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UAW strike tops $5.5 billion in economic losses, setting new record

October 5, 2023
Update on Monday at 12:55 p.m. Eastern: The ongoing United Auto Workers strike has set a current-century record for losses due to an auto industry strike. Anderson Economic Group announced Monday that through Oct. 5, total economic losses from the strike exceeded $5.5 billion. The previous record loss was $4 billion from the 2019 UAW strike against GM.

United Auto Workers (UAW) has held the line against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis for three complete weeks. Now, there are whispers of progress at the bargaining table, as both sides lose hundreds of millions each week the strike goes on.

“It’s kind of hard now,” said Roy Wood, a UAW worker striking against Ford in Chicago. “We’re just in our first week for me, and we’re just waiting for this to come to a conclusion, hopefully fast.”

Striking workers are living off $500 per week from the strike fund while fighting for higher pay in the plants.

“You cannot ignore the fact that there is an economic loss being incurred every day while the strike is still going,” said Shay Manawar, a senior analyst at Anderson Economic Group (AEG).

Manawar and AEG have been tracking those losses since the first day, when 12,700 UAW workers walked out of three plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. Another 5,600 workers joined the strike in the second week, walking out of 38 distribution plants.

“First two weeks, we’re looking at $3.95 billion in economic losses. Third or fourth week might look different,” Manawar said.

Different means more expensive, as more plants and people are impacted each week as the strike expands. AEG’s latest figures don’t include week three, when 6,900 more workers walked out of Ford’s Chicago plant and GM’s Lansing, Michigan, plant.

“We do anticipate additional impact, not just on the manufacturers as well as suppliers, but also on consumers,” Manawar said. “Distribution centers are being either impacted or closed; workers are being laid off. That means the dealerships that not just rely on selling new cars, but also have different departments such as used and body shops, if they’re not able to get their job done, that is also impacting consumers directly.”

When UAW last went on strike in 2019 against GM, the 6-week stalemate pushed Michigan into a single-quarter recession.

“This time around, we are looking at not just Michigan, but also other states,” Manawar explained.

Meanwhile, GM is bracing for additional walkouts. The company said this week that it took out a $6 billion line of credit. On Wednesday, Oct. 4, GM announced the targeted strikes have already cost the company $200 million in the third quarter.

“I think [it’s] prudent in light of some of the messages that we’ve seen from some of the UAW leadership that they intend to drag this on for months,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson told CNBC.

Ford is presenting a more optimistic front, announcing its “seventh and strongest offer” to UAW, which includes immediate pay raises topping 20% and inflation protection down the road.

UAW President Shawn Fain plans to provide a strike update to the nearly 150,000 workers of the “Big Three” automakers on Friday, Oct. 6, according to Reuters.
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75,000 health care workers strike demanding better staffing and pay

October 4, 2023
There’s more labor unrest in the U.S. as 75,000 health care workers are striking in California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Virginia and Washington, D.C. over pay and staffing shortages. Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s largest insurers and healthcare organizations.

With 39 hospitals nationwide, the nonprofit provides health care coverage and care to 13 million Americans.

Kaiser brought in more than $2 billion in the second quarter of 2023 compared to a loss of more than $1 billion in 2022; workers say they want their share.

The strike, approved by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, is set to last three days in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and just one day in Virginia and the District of Columbia.

While tens of thousands of vocational nurses, home health aides, ultrasound sonographers, and technicians in X-ray, surgical, radiology, pharmacy, and emergency departments walk out, doctors are not. Hospitals, along with emergency departments, will be open through the strike.

According to The Associated Press, Kaiser is bringing in thousands of temporary workers to fill the holes and ensure patient care during the strike. But wait times will likely increase, and non-urgent procedures may have to be rescheduled.

Negotiations between Kaiser officials and workers are ongoing as the unions demand a long-term fix to staffing shortages, which have been exacerbated since the start of the pandemic, along with better pay and benefits.

