InsideSources

A major autoworker union is promising better safety standards in its bid to organize a manufacturing plant despite its own past record.

The United Automobile Workers (UAW) has launched a campaign in recent months aimed at unionizing Tesla employees at a manufacturing plant in Fremont, California. The union has been highly critical of company management throughout its extensive campaign to organize the facility with safety being a primary concern.

The UAW released three pamphlets highlighting safety concerns at the plant, like being exposed to dangerous chemicals. The union adds that representation could help improve safety standards – but the union has a history at the very same facility that seems to undermine that rhetoric.

“We need better information, effective exposure controls, and safer chemicals,” one of the pamphlets read. “As a union, we’ll be better able to work together to achieve these important objectives.”

The pamphlets covered issues like chemical exposure, breathing problems, injury, and birth defects. The UAW also encouraged workers to confidentially share their safety concern stories with a union organizer – while providing a link so that workers could privately send their stories.

Tesla revamped the facility to a technically advanced manufacturing plant after purchasing it in 2010. The UAW would later launch a campaign to organize workers at the plant starting September 2016. Prior to the current effort, the union had already organized the facility back when it was owned by the New United Motor Manufacturing (NUMMI).

The NUMMI was an automobile manufacturing company which was jointly owned by General Motors and Toyota starting in 1984 – with the Fremont facility acting as its base of operations. The UAW represented the workers at the plant until it closed in 2010. During those years, the plant had a safety record that was worse than industry averages.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) tracks workplace injuries and illnesses by company. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) does the same for workplace injuries and illnesses by industry. The formerly unionized Fremont facility, during those years, had a higher rate of workplace injuries and illnesses compared to the industry overall when comparing the data.

Both federal agencies track incident rates by multiplying the number of reported injuries and illnesses by 200,000 before dividing that number by total hours worked by all employees during the year. The 200,000 figure represents 100 full-time employees working 40 hours a week. OSHA applies the calculation to companies while the BLS applies it across industries.

The Fremont facility, for instance, had an incident rate of 9.09 a year before it closed. The automaker industry in that same year had an incident rate of 7.3. In the year prior, the facility had an incident rate of 10.84 while the industry was at 6.8. The trend occurred every year dating back to at least 2003.

Terry Bowman, a Ford Motor Co. worker and former UAW member, isn’t surprised that the union would promise better workplace safety despite its own contradictory record. Bowman has worked alongside national organizations and become a vocal advocate in support of right-to-work and holding unions accountable. The Moving Unions Forward campaign, his latest effort, seeks to educate the public on the UAW and its alleged history of failure to protect workers.

“Quite frankly, it’s just a union doing anything and everything it can without considering whether what they say is true or reflects reality,” Bowman told InsideSources. “It’s a simple marketing ploy and talking points for the union to try to convince workers to organize and decide for the union to be their bargaining agent.”

Bowman adds that the union regularly uses the tactic in unionizing drives and to pressure employers into doing what they want – while using union-appointed inspectors to backup the claims. He notes that while he doesn’t know the conditions at the Fremont facility, the workplace safety claims reflect past tactics.

“Their rhetoric on safety is simply that, it’s nothing but rhetoric,” Bowman said. “What I have found is that the UAW will tend to use safety as a catchall, if you will, against a company to try to get them to give in on some other negotiation items during contract times or in an organizing drive.”

The UAW has launched other complaints against the automaker throughout its campaign to unionize the facility. The union filed unfair labor practice charges against the company Oct. 25 alleging that management intimidated, harassed, and even terminated employees to discourage them from unionizing. The complaint notes workers who were targeted were wearing items that include union logos.

The UAW and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment by InsideSources.

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The Moving Unions Forward campaign was launched on the simple premise that unions have failed to adapt to the modern workforce, and it seeks to address how they can change to better serve workers.

American unions have a long and rich history that dates back to the 1800s. The New Deal and other labor reforms in the early part of the last century helped unions become a powerful force in both the workplace and politics – but in recent decades their influence has faltered as their membership rates have steadily declined.

The Moving Unions Forward campaign argues that the problem unions are facing stems from their refusal to adapt to the modern workforce. Modern workers are becoming more individualistic, and technology has changed whole industries and even ushered in new ways of working like the sharing-economy. F. Vincent Vernuccio, who helped launch the campaign, argues that the union model is simply stuck in the past.

