Friday, September 15, 2023

3 questions for UNICEF on why the Libya floods were so devastating

How the extreme rainfall may be connected to climate change and how to prepare for future storms


Ben Adler
·Senior Editor
Thu, September 14, 2023

People look for survivors in Derna, Libya. Sept.13, 2023.
 (Yousef Murad/AP Photo)

Storm Daniel has taken an extraordinary toll on Libya, where the estimated death toll has passed 11,000 and another 20,000 are believed to be missing.

The storm made landfall Sunday evening, with heavy rainfall causing flash flooding. The storm dropped 16 inches of rain in 24 hours, a new record for the civil war-torn North African nation, which usually receives just a tiny fraction of that all month.

Two dams on the Wadi Derna River burst, leading to massive floods in the coastal city of Derna. At least 30,000 have been displaced.

The “sea is constantly dumping dozens of bodies,” Hichem Abu Chkiouat, an official in the administration that runs eastern Libya told the Guardian.



What made it so bad

Damage from massive flooding is seen in Derna, Libya. Sept.13, 2023.
 (Yousef Murad/AP Photo)

The dams held back millions of cubic meters of water, weighing millions of tons.

“Combine that weight with moving downhill, and it can produce enormous power,” BBC News reported. “Witnesses have said that the waters were nearly three metres [9.8 feet] in places.”

“It is estimated that six inches (20cm) of fast moving flood-water is enough to knock someone off their feet, and 2ft (60cm) is enough to float a car. So it is no surprise that whole buildings were taken out in the floods.”

Read more on Yahoo News, Libya floods: Why damage to Derna was so catastrophic, via BBC News

Climate change


In this photo provided by Turkey's IHH humanitarian aid group, rescuers retrieve the body of a flooding victim in Derna, Libya, Wednesday, Sept.13, 2023.
(IHH via AP)

Warmer air holds more moisture and causes more evaporation, so climate change is making the water cycle more extreme and increasing the intensity of rain storms, scientists say. Studies have also shown that hurricanes are made stronger by warmer sea water that results from climate change.

The Associated Press reported that the extreme rain from Storm Daniel “is the latest extreme weather event to carry some of the hallmarks of climate change, scientists say. Daniel… drew enormous energy from extremely warm sea water. And a warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor that can fall as rain, experts said.”

Yahoo News asked Ricardo Pires, a spokesperson for UNICEF, the United Nations’ humanitarian aid agency three questions about what caused the situation in Libya and how such tragedies can be prevented in the future.

1. How and why did Hurricane Daniel cause such devastating destruction in Libya?


On Monday, Storm Daniel unfurled across eastern Libya, affecting most of the region but especially the areas of Al Bayda, Al Marj and Derna. It destroyed buildings, including schools and hospitals, and burst two crucial dams, adding even more water to already flooded streets.

We know about 664,000 people, including almost 300,000 children, live in the region, and many are now struggling to stay safe, find family members or care for their children.

The Mediterranean storm caused such devastation because it hit areas where already vulnerable communities live, following over a decade of conflict. For the children and families of Libya, it is yet another catastrophe.

2. Is being hit with a hurricane of this magnitude unusual for Libya? Is it related to climate change?

Storm Daniel caused more than 400mm — or 16 inches — of rain in just 24 hours, according to the World Meteorological Organization. That is significantly higher than the level of rainfall the region normally collects at this time of year and Libya's National Meteorological Centre said it was a new rainfall record.

While the storm carries all the hallmarks of climate change, it’s too soon to definitively link the two. But it’s safe to say, as the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has, that as the planet warms we can expect to see more intense storms, which lead to more severe flooding. The disaster in Libya is one of a series of extreme flooding events which have caused death and destruction around the world in recent months, including in Greece, Brazil and Hong Kong.

3. How can countries be better prepared for natural disasters such as this?

With extreme weather events increasing in frequency and intensity, governments must invest in better warning systems and infrastructure to protect vulnerable populations with incredible urgency.

It is essential that we safeguard the health, safety, learning and opportunities of every child by adapting the critical social services they rely on such as water and sanitation, health, education, nutrition, social protection and child protection services and infrastructure so they are resilient to the impacts of disasters. Unfortunately, adaptation and resilience building remains critically underfunded and under-resourced. It’s high time we increase the funds allocated towards this important work and prioritize children as we allocate them.

The Early Warnings for All campaign launched by Guterres is also essential. Early warnings and adaptation save lives. Further delay means death.

Explainer

What are medicanes? The ‘supercharged’ Mediterranean storms that could become more frequent



The flash flood that has killed thousands of people in Libya this week followed the ‘medicane’ storm Daniel


Agence France-Presse
Fri 15 Sep 2023 

The flash flood that has killed thousands of people in Libya this week followed a “medicane”, a rare but destructive weather phenomenon that scientists believe will intensify in a warming world.

The term is an amalgamation of the words Mediterranean and hurricane. Used by scientists and weather forecasters, it is less well known to the wider public.

Medicanes, which tend to form over parts of the Mediterranean Sea near the north African coast, are similar to hurricanes and typhoons although they can develop over cooler waters.


Destruction of Derna: why was flooding so bad in Libyan port city?

Read more


They can also bear a physical resemblance on satellite imagery as a swirling mass of storm clouds surrounding an eye in the middle.

Fierce winds and rain are unleashed; Storm Daniel dumped approximately 170 millimetres of rain in Libya. This will intensify with global warming, scientists say.

“We are confident that climate change is supercharging the rainfall associated with such storms,” said University of Reading professor Liz Stephens.

The Mediterranean cyclones are usually smaller and weaker than their tropical equivalents and have a smaller space in which to develop.

Their peak strength is usually the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, encompassing speeds of 119-153km (74-95 miles) per hour.

Medicanes tend to form in the autumn when the sea is warm, usually in the western Mediterranean and the region between the Ionian Sea and the north African coast, explained Suzanne Gray, a professor at the University of Reading’s meteorology department.

A layer of colder air from higher altitudes forms convections with warmer air rising from the sea that converge around a centre of low pressure.

Medicanes form once or twice per year on average, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

While hurricanes move from east to west, medicanes tend to go from west to east.

Before striking Libya, Daniel pummelled Bulgaria, Greece and Turkey last week.

Three medicanes occurred off Greece between 2016 and 2018, while in 2019 Spanish weather services identified one between the Balearic Islands and the Algerian coast.

A medicane packing winds of up to 120 kilometres per hour, dubbed Ianos, lashed Greece in September 2020, killing three people in the city of Karditsa and triggering floods, landslides and power cuts.

The Italian island of Sicily was also struck in 2021.

In 2020, French weather monitor Meteo-France said it was difficult to work out climate signals from medicanes due to their rarity.


While scientists are increasingly able to unpick the likely effect of climate change on the probability of an extreme weather event happening and its intensity, no such attribution study has yet been carried out on Daniel.

In general, experts say the warming of sea surface temperatures, driven by human-induced climate change, is going to make extreme storms more intense.

Oceans have absorbed 90% of the excess heat produced by human activity since the dawn of the industrial age, according to scientists.

Spanish researchers said the Mediterranean reached its highest temperature on record in July as Europe baked under a series of heatwaves.