In a statement on Monday, Oct. 2, Kaiser acknowledged the staffing pitfalls and said in part, “…healthcare is still under great stress. More than 5 million people have left their health care jobs, and burnout is at record highs.”

While negotiations are ongoing, the unions said that if a deal isn’t made, there will be another, more prolonged strike in November, which would include more Washington health care workers whose contract is up on Oct. 31.

This picketing marks the latest significant action by workers in the U.S. This year, tens of thousands of workers went on strike for better pay and benefits across multiple industries, including entertainment, automotive, health care, and hospitality.
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EVs emerge as a major driver of political discourse ahead of 2024 election

September 28, 2023
Electric vehicles are poised to be a major driver of political discourse leading up to the 2024 presidential election. President Joe Biden has made EV production a centerpiece of his administration’s platform ahead of his reelection campaign, but the carbon-combating initiative puts him at odds with an important part of his voting base.

One prominent issue linked to the EV push is the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike, which has now entered its third week. The labor dispute, involving nearly 20,000 workers on the picket lines, has increasingly come into conflict with Biden’s electrification agenda, elevating it to a central point of contention.

“On day one, I will terminate Joe Biden’s electric vehicle mandate, and I will cancel every job killing regulation that is crushing America’s autoworkers,” said Republican frontrunner and former President Donald Trump during an auto-workers focused rally in Michigan. “Yesterday, Joe Biden came to Michigan to pose for photos at the picket line, but it’s his polices that send Michigan autoworkers to the unemployment line.”

Among the concerns raised by the striking UAW members is the fear of a “race to the bottom.” Many EV manufacturing plants currently operate with low-wage, non-union employees. UAW members worry that this model could become the norm as gas-powered vehicles are phased out, which Biden aims to do by 2035, potentially leading to a decline in job security and compensation for autoworkers.

The UAW has also expressed apprehensions regarding the impact of EV production on the number of jobs available for autoworkers. Union members argue that EV manufacturing requires a smaller workforce compared to what is currently needed for building gas-powered vehicles, which could result in job cuts within the industry.

“EV powertrains are mechanically simpler than ICE powertrains,” the UAW said. “This simplicity could reduce the amount of labor, and thus jobs, associated with vehicle production.”

Meanwhile, automakers have cited rising costs associated with the transition to electric vehicles as a key reason for their inability to meet the UAW’s demands for wage increases, pensions and cost-of-living adjustments.

“If we signed up for the UAW’s request, instead of making money and distributing $75,000 in profit sharing the last 10 years, we would have lost $15 billion and gone bankrupt by now,” said Ford CEO Jim Farley. “There’s no way we can be sustainable as a company. That’s why we put our proposal in two weeks ago to say look, you want you want us to choose bankruptcy. Over supporting our workers.”

Biden, who has often touted himself as the most pro-union president in history, has thrown his support behind the UAW. He even went as far as joining striking workers on the picket lines to show his solidarity, the first sitting president ever to do so. However, the UAW has yet to officially endorse the president as he seeks a second term as the union continues its push for improved labor benefits.

“The unions built the middle class. That’s a fact,” Biden told striking autoworkers in Michigan. “Let’s keep going, you deserve what you’ve earned. And you’ve earned a hell of a lot more than you’re getting paid now.”

The divide over EVs has further deepened along party lines, with recent data from BloombergNEF highlighting the disparities in electric vehicle adoption at the state level.

Liberal states like California and Washington are leading the nation in EV passenger car sales during the first half of 2023, while conservative states such as Ohio and Texas are lagging behind.

As of the end of 2022, 30 states in the U.S. had an EV fleet share of less than 1%. Among those 30 states, Trump secured the popular vote in 20 of them, excluding swing states. Conversely, 16 states boasted an EV fleet share of 1% or greater over that same time span, with 13 of them having been won in the popular vote by Biden. Among all of these states, California held the highest EV fleet percentage in the nation, while Mississippi — a Republican-held state — had the lowest EV fleet share.

