Raphael Stevens

A tentative deal Monday between the United Auto Workers and General Motors brought to an end to contentious negotiations and roughly six weeks of labor strikes against the Detroit automakers.
UAW members with GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis must still vote to ratify the tentative agreements.
Fain and the union are clear winners at the end of bargaining, but others like Tesla and President Joe Biden may also come out ahead.

President Joe Biden speaks next to Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, as he joins striking members of the union on the picket line outside GM’s Willow Run Distribution Center in Bellville, Michigan, Sept. 26, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

DETROIT — A tentative deal Monday between the United Auto Workers and General Motors brought an end to contentious negotiations and roughly six weeks of labor strikes against the Detroit automakers.
UAW President Shawn Fain warned of a more combative union heading into the talks, but not many, if anyone, expected the union to strategically outmaneuver the companies like it did, leading to record deals for 146,000 UAW members with GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis.

While full details of the finalized deals are still emerging, they set 25% compounded raises over the 4½-year agreements, including an 11% increase upon ratification; reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments; increased 401(k) company contributions; and enhanced profit-sharing bonuses.
UAW members must still vote to ratify the tentative agreements. In the cases of GM and Stellantis, local union leaders must also approve the deals before member voting.
Fain and the union are clear winners at the end of bargaining, but others like Tesla and President Joe Biden may also come out ahead. Counted among the losers, then, are the automakers but also potentially their investors — and electric vehicle ambitions.
“There’s lots of winners in this. So No. 1, of course, are the UAW members,” said Art Wheaton, a labor professor at The Worker Institute at Cornell University. “It was way more than I expected and thought possible … It is a home run.”

Winner: Shawn Fain

Fain became the face of the UAW during the talks, utilizing wide-ranging talking points such as fights against billionaires, workers’ rights and rebuilding the middle class to successfully bring national attention to the union’s talks with the Detroit automakers.

Thanks to his tough rhetoric and frequent live updates during the process, Fain is the face of the victory, too.

Loser: Big Three

The “Big Three” Detroit automakers underestimated Fain and the union’s strategy, which involved unprecedented, targeted strikes that kept the automakers on edge and helped to give the union leverage over the companies.
The result was record contracts for union employees that squeezed more out of the companies than many anticipated leading into the talks.

Potential winner: UAW organizing

Fain said Sunday the UAW plans to use these record deals to assist in its embattled organizing efforts, including at auto companies outside of the three Detroit automakers, citing talks with the “big five or big six” automakers.
Whether the UAW can organize foreign automakers in the U.S., also known as transplants, or electric vehicle companies such as Tesla or Rivian, will be determined in the coming years.
“They have the best chance now that they’ve had an over 40 years to organize the transplants and, perhaps, the nonunion electrical vehicle companies,” said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. “But it’s still a steep, uphill battle.”

Loser: Investors

Since the targeted strikes began Sept. 15, shares of Ford are down by 23%, GM is off by roughly 19%, and Stellantis, which has yet to release expected strike costs, fell about 4%.
It’s not immediately clear how much the deals will increase labor costs for the companies, which had argued that giving in to all of the union’s demands would affect their competitiveness and even long-term viability.
Deutsche Bank recently estimated the overall cost increase of the agreement at Ford to be $6.2 billion over the term of the agreement, $7.2 billion at GM, and $6.4 billion at Stellantis.
Ford said the UAW deal, if ratified by members, is going to add $850 to $900 in costs per vehicle assembled. Finance chief John Lawler last week said Ford will work to “find productivity and efficiencies and cost reductions throughout the company” to deliver on previously announced profitability targets.

Some winners, some losers: UAW members

Broadly speaking, the UAW members covered by the new deals are winners, however not everyone faced the financial toll of the union’s strikes against the Detroit automakers.
The union gradually added plant strikes as part of its targeted, or “stand-up,” strike strategy. That means members who were part of the initial strikes or were laid off due to the work stoppages were not paid beyond $500 weekly strike pay for nearly six weeks, while others were never called on to stop working.
Under the Ford deal, workers will be paid retroactively for hours worked on and after Oct. 23.