The surface waters of the eastern Mediterranean and Atlantic are two to three degrees Celsius warmer than usual, which would have turbocharged Daniel.

“The fact that Daniel could form into a medicane … is likely a result of warmer sea surface temperatures and hence human-made climate change,” added climate scientist Karsten Haustein of Leipzig University in Germany.


Libyans call for inquiry as fury grows over death toll from catastrophic floods


Attorney general asked to investigate amid allegations warnings ignored about dangerous state of two dams



Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
 THE GUARDIAN
Thu 14 Sep 2023 



Libya’s attorney general has been asked by senior politicians to launch an urgent inquiry into the catastrophic floods that have killed tens of thousands of people, including into allegations local officials imposed a curfew on the night Storm Daniel struck.

The Libyan Red Crescent put the death toll at more than 11,000 people, with nearly 20,000 still missing, the highest estimate yet from an official source. It said almost 2,000 bodies were swept into the sea by the floods.

Officials in the port city of Derna including the mayor, Abdulmenam al-Ghaithi, believe 20,000 people may have died. At least 5,500 people have been confirmed dead.

Many have been buried in mass graves but one of the chief shortages in the city, apart from drinking water, is body bags required to prevent disease spreading from unburied bodies. Rescue teams have been able to enter the city and are scouring rubble and ruins left by the floods.

The call for the inquiry came separately from both sides of a country divided between rival eastern and western administrations: Libya’s presidential council chair, Mohamed al-Menfi, in the east, and the interim prime minister of the Tripoli-based government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba. Menfi said he wanted the inquiry “to hold accountable everyone who made a mistake or neglected by abstaining or taking actions that resulted in the collapse of the city’s dams”.

Libya has been riven between parallel administrations for years, but the attorney general, Al-Siddiq Al-Sour, is one of the few officials left whose writ supposedly runs across the country.

A groundswell of anger is building about whether warnings about the state of the two dams were ignored, the failure to find new contractors to maintain the dam after Libya’s 2011 civil war, and the precise instructions issued by the police and security directorate on the night of the flood.

A Turkish firm, Arsel, had been contracted to work on the dams in 2007 but left Libya in 2011 when fighting broke out and had not returned. Part of a sum of 39m dinars set aside for the dam’s maintenance in 2003 was later taken back from the ministry of water resources. After the company left the country, its machinery was stolen and the building site went into disuse, according to information that was shared with Dabaiba at a meeting with the ministry.

There are allegations officials imposed a curfew on the night the dams collapsed. Photograph: Jamal Alkomaty/AP

Any inquiry would need to examine the circumstances that led to the arrest of the leading candidate to win Derna’s municipal elections, resulting in the elections, scheduled for September, being cancelled and leaving the city under the control of military officials. Derna has been through a variety of different administrations, but the overall area is under the control of the Libyan National Army, led by the authoritarian Gen Khalifa Haftar and his sons.

International aid started to reach the town on Wednesday afternoon, after delays partly caused by disruption of internet access and impassable roads. In all, rescue workers managed to extract 39 people from the rubble on Wednesday, including an entire family. Social media including Facebook were used to broadcast the whereabouts of those needing rescue.

Derna citizens had been very aware of the threat posed by the state of the dams 
and the Wadi Derna River that runs through the city with no embankment.
02:02

Libya: bodies pulled from sea as country reels from deadly flooding – video report

Accusations are being made that officials from the Libyan National Army security directorate may be trying to cover up that as Storm Daniel hit on Sunday night its officials went on TV to instruct citizens to stay in their homes under curfew rather than evacuate.

Wolfram Lacquer, a German-based Libya specialist, said however that it seemed clear that the local police met the mayor on Sunday as the storm approached and that messages were then broadcast from vans across the town calling for an evacuation of areas likely to be affected, but the call may have been met with reluctance.

He said it appeared no maintenance had been carried out on the dam nearest the city since 2011, and money that had been allocated had not been used. Many overseas contractors did not return to Libya after 2011, either because they were pursuing compensation claims or did not regard the country as safe.

“Already, we can see the key political protagonists – the rival governments and Haftar – expend a lot of effort on shaping public perceptions on who is responding and providing assistance. Menfi, for instance, called for the inquiry on the cause of the dam’s collapse to cover any evidence of the obstruction to aid reaching Derna,” Lacquer said.


Libyans have lost faith in political class, US diplomat says after Tripoli clashes

The core of the two aggregate dams is made of compacted clay, and the sides are made of stones and rocks. Al-Bilad dam, which is about 1km south of the heart of the city, has a storage capacity of about 1.5m cubic metres, while Abu dam, about 13km south of the first dam, has a capacity of about 22.5m cubic metres.

In Derna, the beach was littered with possessions swept out of homes by the torrent that developed at a speed as water poured down from the Green mountains into the river.

The floods have displaced at least 30,000 people in Derna, according to the International Organization for Migration, and damaged or destroyed many access roads to Derna. Local authorities were able to clear some routes, and humanitarian convoys have been able to enter the city.

Rescue teams have arrived in Libya from Egypt, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar. Most have now reached the city. Turkey is sending a ship carrying equipment to set up two field hospitals, while Egypt has assembled a near army of rescue vehicles that were paraded in front of the country’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, before moving across the border.
Mexican senate hears testimony on extraterrestrial life: ‘We are not alone’

Thomas Graham in Mexico City
THE GUARDIAN 
Wed, September 13, 2023


Mexican senators have heard testimony that “we are not alone” in the universe and been presented with the alleged remains of “non-human” mummies, in the country’s first official event on extraterrestrial life.

At a senate hearing on Tuesday, lawmakers were shown two shriveled bodies with shrunken heads – alongside video footage of “unexplained anomalous phenomena” – by Jaime Maussan, a sports journalist turned UFO enthusiast.

Maussan said the remains were more than 1,000 years old and belonged to “non-human beings that are not part of our terrestrial evolution”.

“It’s the queen of all evidence,” Maussan claimed. “That is, if the DNA is showing us that they are non-human beings and that there is nothing that looks like this in the world, we should take it as such.”

Other studies have suggested the mummies, which were found in Nazca, Peru, in 2017, are fraudulent.

Tuesday’s hearing was organised by Sergio Gutiérrez Luna, a lawmaker from the governing Morena party and aspiring governor of the state of Veracruz.

Related: Space oddity: Mexican group claims alien base offers hurricane protection

It included participants from around the world who made calls for transparency and international cooperation. Maussan suggested that Mexico could become the first country in the world to accept the presence of aliens on the planet.

Gutiérrez Luna said that Congress had not taken a position on the theories put forward during the hearing but stressed the important of listening to “all voices, all opinions”.

The event was inspired by the US congressional hearing on the same topic in July, in which the retired major David Grusch alleged that the US was hiding a program to retrieve and reverse engineer UFOs. The Pentagon has denied his claims.

In media interviews, Grusch has made even more outlandish claims that the US government has in its possession the bodies of “dead pilots” and a flying saucer found in Italy by Mussolini almost 100 years ago.

Nonetheless the congressional hearing was a sign of the increased respectability of a field once seen as the reserve of conspiracy theorists.

Well-known politicians, such as the Republican senator Marco Rubio, have pushed for more disclosure, and in 2022 Barack Obama told CBS that the government had “footage and records of objects in the skies, that we don’t know exactly what they are, we can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory”.

