Mack and Ford workers call for joint action to back Volvo Trucks strikers
There is growing sentiment among Mack-Volvo workers in Pennsylvania and Maryland and auto industry workers for joint action to support their brothers and sisters now in the fourth week of their strike at Volvo Truck’s New River Valley (NRV) plant in Dublin, Virginia.
Workers at the Macungie, Pennsylvania, Mack plant, who are members of United Auto Workers Local 677, are outraged because cabs painted by strikebreakers in Virginia are being shipped to their plant. The Sweden-based multinational bought Mack trucks in 2001 and assembles all its heavy-duty Mack trucks for the North American and export markets at the Macungie plant near Allentown. This includes models with sleeper cabs built by a third-party contractor and currently being painted by strikebreakers at NRV.
Growing calls for united struggle with striking Volvo workers as UAW moves to resume backroom talks wsws.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wsws.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Federal judge hands UAW ex-President Dennis Williams wrist-slap sentence of 21 months for corruption charges
On Tuesday, a federal judge for the Eastern District of Michigan sentenced former United Auto Workers International President Dennis Williams to 21 months in prison with one year of supervised release, three months less than originally recommended. In addition, he must pay $132,000 in restitution and a $10,000 fine. Williams is one of 15 individuals to have been charged in connection to the ongoing criminal investigation into corruption within the UAW.
US District Judge Paul Borman handed down the sentence after Williams’ conviction of conspiracy to embezzle UAW members’ dues payments between 2010 and September 2019 with former International President Gary Jones and other high-ranking UAW officials “for the benefit of himself and other senior UAW officials,” according to the Justice Department’s official release.
Low housing supply
Never has it cost so much to buy a house in California.
The median price for a single-family home shot up to a staggering $758,990 in March a nearly 6% increase from the previous record of $717,930 set in December and a whopping 24% increase from March 2020, according to figures released Friday by the state Department of Finance. It’s at least the sixth time the Golden State’s housing market has broken its own record amid the pandemic it did so five times in 2020 alone, cracking the $700,000 median price mark for the first time in August.
Meanwhile, housing production has strayed farther and farther from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s campaign goal of building 500,000 units annually as the state’s homeless population swells to record levels. California approved permits for 102,800 new housing units in 2020 an 8.8% decrease from 2019, itself a 3.8% decrease from 2018. Lawmakers are currently considering a raft of bills to increase affordable housing producti