Most of the news about the automotive industry this month is focused on the United Auto Workers' strike against the Big Three automakers, but the story is different in rural West Tennessee.

A huge battery and vehicle manufacturing campus is being built in Stanton, with an expected economic impact of $5.6 billion. The nearly 6-square-mile Ford BlueOval City campus is expected to create 6,000 new local jobs.

Ethan Link, assistant business manager for the Southeast Laborers District Council, a division of Laborers International Union of North America, said the project is on track to open in 2025, and should be a major investment in the future of electric vehicles.

"They're building this enormous, and really, state-of-the-art Ford assembly plant to build the F-150, Lightning, as well as a battery plant right next to it, that is going to supply all the batteries they need for that," Link outlined. "We're really excited about the scale and the scope of what this project is going to mean for the new green economy."

A Tennessee College of Applied Technology school is also being planned near the site to train workers for the new jobs. He added the union workers building the plant are making more than $20 an hour and receiving health and pension benefits.

Rodney Bond, trainer from Brownsville with Laborers Southeast Training Fund, a joint fund of the union and participating contractors, is responsible for training the workers to lay asphalt for the plant.

"We did the casing for up under the building, and we poured the concrete for the 'BOS' (basic oxygen steelmaking) plant," Bond explained. "I'm glad and excited to have come here, it changed my life. I mean, it's a blessing to work with these guys."

Stacy Torrance, a laborer for Walbridge Construction Company, said in a region where there are few job opportunities, this has been a good one.

"Right now I work with a carpenter crew, so I tend to them," Torrance noted. "When I started, we were doing walls on body, then we moved to assembly. But now, we are pouring slabs, so we're doing all that; we form 'em up and they pour 'em. When I first came out there, I was new to the whole process, so I got to learn a lot. The pay and stuff is very good."

James DeWalt Sr., another laborer for Walbridge, performs maintenance at the site.

"I maintain the grounds in the building and make sure they stay safe," DeWalt emphasized. "Safety is their most important rule, so we all are safe. So, we try to make sure that everything's pretty safe and clean, so people can move around."

The union said a 10-hour Occupational Safety and Health Administration class is also offered on job site safety, and there are first aid CPR courses and specific training for operating aerial lifts.

Minnesota is two years away from enacting its new paid leave law and while the debate over costs has resurfaced, some in the small business community are not worried.

The law was adopted in the most recent legislative session with plenty of fanfare, following debate over the potential effects on businesses. It allows up to 12 weeks of paid family leave or 12 weeks of medical leave. It's capped at 20 weeks for those needing both, and will be funded through payroll premiums split between employers and employees.

A new state-commissioned analysis suggested the expected rates should be slightly higher to cover costs.

Dan Swenson-Klatt, owner of the Butter Bakery Café in Minneapolis and member of Main Street Alliance, still backs the law.

"It's still about 10 times less than I pay when I'm paying out of pocket to be able to pay that kind of premium level," Swenson-Klatt explained.

Organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce, as well as Republican lawmakers, said the new findings underscore their concerns about the law being a costly endeavor. But Democratic sponsors welcomed the new analysis, saying the new projections are still in line with what they had envisioned when pushing through the plan.

In trying to compete with larger chains and other big businesses, Swenson-Klatt argued the new law gives smaller operations a recruiting resource they lack.

"I'll be able to have money that I'm not spending out of my pocket to do other things for my business and have a benefit that's valuable to my staff," Swenson-Klatt pointed out.

He also disagreed with fears workers will take advantage of the law by consistently maxing out the benefit. While some smaller businesses are unfazed by the latest projections, the National Federation of Independent Business called on Minnesota lawmakers to revisit the issue next year and implement caps and reductions to reduce costs.

The analysis showed overall program cost increases could exceed $600 million.


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A lawsuit challenging Wisconsin's collective near-total bargaining ban for most public workers is by some seen as a way to bolster the state's beleaguered educator workforce.

A coalition of unions filed a lawsuit last week seeking to overturn Act 10, which places heavy limitations on negotiating rights for public-sector unions. The law has been in place a dozen years and was a major priority for conservative lawmakers.

The latest lawsuit comes as Wisconsin, like other states, grapples with teacher shortages.

Madeline Topf, co-president of the Teaching Assistants Association, which represents graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and is a plaintiff in the case, said restoring rights could make the state an attractive place for future educators and researchers.

"Having really strong education through academia, as well as in public schools, is really important for training the next generation but also recruiting people," Topf explained.

The controversial law has been able to stay in place despite past efforts to have it thrown out. A recent report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum noted the state's teacher turnover rate has climbed from 8% in 2010 to more than 15% in the last school year.

Topf noted at the graduate student level, she and her peers are very passionate about what they are studying. She feels not having the right to bargain for extra support erodes at their enthusiasm to carry out a public mission.

"We have people who have to live with many roommates, or don't have enough money to get groceries," Topf observed.

She pointed out at the university, her union is in the midst of a major campaign citing the need for paid leave benefits.

The lawsuit was filed after the Wisconsin Supreme Court flipped to a liberal majority. Legal analysts said it could take time for it to reach the high court, and there is the possibility the newest liberal justice would recuse herself from the case. Meanwhile, Republican leaders say overturning the law would result in budget harm for schools.


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Workers at the Tacoma Art Museum are celebrating a unique union victory that could be a model for other museums.

The 26 members of Tacoma Art Museum Workers United voted unanimously in favor of the union in November.

It's Washington state's first cross-department union in an art museum, although they're still seeking to include two security workers.

Museum Institutional Giving Manager Eden Redmond said they fought for an inclusive union because workers were experiencing similar issues museum-wide.

"The issues that workers were facing permeated across departments," said Redmond, "and they permeated across experience levels and tenure, and they permeated across different generations of leadership - and so we began looking to each other and saying, hey, we've got a systemic problem and we need a systemic solution."

The union is joining the Washington Federation of State Employees. Redmond said they'll start working on a contract in 2024.

Museum leadership said they will work with the union going forward in this process.

Steve Rue is a preparator at the museum. He said he sees their unionization drive as part of a larger movement.

"The problems that are happening in other museums are the exact same problems that we have here," said Rue, "which goes to show that it's more than just a few bad apples in a few places. The museum industry as a whole is outdated and broken."

Redmond said Tacoma Art Museum workers have been connecting with staff at other museums around the country who are facing the same issues, and sees energy behind unionization elsewhere too.

"If you're going to be protecting and preserving culture through arts objects or historical objects," said Redmond, "you can also be creating positive culture by protecting your workers."