This partisan discourse over electric vehicles comes at a time when Republicans have initiated an investigation into a recent incident involving Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The investigation centers on an incident where a staff member on energy secretary’s team allegedly blocked off an EV charger in Georgia to reserve it for her use. This act led a family in need of the charger to contact the police due to the staffer’s refusal to allow them access, creating controversy on a trip that Republicans said aimed to “boost the charade of the effectiveness of green energy.”

“Committee Republicans remain committed to preserving freedoms like vehicle consumer choice in the face of an unproven, burdensome, and expensive Biden Administration push to force all Americans to buy EVs,” wrote Reps. James Comer, R-Ky., and Pat Fallon, R-Texas, in a letter to Granholm informing her of the probe. “We request documents and information to understand the purposes, costs, and consequences of your summer 2023 EV road trip.”

Republican congressional members have claimed Granholm’s team needed to block off the charger due to the poor reliability of other charging stations in the area, infrastructure that her department has advocated for expanding. During testimony before the House earlier in September, Granholm acknowledged that the incident was the result of “poor judgment on the part of the team.”
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Experts say car prices likely to increase as result of UAW strike

September 20, 2023
For the first time, all three of America’s major automakers, including GM, Ford and Stellantis, are currently facing a strike organized by the United Auto Workers (UAW) union. This work stoppage has raised concerns among consumers and is poised to have significant implications for the automotive industry, as well as car buyers.

“We are not in a position where there’s enough supply for consumers to not feel a lot of pricing pain,” said Pat Ryan, CEO of car-shopping website CoPilot. “We just simply don’t have the supply of popular brands and models back to a point where even a short strike could be weathered without impacting pricing.”

The strike comes at a pivotal moment for the U.S. car market, which has been recovering from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and supply chain disruptions that led to a global shortage of semiconductor chips—a vital component in modern vehicles. These challenges resulted in a steep increase in the average price of new vehicles, surging to $50,000, up approximately $10,000 from where it had been just five years ago.

Consumers have started to feel some relief. The median price tag for new vehicles declined around $2,000 this summer.

The ongoing UAW strike has sparked questions about whether prices will continue cooling or if consumers will face rising costs once again. Many automotive experts believe that price hikes are on the horizon for both new and used car buyers, but the extent of these increases remains uncertain.

“Pricing may well go up just because of scarcity, and if that happens, then the consumer that potentially was buying a new car would move to the used car market,” Russell Hensley, a partner and senior leader within McKinsey’s Global Automotive and Assembly Practice, said. “Prices will likely go up in the used car market.”

“You’re going to get sticker shock in two different ways: the actual sticker price, and the cost of financing that purchase,” said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst for Bankrate, an online service that compares the interest rates of various financial products.

Industry analysts at J.D. Power agree that vehicle costs will likely rise but do not anticipate a return to the extreme pricing pressures seen during the pandemic.

Several popular automotive brands, such as Toyota, BMW, Hyundai, Tesla, and others, are not currently impacted by the strike as their workers are not part of the union. This divergence in labor relations means that some vehicle manufacturers will continue production in the U.S. without disruption.

Cox Automotive officials suggest that the strike’s immediate effect will be limited to specific product lines. However, the strike’s impact could potentially expand if negotiations fail to yield substantive progress in the near future. As of now, the UAW has called for strikes at only three final assembly plants, but the union has expressed willingness to involve workers from other facilities if negotiations remain at an impasse by the end of the week.

“If we don’t see serious progress to noon Friday, Sept. 22, more locals will be called on to stand up and go on strike. We’re going to keep hitting the companies where we need to,” said Shawn Fain, UAW president. “We’re not going to keep waiting around forever while they drag this out … and we’re not messing around.”

With no clear resolution in sight and the likelihood of additional plants experiencing work stoppages increasing, consumers may face gradually escalating costs as this situation continues. Even if the strike is settled quickly, car buyers may still see price increases as labor costs for automakers rise, as well.
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California fast food workers set to receive $20 minimum wage

September 12, 2023
Fast food workers in California are set to see an increase in their hourly wages following a recent labor agreement. The deal is part of Assembly Bill (AB) 1228, dubbed the Fast Food Franchisor Responsibility Act, which has been under consideration since its introduction to the California State Assembly in February.

