The International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America, better known as the United Automobile Workers (UAW), is an American labor union that represents workers in the United States and Canada. It was founded as part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) in the 1930s and grew rapidly from 1936 to the 1950s. The union played a major role in the liberal wing of the Democratic party under the leadership of Walter Reuther. It was known for gaining high wages and pensions for auto workers, but it was unable to unionize auto plants built by foreign-based car makers in the South after the 1970s, and it went into a steady decline in membership; reasons for this included increased automation, decreased use of labor, movements of manufacturing, and increased globalization.
United Kingdom labour law regulates the relations between workers, employers and trade unions. People at work in the UK benefit from a minimum charter of employment rights, which are found in various Acts, Regulations, common law and equity. This includes the right to a minimum wage of £8.21 for over 25-year-olds under the National Minimum Wage Act 1998. The Working Time Regulations 1998 give the right to 28 days paid holidays, breaks from work, and attempts to limit excessively long working hours. The Employment Rights Act 1996 gives the right to leave for child care, and the right to request flexible working patterns. The Pensions Act 2008 gives the right to be automatically enrolled in a basic occupational pension, whose funds must be protected according to the Pensions Act 1995.
The Canadian Auto Workers was one of Canada's largest and highest profile labour unions. In 2013 it merged with the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, forming a new union, Unifor. While rooted in Ontario's large auto plants of Windsor, Brampton, Oakville, St. Catharines and Oshawa, the CAW has expanded and now incorporates workers in almost every sector of the economy. The presidents of the CAW were Bob White (1985-1992), Buzz Hargrove (1992-2008) and Ken Lewenza (2008-2013).
The Canadian Labour Congress, or CLC is a national trade union centre, the central labour body in English Canada to which most Canadian labour unions are affiliated.
Basil Eldon "Buzz" Hargrove, is the former National President of the Canadian Auto Workers trade union. He is currently serving as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University's Ted Rogers School of Management.
Patrick Cyril "Sid" Ryan is a Canadian labour union leader and politician. Ryan is the former president of the Ontario Federation of Labour.
The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) is a United States federally chartered corporation created by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to encourage the continuation and maintenance of voluntary private defined benefit pension plans, provide timely and uninterrupted payment of pension benefits, and keep pension insurance premiums at the lowest level necessary to carry out its operations. Subject to other statutory limitations, PBGC's single-employer insurance program pays pension benefits up to the maximum guaranteed benefit set by law to participants who retire at 65. The benefits payable to insured retirees who start their benefits at ages other than 65 or elect survivor coverage are adjusted to be equivalent in value. The maximum monthly guarantee for the multiemployer program is far lower and more complicated.
Robert White, was a prominent leader in the Canadian trade union and labour movement who was the founding president of the Canadian Auto Workers after leading its separation from its American parent, the United Auto Workers, and then president of the Canadian Labour Congress. Born in Northern Ireland, he emigrated with his family to Canada at age 13, settling in Woodstock, Ontario. White died in 2017 at the age of 81 in Kincardine, Ontario.
In December 2005, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 (TWU) called a strike in New York City. Negotiations for a new contract with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) broke down over retirement, pension, and wage increases. The strike began at 3:00 a.m. EST on December 20, 2005. Most New York City Transit Authority and MTA Bus Company personnel observed the strike, effectively halting all service on the subway and buses, except for routes operated from the Spring Creek Depot, where workers represented by ATU Local 1181/1061 had a contract in force after striking against the predecessor operator, Command Bus Company, the previous year. Millions of commuters were affected. The strike officially ended at 2:35 p.m. EST on December 22, 2005. Service was restored overnight, with all transportation systems fully operational by the morning commute of the 23rd.
Unifor Local 111 is a local union of the general trade union Unifor. It represents conventional and community bus operators for Coast Mountain Bus Company in Metro Vancouver. It was founded as Canadian Auto Workers Local 111 from the remnants of the Independent Canadian Transit Union, which had acrimoniously broken from the U.S.-dominated Amalgamated Transit Union. ICTU was a maverick union, never part of the labour mainstream, and eventually the ICTU membership voted to reenter the labour establishment by joining the Canadian Auto Workers, which ironically broke from U.S.-dominated United Auto Workers about the same time ICTU came into being.