Alien corpses’ shown to Congress as UFO expert forced to testify under oath

Tara Cobham
Thu, September 14, 2023 

Alleged “non-human” alien corpses have been displayed to Mexican politicians at the country’s Congress.

A self-described UFO expert claimed the two small ‘corpses’ were retrieved from Cusco, Peru. They were presented in windowed boxes in Mexico City on Wednesday, stirring excitement within the UFO conspiracy theorist community.

The event was spearheaded by journalist Jaime Maussan, who claimed, under oath, that the mummified specimens are not part of “our terrestrial evolution”, with almost a third of their DNA remaining “unknown”, reported Mexican media.

The claims by the self-claimed ‘ufologist’ have not been proven and Mr Maussan has previously been associated with claims of discoveries that have later been debunked.


The two small alleged alien corpses, retrieved from Cusco, Peru, were presented in windowed boxes in Mexico City on Wednesday (Reuters)

At the public hearing, Mr Maussan showed US officials and members of the Mexican government several videos of “UFOs and unidentified anomalous phenomena” before unveiling the alleged alien corpses.

He said: “These specimen are not part of our terrestrial evolution... These aren’t beings that were found after a UFO wreckage. They were found in diatom (algae) mines, and were later fossilized.”

Mr Maussan claimed the specimens had been studied by scientists at the Autonomous National University of Mexico (UNAM) who were able to draw DNA evidence using radiocarbon dating. After comparisons were made to other DNA samples, it was found that over 30% of the specimens’ DNA was “unknown”, he claimed.

X-rays of the specimens were also shown during the hearing.


X-rays of the specimens were also shown during the hearing, with experts testifying under oath that one of the bodies is seen to have “eggs” inside 
(Reuters)

Ryan Graves, Americans for Safe Aerospace Executive Director and former US Navy pilot, was in attendance, having earlier this year told US Congress of the threat that unidentified aerial phenomena posed to US national security.

Mr Maussan has previously been associated with claims of “alien” discoveries that have later been debunked, including five mummies found in Peru in 2017 that were later shown to be human children.

'This is complete nonsense': Scientists rail against 'alien' bodies shown before Mexican congress
Owen Jarus
Thu, September 14, 2023

We see a grayish head and torso of an "alien" in a pillow-like box

In a now-viral story, "alien" bodies were unveiled before Mexico's congress Tuesday (Sept. 12). But is there any real science behind this bizarre event?

Not by a long shot, according to scholars, who denounced the claim and affirmed that the bodies are not alien.

Mexico's congress was holding a hearing on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), a term that is now used to describe UFOs. UAPs have also been the subject of congressional hearings in the United States over the past two years.

During the presentation, a team that included Mexican journalist Jaime Maussan and military medical doctor José de Jesús Zalce Benítez presented two bodies — which appear to be no more than 3.3 feet (1 meter) tall and appear skinny with grayish skin and large heads — in coffin-like boxes before Mexico's congress. They claimed that DNA tests reveal that the remains of these three-fingered beings are not human and that their abdomens hold eggs that may be used in reproduction. The duo also said the bodies came from Peru and that radiocarbon dating shows they date back 1,000 years, National Public Radio reported.

The same bodies made headlines in 2017 and 2018, Maussan told Live Science in an email. At the time, scholars denounced those bodies as consisting of manipulated human body parts. Maussan told Live Science that since that time, more tests have shown that the bodies are not human. He also stressed that he is not saying these bodies are necessarily alien — just that they are not human.

Related: Why are we seeing so many UFOs over America all of a sudden?

"We never said they are extraterrestrial," Maussan said, adding that they had found evidence for implants made of the elements osmium and cadmium inside the bodies, "a technology unknown 1,000 years ago." Live Science was unable to reach de Jesús Zalce Benítez at press time.



Scientists blast claims

"Let me tell you that all this is complete nonsense," Rafael Bojalil-Parra, research reinforcement director at Metropolitan Autonomous University (UAD) in Mexico City, told Live Science in an email. "That our Congress gives a forum to this self-proclaimed UFOlogist is a reflection of the anti-scientific mood that prevails in our country today."

There were reports in some media outlets that tests on the bodies were performed at UAD. But Bojalil-Parra said no DNA tests were performed at the university, and while a carbon-14 test was conducted in 2017, a commercial agreement prevents the university from disclosing the results.

Tellingly, if the bodies were aliens, then carbon-14 dating would be useless. "Radiocarbon dating is based on Carbon 14 atoms which are created when the sun's radiation strikes the Earth's upper atmosphere," David Anderson, an assistant professor of anthropology who has written about pseudoarchaeology extensively at Radford University in Virginia, told Live Science in an email. "To radiocarbon date extraterrestrial beings, we would have to know what the rate of production of 14-C was on their home planet, not ours."

Other scientists also denounced the claims. "It is sad to see the well debunked claims of Jaime Maussan returning to the internet," Andrew Nelson, chair of anthropology at Western University in Ontario, told Live Science in an email. The bodies "have been debunked on the basis of anatomy," with studies showing that some of the bodies "are human mummies that had been deliberately manipulated to appear alien," Nelson said. They show, for example, the feet of the "aliens" could have been created by mutilating the foot of a human mummy.

"The feet would have suffered mutilations of digits I and V, in addition to the cutting of the skin and soft tissue of the foot behind the toes, producing a foot with extremely long toes," Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Cayetano Heredia University and the Museum of Natural History in Lima, wrote in a 2017 analysis.

Nelson said that "while Maussan claims to have CT, C-14 and DNA evidence, he has not presented that evidence for peer review by the scientific community." Nelson added that if these remains are in fact 1,000 years old and from Peru, it raises questions as to whether they were looted and how they left the country.

Another scientist said that if the remains are human, those involved with the claims should face legal implications. They "should be arrested and tried for whatever laws might apply for exploiting or desecrating human remains," Ken Feder, an archaeology professor at Central Connecticut State University, told Live Science in an email.

The hearing in Mexico took place partly because there have been high profile hearings on UAPs in the United States congress noted Jeb Card, an assistant teaching professor of anthropology at Miami University in Ohio. While "no one has yet wheeled out alien bodies in the US Capitol," Card told Live Science in an email, there has been testimony before the U.S. Congress made by former military officials that the American government has biological remains of aliens.

The growing popularity of conspiracy theories helps to explain why stuff like this is occurring, Card said. "The simple reality is that it is now profitable — figuratively and literally — to push narratives that 'elites' are inflicting their will on the broader people through devious, conspiratorial, and at times supernatural means."

Live Science contacted Peru's Ministry of Culture, which did not return requests for comment by the time of publication.

Autonomous Truck Companies Are Leaving California For Texas

Looser regulations in Texas mean self-driving truck companies are packing up for the Lone Star State.


By Andy Kalmowitz
Published Wednesday , Sept. 13, 2023

Photo: Aurora

Three autonomous trucking companies with roots in CaliforniaKodiak Robotics, Aurora Innovations and Gatik.AI – all fled the Golden State looking for greener pastures in Texas when it came time to test their vehicles. According to Bloomberg, this sort of move was set in motion back in 2017 when lawmakers in the Lone Star State approved a legal pathway for autonomous trucks. Compared with California – a state where regulators haven’t set the rules for initial trials – the choice to head east was easy.

