Union workers accepted a package of pay and benefit cuts in exchange for a promise that their jobs are safe for the next two years at troubled Mitsubishi Motors' assembly plant in Normal, officials said.
The deal at Mitsubishi's only North American factory was approved Friday after two days of voting by about 1,500 United Auto Workers members at the plant where about 1,200 workers were laid off two years ago as part of a worldwide revival plan Mitsubishi called its last chance to survive as an automaker. The vote was 663-637.
Many workers grumbled about the concessions as they waited to vote. They complained they were being asked to pay for Mitsubishi's mistakes and called the job guarantees a hollow promise, saying the plant could close despite the company's pledge.
Mitsubishi asked workers for a temporary US$4 an hour pay cut and other wage and benefit concessions as it seeks to recover from mounting debt and slumping sales.
In exchange, the Japanese-based automaker guaranteed no involuntary layoffs and that the nearly 20-year-old factory would stay open during the length of the modified contract, which would run through August 2008.
United Auto Workers negotiators, who hammered out concessions during months of talks with the company, had recommended workers approve the deal "to protect our jobs and guarantee future investment," according to a summary of the proposed contract given to employees on Thursday.
The union says the concessions will save Mitsubishi US$40 million.
Mitsubishi is seeking to reverse three straight years of losses that mounted as sales fell due to recall scandals in Japan and risky financing deals that backfired in the US.
The company's US sales are down 9.5 percent for the year but rose about 5 percent in July as consumers gravitated toward smaller, fuel-efficient cars and away from larger sport utility vehicles.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
GEOPOLITICAL ISSUES? The economics ministry said that political factors should not affect supply chains linking global satellite firms and Taiwanese manufacturers Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) asked Taiwanese suppliers to transfer manufacturing out of Taiwan, leading to some relocating portions of their supply chain, according to sources employed by and close to the equipment makers and corporate documents. A source at a company that is one of the numerous subcontractors that provide components for SpaceX’s Starlink satellite Internet products said that SpaceX asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan because of geopolitical risks, pushing at least one to move production to Vietnam. A second source who collaborates with Taiwanese satellite component makers in the nation said that suppliers were directly
Top Taiwanese officials yesterday moved to ease concern about the potential fallout of Donald Trump’s return to the White House, making a case that the technology restrictions promised by the former US president against China would outweigh the risks to the island. The prospect of Trump’s victory in this week’s election is a worry for Taipei given the Republican nominee in the past cast doubt over the US commitment to defend it from Beijing. But other policies championed by Trump toward China hold some appeal for Taiwan. National Development Council Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) described the proposed technology curbs as potentially having
TALENT FACTOR: The nation’s chip sector would be difficult to replace, but to maintain that advantage, Taiwan must retain skilled workers, an academic said A group of experts on Sunday called on Taiwan to strive to maintain its world-leading position in the semiconductor industry, with a US-China chip dispute expected to continue regardless of who becomes the next US president. Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies director Li Da-jung (李大中) said at a Taipei seminar on global semiconductor security that the relationship between the two superpowers would remain confrontational. There appears to be “no turning back” in US-China relations, as US presidential candidates US Vice President Kamala Harris and former US president Donald Trump are both expected to continue Washington’s hawkish stance