How Vinyl Got Its Groove Back: Its Dominance, Decline & Comeback

The vinyl comeback isn’t just spin. In 2020, records accounted for $626 million in U.S. sales — exceeding those of CDs and contributing 5.2% of industry revenue, according to the RIAA. And MRC Data shows vinyl sales have been rising for 15 years, to 27.5 million units last year, up a staggering 46.2% during the pandemic. “It’s the movie theater,” Jack White toldBillboard about the format in a March 14, 2015, cover story, “compared [with] the iPhone.”


After World War II, a music-business format fight broke out when the then-dominant shellac 78 rpm records faced two challengers: Columbia Records’ 33 1/3 rpm vinyl LPs and RCA Victor’s shorter 45s. This “mark[ed] the beginning of a historic disk battle,” Billboard wrote in a Jan. 8, 1949, story, advising readers to “hold your hats, kids, and run for the storm cellars.” In the Feb. 19 issue, Columbia’s chairman of the board called out RCA, predicting that its LP would win a “record war … which Columbia Records has not initiated and in which it cannot be defeated.”

The 45 quickly eighty-sixed the 78 as the leading singles format, but LPs brought in more money. The June 3, 1950, Billboard reported that during a 12-month period, U.S. labels produced 7.3 million 45s and 3.3 million LPs — but those 45s had a retail value of $5.6 million, compared with $12.5 million for the LPs. By the end of the year, RCA started making LPs, too.

By the late 1980s, CDs and cassettes were outselling records, and in 1989, Billboard tracked what an April 22 report called vinyl’s “inevitable phase-out.” That April issue also covered how the country’s largest independent record plant stopped making vinyl after “what was seen as a gradual decline in market demand turned into a ‘swift and precipitous tailspin.’ ” Vinyl’s extinction seemed inevitable. “It’s not a question of if,” said Tommy Boy chairman Tom Silverman in the May 27 issue. “It’s a question of when.”

Two decades later, a group of independent retailers organized the first Record Store Day on April 19, 2008. The Billboard that was published on that date asked, “Can Record Store Day Work?” The question was still open in the May 3 issue, when one record-store manager shrugged at a modest sales bump: “I don’t know if it’s because of the nice weather,” she said, “or Record Store Day.”

It was Record Store Day all along. After higher-profile annual events that included record store “Ambassadors” like Ozzy Osbourne, Chuck D and Metallica, an April 27, 2016, headline read, “Record Store Day Spurs 131 Percent Gain In Vinyl Album Sales In U.S.,” compared with the previous week. Many of those buyers wouldn’t remember the format’s decline. The April 3, 2021, Billboardreported that “during the pandemic, sales picked up, thanks to a new kind of customer: young people.”

This article originally appeared in the April 24, 2021, issue of Billboard.

Gorsuch's textualism gives immigrant a chance to challenge deportation 

"Admittedly, a lot here turns on a small word," Gorsuch said referring to "a. "

"Words are how the law constrains power," he said.

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter 4/29/2021

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by an unusual alignment of conservative and liberal justices, ruled in favor of a 'nonpermanent resident alien' on Thursday who is seeking to challenge his deportation, arguing that the government had not given him proper notice of his removal proceedings

.

© Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Pool Associate Justice Neil Gorsuch

The case is extremely technical concerning immigration procedures and the interpretation of a sentence in immigration law, but the opinion produced odd bedfellows as the justices quibbled over statutory interpretation and opened fissures related to how closely the court should rely on the exact text of a statute when interpreting the law.

Gorsuch's 16-page opinion highlights his fidelity to his view of "textualism" -- the task of interpreting the words on the page. It was a judicial philosophy championed by the late conservative icon Justice Antonin Scalia, who reshaped how judges look at statutes by insisting that they put a sharp focus on what Congress actually said, and not what it might have intended in passing a law.

But recently, conservative justices have deeply divided on how the method should be applied which has resulted in unusual voting patterns, and sharp words, as was evident on Thursday.

Gorsuch, writing for the 6-3 majority, held that the US government had erred by sending two documents to the immigrant instead of one. He explained that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act says that an undocumented immigrant seeking to fight removal can be served with "a notice of appeal." But here, the immigrant was sent two notices of appeal with different information.

