labor unions

US settles labor dispute with Mexican auto parts factory

The U.S. parent company of a Mexican auto parts factory has agreed to recognize worker rights and pay back wages to laid-off employees to settle a labor rights complaint filed under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).

The agreement under the trade pact was announced Tuesday by the U.S. Trade Representative and the Tridonex plant in Matamoros, Mexico.

“The agreement reached with Tridonex to provide severance, back pay and a commitment to neutrality in future union elections shows...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/us-settles-labor-dispute-with-mexican-auto-parts-factory

Trumka predicted passage of infrastructure bill in coming months

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, whose death was announced Thursday by the labor organization he led since 2009, warned that the economy was “at a crossroads” and stood a chance of slipping if lawmakers did not give more than lip service to passing an infrastructure bill this year.

In addition to creating jobs and lowering unemployment, “investing in roads and bridges and transit and climate mitigation and all of those things will make America stronger and more competitive,” Trumka, who was 72,...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/trumka-predicted-passage-of-infrastructure-bill-in-coming-months

First USMCA labor complaint filed against Mexican auto parts supplier

A Mexican auto parts supplier became the first company to receive a labor violation complaint under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on Monday.

The complaint against the Tridonex auto parts factory in Matamoros, Mexico, just across the border from Brownsville, Texas, alleges workers were denied independent union representation in violation of the trade pact, which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement in July 2020.

The AFL-CIO, the largest U.S. labor federation, filed...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/labor-complaint-filed-against-mexican-auto-parts-supplier

The United States of Amazon: 10 questions for Alec MacGillis

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has hooked millions of Americans with its remarkable skills in fusing product availability, technology and customer experience. The nation’s growing dependence on Amazon ignores, or overpowers, socioeconomic issues surrounding the company that might otherwise be front and center in national conversations. That may be the central message of Alec MacGillis’ critically acclaimed book: “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America.”

MacGillis, a reporter at...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/the-united-states-of-amazon-10-questions-for-alec-macgillis

Did TFI CEO extend olive branch to Teamsters before UPS Freight deal?

A UPS employee loads boxes. Thousands of UPS employees, represented by the Teamsters, will join TFI International as part of the acquisition of UPS Freight.

Three months before TFI International (NYSE:TFII) announced the acquisition of UPS’ (NYSE:UPS) freight business, CEO Alain Bedard expressed a willingness to buy a unionized less-than-truckload operation and lauded the performance of the parcel giant with the Teamsters – and his own company’s experience with organized labor in Canada.

“If you look at the largest trucking company in the world, they’re unionized with the Teamsters and they do a fantastic job,” Bedard told financial analysts in...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/did-tfi-ceo-extend-olive-branch-to-teamsters-before-ups-deal

Crew crisis is on verge of becoming global trade crisis

ship crew

Watching the growing threat to global trade from the stranded-crew crisis is like watching a train wreck in slow motion — and the governments of the world still don’t see it coming.

A June 15 deadline was set by the union representing seafarers, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), to resolve the crew repatriation issue, get thousands of seafarers stranded by COVID-19 travel restrictions back home, and designate all seafarers “key workers” who can travel unrestricted.

That...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/crew-crisis-is-on-verge-of-becoming-global-trade-crisis

Stranded crew crisis is ticking time bomb for global trade

ship crew

You may have read those Kafkaesque stories about seafarers marooned on cargo ships month after month, unable to go home at the end of their work contracts due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

You may have thought, “How unfortunate,” then turned your attention back to your own pressing business problems amid the pandemic.

A crisis for an Indian seafarer stuck on a Liberian-flagged ship because Indonesian authorities won’t allow passage to the airport may seem distant from the challenges of a U.S....

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/stranded-crew-crisis-is-ticking-time-bomb-for-trade

+ More