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Amazon workers
in Alabama will have third labor union vote
MONTGOMERY, Ala. | Amazon workers in Alabama will decide for the third time in three years whether to unionize after a federal judge ruled that the retail giant improperly influenced the most recent vote in which employees rejected a union.
Administrative law judge Michael Silverstein on Tuesday ordered the third vote for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, about 20 miles south of Birmingham, after determining that Amazon committed six violations leading up to the second election in March 2022.
Amazon managers surveilled employees’ union activities and threatened workers with plant closure if they voted with the union, Silverstein said in an 87-page decision. Amazon managers also removed pro-union materials from areas where anti-union materials were available, the judge determined.
The National Labor Relations Board also found improper interference in the first election in 2021, leading to the redo in 2022.
Silverstein’s decision comes after months of testimony and is the latest development in a nationwide legal battle involving Amazon, the National Labor Relations Board and unions spearheading unionization efforts. Some states, like California, have fined the mega retailer for labor violations.
Both Amazon and the union that organized the vote in Bessemer said that they would appeal the judge’s order.
The president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Stuart Appelbaum, affirmed the court’s findings that Amazon broke labor laws.
But he also said that he believed Amazon was likely to commit similar violations in a third election if the court did not order “significant and meaningful remedies” to protect the vote.
Specifically, the union requested access to private meetings between Amazon representatives and workers, as well as training for Amazon supervisors on labor laws. The judge declined those requests.
“The record reveals that there are over a hundred managers at BHM1, but my findings of unfair labor practices are limited to four managers, who each committed isolated unfair labor practice,” the judge ruled, referring to the Bessemer facility.
Appelbaum said that the union would appeal that decision.
“Amazon must be held accountable, and we’ll be filing accordingly,” Appelbaum said.
Mary Kate Paradis, a spokesperson for Amazon, said the company vehemently disagreed with the court’s ruling and indicated that there would be an appeal.
“Our team at BHM1 has already made their choice clear, twice that they don’t want a Union. This decision is wrong on the facts and the law,” Paradis said in a statement. “It’s disappointing that the NLRB and RWDSU keep trying to force a third vote instead of accepting the facts and the will of our team members.”
With approximately 6,000 employees, Bessemer in 2021 became the largest U.S. facility to vote on unionization in Amazon’s over 20-year history. Since then, similar battles have ensued at Amazon facilities across the country.
Workers in Staten Island, New York, successfully voted to unionize in 2022, becoming the first Amazon union in the U.S. But the union has yet to begin bargaining with Amazon amidst legal challenges from the country’s second largest employer.
The bid to unionize in Bessemer in particular was always viewed as an uphill battle: Alabama is one of 27 “right-to-work” states where workers don’t have to pay dues to unions that represent them.
Amazon’s sprawling fulfillment center in Bessemer opened in 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic began. The city is more than 70% Black, with about a quarter of its residents living in poverty, according to the United States Census.
A vote will likely be delayed until after the court hears anticipated appeals from both parties.
About 1,100 workers at Toledo, Ohio, Jeep plant face layoffs
DETROIT | About 1,100 workers at the Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, are facing layoffs early next year as the company takes further steps to cut high inventory at dealerships.
Stellantis said Thursday that the Toledo South plant, which makes the Jeep Gladiator midsize pickup truck, will go from two daily shifts to one as early as Jan. 5.
Sales of the Gladiator, the pickup truck version of the Jeep Wrangler SUV, are down nearly 21% so far this year to 36,519, according to Motorintelligence.com.
“These are difficult actions to take, but they are necessary to enable the company to regain its competitive edge and eventually return production to prior levels,” Stellantis said.
A message was left Thursday seeking comment from the United Auto Workers union, which represents employees at the Toledo plant.
Under the union contract with Stellantis, laid-off workers will get supplemental pay for one year that, when combined with state unemployment benefits, will equal 74% of regular pay. They’ll also get health insurance coverage for two years, Stellantis said.
The move is the latest action by the company as it struggles with high inventory on dealer lots in the U.S. Stellantis’ overall sales have been down most of the year in the U.S., and discounts to counter high sticker prices that came after a poor second quarter didn’t work.
In August, the company warned that it could lay off as many as 2,450 of the 3,700 union workers at the pickup truck plant in Warren, Michigan, north of Detroit. It said at the time the number of job cuts will be lower because of early retirement offers.
In the U.S., Stellantis’ dealer inventory ballooned to just over 430,000 vehicles in June. Third-quarter sales fell 20%, and they’re down over 17% for the first nine months. The rest of the auto industry saw sales increase 1% from January through September.