“We want to see unions develop into the 21st century,” Vernuccio told InsideSources. “They got this industrial revolution, early 20th-century business model, that’s simply not serving workers. Time and time again, the unions that are stuck and haven’t adapted, even if they are playing lip service to it, the modern day workforce is just saying no thank you.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported earlier in the year that only 10.7 percent of the national workforce is unionized. The report found that the public-sector has the highest rate of unionized workers at 34.4 percent, but only 6.4 percent of private-sector workers are unionized. The report is particularly troubling for unions with the U.S. Supreme Court considering a case which could make union dues or fees voluntary for all public-sector workers.

Vernuccio points to the United Automobile Workers (UAW) as a prime example – with the union facing a series of major defeats in recent years. Fuyao Glass Group Industries workers in Ohio overwhelming rejected the union Nov. 9. Nissan North America workers in Mississippi voted against the union in August. Volkswagen workers in Tennessee turned the union down in 2015, prompting it to organize a small subgroup of workers, which critics saw as a violation of federal labor law.

“The UAW is a classic example of that industrial revolution, one size fits all, union, that workers from Mississippi to Tennessee, and most recently Ohio, are just saying no, we don’t want what you’re offering,” Vernuccio said. “The last few elections for the UAW, the big ones, it hasn’t even been close. Most of them have been around that two to one margin.”

Vernuccio believes it’s not too late for unions to reverse course and change their model to reflect the modern workforce. He suggests unions should take a more individualist approach to providing value to workers, and not just lump them all into one indistinguishable group. He adds unions should also embrace worker choices policies, like right-to-work, so workers can decide whether they want to pay for the service they are providing, rather than being forced to accept it.

“They need to adapt and become more like professional service workers organizations,” Vernuccio said. “They need to get away from the one-size fits all model, serve the individual worker, provide value for both the employer and the employee, and that’s how they can start to repair. Instead of doing the one-size fits all contract, where the only way you can get ahead is by seniority or logging another year on the job, embrace merit pay, allow employees to benefit by how hard they work, and how productive they are.”

Vernuccio highlighted the problem and how unions can fix it long before he launched the campaign, in a 2014 report entitled “Unionization for the 21st Century” which was released by the free-market Mackinac Center. The report detailed the decline of union membership rates and how his suggestions could help them reverse course.

Democrats and labor unions have countered over the years that the declining union membership rates are more the result of anti-union reforms. They have argued policies like right-to-work are an underhanded attempt by corporate interests to undermine unions so they can take advantage of workers.

Former President Barack Obama has echoed the concerns, with his administration pursuing policies to help boost union membership. Nevertheless, union membership continued to decline during those years. Vernuccio counters that policies like right-to-work aren’t about hurting unions, but rather giving workers a choice on whether they want to be members.

“When workers are given a choice, they say no to the union,” Vernuccio said. “That speaks volumes about what the union is offering, rather than the workers. There is no clearer example of that than what happened in Ohio with the Fuyao plant.”

Vernuccio ultimately hopes that labor unions will voluntarily adapt to a modern model, and that union leaders will sit down with the campaign so they can start a conversation together. National unions are unlikely to embrace such a model, especially with their steadfast opposition to worker choice policies, but he believes there are people in the labor movement interested in reform.

“It has to start somewhere, and where that is we’ll have to see,” Vernuccio said. “But I think there are forward-looking visionaries within the labor movement that realize their current model is not working, and they have to adapt. We just want to make sure we’re talking with them and helping them realize that yes, you can embrace the free-market, and yes that is the best thing for your future.”

The Moving Unions Forward campaign is on the first phase of their effort, which involves highlighting the problem. The next phase will focus more on possible solutions that could help unions become more modern.

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A major autoworker union allegedly tried to prevent Chinese workers from voting in a recent workplace election because they were less likely to approve of unionization, sources familiar with the proceedings tell InsideSources.

Fuyao Glass Group Industries is a China-based company which produces windshields for automobiles. The company’s Moraine, Ohio, facility had a vote this week to determine whether its roughly 2,000 workers want to be members of the United Autoworkers Union (UAW). The union was unable to win the majority vote when ballots were counted Thursday night. But prior to the vote, the union allegedly tried to suppress the Chinese workers at the plant.

The UAW filed a petition for an election in recent months asking the federal government to allow for a vote. Labor unions can hold workplace elections if they show there is enough interest among the workers. The UAW included all full-time and regular part-time production and maintenance employees but asked to exclude workers with a nonimmigrant temporary work visa.