Regulation of autonomous vehicles is up to individual states, and about a half dozen of them allow driverless trucks as well. Texas has apparently embraced the technology. It has set up a task force to collaborate with operators and troubleshoot issues like roadside inspections and how police will respond when there’s no driver.

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Meanwhile, lawmakers in California have opposed autonomous 18-wheelers. Part of that, according to Bloomberg, is because of a “robust” union campaign led by Teamsters. There’s also the issue of California’s experience with robo-taxis in San Francisco. It’s gone less than well there with a number of crashes and other incidents. State officials have actually ordered GM’s Cruise to cut its autonomous fleet in half after one of its cars hit a fire truck.

On September 11th, the California State Senate reportedly approved a bill that would require drivers to always be present in large trucks – even if they’re being operated autonomously. The legislation now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom.

Bloomberg says there’s no guarantee that it’ll pass for a number of reasons.

A top adviser in his office wrote to the bill’s sponsors saying the proposed law “takes an inflexible approach to regulating a growing industry borne out of California’s innovation economy.”

That stance raises questions about the bill’s chances of becoming law, but there’s growing opposition to driverless trucks in the state. Unions are concerned about jobs, while proponents of the technology say it will help ease a perennial trucker shortage, especially for the long-haul routes that keep drivers away from family for long periods. And with no humans behind the wheel, rules such as limits on driving hours and a ban on drug and alcohol use will no longer apply.

[...]
Safety remains the paramount concern. Software and sensors don’t “have a gut reaction” when something goes wrong, and they can’t read the body language of a driver who’s about to cut into a lane, says Mike Di Bene, a Teamster who’s worked as a driver for three decades. “Our families are on those highways,” Di Bene says. “If you’re going unmanned, you’re going unsafe.”



According to the outlet, the trucks being tested in Texas have a much easier go of it than the cars in California. Out in Texas, the highways are mostly empty and flat, and the weather is usually favorable for visibility. It’s a much different story in SF, where taxis have to contend with, well, a city.

Bloomberg says that so far it’s been going well in Texas. Federal data reportedly shows that there have been fewer than 20 incidents in Texas, and all of them were caused by the drivers of other vehicles. Contrast that with 2021 collisions involving 18-wheelers, and you get a much different story. There were nearly a half-million collisions, killing nearly 5,800 people and injuring a further 155,000. Granted, there are a hell of a lot fewer autonomous trucks in Texas.

Still, that’s probably not enough. The outlet reports that folks within the industry need the systems to be flawless – not just better than vehicles with people behind the wheel. That’s apparently because insurers will likely balk at offering coverage unless they’re sure they will not face expensive settlements.

JALOPNIK

Household Incomes Fell in Several Key US Swing States Last Year

Alex Tanzi 
Thu, September 14, 2023 

(Bloomberg) — Household incomes fell in a third of all states nationwide last year, while just five saw median income levels improve, according US Census Bureau data.

Household incomes fell in 17 states, mostly in the upper Midwest, one-year estimates from the American Community Survey found. Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio — widely considered to be swing states in the 2024 US presidential election — are among those with falling household incomes.

Florida, Alabama and Utah were among states that saw incomes rise. The majority of states were relatively unchanged last year, according to the survey.

In the US overall, median income last year was $74,755 — a decline of 0.8% from 2021 after adjusting for inflation. Incomes by state ranged from a high in New Jersey of $96,346 to a low of $52,719 in Mississippi.

The Census Bureau’s American Community Survey is an annual survey that covers a broad range of topics about social, economic, demographic, and housing characteristics of the US population.

The share of older Americans living in poverty grew in 19 states, while the poverty rate for those age 65 and over was unchanged in 31 states. No states saw a decline.

In states such as Louisiana and Mississippi, almost 15% of older people lived in poverty last year, according to the survey. Even in wealthy states like New York, close to one in eight older people were considered poor.
UAW strike: Workers at 3 plants in 3 states launch historic action against Detroit Three

Jamie L. LaReauPhoebe Wall HowardEric D. Lawrence
Detroit Free Press


UAW supporters gather outside of the Michigan Assembly plant


The United Auto Workers launched a historic strike late Thursday by targeting all three Detroit automakers at once after contract negotiations failed to land a new deal.

UAW members at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri went on strike after their labor contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. The UAW confirmed that about 13,000 members across the three plants are walking the picket lines.


As the deadline for a new contract passed, cheering could be heard from inside the gates at Stellantis' Toledo Assembly Complex as cars and trucks streamed out and honking horns provided the soundtrack. At Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Assembly in Wayne, union strikers cheered: "We love you, Shawn, we love you," when UAW President Shawn Fain arrived after midnight to join the picket line. He stayed until after 1 a.m. and told members, "I work for you."



The third plant targeted in what was branded as the first wave of walkouts was General Motors' Wentzville Assembly in Missouri. In Wayne, only the Final Assembly and Paint portion of the facility was targeted.

The strike, which the union is calling the "Stand Up Strike," is targeting specific plants of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat brands. Union leaders have said they will select new target plants to take out on strike in various waves if negotiations continue to fail to land new agreements with the auto companies. The strategy is designed to keep the automakers off-guard and leverage the union's position to secure a better contract than the offers the Detroit automakers have made so far.



"This strategy will keep the companies guessing. It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining. And if we need to go all out, we will. Everything is on the table," Fain said in a late night livestream to members on Facebook Live.

“No matter what, all of us need to keep organizing: Rallies, protests, red shirt days,” Fain said during the broadcast. “We must show the companies you are ready to join and stand up and fight on a moment’s notice.”


His comments came near the end of a day of last-minute bargaining that ultimately stalled. The UAW has been negotiating with all three carmakers separately, yet simultaneously, since late summer.
Automakers react in disappointment

Shortly before midnight, GM sent out a statement saying the union informed the automaker it was on strike at Wentzville Assembly as of 11:59 PM.


"We are disappointed by the UAW leadership's actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments," the statement said. "We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible for the benefit of our team members, customers, suppliers and communities across the U.S. In the meantime, our priority is the safety of our workforce.”


Stellantis also sent a statement: "We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership's refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers. We immediately put the Company in contingency mode and will take all the appropriate structural decisions to protect our North American operations and the Company."


Ford did not immediately provide a comment.


Cheering crowds at striking plants


Just before midnight, a man in his white GMC pickup delivered firewood to the Toledo Assembly Complex for the burn barrel that was just bursting to flame. He didn’t want to give his name but said he works mornings at the plant building Jeeps and, “I’m just trying to make sure people stay warm,” he said.



Outside Michigan Assembly in Wayne, striking workers carried signs reading, “UAW on Strike” and others with the phrase, “Saving the American Dream.”

Parking lots across the street from Michigan Assembly rapidly filled as UAW members arrived cheering and chanting and singing and shouting. They carried signs and created a sea of red in their union shirts. Cars and trucks honked while passing.


When Fain arrived after the midnight deadline, an animated crowd of people quickly surrounded him and cheered. One man remarked that even at six foot four inches, he couldn’t see Fain in the crush of people surrounding the union leader.

Members shouted, “We love you, Shawn, we love you.”



