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Former UAW leader: Biden must ‘take action’ to pressure companies for fair wages, benefits on September 16, 2023 at 2:24 pm Business News | The Hill

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A former president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union pressured President Biden to do more to assist striking auto workers, saying a lot of what he has done so far is just talk.

“I think [Biden] should have done a lot more already,” former UAW president Bob King told NewsNation‘s Chris Cuomo on Friday. “I’m happy he came out with a statement yesterday… but words are not the issue. You need to take actions.”

“What actions is he going to take to really pressure those corporations to give the workers what they deserve?” King asked.

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UAW began a strike against the “Big Three” automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — early Friday morning after negotiations were fruitless before the workers’ contracts ended. The union is demanding increased wages, shorter work weeks and better retirement benefits, among other things.

“There’s a lot of anger and a lot of frustration in the UAW members because they see the corporations doing so well, they see the CEOs make 40 percent or more increases in their pay, and what I’m really proud of — the highest seniority members are as angry about this as the lowest seniority,” King said.

“Everybody in there knows it’s wrong to have people making different rates of pay for long, sustained periods of time doing the same exact job,” he added.

The Biden administration has backed the strike — the first in the union’s history — and President Biden encouraged automakers to return to the bargaining table with an increased offer on Friday.

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“I believe they should go further… Record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW,” Biden said. 

King backed current UAW President Shawn Fain’s decision not to endorse Biden for the 2024 election over concerns about federal electric vehicle (EV) policy. The former union head said too many EV jobs are moving out of areas where unions are strong, like Detroit, and into southern states with less union influence and more tax breaks for automakers.

He said he supported Fain’s decision not to endorse Biden “until he starts delivering.”

“It was a tremendous slap in the face to the UAW to give billions of dollars to these corporations,” King added.

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The UAW orchestrated small-scale, randomized strikes instead of a mass general strike. The union chose three plants, revealed just two hours before the strike began, to walk out starting at midnight Friday.

Fain explained that the strategy was meant to “keep the companies guessing.”

Profits at the Big Three automakers increased by 92 percent in the last decade, totaling $250 billion, according to an analysis released Tuesday. CEO compensation rose by 40 percent through the same period.

The union reportedly rejected the latest counteroffers from all three automakers, which say the workers’ demands are not realistic and unaffordable, in part due to the cost of the shift to electric vehicles.

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“We are committed to winning an agreement with the Big Three that reflects the incredible sacrifice and contributions UAW members have made to these companies,” Fain said in his Thursday address.

NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill. 

The Hill’s Taylor Giorno contributed to this report.

​Business, News, Bob King, labor policy, UAW, UAW strike, United Auto Workers A former president of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union pressured President Biden to do more to assist striking auto workers, saying a lot of what he has done so far is just talk. “I think [Biden] should have done a lot more already,” former UAW president Bob King told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Friday….  

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Peloton appoints Twitter exec as new chief product officer on September 27, 2023 at 1:30 am Business News | The Hill

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A former Twitter executive will join Peloton as its chief product officer, the company announced Tuesday, replacing a company co-founder in the role.

Nick Caldwell was named for the position on Tuesday, joining the leadership team of a company that has faced difficulty maintaining the rocketing growth it experienced during the COVID pandemic.

“Nick brings impressive engineering, design, and product experience to the Peloton team. Nick joins us at an exciting time as we lean into growing our subscriber base online and on our connected fitness hardware,” CEO Barry McCarthy said in a statement.

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Caldwell held leadership roles at Microsoft, Reddit and Google before working as Twitter’s vice president of engineering and general manager for nearly two years until Elon Musk purchased the company in late 2022.

Peloton sales dropped in the fourth quarter but still beat investor expectations. The company has struggled with pricey product recalls and moving towards a subscription-focused revenue model. 

About 6.5 million people subscribe to Peloton’s membership programs, a 5 percent drop from the previous quarter.

The company went through mass layoffs in early 2022 as the company was wrecked by the end of a booming pandemic business, which ended in the resignation of its CEO and co-founder John Foley.

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McCarthy has attempted to re-orient the company’s revenue via leaning on the subscription model and adding a leading option for Peloton exercise equipment.

​Business, peloton A former Twitter executive will join Peloton as its chief product officer, the company announced Tuesday, replacing a company co-founder in the role. Nick Caldwell was named for the position on Tuesday, joining the leadership team of a company that has faced difficulty maintaining the rocketing growth it experienced during the COVID pandemic. “Nick brings…  

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Writers Guild of America to officially end strike on September 27, 2023 at 1:48 am Business News | The Hill

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The Writers Guild of America (WGA) will officially lift its strike on Wednesday, allowing Hollywood’s writers to return to work after a nearly five-month halt on most TV and film productions. 

The WGA said Tuesday it voted to lift the strike as of 12 a.m. PST, which will authorize Hollywood writers to return to work before voting next month on a tentative agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, the group that represents studios, streaming services, and production companies in negotiations.

WGA’s negotiating committee, board and council on Tuesday voted unanimously in favor of the tentative agreement, which will now go to both WGA’s East and West guilds where eligible voters will take it up for ratification on Oct. 2-9. 

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The three-year proposed deal, announced Sunday, came after five marathon days of talks by WGA and Hollywood studios. It includes a 5 percent minimum pay increase once the contract is ratified. Workers will receive another 4 percent bump in May 2024 and 2.5 percent in May 2025. 

The union said the deal also includes increase health and pension contribution rates and regulations over artificial intelligence (AI) on contract-covered projects. This means AI cannot write or rewrite material and AI-generated material will not be considered source material, a move that comes amid Hollywood writers’ push against AI. 

The guild also negotiated a new residual rate based on viewership, where high budget subscription video on demand series and films that are viewed by 20 percent or more of the service’s domestic subscribers in the first 90 days of release or in the first 90 days in any subsequent exhibition year will receive a bonus equal to 50 percent of the fixed domestic and foreign residual. 

This bonus structure will go into effect for projects released on or after Jan. 1, 2024, WGA said. 

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WGA suspended picketing on Sunday, but encouraged their writers to instead join the picket lines for SAG-AFTRA, the largest union for Hollywood actors. 

SAG-AFTRA began its strike in July after failing to reach an agreement with film studios, marking the first dual strike since 1960. Both unions demanded better wages and working conditions, as well as higher residual rates related to streaming. 

​Business, Hollywood strike, wga, Writers Guild of America, writers strike The Writers Guild of America (WGA) will officially lift its strike on Wednesday, allowing Hollywood’s writers to return to work after a nearly five-month halt on most TV and film productions. The WGA said Tuesday it voted to lift the strike as of 12 a.m. PST, which will authorize Hollywood writers to return to work before voting…  

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Ask Co-Founder of Netflix Marc Randolph Anything: How to Watch on September 26, 2023 at 6:50 pm Entrepreneur: Latest Articles

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How to watch the new live streaming episode of ‘Ask Marc.’

​Starting a Business How to watch the new live streaming episode of ‘Ask Marc.’  

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