Potential loser: Nonunion plants

Nonunion plants from auto companies ranging from Tesla and Rivian to Toyota and Hyundai may be rethinking their pay structures for plant workers.
With the UAW’s record wins, such companies risk losing workers to their Detroit rivals’ plants. They may also be targets of increased organizing efforts by members seeking better wages like those for UAW members.
“By having the UAW win huge gains at their plants, now the nonunion companies have a choice: You either raise your pay and benefits to keep up with what the current rate is for the UAW or you face the chances of getting a union organizer and driving your plans,” Wheaton said.

Loser: EVs

To offset rising labor costs and address slower-than-expected demand for electric vehicles, Ford and GM each announced delays in production or investments for EVs.
GM has said it would delay at least three models in addition to expanding electric truck production by at least a year in Michigan until late-2025, while Ford said last week it would postpone $12 billion in planned spending on new EV manufacturing capacity.
Stellantis, which has invested heavily in plug-in hybrid electric vehicles for the U.S., has not announced any significant changes to its EV plans.
“Clearly the union came out ahead,” Masters said. “Companies will be able to survive the strike and be able to survive the rise in labor costs. But I’m not certain about whether or not they’re going to win competition for electrical vehicles.”

Potential winner: Tesla

The slower rollout of some EVs could allow Tesla more time to compete in the market with its current and upcoming products.
EV leader Tesla’s market share has declined in recent quarters amid increased competition, specifically in luxury vehicles, and the Detroit automakers were expected to increase competition in lower-priced models.
“It remains to be seen whether or not [the Detroit automakers are] going to be able to enter the fray with profitable vehicles, electric vehicles, in time to beat the competition and remain profitable on a scale that will enable them to endure as stand-alone entities do,” Masters said.

Winner: Biden

In a historic move, Biden decided to walk a picket line with UAW members to show his support and back up his self-proclamation of being the “most pro-union president in American history.”
While the UAW has withheld its re-endorsement of Biden so far, the support may sway the union to eventually do so. It also could sway critical blue-collar voters in the Midwest ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Biden applauded the UAW’s deals with the Detroit automakers after speaking with Fain on Monday.
“These record agreements reward autoworkers who gave up much to keep the industry working and going during the financial crisis more than a decade ago,” Biden said at the White House. “These agreements ensure that the Big Three can still lead the world in quality and innovation.” More

The United Auto Workers and General Motors have agreed to a deal that will put an end to collective bargaining talks between the union and Detroit automakers.
GM is the final Detroit automaker to reach a deal with the union following historically contentious talks.
The 4½-year tentative agreements must still be ratified by members at each of the automakers.

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers and General Motors have agreed to a deal that will put an end to bargaining between the union and Detroit automakers following more than six weeks of targeted U.S. labor strikes, the sides confirmed hours after sources told CNBC about the deal.
GM is the final Detroit automaker to reach a deal with the union following historically contentious talks. Roughly a third of the union’s 146,000 workers with GM, Ford Motor and Stellantis went on strike after the sides failed to reach agreements by a Sept. 14 deadline.

The UAW said the tentative agreement, which still must be ratified by members, adds battery workers from GM’s Ultium Cells joint venture and a division know as “subsystems” into the union’s master agreement with the company.
GM is the only Detroit automaker with a joint venture battery plant in operation and unionized — making it the first in the country to face this particular negotiating dynamic and a landmark plant to set standards for the industry.
“Like the agreements with Ford and Stellantis, the GM agreement has turned record profits into a record contract,” the UAW said in a release. “The deal includes gains valued at more than four times the gains from the union’s 2019 contract.”
A GM spokesman confirmed the tentative agreement but declined to discuss specifics of the deal.
“GM is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement with the UAW that reflects the contributions of the team while enabling us to continue to invest in our future and provide good jobs in the U.S.,” GM CEO Mary Barra said in a statement. “We are looking forward to having everyone back to work across all of our operations, delivering great products for our customers, and winning as one team.” 