Sources tell InsideSources that the petition was nothing more than an underhanded attempt to suppress Chinese employees. Most of the workers with nonimmigrant work visas, which allow foreign workers to stay on a temporary basis, are Chinese—and they’re less likely to vote in favor of the union.

Fuyao Glass Group brings over Chinese workers who have technical skills that are critical to its U.S. operations. Those skills are highly specialized and thus the company needs to bring in workers who are already trained. The UAW, according to sources, originally tried to exclude all nonimmigrant visa holders, a move the federal government rejected.

The UAW allegedly then tried to work around the feds, saying it would only exclude temporary nonimmigrant employees. These workers were excluded from the vote. Those workers, however, aren’t hired as temporary employees. They have indefinite terms of employment with many working to gain citizenship or another status so they can stay permanently. But on paper, they appear to be only staying for a short-time, since the facility is only two years old. In that sense, all the workers at the facility would be temporary, but not all of them are visa holders.

The Ohio facility has roughly 80 workers who hold a nonimmigrant visa. The number pales in comparison to the total number of workers at the plant, but union elections are often won or lost by much smaller margins. Removing a segment of workers who are likely to vote “no” improved the union’s chances to win the vote—although, in the end, the union lost nonetheless.

The UAW did not respond to a request for comment from InsideSources.

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A Michigan union leader was denounced by a former labor department official Thursday for his willingness to let hundreds of workers lose their jobs.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has made it clear that they will not agree to contract concessions with Dematic Corp. The company has recently threatened to layoff 204 production workers by December. UAW Local 1485 President Scott Wahlfeldt responded Tuesday that he would rather see the facility close than to allow for contract concessions.

The Grand Rapids, Michigan, based company is a supplier of automated supply chain technology, software, and services. It started to threaten mass layoffs two years ago as it prepared to move operations to Monterrey, Mexico. Dematic instead offered to reopen contract talks earlier this year in the hopes of finding ways to reduce costs.

“If the company decides to close, the union would support it at this point,” Wahlfeldt told Mlive.com. “I would say that it’s a shame if the company does decide to leave – not only for the employees that work here and the families that are supported here, but also the customers who depend on our years and years of experience.”

Wahlfeldt adds the current contract entitles members to severance packages, extended insurance coverage, and federal worker retraining program. West Michigan also has a strong manufacturing climate and low unemployment. But one former federal official is calling foul on the willingness of the union to let so many people lose their jobs.

“The UAW’s statement shows again that the union is unwilling to be flexible and adapt for the long-term best interest of its members, the companies it negotiates with, and the local economies where it operates,” Vinnie Vernuccio told InsideSources. “Rather than trying to find a creative solution to retain jobs and keep the Dematic plant in Grand Rapids, it would rather see its members cash out with severance packages.”

Vernuccio formerly served as a special assistant at the Department of Labor under former President George W. Bush. He worked under the assistant secretary for administration and management. Vernuccio currently works as a senior fellow at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

“The move is hallmark short-sightedness for the UAW,” Vernuccio said. “It also is a prime example of why time and again employees at non-union plants are saying no to the UAW.”

Mlive.com reported earlier in the year that plant owners were looking to reopen contract talks. Local 1485 originally praised the decisions hoping for better job security provisions. The union also said it hoped to help the facility find cost savings provisions. The current union contract with the company expires on December 15.

Dematic Corp. originally announced plans to potentially move operations in February 2016. The company later decided to reevaluate its position, citing increased customer demand, capacity considerations, and recent ownership changes. KION Group, a German conglomerate, recently bought the company.

Dematic President John Baysore said at the time that he hoped the Grand Rapids facility will be able to keep the at-risk jobs by positioning itself as a competitive choice for operations. The mood quickly shifted with the union demanding that cost-savings approaches would not include contract concessions.

The current union contract put starting pay for unskilled positions at $13.85 an hour. Those working in skilled positions can expect a to be paid up to $22.64. The most recent layoff notice does not include the roughly 900 employees who have white collar and engineering jobs at the facility.

Dematic Corp. and the UAW did not respond to a request for comment by InsideSources.

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A major autoworker union has allegedly been leasing office space from a landlord even as he was being investigated for violating labor law.

Tesla’s manufacturing plant in Fremont, California is one of the company’s principal production facilities and has thousands of employees. The United Automobile Workers (UAW) has been involved in an extensive campaign to organize the facility.

The UAW decided to set up an office close to the plant as part of its unionizing drive. The union continued leasing the property even after the landlord was charged with severe wage law violations in July 2016. InsideSources obtained documents allegedly showing the union has continued to use the property until at least May 2017.