Under the terms of the agreement, fast food workers will now be entitled to a minimum wage of at least $20 per hour by April. This wage increase comes alongside various workplace regulations and the establishment of a council responsible for overseeing future adjustments to the minimum wage in the industry.

“It is a powerful, amazing day,” said Tia Orr, executive director of Service Employees International Union California. “The new bill really clears a path for workers to have their victory back.”

It is a powerful, amazing day.
Tia Orr, executive director of Service Employees International Union California

In exchange for increased worker protections and higher wages, state lawmakers made concessions to address some of the restaurant industry’s concerns. The California legislature agreed to remove a provision within AB 1228 that would have held restaurant companies liable for workplace violations committed by their franchisees.

“This agreement is in the best interest of workers, local franchise restaurant owners, and brands and protects the franchise business model that has provided opportunities for thousands of Californians to become small business owners,” said Matt Haller, president and CEO of the International Franchise Association.

Members within the Service Employees International Union have lauded the bill for what they see as “much-needed improvements” to the working conditions and compensation of fast-food employees. Meanwhile, officials from the National Restaurant Association have also expressed support for the legislation, contending that it safeguards “local restaurant owners from significant threats that would have made it difficult to continue to operate in California.”

“With these important changes, A.B. 1228 clears the path for us to start making much-needed improvements to the policies that affect our workplaces and the lives of more than half a million fast-food workers in our state,” said Ingrid Vilorio, a fast-food worker and member of the Service Employees International Union.

“[AB 1228] provides a more predictable and stable future for restaurants, workers, and consumers,” said Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs at the National Restaurant Association.

California attempted to implement a similar law last year when Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed AB 257. That bill would have set the minimum wage at $22 per hour, but various restaurants and business interest groups opposed the legislation. Ultimately, a petition garnered enough signatures to place a measure on the November 2024 ballot aimed at preventing the law from taking effect.

This tactic of using ballot initiatives to counter legislation has been employed successfully in the past by several business groups in the state. Uber, Instacart and oil companies have all utilized this method in attempts to strike down laws that run afoul of their business interests.

The practice has not been without controversy, as advocacy groups argue that it disproportionately favors wealthy special interest groups. In response to these concerns, Newsom recently signed legislation, known as AB 421, aimed at simplifying the referendum process.

“It’s a bitter irony that the ballot initiative, a tool used all over the world to advance democracy, is used in California to short-circuit and cancel democracy here,” said Joe Mathews, a columnist for Zocalo Public Square in Los Angeles.

Regarding the pending referendum to block the previously passed $22 minimum wage, restaurant companies will need to withdraw the 2024 ballot measure for the latest revised deal to move forward.
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Labor Dept. proposes overtime rule change for salaried workers

August 30, 2023

The Department of Labor proposed a rule that it said would make nearly 4 million more Americans eligible for overtime pay. The rule would allow salaried employees who makes less than $55,000 per year eligible for overtime.

That would be a raise from the current threshold of $35,568, making about 3.6 million more salaried workers eligible. In 2019, the Trump administration raised the threshold from $23,660.

Labor advocates have long pushed a strong expansion of overtime protections, which have eroded in recent decades due to wage stagnation and inflation. The new rule would have the biggest impact on retail, food, hospitality, manufacturing and other industries where many managerial employees meet the new threshold.

“For over 80 years, a cornerstone of workers’ rights in this country is the right to a 40-hour workweek, the promise that you get to go home after 40 hours or you get higher pay for each extra hour that you spend laboring away from your loved ones,” Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said in a statement. “I’ve heard from workers again and again about working long hours, for no extra pay, all while earning low salaries that don’t come anywhere close to compensating them for their sacrifices.”