Some of the handmade signs on display at Michigan Assembly: “Detroit is a union town,” “32 hours work for 40 hours pay!” and “get wise, organize.”

Not long after midnight, members in Wayne began to chant, “Mighty, mighty union, autoworker’s union.”

Retired autoworkers, members of other unions and politicians including U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, came out to support the strikers.


“We’re at a crossroads,” Dingell said, standing outside of the UAW Local 900’s union hall across from the plant in Wayne. Dingell was dressed head-to-toe in red, matching colors with many of those flanking Michigan Avenue on Thursday night. “These negotiations are the most important ones I’ve witnessed in my life."

'We gave up a lot'

The striking workers have their own reasons for wanting to walk out.

Dwayne Walker, 60, president of UAW Local 900, stood at the picket line in Wayne late Thursday. Local 900 has about 5500 members, he said, 4,000 of whom are now on strike at Michigan Assembly.

“Our motive is not a labor strike,” Walker said. “We’re trying to accomplish some things.”

Joel Ventimeglia, 46, of St. Clair Shores, said he inspects Bronco and Ranger vehicles on the line, and has worked for Ford at Michigan Assembly for 11 years. His reasons for walking the line are simple, “We gave up a lot a long time ago,” he said. “We just want what’s fair.”


Some of the striking workers in Wayne said they are concerned about paying for medical bills to address maladies they’ve accumulated from working such an active job.

“Plants put your body in shambles and the money they give you for retirement doesn’t go to cover the medical bills and it puts you in debt,” said Dino DeBlair, 57, of Carleton, an upfitter who adheres stickers to cars and has worked at Ford for 28 years.

DeBlair said benefits have dwindled and wages have remained stagnant for too long.

Charmaine Sanderfield, 34, of Canton, has been an assembly worker at the plant in Wayne for nearly four years. She said “record-breaking” profits should benefit workers, too. “It’s been a long time coming: It’s time to give us rightfully what’s ours,” she said. “People break their backs, their hands, their arms and spend time away from their families to build these vehicles."

Virginia Williams, a 65-year-old retired Wayne assembly worker, said she worked as a laborer for 28 years and is now chair pro tem of Romulus’ City Council. Williams retired 10 years ago, but has three children and a grandson working at Ford.

“We can’t have workers making cars they can’t afford to buy,” she said. “It makes them feel angry.”

But one arguments some analysts have made is that if they give the union members all that they ask for, prices for new vehicles, especially electric cars, will have to go up.

Supplemental work is 'hell'

Back in Toledo, Leticia Lopez, 38, of Toledo has been a supplemental worker at the Toledo Assembly Complex for four years. She's one of 1,400 supplemental workers there, she said. Before that, she’d been a supplemental worker for 3 ½ years at GM.

Early Friday morning, she stood outside her plant cheering. She’s been waiting, she said, for this moment. Working as a supplemental worker at the plant is more than difficult.




“It’s hell,” Lopez said, noting that during the pandemic, when others stayed home if they needed to, supplemental workers “were stuck in here,” she said, pointing to the plant.

The mother of seven said she stays at her job for the health care, which is free, but it doesn’t come with dental or vision coverage. Her current pay is $17 an hour and she said there’s no pathway to a permanent spot.

Dawnya Ferdinandsen, 54, of Sandusky stood outside the Toledo Assembly Complex cheering on the cars and trucks as they honked and sped by.

“Blow that horn, that’s it,” she said.



Ferdinandsen works at the GM Propulsion plant in Toledo but came to the Stellantis plant in solidarity.

“They supported us when we went out,” she said, referencing the 2019 strike against GM when workers from Ford and Stellantis, then Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, would join the picketers outside the GM plants during their free time.

'Spur negotiations rather than paralyze'

Stellantis makes its popular Jeep Wrangler, Wrangler 4xe and Jeep Gladiator pickups at the Toledo Complex. At Michigan Assembly, formerly called Michigan Truck Plant, Ford builds the Ranger mid-size pickup and the Bronco SUV. Wentzville Assembly in Missouri is where GM builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans.



"At this point, the three assembly plants that will walk out are a dramatic shot across the bow," said labor expert Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley. "The closure creates economic pain without a wider paralysis throughout the company. It is meant to spur negotiations rather than paralyze the company."

If the tactic doesn't work to get a better offer, Shaiken said other more “strategic” plants may be struck that could increase the pressure on the automakers by crippling facilities that make engines, transmissions and other vital components.

"A GM stamping plant — the Chevrolet Metal Center in Flint — and a GM Delphi electronics plant in Flint went out on a 54-day strike in 1998 paralyzing virtually the entire corporation," Shaiken said.


The union's strategy possibly could lead to a lockout at other facilities that aren't struck but may not be able to operate with certain components, raising the spectre there that workers at those plants would suffer financial losses.



Alternatively, the union could revert to shutting all plants at a single automaker, Shaiken said.

"What puts us in uncharted waters is a number of sharply different paths open to the union to press its demands. We also have to be aware, however, that the UAW isn’t the only actor here," Shaiken said. "The automakers could begin choosing strategic options as well."

The UAW's initial strike targets are noteworthy because they affect an assembly plant at each of the three companies, said Marick Masters, a labor expert and business professor at Wayne State University.

"This action is significant enough to convey the union's resolve in escalating pressure to get a better deal than has been put on the table so far," Masters said. "By not striking critical components plants the UAW avoids painting the companies into the corner."

Ford's bargaining late into the night

Shortly after Fain's 10 p.m. Facebook address, Ford put out an update to its final day of bargaining with the union.

"At 8 p.m. this evening at Solidarity House in Detroit, the United Auto Workers presented its first substantive counterproposal to Ford a few hours from the expiration of the current four-year collective bargain agreement," Ford's statement read. "On the key economic issues that matter most to our UAW-represented employees, Ford has submitted four proposals to the UAW since Aug. 29."




Ford said its last offer was "historically generous," with "large" wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, more paid time off, additional retirement contributions and more.

"Unfortunately, the UAW’s counterproposal tonight showed little movement from the union’s initial demands submitted Aug. 3," Ford's statement read. "If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labor costs, which are already significantly higher than the labor costs of Tesla, Toyota and other foreign-owned automakers in the United States that utilize non-union-represented labor."


Ford said union negotiators made clear that unless it agreed to the UAW's "unsustainable terms," it would strike at 11:59 p.m.

"Ford has bargained in good faith in an effort to avoid a strike, which could have wide-ranging consequences for our business and the economy," Ford said. "It also impacts the very 57,000 UAW-Ford workers we are trying to reward with this contract. Our hourly employees would take home nearly 60% less on average with UAW strike pay than they would from working. And without vehicles in production, the profit-sharing checks that UAW workers could expect to receive early next year will also be decimated by a significant strike.

"Ford remains absolutely committed to reaching an agreement that rewards our employees and protects Ford’s ability to invest in the future as we move through industry-wide transformation."

GM's last-minute offer

GM CEO Mary Barra said late Thursday afternoon that the automaker made a historic offer earlier to the UAW that pushes the hourly wage increase up to 20% over the life of the contract compared with 18%, which is what Fain said the company had offered a day earlier.

"We’ve worked days, nights and weekends since receiving the UAW’s demands. We have been bargaining in good faith to deliver a better package with historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments, recognizing your contributions to our company — past, present, and future," Barra said in a statement. "We are working with urgency and have proposed yet another increasingly strong offer with the goal of reaching an agreement tonight. Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won."