The UAW has been an outspoken critic of employers violating wage and labor laws. It has even used such accusations against automakers during unionizing drives.

The property owner, Sreenivasa Munukutla, was investigated for wage and labor violations even as the union continued to lease from him.

Munukutla is currently one of the two owners of Somasoft Solutions Inc. Former Labor Secretary Thomas Perez filed a complaint in federal district court against the company in July 2016. The Northern California Record detailed the allegations in an article at the time.

The complaint alleges that employees of the company were not paid overtime for the hours they had worked. The employer was accused of misclassifying workers as independent contractors so they wouldn’t qualify for overtime. The company also allegedly fired employees who complained.

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta found that wage laws had been violated in his ruling May 20. The decision noted that the employer had failed to appear or otherwise defend its action. The employer was ordered to pay $98,334 to cover back wages and liquidated damages.

The UAW disclosed in its latest financial report that it was leasing the property while the investigation was ongoing last year. A flyer for an open house shows the union was holding events at the property at least until May 2017. The next round of financial disclosure reports should reveal whether the union continued to use the property even after the decision.

Tesla has faced pressure as the unionizing drive has progressed. The Los Angeles Times reported earlier in the month that workers had filed complaints alleging the automaker was trying to hinder unionization. Tesla has denied the accusations.

The UAW and Somasoft Solutions Inc. did not respond to a request for comment by InsideSources.

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Columbia University had several legal objections dismissed Monday over a campaign to unionize graduate students on its campus.

Columbia University graduate students have been at the forefront of a national unionizing campaign. The graduate students voted to unionize in December 2016. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) regional office dismissed several objections by the university.

“The Employer has failed to demonstrate that any alleged objectionable conduct occurred which could have affected the results of this election,” the NLRB decision states. “Accordingly, I have recommended overruling the Employer’s objections in their entirety.”

The university filed a number of objections alleging the vote was manipulated. It states union officials were too close to the polling locations, union supporters were engaged in surveillance, and the board turned away voters. It also alleges the regional office engaged in objectionable conduct when it decided not to require voter identification.

“I have recommended overruling the Employer’s objections,” the NLRB decision also stated. “Accordingly, I recommend that the Petitioner be certified as the exclusive bargaining representative for the following appropriate unit.”

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has aided the graduate student union push. The NLRB issued a decision last year which allowed graduate students to unionize like employees.  The decision reversed a 2004 case involving Brown University that had prevented graduate students from forming unions.

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell and several other universities banded together early last year against the union push. They argued in a legal brief that the decision undermines the relationship students have with their professors. Essentially, university faculty will become employers as opposed to mentors and teachers.

The dispute has attracted national attention with several lawmakers weighing in. Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a former university president, argued the decision undermines the teacher-student relationship. Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders countered that it will help the students get fair treatment.

Graduate students often get paid for working despite not technically being considering employees. They can become student teachers or assume many other roles that could be considered work. The NLRB ruling allows students that perform work-related activities to be considered workers.

There is nothing stopping a union from welcoming in a graduate student. Without being considered an employee, however, the students are not allowed the right to collectively bargain. Collective bargaining is a powerful tool for unions because it allows them to unite workers together whether they want to or not.

Columbia University did not respond to a request for comment by InsideSources.

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National union leaders urged their members to call their elected officials Wednesday in another attempt to defeat a pending international trade deal.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has faced opposition from unions who claim it would be harmful to workers. President Barack Obama found himself at odds with many within his own party for negotiating the deal. Labor unions renewed their opposition in the hopes lawmakers will reject it.

“Civil society groups all over the country are calling on Congress,” the Teamsters said in an email to members, which was obtained by InsideSources. “We urge Teamsters everywhere to join this action and flood Congress’s phone lines today with calls to every lawmaker asking them to pledge their opposition to the TPP.”

The president has begun renewing efforts to win enough support in Congress. The trade deal has sat without a vote since being finalized October 2015 by the partner countries. Labor unions claim the deal would undermine worker rights while benefiting large international corporations.

“Multinational corporations and Republican congressional leaders want to jam through the TPP,” the United Auto Workers said in a message to members. “[It’s] an awful trade deal that will put Americans out of work, degrade environmental protections and increase prescription drug price.”

The trade deal is designed to gradually end thousands of import tariffs and other international trade barriers. It would also establish uniform rules for intellectual property, environmental protections and open Internet access. The trade deal is likely to have a significant impact on international trade at roughly 39 percent of global GDP.

