Raphael Stevens

Stellantis has a problem that its local rivals Ford and General Motors don’t.
The company has signaled that it intends to close or sell 18 of its U.S. facilities.
In turn, Stellantis may be gearing up for a longer UAW strike.

Supporters cheer as United Auto Workers members go on strike at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant on September 15, 2023 in Wayne, Michigan. 
Bill Pugliano | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The United Auto Workers labor union launched targeted strikes against the three Detroit automakers early Friday morning. The stoppages affect three plants that make popular models such as the Ford Bronco, Chevrolet Colorado and Jeep Wrangler.
It’s the first time in history that the UAW has struck all three of the Detroit automakers at once. But while the strikes began at the same time, they may play out very differently in the days to come – with Stellantis potentially facing a tougher road to a deal than its crosstown rivals Ford Motor and General Motors.

Stellantis has a problem that its local rivals don’t. The company, formed in early 2021 from a merger between Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French automaker Peugeot, has more production capacity than it needs around the world. Stellantis has signaled that it intends to close or sell 18 of its U.S. facilities, including factories and parts depots. The company has a total of about 35 factories and parts distribution centers in the U.S. now.
That’s a plan that the union is unlikely to accept willingly.
It’s possible that Stellantis has been preparing for a lengthy strike with that in mind: The company had more vehicles in its U.S. dealer inventories at the beginning of September than either of its crosstown rivals.
The auto industry measures inventory in terms of “days’ supply,” based on the rate of sales of each model over the previous 30 days. According to data from Cox Automotive, all four of Stellantis’ U.S. brands had more than 100 days’ worth of vehicles on dealer lots or in transit to dealers as of the beginning of September. GM’s Cadillac and Chevrolet brands had just 46 days’ and 51 days’ worth of vehicles, respectively; the Ford brand had 77 days’ worth.
The industry-wide average was 58 days’ supply as of the beginning of the month. Historically, the Detroit automakers have tended to have somewhat larger supplies on hand because their full-size pickups are offered in many different configurations.

In contrast to Stellantis, the UAW’s strike against Ford could be relatively brief. From comments made by Fain and Ford executives in recent days, it appeared that Ford was the closest of the three automakers to a deal with the union. The UAW may have recognized that when it chose to strike only part of Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, the areas where vehicles are painted and where final assembly happens. All of the UAW-represented workers at GM’s Wentzville, Missouri assembly plant and Stellantis’s Jeep Wrangler factory in Toledo walked out last night.
General Motors may also be spared a protracted strike. Details made public from GM’s final offer before the strike, on Thursday, suggested that its offer was similar to Ford’s, with a 20% wage increase over the four-year term of the contract, more vacation days and two weeks of parental leave, among other concessions.
If Ford reaches agreement with the UAW soon, GM could follow soon after by using Ford’s deal as a template.
But as of Friday morning, Stellantis seemed to be buckling down for a long battle.
“We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership’s refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers,” the company said in a statement following the walkouts. “We immediately put the Company in contingency mode and will take all the appropriate structural decisions to protect our North American operations and the Company.”
In line with past practice following a strike, the UAW and the automakers will take a break from negotiations on Friday. Meetings are expected to resume this weekend. More

The California minimum wage for fast-food workers is on track to rise to $20 an hour next April.
The pay hike is part of deal between the restaurant industry and labor groups over controversial legislation in California.
From 2025 through 2029, a nine-person council will have the authority to raise the hourly minimum wage annually for affected businesses.

Flags are flown at a car caravan and rally of fast food workers and supporters for passage of AB 257, a fast-food worker health and safety bill, on April 16, 2021 in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

Fast-food workers in California are set to receive pay hikes next year after the restaurant industry and unions reached a compromise over a controversial bill.
The deal, brokered with the help of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, also creates a nine-person council that will decide on future wage hikes for the fast-food industry in California through 2029. The agreement ends a fight between the two sides that threatened to stretch out for years. The restaurant industry was gearing up to spend more than $100 million on the battle.

The deal will mean a wage floor of $20 for California workers of fast-food chains with at least 60 locations nationwide, starting April 1. And from 2025 through 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.
The council will include four representatives from the fast-food industry, four from the workers’ side and one neutral party who will serve as chair.
While fast-food operators will have to cope with paying higher wages, the agreement thwarts more dire consequences, according to industry analysts.
“I certainly wouldn’t say it’s catastrophic, and certainly not as bad as it could have played out over the next year or two,” said Mark Kalinowski, CEO of Kalinowski Equity Research.
Now California lawmakers are rushing to conclude the matter before the legislative session ends midnight Friday. Newsom has already pledged to sign the bill into law.