United Auto Workers (UAW) members strike at a General Motors assembly plant that builds the U.S. automaker’s full-size sport utility vehicles, in another expansion of the strike in Arlington, Texas, October 24, 2023.
James Breeden | Reuters

Two sources familiar with the GM-UAW talks said negotiations occurred Sunday night and into the early morning to reach an agreement. News of a deal was first reported Monday by Bloomberg.
Ford Motor was the first to reach a tentative agreement with the union, on Wednesday, followed by a deal with Chrysler parent Stellantis on Saturday.
The 4½-year tentative agreements must still be ratified by members at each of the automakers. The headline economics of the deals, such as 25% wage increases for most workers, were patterned off Ford’s initial deal.
The pact includes 25% pay increases over the terms of the agreement. The raises and benefits such as cost-of-living adjustments cumulatively raise the top wage to more than $42 an hour, including an increase of 70% for starting wages to over $30 an hour, the union said. That increase would be at least two percentage points higher than the Ford and Stellantis deals.
A UAW spokesman did not immediately respond for the difference in starting pay. However, it may be based off of cost-of-living adjustment estimates.
Those deals also reinstated cost-of-living adjustments, reduced an eight-year path to top wages to three years and allowed the right to strike over plant closures, among other significantly enhanced benefits.
The strikes have collectively cost GM, Ford and Stellantis billions of dollars in lost production. Ford said Thursday that the union’s strike has cost it $1.3 billion and the deal, if ratified by members, would increase labor costs by roughly $850 to $900 per vehicle produced.
GM said Tuesday the strike had cost it about $800 million.
The proposed agreements are record-setting for the union, which was far more confrontational and strategic during the talks than in recent history.
The union initiated negotiations with all three automakers at once. This was a break from recent history when UAW leaders would bargain with each automaker individually, select a lead company to focus efforts on and then pattern the remaining deals off a leading tentative agreement.

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures as he walks to board Air Force One on return travel to Washington, from Delaware Air National Guard Base in New Castle, Delaware, U.S., October 30, 2023.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters

It’s not immediately clear how much the labor deals will increase labor costs for the companies, which had argued that giving in to all of the union’s demands would affect their competitiveness and even long-term viability.
Deutsche Bank recently estimated the overall cost increase of the agreement at Ford to be $6.2 billion over the term of the agreement, $7.2 billion at GM, and $6.4 billion at Stellantis.
President Joe Biden, meanwhile, applauded the deals across and said he spoke with UAW President Shawn Fain on Monday.
“These record agreements reward autoworkers who gave up much to keep the industry working and going during the financial crisis more than a decade ago,” Biden said at the White House. “These agreements ensure that the Big Three can still lead the world in quality and innovation.”
–CNBC’s Emma Kinery contributed to this article.
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The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency announced about $1.3 billion in contracts to York Space and Northrop Grumman to build communications satellites.
The SDA is having the companies build 100 satellites as part of the network the agency is building, known as the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.
Under the latest awards, Northrop Grumman will build 38 “data transport” satellites for $732 million, while York will build 62 satellites for $617 million.

An artist illustration shows the functions of the Space Development Agency’s satellite constellation.
Space Development Agency

The Pentagon’s Space Development Agency on Monday announced about $1.3 billion in contracts to York Space and Northrop Grumman to build communications satellites.
The SDA is having the pair of companies build 100 satellites as part of a network the U.S. military is building called the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. These satellites will be for “Alpha” variant prototypes in the “Tranche 2 Transport Layer” constellation, also known as T2TL-Alpha, to provide encrypted communications.

Under the T2TL-Alpha awards, Northrop will build 38 “data transport” satellites for $732 million, while York will build 62 satellites for $617 million. The SDA’s schedule is for the T2TL satellites to begin launching in 2026.

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Northrop’s award to build Alpha variant satellites for T2TL comes months after the defense giant won an SDA order for Beta variants. In August, Northrop won a $733 million award to build 36 satellites for the T2TL-Beta segment of PWSA, alongside Lockheed Martin.
The Pentagon is increasingly ambitious in space, seeing a need to keep up with China’s growing capabilities in a domain that has widespread ramifications for national security efforts back on Earth. The Space Force has especially seen its budget grow, with $30 billion requested for fiscal 2024. Much of that funding goes to defense contractors and space companies providing products and services to the military.
The first satellites of SDA’s system launched in April. Those Tranche 0 satellites were the first effort to demonstrate the feasibility of SDA’s network.
The SDA has previously awarded contracts to build and operate satellites in its fleet to SpaceX and L3Harris, in addition to Northrop, York and Lockheed.Don’t miss these CNBC PRO stories: More

Fast-food workers in California will start making at least $20 an hour in April due to a compromise between the restaurant industry and labor groups.
Both McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill said customers in California will pay more to offset the rise in labor costs as a result.
McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski said the minimum wage hike could help the burger chain gain market share in California in the long term.