"The government says it needs this kind of flexibility to send information piecemeal," Gorsuch wrote -- but he emphasized that the law calls for only one document.

"Admittedly, a lot here turns on a small word," Gorsuch said referring to "a."

Gorsuch, however, had no sympathy for the federal government.

"If the government finds filling out forms a chore, it has good company," he wrote. "The world is awash in forms, and rarely do agencies afford individuals the same latitude in completing them that the government seeks for itself today."

He provided a stark example from the immigration area. "Asylum applicants must use a 12-page form and comply with 14 single-spaced pages of instructions," Gorsuch wrote. "Failure to do so properly risks having an application returned, losing any chance of relief, or even criminal penalties."

Last term, Gorsuch stunned conservatives when he once again relied on his view of textualism to rule in favor of LGBT workers. At issue in that case was whether title VII of the Civil Rights Act, that bars discrimination "because of sex" also covers claims based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Gorsuch, joined by the Chief Justice John Roberts and the four liberals on the bench at the time, held that it did.

At the time Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, wrote, "The Court's opinion is like a pirate ship. It sails under a textualist flag, but what it actually represents is a theory of statutory interpretation that Justice Scalia excoriated."

On Thursday, Gorsuch was joined by conservative Thomas, Justice Amy Coney Barrett and the three liberals on the bench in the 6-3 decision.

Three conservatives -- Justice Brett Kavanaugh, joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Alito -- read the immigration statute differently and quibbled with Gorsuch's interpretation.

"The Court's decision contravenes Congress' detailed requirements for a noncitizen" to fight to cancel his removal, Kavanaugh wrote in the dissent. He said that the two documents the government sent two months apart "included all the statutorily required information."

Kavanaugh added that he found the majority's reasoning "rather perplexing as a matter of statutory interpretation." He said that the immigrant actually "gains an advantage" when the government sends two documents instead of one because he can learn more about the removal proceedings. Kavanaugh said that delivering the documents in two installments satisfies the requirements of a "notice to appear."

The ruling means that Agusto Niz-Chavez, a native and citizen of Guatemala, can challenge his deportation in court. Niz-Chavez arrived in the US unlawfully in 2005. He had left Guatemala after a land dispute and settled in Detroit in 2007. He has three children. He was stopped twice for driving without a license and in 2013 for a broken taillight, after which he was referred to immigration authorities.

Under law, an immigrant can apply for cancellation of deportation if he has been in the United States for 10 years.

Niz-Chavez's lawyers claimed that he was in the US for 12 years. But the government argued that when it sent the "notice to appear" it served as a "stop-time" mechanism and he could only claim continuous residency for eight years.

For Gorsuch, that small difference of the exact language matters -- and ignoring it would lead the court down a dangerous road.

"We are no more entitled to denigrate this modest statutory promise as an empty formality than we might dismiss as pointless the rules and statutes governing the contents of civil complaints or criminal indictments," Gorsuch wrote Thursday.

"Words are how the law constrains power," he said.

THIS APPLIES ACROSS CANADA

Opinion: All workers and inmates in Saskatchewan jails need to be vaccinated now

James Gacek 

As Regina Correctional Centre faces yet another COVID-19 outbreak, the provincial government’s handling of the virus in jails can hardly be considered a success. Health Minister Paul Merriman continues to suggest that his vaccine approach is working ; that is, that correctional centres are safe “contained” spaces for inmates and staff. This is a ludicrous position to take

.

© Provided by Leader Post The Regina Provincial Correctional Centre.

Pre-pandemic, prison researchers around the country were calling for safer, hygienic conditions in provincial jails across Canada. 

Our work demonstrates:

Disease and virus transmission (including needle sharing) was already rampant in these spaces;

Cells are double, if not triple, bunked, making safe physical distancing near impossible;

Ventilation systems in correctional centres have not been properly maintained or redressed;

Bureaucratic delays of prescriptions for inmates;

Lack of visits from nurses, health-care practitioners and counsellors;

An inability to secure medical aids like prosthetics and crutches.

In short, health care in Canadian jails is abysmal, even on the best days. With the pandemic, health-care problems have only gone from bad to worse.