The White House has argued the trade deal will actually help workers despite what unions claim. It will cover a few countries known for notorious labor violations. Communist Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei are among the partner countries cited for labor and human rights violations.

Unions and other critics have compared the deal to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). They claim the deal resulted in many American jobs being lost. The president has previously insisted the deal could help fix many of the problems NAFTA caused.

Labor unions have tried numerous methods to fight the trade deal. They have held rallies and launched media campaigns, including attacks on liberals. Democratic Rep. Kathleen Rice was the target of a video in June 2015 for breaking with unions to support fast-tracking the trade deal.

Federal officials opened the door to graduate students unionizing Tuesday in a decision that could upend the sacred relationship students have with their teachers.

Columbia University graduate students have led a nationwide fight to gain the right to unionize. Universities have opposed the push because it would make their students more akin to employees. The National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) has decided to side with the graduate students.

“The threshold question before us is whether students who perform services at a university in connection with their studies are statutory employees,” the decision detailed. “We hold today that student assistants who have a common-law employment relationship with their university are statutory employees under the Act.”

Those opposed argue that it undermines the mentorship students have with their professors. Essentially university faculty will become employers as opposed to mentors and teachers. The decision reversed a 2004 case involving Brown University that has prevented graduate students from forming unions.

“The Brown University Board held that graduate assistants cannot be statutory employees,” the decision also noted. “We disagree. The Board has the statutory authority to treat student assistants as statutory employees, where they perform work, at the direction of the university.”

Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cornell and several other universities banded together in March against the union push. They issued a legal brief which made the case that granting graduate students the right to collectively bargain as a union completely disregards the purpose of being a student.

“This misguided, politically-driven decision re-writes the law by changing the meaning of words that were passed by Congress,” Republican Sen. Ben Sasse, a former university president, said in a statement. “That’s not the NLRB’s job. The ruling misunderstands both the nature of representative government and the teacher-student relationship.”

Graduate students often become student teachers or assume many other roles that could be considered work. They often get paid for these activities despite not technically considering it employment. The NLRB ruling changes that so that the students that perform work related activities can be considered workers.

“This is just the latest extreme ruling from the NLRB siding with big labor over American free enterprise,” America Rising Squared Communications Director Jeremy Adler told InsideSources. “Today’s ruling takes freedom away from universities seeking to make their own educational decisions and also threatens to cost them millions.”

America Rising is a nonprofit research group that promotes conservative policies. There is nothing stopping a union from welcoming in a graduate student. Without being considered an employee, however, the students are not allowed the right to collectively bargain.

Collective bargaining is a powerful tool for unions because it allows them to unite workers together whether they want to or not. Unions most often try to organize workplaces as a collective unit because it gives them more leverage to negotiate with employers.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) has been at the forefront of the graduate student union push. The union worked alongside graduate students to form the Graduate Workers of Columbia-GWC. Together they hoped to overturn the Brown decision.

Union protesters gathered in Detroit, Michigan, to rally Monday against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) organized a demonstration against Trump to coincide with a speech he’s giving on economic policy at the COBO Convention Center. Though Trump has won significant support among the white working class, the union claims his policies would actually be disastrous for their economic interests.

The United Auto Workers (UAW) organized the protest against Trump to coincide with his speech on economic policy.

“We need to send a strong message that he’s not welcome in Michigan,” the UAW said in a press release. “Trump would be an absolute disaster for working people in Michigan.”

The UAW has utilized social media and text message alerts to promote and organize the protest. The Michigan Democratic Party, among other political groups, also helped to promote the event. Protestors began gathering outside the convention center hours before Trump was scheduled to take the stage there at 11:30am.

The union denounced the hotel mogul for suggesting a couple Michigan automaker plants should close. Ford Motors was planning to move some operations to Mexico last August, but Trump suggested in an interview with The Detroit News the automaker could instead move plants to states with a lower cost of labor.

The UAW also took issue with earlier comments he made about wages. Trump suggested Jan. 14 during the Fox Business Republican debate that wages were too high. He said before that on December 2015 that wages were too low. He now believes the policy should be left to the states.

Trump and the labor movement do have some agreement on economic policy. Both believe there should be restrictions on free trade to prevent companies from outsourcing workers. Both believe it should be more difficult for companies to move operations overseas.

Trump has opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership out of concern the massive trade deal will lead to increased outsourcing. Many national unions hold a similar position on the trade deal. Trump and unions tend not to highlight how much they actually have in common.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment by InsideSources.

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