay a minimum wage for a highly-skilled construction worker with at least a four-year apprenticeship and certifications to back up those apprenticeships."

Carlene Erno, president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2615, said Gov. Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly, "are playing games with people's lives through politics. Ms. Erno works for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

"It's really breaking the unions," she said. "I do have to say, for one thing, he's not a lying politician. He's doing exactly what he said he was going to do."

If Illinois continues without a budget, it will have a ripple effect on the state's seniors, said Mike Malmstrom, president of the QC Alliance for Retired Americans.

"I don't think there is a total disconnect with the governor," Mr. Malmstrom said. "I personally believe Mr. Rauner doesn't care."

Labor leaders say Illinois under attack by Rauner - Quad-Cities Online: Local

Miller: State lawmakers need to face reality | Northwest Herald

The Illinois Senate had been scheduled to return to Springfield on Tuesday after not being in session since Sept. 9. Last week, however, the Senate president postponed session until Oct. 20. The reason is pretty straightforward. The Senate has overridden several gubernatorial vetoes. It’s pretty easy for the majority party because the chamber has 39 Democrats, three more than the three-fifths required to override a veto.

The House has 71 Democrats, the exact number of votes required to overturn a veto in that chamber. So, although Senate Democrats can be missing a few people or have some folks who don’t want to go along, they still can override the governor on partisan votes. The House Democrats need every member in town, and they all need to be voting the same way to succeed.

Because of that tight margin, and because Republicans have marched in lock step with their party’s governor, the House has overridden only one veto this year: the Heroin Crisis Act.

The House was able to override that bill only because Gov. Bruce Rauner allowed House Republicans to vote against his amendatory veto, which stripped state Medicaid funding for heroin addiction treatment. Rauner now gets to portray himself as fiscally conservative, while the Republicans got to do the right thing and make the much-needed criminal justice reform legislation an actual law.

To date, the governor and his staff have successfully fought off 62 override attempts, mainly in the House.

So much for Speaker Mike Madigan’s much-vaunted veto-proof House majority. Because of this House failure, there are no vetoes requiring Senate action during the constitutionally mandated 15-calendar-day period after successful House action. Since the legislative leaders aren’t meeting with the governor, and no other visible progress is being made to end the months-long stalemate, there really wasn’t much sense in coming back to town.

Just to show you how divided the statehouse is right now, the governor used his amendatory veto powers on 20 bills, but the Democrats adamantly refused to accept a single one of those changes he made. The Democrats even ignored a plea from the Illinois chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws to accept the governor’s amendatory veto of House Bill 218, which vastly reduced penalties for pot possession. The governor tweaked the marijuana legislation to increase some of the penalties, but Illinois NORML said those changes were acceptable, and called his veto “a very easy win” for proponents.

The bill received only 62 votes in the House when it passed in April, so there was no way to override the governor. Instead of just accepting his changes, the legislation was allowed to die. Months of hard work came to diddly squat.

The House speaker traditionally is loathe to accept amendatory vetoes as a way of discouraging the governor (any governor) from using that broad power, which was long ago upheld by the courts. Rauner, for his part, is proving to be just as stubborn.

The end result is nothing happens.

We have a whole lot of nothing going on these days. For instance, a minor fuss was made recently at the statehouse when a city of Chicago honcho showed up to testify about Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s property tax proposal without having actual written legislation to talk about.

In reality, that thing ain’t going anywhere. So far, the governor is opposed to the plan, which would exempt homeowners with houses appraised at $250,000 or less from Emanuel’s massive property tax hike. The main burden would fall on commercial property owners, and Rauner has said their opposition is valid, and everyone’s property taxes should be capped at current levels – despite Chicago’s horrific fiscal problems.

As long as Rauner remains opposed, it’s highly unlikely the House could pass such a bill. House Democrats have yet to convince Republicans to break with their party’s governor on anything, and they’re surely not going to do so over a vote for Chicago, and it’s doubtful all downstate and suburban Democrats will go along without some relief for their own taxpayers.

The city is simply going to have to find another way to solve its problem, unless, and until, the governor and the legislative leaders work things out, which may be never at the rate they’re going. The Democrats can’t go around Rauner, they can’t go through him, they can’t go over him. Rauner, however, can’t get anything done without them. They all need to start facing reality here.

• Rich Miller publishes Capitol Fax, a daily political newsletter, and CapitolFax.com.

Miller: State lawmakers need to face reality | Northwest Herald