This is why the provincial government’s vaccine approach to jails can’t be taken seriously. “Contained” spaces does not mean that these spaces are clean or hygienic. It does not mean that inmates or prison staff can safely self-isolate. “Contained” spaces remain contagious spaces.




This creates dangerous conditions for inmates, prison staff, their families and their communities, especially when inmates are released or staff are off shift. Upon release, many inmates (who are too often racialized, already marginalized individuals) return to their congregate spaces in the community, to multi-generational homes (where self-isolation and physical distancing is near impossible) and where the chances are great that those living in these home are low-paid, precarious workers deemed “essential.”

Jail staff repeatedly suggest they are frustrated with the province’s handling of vaccinations , and remain fearful of bringing home the virus to their families. The outbreak at RCC gives the virus room to grow, and the province’s mismanagement of jails aids this growth. Risky populations, and those caring over risky populations (like jail staff), become populations at risk of getting the virus. Decisions about who should get vaccinated should be based on risk to public health. If you have a risky population, they should be moved up the priority list. To suggest then, as Merriman does, that “contained” spaces, are somehow separate or removed from Regina or other Saskatchewan communities is short-sighted of the government. The province needs to do more to protect inmates and staff, and the province’s vaccine approach remains indifferent and uncaring to these populations at risk.

A meaningful vaccine approach would seriously consider the pleas by inmates and staff. This approach would pave the way open for a broader conversation about meaningful health care in the provincial correctional system itself. The pandemic has opened up the discussion around Canadian health care at large, raising issues about how we treat people. Why does the province feel like we can exclude jail staff, let alone inmates, from this conversation? The exclusion of these voices from discussion should concern the public, especially the exclusion of inmates. Inmates are people, and these people form part of our public. While people have committed crimes, the pandemic isn’t part of their sentence. Provincial governments are tasked with ensuring the care and custody of their provincial inmates and staff, and this government, under the helm of Premier Scott Moe, is no exception. From Merriman’s statement to the media, we can see the custody — but where is the care?

As a great thinker by the name of Stanley Cohen put it eloquently in another context, there are a variety of ways of not knowing, or avoiding knowledge, about the suffering of others. The challenge then lies in thinking harder about whether the provincial government will be appropriately held accountable to its decisions about provincial jails, and the ways in which the public can be empowered to impact these decisions. Now is the time to increase the care in jails. Now is the time to vaccinate everyone inside of them.

James Gacek is an assistant professor in the Department of Justice Studies at the University of Regina.

BIDEN NLRB

Union's evidence in Amazon vote 'could be grounds for overturning election', U.S. Labor Board says

By Nandita Bose 

REUTERS

4/28/2021

© Reuters/DUSTIN CHAMBERS FILE PHOTO: Congressional delegation to Amazon plant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Evidence submitted by a retail union that raised objections to Amazon.com Inc's conduct at this month's union election in Alabama "could be grounds for overturning the vote", the National Labor Relations Board said on Wednesday.


The labor board has overturned several union elections over the years. In 2016, the board overturned an election the United Steelworks union lost by a decisive vote - a decision criticized by large U.S. business lobbies.

The NLRB will hold a hearing on May 7 to consider objections filed by the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which failed to secure enough votes from Amazon warehouse workers to form a union. The vote count announced on April 9 showed that workers at Amazon's Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse rejected the union by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

"The evidence submitted by the union in support of its objections could be grounds for overturning the election if introduced at a hearing," the labor board said.

The RWDSU submitted nearly two dozen objections to Amazon's conduct during the election, which it said prevented employees from a "free and uncoerced exercise of choice" on whether to create the company's first U.S. union.

The RWDSU alleged that Amazon's agents unlawfully threatened employees with closure of the warehouse if they joined the union and that the company emailed a warning it would lay off 75% of the proposed bargaining unit because of the union.

Amazon, which has denied the allegations, did not respond to requests for comment.

For much of its history, the NLRB has used its decision-making authority to change labor policy by establishing new precedents. The board has repeatedly overturned cases decided by prior administrations. Under the Trump administration, it overturned cases detrimental to employers which had been decided during the preceding Obama presidency.