Fain revealed the list of "members" demands on Aug. 1 and they include:Eliminating wage tiers
A 40% wage increase over the life of the contract. The 40% signifies the increase to CEO salaries.
Restoring the cost-of-living allowance adjustments to counteract inflation
Defined benefit pension for all workers
The right to strike over plant closures
A reduced work week and more paid time off
Limiting the use of temporary workers
Increased benefits to current retirees
What is needed for a settlement

To get a tentative agreement that can be ratified by the membership, the UAW wants an offer that goes further on such critical issues as wages, workers reaching a top wage sooner, and the use of temps, Masters said.

"Something north of a 30% increase in general wages, a more expedited progression to the top tier (less than three years), and restrictions on the usage of temps will be necessary steps toward a settlement," Masters said. "Obviously, the more pay that can be put into the electronic accounts of the workers the better, and there are ways of doing so without further increasing base wages."



Early on in Facebook Live appearances to members, Fain shared the offers the Detroit carmakers proposed and he indicated they belonged in the trash because they fell short of meeting any of the union's demands. At the end of last month, he filed unfair labor practice charges against GM and Stellantis saying they were bargaining in bad faith because they had not yet made a serious offer to address the demands.

Fain has emphasized that the automakers collectively have made $21 billion in the first half of the year and billions more in recent years without giving hourly workers their "fair share" after they gave big wage concessions back in 2009 when GM and Stellantis, then called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, were going through bankruptcy.
Lawmakers weigh in

Within minutes of the strike statements from key lawmakers started streaming in to media.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan both support the UAW members. Peters said he will walk the picket line with striking auto workers Friday at 8:15 a.m. outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant..

Stabenow said union workers "helped build the middle class in our country and keep our economy strong. They deserve just pay and benefits, job security, and the commitment to be treated as equal partners with our auto companies as they lead the new clean energy economy.”

U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat representing southwestern Michigan, said, “I stand with the men and women on the picket line and urge the automakers to accept a contract that rewards UAW workers for the contributions they’ve made and the profits they’ve built.”

Speaker of the Michigan House Joe Tate, D-Detroit registered his support for the UAW members, noting about 300,000 Michigan workers are hourly workers connected to the auto industry.



“Workers are the backbone of the American auto industry, and organized labor is a part of our state’s enduring legacy," Tate said. "Decades of hard work and leadership by unions forged a path to help ensure safe workplaces, competitive wages, and the ability to raise and support a family. They helped make the American dream a reality for generations of Michiganders."

He said Michigan’s economy benefits when workers and industry negotiate together.

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, said she backs the UAW workers who are "fighting to make sure a hard day’s work means a good life for you and your family. For the last two years, we’ve passed bills to incentivize American manufacturing and bring supply chains home from places like China. But the companies that benefit from these policies need to do right by the workers who make their success possible."

Slotkin said she will join auto workers on the picket line this weekend, but hopes the strike is short and the parties can continue to negotiate to reach an agreement quickly.

More: In the last hours of bargaining, GM, Ford and Stellantis move to UAW headquarters

More:Possible UAW strike Q&A: Sticking points, company profits, how long it could last

Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan
‘A spit in the face.’ Electric vehicle plans worry a Midwest auto town


Chris Isidore, CNN
Wed, September 13, 2023 


Normally a new, $2.5 billion factory, complete with 1,400 expected jobs, would be considered a good thing for a local economy.

But not the battery plant in Kokomo, Indiana.

“It’s a spit in the face,” said Gary Quirk, president of United Auto Workers Local 685.

That’s because the plant will make large batteries for electric vehicles. The plant is being built by a joint venture of Stellantis, the automaker which makes vehicles under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler brands, and Samsung. UAW Local 685 represents four factories that Stellantis already operates in the town: three that make transmissions, one that makes engines.

The concerns of Quirk and his fellow union members epitomize a larger struggle in the US auto industry: Electric vehicles simply need less work to make. As automakers move to electric lineups, then, many of the well-paying union jobs making engines and other parts could disappear.

That struggle is on display in the Midwest now, as the current UAW contract with the Big Three unionized automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — runs out at 11:59 pm on Thursday.

The first piece of steel for the Stellantis and Samsung joint venture EV battery plant is raised earlier this year. -
Adam Nelson/Stellantis

The union is demanding job protections among its ambitious slate of bargaining goals. It says it is ready to have its 145,000 members at the three companies go on strike as early as Friday if it can’t reach a deal with the companies.

Another UAW local hall in town, one that represents workers at a Stellantis casting plant also in Kokomo, sits directly across the street from the new battery plant. That local was once the home of Shawn Fain, now the president of the UAW and the one leading negotiations with automakers that could lead to a strike later this week.

“It’s our backyard,” said Denny Butler, vice president of Local 685. “It’s ironic.”
‘Borrowed time’

The planned conversion to EVs will mean upheaval and job losses for some employees who have been working in auto plants, often for generations. EVs need neither gasoline engines nor transmissions.

The jobs in Kokomo are among those most at risk.

The EV battery plant being built by Stellantis and Samsung in Kokomo, in the background, is right across the street from one of the United Auto Workers union halls in the town where current unionized factories could be threatened by the shift to EVs.
- Chris Isidore/CNN

Kokomo is an industrial island in a seat of green farm fields in north central Indiana, between Indianapolis and South Bend. Those four Stellantis plants there employ 4,500 hourly workers and another 600 salaried staff, or better than one out of every seven non-farm jobs in the city and the surrounding area.

But now Stellantis, Ford and GM are planning all-electric futures, futures that will likely need fewer workers to build the same number of vehicles.

“We know we’re on borrowed time,” said Todd Dunsmore, who has worked at Stellantis for seven years. How does he feel about the EV transition? “I know it’ll hurt Kokomo.”

But some other members of Dunsmore’s local UAW are not as convinced that EVs are an existential threat to gas powered vehicles and their jobs. Many believe the company will decide to have other work done at the Kokomo plants, even if it no longer needs transmissions or engines. And many at the union’s Kokomo offices just doubt EVs will amount to most, let alone all, of the market.

Philip Kline has worked at one of the transmission plants in town for 27 years. His dad worked there for 30 years. He doesn’t believe that there is real demand out in the public for EVs.


Employees pull carts carrying transmission parts a transmission plant in Kokomo.
 - Daniel Acker/Bloomberg/Getty Images

“The thing that worries me is that (President Joe) Biden is rushing this,” he said.

That’s a common fear, even among those who don’t believe in EVs — that the auto industry will be forced to shift to EVs whether or not there is demand for them by car buyers.

“I don’t believe that people are ready for EVs, to be honest with you,” said Quirk. “The politicians might be ready, but I don’t believe the people are.”

“It sounds pretty good on paper. But the infrastructure isn’t set up to handle it,” said Butler. “You can spend more time charging the car, or trying to find a charger, than you do on the road.”

While EV sales are still only a fraction of vehicle sales, the automakers see growing public demand for EVs — and the need to comply with increasingly tougher environmental regulations around the world.

Even with their doubts, Kline, Quirk and Butler are nervous.