California’s fast food fight

Newsom signed AB 257, also known as the FAST Act, into law in January. The legislation would have created a 10-person council that would govern fast-food chains with more than 60 locations, including setting guidelines for working conditions and wages. The initial wage hike could have been as high as $22 an hour.
But the fast-food industry was attacking the bill before it even made its way to Newsom’s desk. State records show that Chipotle Mexican Grill, Chick-fil-A, Yum Brands and Restaurant Brands International were among the chains that spent money to lobby California lawmakers to oppose the legislation.
McDonald’s U.S. President Joe Erlinger wrote a letter posted on the company’s website, making a rare public statement on a political issue. Erlinger called the bill “lopsided” and “ill-considered,” attacking lawmakers for not targeting all restaurants. As of 2022, just under 10% of McDonald’s U.S. restaurants were located in California, according to Citi Research. Most are run by franchisees.

A ‘Join Our Team’ sign is displayed outside a Chipotle location, listing employee benefits, on June 2, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The restaurant industry retaliated, gathering enough signatures to create a referendum that would make California’s voters decide on the matter. The Service Employees International Union, which backed the FAST Act, alleged in a lawsuit that the industry misled signatories, but a judge ruled against the union. The referendum was supposed to be on November 2024 ballots.
In response to the referendum, the SEIU backed another bill, AB 1228. The bill would impose joint-employer liability on franchised businesses — including the very restaurant chains that loudly decried AB 257.
Under the bill, franchisors like McDonald’s would be held liable for infractions committed by their franchisees. Opponents said that the bill attacked the very nature of the franchising model. AB 1228’s provisions were originally included in AB 257 but removed before Newsom signed it into law.
The California State Assembly passed AB 1228 in early June. But the state’s senate never had the chance to vote on that version.
Instead, the restaurant industry and the unions struck a deal, replacing the joint-employer provisions with the terms of their agreement, which also includes repealing the FAST Act and withdrawing the referendum by Jan. 1.

What’s next for workers?

Fast-food workers employed by affected restaurants will see pay increases of as much as 25% hit their paychecks starting in April. The current California minimum wage is $15.50 an hour, with a bump to $16 set for January.
Employees of smaller fast-food joints and other restaurants could also reap some benefits from the legislation.
“When you look at the $20 minimum wage, that’s a bar that’s being set,” Joe Pawlak, managing principal of restaurant consulting firm Technomic, told CNBC. “That’s gonna make the restaurant industry a lot more competitive for employees, so other industries are going to have to also step up.”
In recent years, Amazon warehouses and retailers like Walmart and Target have lured workers away with higher hourly pay. Now they’ll be forced to compete with fast-food chains, which have traditionally been slower to raise wages due to operators’ razor-thin margins.

When you look at the $20 minimum wage, that’s a bar that’s being set.

Joe Pawlak
Technomic managing principal

Other states, like Minnesota or New York, could also follow California’s lead and craft similar councils to govern restaurants or other industries, Pawlak said.
“[The deal] puts a model in place with a structure that everybody is able to digest,” he said.
Still, labor’s side had to make some tradeoffs to make the deal in California. One key concession is that the council won’t have the power to set working conditions. Instead, the Fast Food Council will only be able to recommend proposed standards to state agencies.
But that doesn’t mean that unions won’t keep trying to push for better conditions.
“Fast-food workers’ fight in California isn’t close to over — it has only just begun as they prepare to take their seat at the table and help transform their industry for the better,” SEIU President Mary Kay Henry said in a statement to CNBC.

What does it mean for restaurants?

Faced with a mandate to pay higher wages, fast-food operators will have to decide how they plan to deal with higher labor costs. Some may raise menu prices, although customers may balk at having to foot the bill. Others may try to make do with fewer workers on hand or to invest in automation to handle more tasks.
But it’s not all gloomy for restaurants.
“This agreement protects local restaurant owners from significant threats that would have made it difficult to continue to operate in California. It provides a more predictable and stable future for restaurants, workers, and consumers,” Sean Kennedy, executive vice president of public affairs for the National Restaurant Association, said in a statement.

A Delta Airlines plane lands as people gather in the parking lot of In-N-Out Burger next to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on August 31, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Mario Tama | Getty Images

The chief uncertainty resolved by the deal is the referendum slated for November 2024 ballots. The industry had already spent more than $64 million on the referendum, according to California records, and was preparing to spend much more. But it would be difficult to predict which side voters would take.
“[The agreement] shows just how concerned the industry was,” Kalinowski said. “The referendum would have been very challenging, to have it come out their way.”
On top of that, restaurant chains like In-N-Out now save some cash that otherwise would have gone toward the industry’s war chest.
The deal also avoids the change to joint-employer liability that was feared by the broader franchising industry.
“This allows the franchise model to exist,” said Dana Kravetz, a Los Angeles-based labor attorney at Michelman & Robinson.
Fast-food companies with heavily franchised footprints, like McDonald’s, KFC, Taco Bell and Domino’s Pizza, will largely escape the effects of bill, unless they have company-owned locations in California. Instead, their franchisees will have to grapple with how to pay higher wages.
Restaurant companies that don’t franchise will have to foot the bill for increased labor costs themselves. That includes Chipotle Mexican Grill, which has 457 locations — or 14% of its total footprint — in its home state of California. More

Thousands of United Auto Workers members went on strike at three key plants, after Detroit automakers failed to reach deals with the union by a Thursday night deadline.
The facilities are GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.
About 12,700 workers will be on strike, the union said. The UAW represents about 146,000 workers at Ford, GM and Stellantis.