(Reporting by Nandita Bose in WashingtonEditing by Chris Reese, Sonya Hepinstall and Karishma Singh)

Court: Germany must share climate burden between young, old

BERLIN — In a ruling hailed as groundbreaking, Germany's top court said Thursday the government must set clear goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions after 2030, arguing that existing legislation risks placing too much of a burden for curbing climate change on younger generations.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The verdict was a victory for climate activists from Germany and elsewhere who — with the support of environmental groups — had filed four complaints to the constitutional Court arguing that their rights were at risk by the lack of sufficient targets beyond the next decade.

Like other European Union countries, Germany aims to cut emissions 55% below 1990 levels by 2030. Legislation passed two years ago set specific targets for sectors such as heating and transport over that period, but not for the long-term goal of cutting emissions to “net zero” by 2050.

The 2019 regulations "irreversibly pushed a very high burden of emissions reduction into the period after 2030," judges said in their ruling.

The court backed the argument that the 2015 Paris climate accord's goal of keeping global warming well below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), ideally no more than 1.5 C (2.7 F), by the end of the century compared with pre-industrial times should be a benchmark for policymakers. It ordered the German government to come up with new targets from 2030 onward by the end of next year.

In a striking precedent, the court also acknowledged the idea that Germany has a finite emissions "budget” before the Paris goal becomes impossible. While it didn't specify what Germany's share of the global carbon budget is, scientists have said at current rates of emission it could be used up in less than a decade.

Lawyer Felix Ekardt, who brought one of the cases, called the verdict “groundbreaking” for Germany.

“Germany’s climate policy will need to be massively adjusted,” he told reporters.

Fellow lawyer Roda Verheyen said the decision would likely mean Germany's plans to phase out coal use by 2038 would need to be brought forward, in order to realistically achieve the country's long-term emissions target.

“A simple calculator shows that this will be necessary,” she said.

Germany has managed to cut its annual emissions from the equivalent of 1.25 billion tons of carbon dioxide in 1990 to about 740 million tons last year — a reduction of more than 40%.

The current target would require cuts of 178 million tons by 2030, but a reduction of 281 million tons in each of the following decades.



Video: Canada lacks plan on meeting new emissions reduction goal (Global News)



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Judges said it would be wrong to allow one generation “to use up large parts of the CO2 budget with a comparatively mild reduction burden, if that simultaneously means following generations are left with a radical reduction burden and their lives are exposed to comprehensive limits to freedom.”

Climate activists expressed delight at the verdict.

“With today's decision, generational justice has been achieved," said plaintiff Luisa Neubauer, a member of the Fridays for Future group. "Because our future freedoms and rights aren't less important than the rights and freedoms of today's generation.”

Germany’s main industry lobby group, BDI, called for transparent and feasible targets to give companies the certainty needed to plan and develop new technologies and make the necessary investments required to shift from fossil fuels to carbon-free alternatives.

Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said after the verdict that she would propose new measures for Europe's biggest economy in the coming months.

The court's unanimous ruling plays into the hands of the environmentalist Greens party, which is leading in several polls ahead of Germany's national election on Sept. 26.

Annalena Baerbock, the Greens' candidate to succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor, called for “concrete action, here and now.”

She said the Greens want to double the rate by which wind parks, solar farms and other sources of renewable energy sources are expanded over the next five years, ban the sale of new combustion engine vehicles starting in 2030, bring forward the deadline to end coal use and set additional emissions targets after 2030.

Britain earlier this month announced it will aim to cut its emissions 78% from 1990 levels by 2035, the most ambitious target of any industrialized nation. The U.K. hosts this year's international climate summit in Glasgow in November.

Christiana Figueres, who as U.N. climate chief was instrumental in negotiating the Paris accord, said the German court's unanimous verdict made clear the need to speed up efforts to reduce emissions.

“We need to focus on shorter-term mitigation and emission reductions," she said, adding that this urgency was reflected in last week's climate summit organized by President Joe Biden, who announced a doubling of the U.S. target for 2030, now aiming to cut emissions 52% from 2005 levels.

The legal cases in Germany are part of a global effort by climate activists to force governments to take urgent action to tackle climate change.

One of the first successful cases was brought in the Netherlands, where the Supreme Court two years ago confirmed a ruling requiring the government to cut emissions at least 25% by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels.

In February, a Paris court ruled that the French government had failed to take sufficient action to fight climate change in a case brought by four nongovernmental organizations.