Reuther's Treaty of Detroit was a five-year contract negotiated by trade union president Walter Reuther between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and General Motors in 1950. The UAW reached similar deals with the other members of the Big Three automakers, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler. The UAW agreed to a long-term contract, which protected automakers from annual strikes, and it gave up the right to bargain over some issues in exchange for extensive health, unemployment, and pension benefits; expanded vacation time; and cost-of-living adjustments to wages.
Services Employees International Union Healthcare is a trade union in Canada, representing more than 65,000 workers in Ontario. Through collective bargaining, the union represents workers in hospitals, home care, nursing & retirement homes, community services, and other healthcare-based occupations.
The 99-day Ford strike of 1945 took place in Windsor, Ontario, Canada from September 12, 1945, to December 19, 1945. Under UAW Local 200 President Roy England, 11,000 workers walked off their jobs after 24 of their demands went unmet by the Ford Motor Company. Negotiations for a new contract had spanned 18 months and officially ended with the exodus of Ford workers at ten o'clock on the morning of September 12. The Strike included picketing and eventually led to a two-day blockade of vehicles surrounding the Ford plant on November 5. The strike ended on December 19 as both sides agreed to return to previous working conditions while arbitration regarding implementing a fully unionized shop and medical coverage continued under Justice Ivan C. Rand. His report was released on January 29, 1946. The Rand Formula, as it became known, gave the UAW formal recognition as the sole negotiators representing all employees of Ford Motor Company. However it changed the law a couple of years later.
Canadian Auto Workers Local 1973 was a local union affiliated Canadian Auto Workers.
In France employees of some government-owned corporations enjoy a special retirement plan, collectively known as régimes spéciaux de retraite. These professions include employees of the SNCF, the RATP, the electrical and gas companies which used to be government-owned; as well as some employees whose functions are directly related to the State such as the military, French National Police, sailors, Civil law notaries' assistants, employees of the Opéra de Paris, etc. The main differences between the special retirement plan and the usual private sector retirement plans are the retirement age and the number of years a worker must contribute to the fund before being allowed a full pension. In the private sector the minimum retirement age is 62 and the minimum number of quarters of contribution to the retirement fund in order to receive a full pension is between 166 and 172 quarters depending on date of birth. Employees who are enrolled in the special retirement plan can retire earlier.
Unifor National Council 4000 is the umbrella organization for five regionally based Unifor Local Unions across Canada that represent more than 5,060 members in various sectors, largely within the railway and transportation industry. It is the largest rail Local within Unifor.
Ken Lewenza Sr. was the National President of the Canadian Auto Workers union, having been acclaimed at that organization's national convention on September 6, 2008. He was previously the president of the Canadian Auto Workers, Local 444 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. He replaced Buzz Hargrove as the union's national president.
Unifor Local 444 is an amalgamated local union affiliated to the general trade union Unifor. Founded in 1942 as the Chrysler Division of UAW Local 195, Local 444 became a stand-alone union in 1956. Following the separation of the Canadian Auto Workers from UAW, the union renamed to CAW Local 444. In 2013, the Canadian Auto Workers union and the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers union merged to form a new union call Unifor.
Charles E. Brooks (1915–1977) was a Canadian labour union activist, the first president of the United Auto Workers Local 444, who was assassinated by an upset employee of Chrysler Motors.
The Canadian auto industry is closely linked to the U.S., due to the Automotive Products Trade Agreement and later the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and is in similar trouble. Canada's 3,500 car dealers, which employ 140,000 people, told the federal and Ontario governments in mid-November they are at risk from the financial crisis; they are asking the national government to help out despite a record year of sales. Ottawa is considering providing financial aid to the Canadian subsidiaries of the Big Three, and possibly auto parts companies as well. The auto industry argued that loan guarantees and other help would try to save tens of thousands of Canadian jobs threatened by the sudden drop in North American car sales. Chrysler Canada has asked for $1 billion in aid, making it the only Canadian arm of the Big Three to make a specific dollar request.