“If push comes to shove, if there are layoffs because of the EVs, the bottom line is we have no place to go,” Quirk said.

A fraction of auto plant pay

The Kokomo battery plant is still more than a year away from starting production. While it’s begun to hire some employees, it doesn’t yet have the workers who will be on the floor building the batteries.

The workers will not be Stellantis employee but employees of a separate company, the union says. Senior UAW members at Stellantis, General Motors and Ford get $32.32 an hour. The battery plant workers are likely to start at half that, Quirk said.

“It’s a fraction of what we make. Let’s face it, it’s not a livable wage,” he said.

The three unionized US automakers are all building EV battery plants. There is one plant open, an Ohio joint venture plant between GM and LG, and nine more plants planned or under construction.

In all cases the plants are joint venture with foreign battery makers. That means those workers won’t be employed by the automakers themselves — and thus, they will not be union, unless they organize.

The UAW said it doesn’t oppose plans to shift to EVs, even though by some estimates that could mean a 30% drop in jobs because EVs have fewer moving parts and need less labor to make.

But the union says it must be a “just transition” to EVs with good paying, unionized jobs for those who lose their positions due to the conversion. It says the EV plans make these talks “our generation’s defining moment.”

EVs a big issue in contract talks


It will be difficult for the union to win UAW-level wages at the battery plants. Workers at the first plant to open in Ohio did vote to join the UAW in December, and the union just won more than a 20% wage increase there. Even with the pay rise, that’s still a fraction of what workers get at union plants. The workers in Ohio will now get a starting wage of $20.50 an hour, up from the previous starting wage of $16.50 an hour. Even the top wage will be nearly 30% below top wage at a UAW plant today, let alone what it could be in the upcoming contract.

Still, winning significantly higher wages for battery plant workers at the Big Three might not be enough: The three unionized US automakers aren’t the only ones rushing to build battery plants. Another dozen are planned or under construction to serve the nonunion foreign automakers that now make most cars and trucks built in North America. Many are in the lower wage, primarily nonunion Southern states.

In Kokomo, the UAW members are bracing for a strike many are sure will start this week. Dunsmore was at the union hall on a recent Wednesday afternoon to sign up for picket line duty at one of the plants in town.

“I’ve been planning on this for a year,” he said.
U.S. auto workers launch first simultaneous strike at Detroit Three

Joseph White and David Shepardson
Updated Thu, September 14, 2023 

 May Day rally for media workers held by The NewsGuild of New York on International Workers' Day in Manhattan, New York City


By Joseph White and David Shepardson

DETROIT (Reuters) -The United Auto Workers union launched simultaneous strikes at three factories owned by General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis early on Friday, kicking off the most ambitious U.S. industrial labor action in decades.

The walkouts at the "Detroit Three" will halt production of the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck, along with other popular models. UAW President Shawn Fain said the union will hold off for now on more costly company-wide strikes, but said all options are open if new contracts are not agreed.

Fain laid out plans for the unprecedented, simultaneous walkouts in a Facebook Live address less than two hours before the expiration of the old contract.

The walkouts capped weeks of clashes between Fain and Detroit Three executives over union demands for a bigger share of profits generated by combustion trucks, and stronger job security as automakers shift to electric vehicles.

"For the first time in our history we will strike all three of the Big Three," Fain said.

The strikes involving a combined 12,700 workers will take place at assembly plants operated by Ford in Wayne, Michigan, GM in Wentzville, Missouri and Stellantis' Jeep brand in Toledo, Ohio. They are critical to the production of some of the Detroit Three's most profitable vehicles.

Fain's decision to go with targeted walkouts could limit the cost to the union of strike pay. The UAW has a strike fund of $825 million, which pales in comparisons to billions in liquidity the automakers have built up thanks to robust profits from the trucks and SUVs UAW members build.

Stellantis has more than 90 days worth of Jeeps in stock, and has been building SUVs and trucks on overtime, according to Cox Automotive data.

But a week-long shutdown at Stellantis' Jeep plant in Toledo could cut revenue by more than $380 million, based on data from the company's financial reports.

"This is more of a symbolic strike than an actual damaging one," said Sam Fiorani, a production forecaster at Auto Forecast Solutions, who added that he had expected more in the first wave of the strike.

"If the negotiations don't go in a direction that Fain thinks is positive, we can fully expect a larger strike coming in a week or two," he said.

Fiorani estimated the limited action would stop production of about 24,000 vehicles a week. And while it targets some key brands, like the Bronco, buyers would be willing to wait, for now.

COMPANIES FEAR COST HIKES


The union has said it wants a 40% raise. The companies have offered up to 20%, but without key benefits demanded by the union. None of the Detroit Three has proposed eliminating tiered wage systems that require new hires to stay on the job for eight years to earn the same as veteran workers - a central UAW demand.

Ford said the UAW's latest proposals would double its U.S. labor costs and make it uncompetitive against Tesla and other non-union rivals. A walkout could mean that UAW profit-sharing checks for this year would be "decimated," the company said.

Stellantis responded to the union walkout by saying it had immediately put the company in "contingency mode" and would take all of the appropriate structural decisions to protect the company and its North American operations, without elaborating.

Fain said earlier this week that Stellantis had proposed shutting as many as 18 U.S. facilities.

GM said it was disappointed by the walkout, and would continue to "bargain in good faith."

Ahead of Fain's address, GM's top manufacturing executive Gerald Johnson said in a video that the UAW's wage and benefits proposals would cost the automaker $100 billion, "more than twice the value of all of General Motors and absolutely impossible to absorb." He did not detail how the union proposals would result in that cost, or over what time frame.

Fain has rejected the automakers' assertions that union demands would cost too much, saying the companies have spent billions on share buybacks and executive salaries.

Suppliers and other industries that depend on automakers and their workers could see demand and cash dry up if the UAW shut down Detroit Three's U.S. manufacturing operations. The standoff has become a political issue with President Joe Biden, facing re-election next year, prominently calling for a deal.

Biden is pouring billions in federal subsidies into expanding sales of electric vehicles. But the shift to EVs could threaten UAW combustion powertrain jobs. The union has not endorsed Biden's re-election.

"I think the Biden administration just continues to watch this slow-moving car crash as its EV strategy collides head on with unions," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said.

UAW President Fain has taken an unorthodox approach to the negotiations, bargaining with all three Detroit automakers simultaneously. Past UAW leaders chose one company to set a contract pattern for the other two. Fain has played the companies against each other, seeking to drive up their offers.

While a deal with one or more of the automakers could come at any time, the disruption is an opportunity for non-union automakers in the United States, including Tesla, Toyota, Honda and Mercedes.

Those non-union factories, plus imported vehicles, account for more than half of the vehicles sold in the U.S. market.

A full strike would hit earnings by about $400 million to $500 million at each affected automaker per week of lost production, Deutsche Bank has estimated. Some of those losses could be recouped by boosting production schedules after a strike, but that possibility fades as a strike extends to weeks or months.

(Reporting by Joseph White in Detroit, David Shepardson in Washington, Peter Henderson in San Francisco and Mehr Bedi in Bengaluru; Editing by Jamie Freed)
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Auto workers strike after contract talks with US car giants fail


United Auto Workers union unable to agree deal with Ford, GM and Stellantis, who have seen profits and executive pay soar


Michael Sainato
@msainat1
THE GUARDIAN
Fri 15 Sep 2023

Auto workers have launched a series of strikes after their union failed to reach agreement with the US’s three largest manufacturers over a new contract, kicking off the most ambitious industrial labor action in decades.