The Labor Department’s overtime rule proposal is likely to receive pushback from business groups, which mounted a successful legal challenge against a similar proposed regulation President Joe Biden announced as vice president during the Obama administration. Back in 2022, the National Association of Manufacturers warned a rule change would be disruptive at time of lingering supply chain and labor supply difficulties.

The proposal also may run afoul of some liberal lawmakers and unions who have pushed for an even higher threshold. A group of Democratic lawmakers have urged the Labor Department to raise the salary threshold to $82,732 by 2026, in line with the 55th percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers.
American Airlines pilots approve contract, other pilots continue push

August 22, 2023
American Airlines pilots approved a new contract, according to an announcement from the Allied Pilot Association (APA) on Monday, Aug. 21. According to the union’s announcements, 95% of eligible pilots voted on the contract, with 72.7% of those voting in favor.

The announcement said the contract includes more than $9.6 billion in total pay and benefits increases over four years. This includes $1.1 billion in “immediate, one-time payments and ratification bonuses.”

Other contract features include “annual pay rate increases for the contract’s duration and enhancements to various benefits and work rules,” according to the union.

“Work-rule changes in the new agreement are intended to help ensure more reliable service for passengers and more predictable schedules for pilots,” the APA said in a news release.

According to the union, American Airlines pilots will see “an immediate pay raise of more than 21%” under the new contract. Combined with increases in 401(k) contributions and future raises, the APA says pilot compensation rates will rise more than 46% over the course of the contract.

“This contract is a big first step toward restoring the wages, benefits and work rules that were lost during the past two decades while our profession was under continuous assault,” APA President Capt. Ed Sicher said in a statement. “As pilots, we hold a tremendous amount of responsibility with every flight we take. It’s a responsibility we take seriously, as evidenced by the U.S. airline industry’s unrivaled safety record, and it’s time for our profession to provide rewards commensurate with its unique demands.”

American Airlines warned on Tuesday, Aug. 22 that it was expecting higher costs in the third quarter of 2023 due to the new contract for pilots. The airline expects to add $230 million in expenses due to provisions in the contract for retroactive pay for the first quarter of 2023.

The American Airlines contract is the latest major development among pilots negotiating for better pay and working conditions. In March 2023, pilots at Delta Air Lines ratified a new contract that includes over $7 billion in cumulative increases in wages and benefits over four years.

United Airlines reached a four-year agreement with its pilots in July 2023. Under that deal, pilots will get a cumulative 34.5%-40.2% pay hike over four years.
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White House EV push prompts concerns among unions as labor tensions rise

August 10, 2023
In a bid to accelerate the transition to electric vehicles (EVs), the White House is spearheading a multi-billion-dollar initiative that now also threatens to disrupt President Joe Biden’s pro-labor platform ahead of his 2024 reelection bid. The administration’s plan, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and curbing the reliance on traditional gas-powered vehicles, has caused concerns among American auto workers.

The workers fear that the shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles could result in job displacement and an unequal distribution of benefits. At the forefront of the concerns is the United Auto Workers (UAW) union, which has expressed reservations about the effects of this transition on their members. It has set the stage for the looming threat of a work stoppage on Sept. 14, when the union’s contracts with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, are set to expire.

“September 14th is a deadline, not a reference point, so it is in the best interest for this corporation to get down to business with our bargaining committee and get to work to resolve the demands of the membership,” UAW President Shawn Fain said. “It’s time to get to work. We have 63 days, and the clock is ticking.”

“To be clear, I and the UAW leadership support this transition, but it must be a just transition,” UAW Vice President Mike Booth said. “These must not only be union jobs, but they must be jobs that maintain the wages, benefits, and safety standards that generations of UAW members have fought for.”

Workers within EV factories are currently subject to different labor requirements compared to those in traditional auto plants, leading to wage disparities that the UAW claims are substantial.

According to the union, employees at EV battery plants earn roughly half the wages of senior unionized workers in assembly plants, raising concerns about income inequality within the industry. To address these issues, the UAW is advocating for the inclusion of these EV battery plant workers within the union.