___

Follow AP's climate coverage at https://apnews.com/Climate

Frank Jordans, The Associated Press

NOT QUITE UBI 

Sudan's basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain

By Nafisa Eltahir and Eltayeb Siddig 
4/29/2021

© Reuters/EL TAYEB SIDDIG Sudan's basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - For Intisar Altayib, who ekes out a living drawing henna tattoos in Khartoum, soaring prices in Sudan mean running up tabs at local stores and cutting back on evening feasts during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

She is one of millions struggling through an economic crisis that has deepened as Sudan tries to emerge from decades of isolation and conflict. Inflation has risen to more than 340% and there are shortages of everything from power to medicines

.

© Reuters/EL TAYEB SIDDIG Sudan's basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain

To ease the pain of reforms the government is introducing a donor-funded scheme that aims to provide a temporary $5 basic monthly income to 80% of its population of 43 million.

The roll-out, which began in February, is a test for the transitional civilian-military partnership that is due to govern Sudan until 2023. Many Sudanese complain they have not seen the benefits of an uprising, triggered by the deteriorating economy, that overthrew former President Omar al-Bashir two years ago.

© Reuters/EL TAYEB SIDDIG Sudan's basic income scheme aims to ease economic pain

Altayib, who has registered for the welfare programme but is yet to receive money, says that in her neighbourhood of Al Kalakla, prices are four or five times higher than a year ago and her family has all but stopped buying meat.

Fuel price increases have put public transport beyond reach. "Ramadan is expensive, we have to rely on God," she said.

The family support programme came about as the government pursues an aggressive economic reform programme monitored by the International Monetary Fund, hoping to win relief on at least $50 billion dollars in debt and access funding from international lenders.

The ongoing reforms have included a sharp currency devaluation in February and fuel subsidy cuts over the second half of last year. The IMF said in an October report on the reforms that they could lead to economic contraction, higher inflation and social tensions in the short term.

© Reuters/MOHAMED NURELDIN ABDALLAH FILE PHOTO: Women sit together as they prepare food for their families in Khartoum north

The basic income scheme, known as Thamarat (fruits) or the Sudan Family Support Programme, is an effort to soften the blow, officials say.

A survey of more than 3,000 families across Sudan from November to January showed that 30% were unable to buy staples like bread and milk, with price increases worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, said Milena Stefanova, country manager for the World Bank.

PAYMENTS

The start of the support programme was pushed back to late February because donors conditioned the release of funds they had pledged last year on the closing of the gap between the official and black market exchange rates.

"The delay in implementing the programme reduces its impact because of the racing inflation in Sudan," said Mohammed al-Jak, a University of Khartoum economics professor.

Sudan has received $820 million from the World Bank and donor countries for the programme's first two phases, which aim to cover 24 million people in 12 states for six months, the World Bank says.

The programme is not yet funded to reach the remainder of the targeted 32.5 million, or for a potential extension of payments to a year.

Some beneficiaries told Reuters they would use the money to pay off debts, or cover rent or home maintenance. Intisar, however, said the money wouldn't make a huge dent in daily expenses and would be more useful for her family if she saved it up and started a business.

"This amount has an impact, especially in Ramadan," said Mohamed Aldai, a day laborer living in the Id Hussein area who said his family of six received 11,400 Sudanese pounds ($30).

Payments were made to 84,028 families in March and April, the World Bank says. The government estimates family size at about five, and each member is entitled to a local currency monthly payment worth $5.

The government hopes to use the programme to facilitate a permanent social safety net for the poorest million families, said Magdi Amin, senior advisor at Sudan's Finance Ministry.

Amin Saleh, undersecretary at the Finance Ministry, says delays in payments so far are due to issues with verifying data and setting up transfers.

"People are struggling, we can't afford to buy anything," said Arafa Mohamed, a housewife in Al Kalakla.

"We've been waiting since they told us about this money, we've been waiting all Ramadan."

($1 = 380.0002 Sudanese pounds)

(Additional reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Frances Kerry)

BATTLEFIELD BAND ANTHEM FOR THE COMMON MAN

 

GM partners up to offer about 60,000 EV charging points across Canada, U.S


(Reuters) - General Motors on Wednesday announced deals with major electric vehicle charging networks to offer its customers access to nearly 60,000 charging points across the United States and Canada.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker said it had signed agreements with seven companies including Blink Charging, ChargePoint and EV Connect.

