Chrysler LLC's landmark deal with the United Auto Workers is running into serious rank-and-file dissent, with large numbers of workers voting against ratifying the new four-year-contract, union sources said.
The proposed contract has been voted down by decisive margins by workers at four of the company's major assembly plants and faces serious, organized opposition at the other three.
Voting is expected to conclude today and union officials are expected to release the results later this week.
The contract stumbled as it left the gate following a seven-hour strike on Oct. 10, when the chairman of the union's bargaining team, Bill Parker, broke with the union's leadership and urged workers to vote against it.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL
"I'm not saying we're going to win," Parker said. "But it's going to be close. It's already too close to call."
Parker put out a minority report criticizing the contract for its failure to defend union principles and to match the job security provisions negotiated last month with General Motors.
The opposition to the proposed contract has already delayed the union's negotiations with Ford Motor Co.
TRICKLEDOWN EFFECT
It is expected to make it more difficult for Ford to gain additional concessions from the union, said one observer, who asked not to be identified.
Chrysler workers are distressed by the lack of job security guarantees, the introduction of a two-tier wage system and the diversion of cost of living adjustments to a fund or health care.
The extension of the two-tier wages structure was a major issue during the ratification voting at GM.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
RSS