“We have to be a lot more aggressive to negotiate better agreements, to set a standard that raises people up to a middle-class life,” Fain said of UAW’s intentions.

“People are being paid more at McDonald’s in Ohio than they are at the battery plant there,” Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said.

Making this conflict increasingly complicated is the shared ownership of many EV plants with battery companies. This joint ownership necessitates negotiations involving both automakers and battery manufacturers, adding another hurdle to labor discussions and negotiations.

As tensions escalate, this latest strike threat follows a month in which more work stoppages occurred in the United States than in all of 2022. A worrisome trend for the reelection efforts of Biden, who has referred to himself as the “most pro-union president leading the most pro-union administration in American history.”

“Labor knows that President Biden knows that he will not be reelected unless he gets their strong support,” said Erik Gordon, a University of Michigan business professor. “They’re going to make Biden dance to get the votes.”

So far, the UAW has withheld its endorsement of Biden as its 150,000 workers prepare for the possibility of hitting the picket line. However, this also potential strike comes as the electric vehicle industry reaches another crossroads.

Industry experts suggest that the initial wave of EV adoption, driven by early adopters, has plateaued. This shift is spurring automakers to adjust their efforts and cater to a more price-sensitive consumer base, which has also caused alterations to the electrification goals of many automotive leaders. Major automakers including Ford, GM, Mazda, Volkswagen, and Mercedes have already revisited their EV plans to align with this changing consumer landscape.
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UPS strike ‘catastrophe’ avoided but threat spotlights issues with US shipping

July 26, 2023
UPS and its union workers avoided a nationwide shipping crisis after agreeing to a work contract Tuesday, July 25. Had a deal not been reached by July 31, roughly 340,000 workers would have gone on strike in the largest single-employer strike in U.S. history.

“We averted a catastrophe,” Patrick Penfield, a professor of supply chain practice at Syracuse University, said. “If it did happen, it would have been a nightmare as far as the supply chain goes in the United States.”

A 10-day strike would have cost the U.S. economy $7 billion, according to an estimate by Anderson Economic Group. The threat of a strike has highlighted how dependent the U.S. is on just a few players in the parcel industry, which is growing leaps and bounds as e-commerce explodes.

The big four

The U.S. shipping industry is dominated by four major players, USPS, UPS, FedEx and Amazon, which control 98% of the market share.

“That’s the dilemma that we have in a lot of industries within the United States,” Penfield said. “We’ve got these oligopolies, we’ve got these sectors where we have four, five, six big players. And then if something happens to one, it impacts everyone.”

The 24 million packages UPS ships on average each day amounts to 24% of the total market share. The remaining three giants would have struggled to pick up the slack had UPS workers gone on strike in August, affecting delivery times and shipping prices.

But it is logistically difficult for other players to enter the concentrated market, mostly due to upstart costs, Penfield explained.

“You’ve got to have the infrastructure, you’ve got to have the distribution, you’ve got to have the workers,” he said. “That’s why it’s really hard to set up a shop to be able to compete against those four.”

One that has tried is DHL, a global shipping leader based in Germany.

“They’re still here in the states, but they had a difficult time trying to set up their operation,” he continued. “Just that experience alone tells you that it’s really hard to penetrate that market space.”

Shipping demand explodes

The COVID-19 pandemic created a boon in U.S. parcel shipping, growing 33% from 2019 to 2020. But shipping in post-pandemic life continues to surge.

U.S. parcel volume is set to grow from 22 billion per year in 2023 to 28 billion per year by 2028, a 27% increase in five years, according to Pitney Bowes.

“Everybody is trying to get things done faster and get things quicker to customers,” Penfield said. “And we think automation may be the key to getting that done in the future.”

But automation, in the form of drones, robotics and autonomous vehicles, will take a toll on the workforce. Penfield predicts a decline of roughly 25% of the shipping workforce in the next 10 years.
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Blinken and Xi meet to improve relationship: June 19 rundown

June 19, 2023

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese President Xi Jinping met, and the Biden reelection campaign was set to ramp up this week. These stories highlight the rundown for Monday, June 19, 2023.