"EV customers will soon be able to easily see real-time information from nearly 60,000 charging plugs...find stations along a route and initiate and pay for charging," GM said in a statement.

The automaker also introduced "Ultium Charge 360", a platform which integrates charging networks, GM vehicle mobile apps and other services to simplify the charging experience for its electric-vehicle owners.

GM's next generation of Ultium batteries will be used in its new EVs including the Hummer EV and the Cadillac Lyriq.

Wall Street has been increasingly focusing on GM's strategy to roll out electric vehicles, as it slowly aims to catch up with EV market leader Tesla Inc.

The automaker previously announced a $27 billion investment in EV and autonomous vehicles (AV) through 2025 and the launch of 30 new EVs by 2025-end.

GM's longer-range target also includes halting sales of light-duty gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

GM expands Canadian charging network to nearly 5,000 public plugs

Andrew McCredie 

 Driving.ca

4/28/2021

Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Infrastructure. Now that most every automaker on the planet is producing electric vehicles, and many of those committing to rolling out dozens of such models in the coming years, for EV adoption to ramp up in Canada, it’s all about the charging station infrastructure.

General Motors is one of those companies all-in on EVs — launching 30 all-new EVs by the end of 2025 — and today it announced Ultium Charge 360, a customer charging program that will integrate charging networks across North America, GM vehicle mobile apps, and other products and services.

As part of the program, GM has signed agreements with several charging providers, including Blink Charging, ChargePoint, EV Connect, FLO, Greenlots, and SemaConnect. According to GM, that represents nearly 60,000 charging plugs in North America, including 4,800 in Canada, or nearly half the 9,900 plugs currently included in the MyChevrolet, MyCadillac, and MyGMC apps. All of those chargers will be tied into the existing GM vehicle mobile apps, providing real-time information for finding stations along a route, and initiating and paying for charging.
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GM will update the apps to provide more intuitive mobile experience that makes navigating to a charging station, plugging into a charger and paying for charging simple.

“Ultium Charge 360 simplifies and improves the at-home charging experience and the public charging experience — whether it’s community-based or road-trip charging,” said Travis Hester, GM’s chief EV officer.

The ‘Ultium’ in the new program refers to the Ultium platform, GM’s EV chassis architecture that the automaker estimates could provide a full-charge range of up to 724 kilometres. That platform is the underpinning of many of GM’s coming-soon EVs, including the Cadillac Lyriq, GMC Hummer EVs, BrightDrop EV600 and the Chevrolet Silverado electric pickup truck.

United Auto Workers presses GM, Ford on unionizing battery plants

By David Shepardson and Joseph White 

4/28/2021

© Reuters/REBECCA COOK United Auto Workers (UAW) acting president Rory Gamble speaks to Reuters from his office in Southfield, Michigan,

DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - United Auto Workers President Rory Gamble told Reuters the union is in talks with General Motors about representing workers at joint venture battery plants, and voiced opposition to proposals for Washington to impose a firm deadline to end use of gasoline- and diesel-powered vehicles.

Gamble said the UAW has raised concerns with GM and Ford Motor Co about joint venture and potential electric vehicle operations set up by the automakers and supplier partners that so far are not represented by the union. GM is building two U.S. battery production plants with South Korean battery partner LG Chem. Ford is considering investments in battery manufacturing.

"We've got to make sure that work stays at a livable wage and those workers can organize," Gamble said in an interview. "We're having some discussions developing with General Motors."

General Motors said in a statement that its Ultium EV battery facilities "are part of a joint venture and are a separate company – Ultium Cells LLC. The workforces at those locations will determine whether or not the facility is represented by a union."

The automaker also said that top management "meets with the UAW regularly" and that "those discussions are private -- we don’t comment on those conversations in the media."

The UAW, with nearly 1 million active and retired members, is a key player in the debate in Washington and U.S. state capitals over regulating gasoline-powered vehicles as President Joe Biden shapes his administration's policies on climate change.

Many UAW autoworkers earn their livings building Detroit-brand, petroleum-burning pickup trucks and SUVs or assembling engines and other components for those vehicles in Midwestern states such as Michigan.