Chipotle and McDonald’s fast-food restaurants in Chinatown in Washington, D.C.
Jeff Greenberg | Universal Images Group | Getty Images

McDonald’s and Chipotle Mexican Grill will raise their menu prices in California next year to offset the state’s minimum wage increase for fast-food workers, executives said as both chains announced quarterly earnings in recent days.
McDonald’s has not decided how much it will hike prices in California as workers’ wages rise to $20 an hour, CEO Chris Kempczinski said Monday. Chipotle expects it will raise prices by a “mid-to-high single-digit” percentage in the state, but has not made a “final decision,” its Chief Financial Officer Jack Hartung told analysts on the company’s conference call Thursday.

Restaurants have been hiking menu prices for more than two years in response to rising ingredient and labor costs. Prices for food away from home were up 6% in September compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
While diners are already used to paying more for their meals, some have been eating out less often to mind their budgets. McDonald’s executives said Monday that consumers making under $45,000 have been visiting less frequently, contributing to a dip in its U.S. traffic this quarter.
In September, the restaurant industry and labor groups ended an expensive, monthslong battle over a bill that would have created a 10-person council that governs fast-food chains in California by setting guidelines for working conditions and wages.
Instead, the two sides settled on a compromise: a nine-person council that only has the power to set the pay floor for the fast-food industry in the state through 2029. Chains with at least 60 locations nationwide will have to pay their workers at least $20 an hour, starting April 1. Between 2025 and 2029, the appointed council will have the authority to raise the hourly minimum wage annually by whichever is lower: 3.5% or the annual change in the consumer price index.
For Chipotle, the new pay floor means it will hike its wages roughly 18%. Hartung said the chain’s average wage in the state is currently $17 an hour.

As wages rise, Chipotle customers will pay much more for their burritos and bowls in California, which is home to roughly 15% of Chipotle’s restaurants — and the company’s headquarters.
The chain has already raised prices four times since June 2021. The most recent price increase of 3% happened earlier in October.
At McDonald’s, price increases will only be one method to offset the higher labor costs. The chain will likely also look at ways to improve productivity to cut restaurant-level costs, Kempczinski said Monday.
Unlike Chipotle, which owns the overwhelming majority of its locations, most of McDonald’s California locations are run by franchisees. They have the freedom to decide prices, although the chain provides advice on the best strategy. Just under 10% of McDonald’s U.S. restaurants are located in California.
The burger chain anticipates that operators there will feel the pain of the wage hike in the short term.
“There will certainly be a hit in the short term to franchisee cash flow in California,” Kempczinski said on the company’s conference call, adding that it’s unclear at this point how big the blow will be.
The National Owners Association, an independent advocacy group of more than 1,000 McDonald’s U.S. franchisees, projected the bill will cost each restaurant in the state $250,000 annually, according to a September memo viewed by CNBC. McDonald’s, which dealt with franchisee backlash for its role in the compromise’s negotiations, declined to comment at the time on the NOA’s estimates.
In the long term, McDonald’s thinks that the higher wages could be a boon to its business.
“We believe we’re in a better position than our competitors to weather this, so let’s use this as an opportunity to actually accelerate our growth in California,” Kempczinski said.Don’t miss these CNBC PRO stories: More

Shein has acquired British fast fashion brand Missguided from the Frasers Group.
The Chinese-founded retailer will manufacture Missguided’s products and sell them on both companies’ websites.
Shein, which is rumored to be exploring a U.S. IPO, is looking to expand its marketplace and offer a broader range of products to its 150 million customers.