Blinken meets with Xi Jinping

U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Chinese president Xi Jinping as the two attempted to improve a deteriorating relationship between the two nations. The meeting with Xi wrapped up a two-day visit for Blinken, which included a meeting with China’s top diplomat. Blinken is the highest-level U.S. official to visit China since President Joe Biden took office.

The most recent downward spiral between the two countries first spiked in the summer of 2022, when Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Taiwan. Things escalated again in February after a Chinese spy balloon was shot down over American airspace.

In May, a Chinese warship nearly slammed an American ship transiting the Taiwan Strait, and a Chinese fighter jet in the same region flew so close to a U.S. military plane it created turbulence. The goal of Blinken’s meeting with Xi, as well as the trip as a whole, was to open communication channels with China to avoid a military clash.

Biden to announce climate investment amid fundraising push

President Biden was set to visit Palo Alto, California Monday. He was expected to announce over $600 million in climate investments aimed at helping coastal communities. Most of the money will go to projects to fight rising sea levels, storm surges, and tidal hurricanes.

The Palo Alto trip will also kick off a week of campaigning in the Golden State as Biden looks to raise funds from donors in the tech and climate industries. This week alone, Biden had four fundraisers planned in the San Francisco area.

In the back half of this month, Biden’s campaign will have over 20 fundraisers involving the President, Vice President Kamala Harris, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. The re-election campaign ramp-up comes after Biden held his first campaign rally in front of a crowd of union workers over the weekend.

“There are a lot of politicians in this country who can’t say the word union. You know I’m not one of them. I’m proud to say the word. I’m proud to be the most pro-union president in American history,” Biden said.

Mass shootings taint Juneteenth weekend celebrations

23 people were shot, one fatally, at a Juneteenth celebration southwest of Chicago. The fatal shooting is one of several that occurred over the holiday weekend.

There were no initial arrests in the Willowbrook, Illinois shooting. It was just after midnight Sunday, June 18 when gunshots scattered the crowd of people.

That shooting occurred just hours after a Father’s Day celebration turned deadly on Chicago’s south side. At least two people were killed and three others injured after witnesses say someone drove by a park and started shooting.

In St. Louis, 10 teenagers were shot at a party, according to local police. One of the teens died from their injuries. Meanwhile, officials in Washington state say a fatal shooting took place there at a music festival

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a study showing homicide and suicides have becomes a leading cause of death for young Americans between 10 and 24 years old.

UPS workers set stage for largest strike since 1959

UPS workers have voted overwhelmingly to strike if no contract agreement is reached between the package delivery company and their workers union. If the strike does occur, it could be the biggest labor walkout in the U.S. since the 1950s.

On Friday, June 16, the union voted to authorize a strike by the time the current contract expires on July 31st. The union is seeking higher pay and the elimination of two-tier wages.

They are also demanding the removal of surveillance cameras from delivery trucks and more full-time opportunities. The union represents about 340,000 employees.

Nearly 100 dead after heat wave hits India

A heat wave in the world’s most populous country has killed nearly 100 people in just two regions of India alone. Temperatures have reached above 110 degrees.

Nearly half of India’s workforce is outdoors, and the strenuous labor in extreme heat have proven to be deadly. Local hospitals have been overwhelmed with hundreds and hundreds of people experiencing heat exhaustion and stroke.

Asia experienced the hottest April on record as the region continues to see excessive heat early on in the summer.

Corporations pledge to hire 13,000+ refugees

Ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, June 20, some of the largest companies in the world have pledged to hire more than 13,000 refugees over the next three years.

More than 40 corporations including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton promised to either hire, train or connect 250,000 refugees to work. Among these refugees are Ukrainian women who fled in the wake of Russia’s invasion.

By the end of last year, nearly 12 million Ukrainians remained displaced after Europe’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.