Gamble compared the technological challenge presented by electric vehicles to the disruption caused by the oil price shocks of the 1970s, and government policies to demand rapid fuel efficiency improvements in response. The struggles of Detroit automakers to comply opened the door to Japanese and later European automakers to establish a parallel, non-union auto industry in the United States.

California and 11 other mostly coastal and Democratic-leaning states have called on Biden to set a deadline of 2035 to phase out sales of new CO2-emitting, internal combustion vehicles. Biden has not agreed to endorse a deadline.

"We don't like these hard deadlines you're hearing. We don't think a lot of them are fully achievable," Gamble said. "We should not put all our eggs in one basket."

"When autoworkers hear about zero emission by a certain date they get very uncomfortable because they feel it's a challenge to their very employment," Gamble said. "We see a blending" of electric vehicles and internal combustion engines "for some years to come."

He said the United States should "ease into this full 100% EVs at the appropriate time, when everything is in place."

He praised Biden and the White House for extensive engagement with the union. "He understands the challenges our members face," Gamble said.

Pointing to the administration's upcoming decision to revise fuel efficiency requirements, Gamble said Biden should adopt a "fair standard that doesn't put a lot of burden on the auto companies" or cost jobs.

Biden wants $174 billion to boost the EV market, including $100 billion for consumer rebates. Gamble also expressed concern about that plan, fearing much of the money could go to subsidize EVs built abroad.

"We don't have a lot of American EVs on the road right now to choose from," Gamble said, saying any new rebate program should ensure it "increases American manufacturing."

Gamble wants the administration to make sure workers at plants producing electric vehicles, batteries and components can unionize. U.S. workers at the No. 1 electric vehicle manufacturer, Tesla, are not represented by a union.

The United States needs to do more to ensure a lot of component work tied to EVs are manufactured domestically and that workers get good wages, he said.

"We don't need another service sector in this country," Gamble said. "That's what I am fearful of. If these jobs are low wage minimal benefit jobs its not going to benefit the economy."

Gamble said he personally does not plan to buy an electric vehicle -- and is skeptical that many Americans will buy EVs.

"I have no interest at all in an electric vehicle," he said. "I am just dyed-in-the-wool, 'Give me my V-8 and my pickup truck.'"

(Reporting by Joseph White and David Shepardson; Editing by David Gregorio)

COVID outbreak closes Simcoe auto parts plant leaving 1,000 people out of work

More than 1,000 people are off work after Toyotetsu Canada shut down its auto parts plant in Simcoe due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

The company told employees on Monday about 10 active cases at the plant, and on Tuesday Toyotetsu officials decided to suspend operations at the sprawling 530,000-square-foot facility.

“Toyotetsu Canada has agreed to voluntarily shut down operations and close the plant out of an abundance of caution and will reopen when it is safe to do so,” the company said in a media release issued Tuesday evening.

“Toyotetsu Canada will continue to work very closely and co-operatively with public health on any and all necessary outbreak measures to open as quickly and safely as possible.”

The plant — a major industrial employer in Norfolk County — makes a variety of car parts for regional Toyota and Lexus production lines.

Toyotetsu said 25 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

The company did not respond to an email from The Spectator Wednesday asking if the affected workers will continue to be paid during the shutdown or will get help accessing employment insurance, and if the 10 workers who have tested positive are currently on paid sick leave.

Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit spokesperson Kyra Hayes said the health unit has been “actively working with Toyotetsu to implement a public health management plan.”

The health unit did not order the closure, Hayes said.

“As per Toyotetsu’s public statement, they voluntarily agreed to cease production,” she said.

Down the road in Port Dover, popular snack shack The Arbor is closed after several staff members were identified as close contacts of confirmed COVID cases.

The century-old eatery closed for at least two weeks as of Monday to give affected employees time to self-isolate.

The temporary closure affects some two dozen employees, who are usually kept busy supplying locals and day-trippers with foot-long hotdogs, French fries and Golden Glow drinks.

The health unit is also monitoring a COVID-19 outbreak at the Hagersville location of gypsum wallboard manufacturer CGC.

There were 285 active cases of COVID-19 in Haldimand-Norfolk as of Wednesday morning.

J.P. Antonacci, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Hamilton Spectator