DETROIT – Thousands of members of the United Auto Workers went on strike at three U.S. assembly plants of General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, after the union and the automakers failed to reach a deal on a new labor contract Thursday night.
“The UAW Stand Up Strike begins at all three of the Big Three,” the union said in a post on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, just after midnight Friday.

The facilities are GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio. For Ford, UAW President Shawn Fain said only workers in paint and final assembly will be on strike.
“We got to do what we got to do to get our share of economic and social justice in this strike,” Fain said outside the Ford facility in Wayne. “We’re going to be out here until we get our share of economic justice. And it doesn’t matter how long it takes.”
The selected plants produce highly profitable vehicles for the automakers that largely continue to be in high demand. About 12,700 workers – 5,800 at Stellantis, 3,600 at GM and 3,300 at Ford – will be on strike at the plants in total, the union said. The UAW represents about 146,000 workers across Ford, GM and Stellantis.

UAW President Shawn Fain, center, talks to reporters as union members strike outside a Ford plant in Wayne, Michigan, Sept. 15, 2023.
CNBC | Michael Wayland

“If they come to the pump and they take care of their workers, we’ll be back to work,” Fain said early Friday, referring to the automakers. “But if they don’t, we’ll keep amping it up.”
The union selected the plants as part of targeted strike plans initially announced Wednesday night by Fain, who has unconventionally been negotiating with all three automakers at once and has been reluctant to compromise much on the union’s demands.

Read more: General Motors sweetens its offer to include 20% wage increase
Targeted strikes typically focus on key plants that can then cause other plants to cease production due to a lack of parts. They are not unprecedented, but the way Fain plans to conduct the work stoppages is not typical. They include initiating targeted strikes at select plants and then potentially increasing the number of strikes based on the status of the negotiations. Selecting assembly plants for such strikes is also unique.
“For the first time in our history, we will strike all three of the ‘Big Three’ at once,” Fain said just after 10 p.m. ET Thursday in live remarks streamed on Facebook and YouTube. “We are using a new strategy, the ‘stand-up’ strike. We will call on select facilities, locals or units to stand up and go on strike.”
Fain has referred to the union’s plans as a “stand-up strike,” a nod to historic “sit-down” strikes by the UAW in the 1930s.
Key proposals from the union have included 40% hourly pay increases, a reduced 32-hour workweek, a shift back to traditional pensions, the elimination of compensation tiers and a restoration of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), among other items on the table including enhanced retiree benefits and enhanced vacation and family leave benefits.
By late Thursday, it was clear there wouldn’t be a deal, even as President Joe Biden got involved. The White House said Biden, who boasts of his blue-collar background and support for organized labor, talked with Fain and the leaders of the Detroit automakers. The president was set to make public remarks on the strike Friday.
Ford, in a statement Thursday night, said the UAW presented its “first substantive counterproposal” to four of the company’s offers, but it “showed little movement from the union’s initial demands.”
“If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labor costs, which are already significantly higher than the labor costs of Tesla, Toyota and other foreign-owned automakers in the United States that utilize non-union-represented labor,” Ford said. “The union made clear that unless we agreed to its unsustainable terms, it plans a work stoppage at 11:59 p.m. eastern.”
General Motors CEO Mary Barra said Friday morning that she was “extremely frustrated and disappointed” about the strike.
The automakers have made record proposals that address some of the UAW’s ambitious demands but not all of them. Specifically, the companies have offered wage increases of roughly 20%, COLA, altered profit-sharing bonuses, and enhanced vacation and family leave enhancements that the union has found inadequate.
“We didn’t need to be here,” Barra told CNBC’s Phil LeBeau. More

For the first time ever, vaccines for Covid, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus are now available in the U.S. 
Most people only need to consider whether they should get the newly approved updated Covid shot and flu vaccine at the same time, which is perfectly safe and effective.
Meanwhile, only adults 60 and older are eligible for a new RSV vaccine, which means they have to juggle all three shots this fall.

Pharmacist Ani Martirosyan administers an immunization to a patient at a CVS on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023 in Glendale, CA. 
Brian Van Der Brug | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images

For the first time ever, vaccines for Covid, the flu and respiratory syncytial virus are available in the U.S. 
Public health officials are urging eligible Americans to take all three shots so the nation can avoid another “tripledemic” of Covid, flu and RSV, which inundated hospitals last fall and winter. But the fact that some people can now receive three shots has raised questions about whether they should take the jabs all at once or space them out.

