Domestic Glance
Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee voted to ratify their first union contract Thu rsday, securing pay bumps, job protections and a rare win for the United Auto Workers union in the South.
It's been a long road to this contract. Workers initially voted twice against joining the union before casting ballots in favor in 2024, making this VW plant one of the few to unionize in the South, and the rare one that's not a member of the "Big 3" auto companies: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. That was nearly two years ago and negotiations have dragged on since, with workers at one granting the union the ability to call a strike if necessary.
But contract talks were resolved in early February when the UAW and Volkswagen struck a tentative agreement, which the workers have now voted to approve, with 96% of them voting yes.
"Volkswagen workers have moved yet another mountain," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a press release sent by the union Thursday night. "From having the courage to stand up and form their union, to having the backbone to authorize a strike and hold out for a contract that honors their worth, VW workers are leading the way for the entire labor movement and non-union autoworkers everywhere. Welcome to the UAW family."
In a statement after the tentative contract was announced, Volkswagen officials wrote, "These benefits recognize and reward the hard work and dedication our team members give every day."
Eight backcountry skiers have been found dead and one remains missing after an avalanche near Lake Tahoe in California, officials said Wednesday, making it the deadliest avalanche in the U.S. in more than four decades.
Construction on the nation’s largest infrastructure project can resume after a court ordered the Trump administration to release funding it had withheld to gain leverage over congressional Democrats from New York.
Six backcountry skiers were stranded and 10 others were missing on Tuesday, Feb. 17, after an avalanche in Northern California swept through as a powerful winter storm battered the region with heavy snow and high winds.
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, a protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and two-time presidential candidate who led the Civil Rights Movement for decades after the revered leader’s assassination, died Tuesday. He was 84.
At least two people are dead in an apparent mass shooting at an indoor ice rink in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Monday afternoon, officials told the WPRI local news outlet.
Robert Duvall, the Academy Award-winning actor known for his roles in Hollywood classics such as "The Godfather" and "Apocalypse Now," has died. He was 95.