Clothes displayed at the Shein headquarters in Singapore on June 19, 2023.
Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Shein has bought British fast fashion brand Missguided from the Frasers Group as the company looks to expand its market share and global reach ahead of a rumored U.S. initial public offering, the companies announced Monday. 
The acquisition will see Shein manufacture Missguided’s products and sell them on both companies’ websites as an independent brand, while Frasers will retain Missguided’s real estate and employees, according to news releases. 

As part of the deal, Shein will license Missguided’s intellectual property to Sumwon Studios, a joint venture between Shein and Missguided founder Nitin Passi. Sumwon will manage and operate the Missguided brand.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed. 
The acquisition comes just over a year after the Frasers Group bought Missguided out of administration, or the British version of bankruptcy, for £20 million ($24.3 million). 
The brand gained prominence when it went viral for selling £1 bikinis and became a major player in British fast fashion. But it later found itself in dire financial straits and could not pay its suppliers.
Shein’s acquisition of Missguided comes as the company looks to expand its marketplace model and offer a broader range of products to its 150 million customers. The deal will allow Shein to grow its market share and deepen its global penetration.

Missguided’s assortment is similar to lines carried by its new parent company because the brand is focused on the latest trends and skews lower in price. Even so, its products can be more expensive than Shein’s, and could attract a different demographic. 
“The joint venture we have entered ushers in a new format of partnerships for Shein,” Donald Tang, Shein’s executive chairman, said in a news release. “Shein aims to reignite the Missguided brand, capitalising on its unique brand personality, and fuelling its global growth through SHEIN’s on-demand production model, unparalleled e-commerce expertise and global reach.”
Last week, Shein announced plans to launch a co-branded clothing line with former rival Forever 21 after the two retailers partnered up in a joint venture earlier this year. Under the agreement, Shein took a stake in Forever 21’s operator Sparc Group, which includes brand management firm Authentic Brands Group and mall owner Simon Property Group. Shein also began selling its clothes in Forever 21’s stores.Don’t miss these CNBC PRO stories: More

“Sesame Street” will revamp its format as its five-year deal with streaming giant Max is set to expire.
It means an end to the classic show’s magazine-style format, which will be replaced with two narrative-form segments pieced together with an animated segment.
The changes are the most significant to the iconic children’s show since 2016, when the length was changed from one hour to 30 minutes.

Sesame Street characters Bert and Ernie during the presentation of the NDR and Deutsche Post commemorative stamp of ‘Sesamstrasse’ on March 2, 2020 in Hamburg, Germany.
Tristar Media | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

“Sesame Street” will soon have a new format as it turns the page on season 55, ending the children’s show’s magazine-style structure, Sesame Workshop executives told The Hollywood Reporter.
The new format coincides with the end of the show’s five-year rights deal with Warner Bros. Discovery’s streaming giant Max. The changes are the most significant since 2016, when the show changed its length from one hour to 30 minutes. The revamped “Sesame Street” will debut in 2025.

The long-running children’s show featuring characters such as Elmo and Big Bird has faced a dramatic past few years as it moved its library to HBO Max, now Max. Since that move, the show’s previous home, PBS, has been getting episodes nine months after they premiere. Last year, Max yanked about 200 older episodes of “Sesame Street” as the streaming service refined content for its target audience, which isn’t children.
The new show’s most significant renovation will be changing the content style to two 11-minute narrative-driven segments pieced together by a new animated series called “Tales from 123,” the executives told The Hollywood Reporter. The change allows the writer’s room to develop two storylines that can play off each other to create a more nuanced experience for the viewers, they said.
“With any change, you have evolutions, and then you have things that are slightly bigger steps, while still staying core to who we are,” Steve Youngwood, the CEO of Sesame Workshop, told the trade publication. “We felt like this was a moment to step back and think bigger about how we evolve it.”
The revamp has been planned for some time, and it’s a coincidence that the change aligns with the end of the Max deal, according to the report. The show’s current deal with Max ends after season 55, which is set to begin about a year from now. Sesame Workshop has not indicated whether it will renew the deal or go elsewhere.
“The fact that it aligns with where we go after the current Warner deal is over, it just happens to be where the timing is,” Youngwood told the publication. “We always want to be relevant to the audience. We always want to give the audience some reasons to watch the new [episodes], while they can still watch the library.”
A representative for Max didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. More