CEO Carlos Tavares said in October that inventory dropped by 52,000 in recent months, and the company is trying to get below 350,000 by Christmas for a “fresh start” going into the new year.
Last month the world’s fourth-largest automaker, which was created by the 2021 merger of PSA Peugeot and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, reported a 27% drop in net revenues for the third quarter.
Tavares has been under fire from U.S. dealers and the United Auto Workers union this year, caught off guard by too many high-priced vehicles on dealer lots. Tavares has been trying to cut costs by delaying factory openings, laying off union workers and offering buyouts to salaried employees.
The union is threatening to strike against the company over delays in reopening an assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, which Stellantis blames on a slowing market.
Average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. rises
The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. rose for the sixth straight week, returning to its highest level since early July.
The rate ticked up to 6.79% from 6.72% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. That’s still down from a year ago, when the rate averaged 7.5%.
Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners seeking to refinance their home loan to a lower rate, also edged higher this week. The average rate rose to 6% from 5.99% last week. A year ago, it averaged 6.81%, Freddie Mac said.
When mortgage rates increase they can add hundreds of dollars a month in costs for borrowers, reducing homebuyers’ purchasing power at a time when home prices remain near all-time highs, even though the housing market remains in a sales slump going back to 2022.
Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including the yield on U.S. 10-year Treasury bonds, which lenders use as a guide to price home loans. Bond yields have been rising following encouraging reports on inflation and the economy.
This week, bond yields surged on expectations that President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for higher tariffs, lower tax rates and lighter regulation could lead to bigger economic growth, inflation and U.S. government debt.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 4.36% at midday Thursday. It was at 3.62% as recently as mid-September.
The average rate on a 30-year home loan hasn’t been this high since July 11, when it was 6.89%. In late September, the average rate got as low as 6.08% — its lowest level in two years — following the Federal Reserve’s decision to cut its main interest rate for the first time in more than four years.
While the central bank doesn’t set mortgage rates, its policy pivot cleared a path for mortgage rates to generally go lower.
“While we still expect mortgage rates to stabilize by the end of the year, they will likely be at a higher level than markets were initially expecting prior to election week,” said Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com.
The recent uptick in mortgage rates has discouraged some would-be home shoppers. Mortgage applications fell last week for the sixth week in a row, sliding 10.8% on a seasonally adjusted basis from the prior week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
Applications for loans to refinance a mortgage fell 19%, though they were still 48% higher than in the same week last year, when rates were higher.
“Rates and borrower demand will likely remain volatile in the coming weeks as financial markets digest both the election results and the Fed’s upcoming monetary policy decisions,” said MBA CEO Bob Broeksmit.
Slightly more Americans apply for unemployment benefits
The number of Americans applying for jobless aid ticked up last week but layoffs remain at historically low levels.
The Labor Department reported Thursday that jobless claim applications rose by 3,000 to 221,000 for the week of Nov. 2. That’s fewer than the 227,000 analysts forecast.
The four-week average of weekly claims, which softens some of the week-to-week fluctuations, fell by 9,750 to 227,250.
Weekly applications for jobless benefits are considered representative of U.S. layoffs in a given week.
Continuing claims, the total number of Americans collecting jobless benefits, rose by 39,000 to 1.89 million for the week of Oct. 26. That’s the most since late 2021.
In response to weakening employment data and receding consumer prices, the Federal Reserve slashed its benchmark interest rate in September by a half a percentage point as the central bank shifted its focus from taming inflation toward supporting the job market. The Fed is hoping to execute a rare “soft landing,” whereby it brings down inflation without tipping the economy into a recession.
It was the Fed’s first rate cut in four years after a series of increases starting in 2022 that pushed the federal funds rate to a two-decade high of 5.3%.
The Fed is expected to announce later Thursday that it has cut its benchmark borrowing rate by another quarter point.
Inflation has retreated steadily, approaching the Fed’s 2% target and leading Chair Jerome Powell to declare recently that it was largely under control.
Last week, the government reported that an inflation gauge closely watched by the Fed fell to its lowest level in three-and-a-half years.
During the first four months of 2024, applications for jobless benefits averaged just 213,000 a week before rising in May. They hit 250,000 in late July, supporting the notion that high interest rates were finally cooling a red-hot U.S. job market.
In October, the U.S. economy produced a meager 12,000 jobs, though economists pointed to recent strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off payrolls.
In August, the Labor Department reported that the U.S. economy added 818,000 fewer jobs from April 2023 through March this year than were originally reported. The revised total was also considered evidence that the job market has been slowing steadily, compelling the Fed to start cutting interest rates. 2021.
—From AP reports