Most people only need to consider whether they should get an updated Pfizer or Moderna Covid shot and a flu vaccine at the same time, since both are broadly available to all Americans. Public health officials, physicians and recent research show that taking them during the same visit to the doctor or pharmacy is perfectly safe and effective. 
Meanwhile, the roughly 76.5 million adults ages 60 and older are eligible for a new RSV vaccine from Pfizer or GSK, which means they have to juggle all three shots this fall. A maternal vaccine from Pfizer protects infants against RSV, but that shot isn’t available just yet.
Health experts told CNBC that they don’t expect any issues with taking all three shots at once.
Still, other experts note that there is little research on administering an RSV shot with another vaccine, or on giving all three shots together. People can choose to take the RSV jab if they’re more comfortable with that, and do the other two at another time.  
The choice is ultimately up to the individual and what they believe is most ideal for them, and they should feel free to consult their doctors if they’re unsure, health experts said. 

“There hasn’t been any evidence that there is any risk of getting all three at the same time,” Dr. Ali Alhassani, a physician at Boston Children’s Hospital, told CNBC. He noted that administering multiple vaccines isn’t unusual since children often receive up to five routine immunizations at once. 
Similarly, Dr. Andrew Pekosz, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said he doesn’t “want people to think there will be any problems with taking them together because there probably isn’t.”
But he also noted that “without data, I don’t want to go completely over the top and give a really firm recommendation that everyone should get all three at the same time.”

The benefits of taking Covid, flu, RSV shots together

Taking all three shots simultaneously could be ideal for people who may not have the time to make the multiple trips. “By far the biggest benefit of getting all three together is convenience,” Alhassani said. 
Some research even shows that many people don’t come back when they have to take a second shot, according to Johns Hopkins’ Pekosz. 
For example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends two to three doses of an HPV vaccine for certain Americans. But studies have shown that uptake of HPV shots declines between the first and subsequent doses.
The U.S. encountered a similar issue during the first Covid vaccine rollout in 2020 and 2021. Many Americans missed their second primary series dose. 
“It’s clear that if people have to go back to the pharmacy on two different occasions, there’s always an attrition rate,” Pekosz told CNBC. “So, it’s better to get them in your arm during the same visit rather than not getting the second one because you get too busy to go back.”
Pharmacies allow Americans to schedule multiple vaccine appointments in one visit. For instance, Kroger’s online scheduling tool allows eligible people to select up to three vaccines to take at once.
People who use that tool and help from Kroger’s clinicians, pharmacists and physician assistants to determine which vaccines are appropriate for them and whether they should take them at the same time, Dr. Marc Watkins, Kroger Health’s chief medical officer, told CNBC. 

What to do if you want to space vaccines out 

Some people may prefer to wait for data to come out before they take all three shots together. Others may also choose to take the vaccines separately for their physical comfort, according to Alhassani from Boston Children’s Hospital. 
One of the most common side effects of getting a vaccine is inflammation or soreness at the injection site, he noted. That’s why people who need to take two shots during the same doctor’s visit usually get one in each arm. 
But Alhassani said some people may not want to feel the discomfort of getting three shots at the same time, either in one arm or two. That’s especially the case for people who usually engage in activities that require them to move their arms a lot. 
“If you play sports and have a big game coming up or you’re a teacher who writes a lot on the chalkboard or white board, you use your shoulders and arms a lot,” he said. “So for practical reasons, you might want to say, ‘OK, I only want my left shoulder to be sore today and again next week rather than having it very sore today.'” 
If people do choose to take the three shots separately, they should get their updated Covid vaccine as soon as possible, their RSV shot soon after and their flu jab last, according to Pekosz.
He specifically recommended taking them one week apart from each other, saying that with “more space between them, the more likely people aren’t going back.” 
Pekosz based the order of the vaccines on how widely those respiratory viruses are currently spreading in the U.S. 
The updated Covid shot should be the No. 1 priority because the virus is already spreading at higher levels. Covid hospitalizations increased for the seventh straight week in the U.S., hitting 17,418 as of the week ended Aug. 26, according to the latest data from the CDC. 
RSV cases also are starting to inch up. Last week, the CDC alerted doctors about an increase in RSV activity across some parts of the Southeast. Regional increases have usually predicted the beginning of RSV season nationally, the CDC wrote in an advisory notice. 
Meanwhile, Pekosz said “we still aren’t really seeing any influenza yet.” 
He noted that people can also take their Covid and flu shots at the same time and get their RSV vaccine a week later.  “That way, we’re following all the science that’s out there supporting co-administration,” he told CNBC.  More