The deadline for talks between Ford, General Motors, Stellantis and the United Auto Workers (UAW) expired at midnight on Thursday, with the sides still far apart on the union’s new contract priorities.

The strike – which marks the first time all three of the Detroit Three carmakers have been targeted by strikes at the same time – is being coordinated by UAW president Shawn Fain. He said he intended to launch a series of limited and targeted “standup” strikes to shut individual auto plants around the US.

The strikes kicked off at midnight at a General Motors plant in Wentzville, Missouri, a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio, and a Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Michigan.

They involve a combined 12,700 workers at the plants, which are critical to the production of some of the Detroit Three’s most profitable vehicles including the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Chevrolet Colorado pickup truck.

“This is our defining moment,” said Fain during a livestream on Thursday night, less than two hours before the strike was set to begin.

Fain said he would join the picket line at the Wayne plant when the action began at midnight and did not rule out broadening the strikes beyond the initial three targets. “If we need to go all out, we will.”

The UAW has a $825m strike fund that is set to compensate workers $500 a week while out on strike and could support all of its members for about three months. Staggering the strikes rather than having all 150,000 members walk out at once will allow the union to stretch those resources.

A limited strike could also reduce the potential economic damage economists and politicians fear would result from a widespread, lengthy shutdown of Detroit Three operations.

Stellantis has more than 90 days worth of Jeeps in stock, and has been building SUVs and trucks on overtime, according to Cox Automotive data.

But a week-long shutdown at Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo could cut revenue by more than $380 million, based on data from the company’s financial reports.

“If the negotiations don’t go in a direction that Fain thinks is positive, we can fully expect a larger strike coming in a week or two,” said Sam Fiorani, a production forecaster at Auto Forecast Solutions.

He estimated the limited action would stop production of about 24,000 vehicles a week.

Among the union’s demands are a 40% pay increase, an end to tiers, where some workers are paid at lower wage scales than others, and the restoration of concessions from previous contracts such as medical benefits for retirees, more paid time off and rights for workers affected by plant closures.

Workers have cited past concessions and the big three’s immense profits in arguing in favor of their demands. The automakers’ profits jumped 92% from 2013 to 2022, totaling $250bn. During this same time period, chief executive pay increased 40%, and nearly $66bn was paid out in stock dividends or stock buybacks to shareholders.

The industry is also set to receive record taxpayer incentives for transitioning to electric vehicles.

Despite these financial performances, hourly wages for workers have fallen 19.3%, with inflation taken into account, since 2008.

The Biden administration is reportedly considering emergency aid for smaller supply firms to the automaker manufacturers due to the strike, and president Biden spoke to Fain on the status of negotiations on Thursday.

Ford said in a statement the UAW’s latest proposals would double its US labor costs. A walkout could mean that UAW profit-sharing checks for this year will be “decimated,” the company said.

GM and Stellantis declined to comment ahead of the midnight strike deadline.

However in an earlier video GM’s top manufacturing executive Gerald Johnson said that the UAW’s wage and benefits proposals would cost the automaker $100 billion, “more than twice the value of all of General Motors and absolutely impossible to absorb.” He did not detail how the union proposals would result in that cost, or over what time frame.

And in an appearance on CNBC on Thursday evening, Ford CEO Jim Farley also criticized the union, claiming, “there’s no way we can be sustainable as a company,” if they met the union’s wage demands.

GM CEO Mary Barra also said in a letter to employees about the status of negotiations and the company’s latest offer to the union, “Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won.”

The contract fight has garnered significant support from the public and US labor movement. Drivers represented by the Teamsters have pledged not to cross the picket line, halting deliveries of vehicles from the automakers throughout the strike. Several labor unions, environmental, racial and social justice groups have publicly announced support for the UAW in their fight for new contracts.

Thursday, September 14, 2023

Taseko secures final permit for Arizona copper mine




14th September 2023
By: Mariaan Webb
Creamer Media 
Senior Deputy Editor Online

Canadian mining company Taseko Mines has received the final permit to build its 85-million-pound-a-year copper mine in Arizona.

The company on Thursday announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had issued the final underground injection control permit (UIC) for the Florence copper project.


“We now have one of a very few construction-ready, fully permitted copper projects in North America. With approvals in place from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and now the EPA, we can commence construction of the Florence Copper commercial production facility,” said Taseko president and CEO Stuart McDonald.

With procurement well advanced, the next steps would be mobilisation of contractors for the wellfield and SX/EW plant construction.


“We continue to advance discussions with potential lenders and royalty providers for the remainder of the project financing package and expect to have additional commitments in place before construction spending ramps up.”

When commercial operations begin, Florence Copper will have a yearly production capacity of 85-million pounds of copper at $1.11 per pound C1 cash costs over a 22-year mine life. Based on a March 2023 technical report for the project, which is supported by results from the successful operation of a production test facility, the project has an after-tax net present value of $930-million at a copper price of $3.75/lb.

“The Florence copper project is one of the least capital-intensive copper projects in the world and will have an environmental footprint smaller than any conventional openpit or underground mining operation of comparable size. Low water use, low energy consumption and low carbon emissions make Florence copper an exceptionally green project that will supply refined copper to the rapidly growing US domestic market,” said McDonald.

US committee recommends royalties on minerals for EVs in sweeping reform proposal

Reuters | September 12, 2023 | 

Aerial view of a dirt road at Thacker Pass Nevada. 

A federal committee on Tuesday recommended imposing royalties on US hardrock mining for the first time, a move it said could increase domestic production by providing funds for the agencies in charge of issuing new mining permits.


The proposal was part of a suite of recommendations aimed at increasing supply of the materials like lithium, cobalt and nickel that are needed for a domestic electric vehicle (EV) industry that is key to President Joe Biden’s climate agenda.

In a 168-page report, the Interagency Working Group on Mining Laws, Regulations and Permitting broadly encouraged Congress to reform the General Mining Law of 1872, which established a system that provides free and open exploration of federal mineral deposits.

In addition to recommending royalties of 4% to 8%, the interagency group advocated for moving to a system of leasing federal lands for mining and encouraging mining claimants to develop claims in a timely manner by increasing fees over time.

Such changes would put the industry on more even footing with those like oil and gas and coal.

Increased funds could both shore up agency staff needed to speed mine permitting, engage with local communities and protect taxpayers from the cost of cleaning up abandoned mines.

“Agreeing to play by the same rules that other people are playing by can help with the public perception of the mining industry,” an Interior Department official said. “Also, if a community or a state is going to receive some of the revenue from this, then that can also either lower opposition or provide funding to address some of the issues that are causing the opposition.”

Automakers, miners, and mining states like Nevada have pressed for faster, more efficient mine permitting. Some tribes have asked for greater transparency and engagement around mine planning, while others and environmentalists have called for more studies on the pollution and safety risks of hard rock mining, pushing the federal government to limit mines.

The committee is led by the Interior Department and includes representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency, the Agriculture, Energy and State departments, the White House and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

(By Nichola Groom; Editing by Aurora Ellis)