Labor News & Commentary October 31, 2023 President Biden issues an executive order on artificial intelligence

https://onlabor.org/october-31-2023/

By Sunah Chang

Sunah Chang is a student at Harvard Law School.

In today’s news and commentary: UAW reaches a tentative deal with General Motors, pharmacy workers plan a nationwide walkout, and President Biden issues an executive order on artificial intelligence.

Yesterday, UAW announced a tentative deal with General Motors, putting an end to the historic, six-week strike campaign coordinated by the union. “Like the agreements with Ford and Stellantis, the GM agreement has turned record profits into a record contract,” stated the union.

GM is the last of the Big Three companies to strike a tentative deal with the union, and much of its deal echoes the union’s agreements reached with Ford and Stellantis over the past few days. GM’s deal includes a 25% wage increase across a four-and-a-half year deal with cost of living adjustments and removes two-tier wage systems. The deal also expands the workers who are covered by the UAW contract, bringing in workers at a GM subsidiary called GM Subsystem as well as workers at Ultium Cells, an EV battery joint venture between GM and LG Energy Solution. Because the deals with the Big Three companies are tentative, all three deals will need to be ratified by rank-and-file members before going into effect. Commending UAW’s tentative deal with GM, President Biden issued an official statement, noting, “[t]his historic contract is a testament to the power of unions and collective bargaining to build strong middle-class jobs while helping our most iconic American companies thrive.”

FULL story at link above.