DETROIT (AP) — Thousands of workers at a big Mercedes-Benz factory near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, will vote next month on whether they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers union.
The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday that the vote will take place from May 13 to May 17 at the facilities in Vance and Woodstock, Alabama. Votes will be counted by the agency on May 17.
The NRLB said that the company and the union agreed to the election dates.
The vote will be the second in the union's drive to organize 150,000 workers at more than a dozen nonunion auto manufacturing plants largely in Southern states. About 4,300 workers at Volkswagen's factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are voting on union representation this week, with the vote tally to be announced on Friday.
The organizing effort comes after the UAW won big pay raises after striking Detroit's three automakers last fall.
The Mercedes facilities had about 6,100 employees as of the end of 2023. More than 5,000 are calling for the union vote, UAW has said.
In response to the workers’ petition, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International stated that it “fully respects our Team Members’ choice (on) whether to unionize.” The company added that it plans to ensure all workers have a chance to cast their own secret-ballot vote and have access to “the information necessary to make an informed choice” during the election process.
The UAW has accused Mercedes management of anti-union tactics in recent weeks, filing federal labor charges against the company.
Earlier this week the governors of six Southern states, including Alabama and Tennessee, put out a statement saying that workers will put their jobs in jeopardy if they vote for a union.
FILE - The redesigned Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan reaches its final assembly stage the auto maker's plant, Sept. 5, 2014, in Vance, Ala. Workers at Mercedes-Benz factories near Tuscaloosa, Ala., will vote in May 2024 on whether they want to be represented by the United Auto Workers union. The National Labor Relations Board said Thursday, April 18, 2024, that the vote will take place from May 13 to May 17 at the facilities in Vance and Woodstock, Ala. (Brent Snavel/Detroit Free Press via AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks swung to a mixed finish on Wednesday after the head of the Federal Reserve said the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street craves so much are still likely, even if they're delayed because of stubbornly high inflation.
The S&P 500 fell 17.30 points, or 0.3%, to 5,018.39 after the Fed held its main interest rate at its highest level since 2001, just as markets expected. The index had rallied as much as 1.2% in the afternoon before giving up all the gains at the end of trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 87.37, or 0.2%, to 37,903.29, and the Nasdaq composite lost 52.34, or 0.3%, to 15,605.48.
On the downside for financial markets, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said out loud the fear that's recently sent stock prices lower and erased traders' hopes for imminent cuts to interest rates: “In recent months, inflation has shown a lack of further progress toward our 2% objective.” He also said that it will likely take "longer than previously expected” to get confident enough to cut rates, a move that would ease pressure on the economy and investment prices.
At the same time, though, Powell calmed a fear swirling in the market, that inflation has remained so high that additional hikes to rates may be necessary.
“I think it’s unlikely that the next policy rate move will be a hike,” he said.
The Fed also offered financial markets some assistance by saying it would slow the pace of how much it’s shrinking its holdings of Treasurys. Such a move could grease the trading wheels in the financial system, offering stability in the bond market. Powell said the Fed did it to reduce “risk of money markets showing stress.”
Yields eased in the bond market following the move and Powell's comments.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.63% from 4.65% just before the announcement, easing the pressure on the stock market. The yield on the two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, dropped to 4.95% from 5.04% late Tuesday.
Traders themselves had already downshifted their expectations for rate cuts this year to one or two, if any, after coming into the year forecasting six or more. That's because they saw the same string of reports as the Fed, which showed inflation remaining stubbornly higher than forecast this year.
Powell had already recently hinted rates may stay high for a while. That was a disappointment for Wall Street after the Fed earlier had indicated it was penciling in three cuts to rates during 2024.
Powell's comments Wednesday were largely seen as less harsh than feared.
“Yet, before markets get overly excited, it’s worth remembering that the Fed is responding to the unfolding economic data, just as we all are,” according to Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. "The next few months of data are pivotal for the Fed path."
Without the benefit of easing rates, companies will need to deliver better profits to support their stock prices.
CVS Health tumbled 16.8% after reporting weaker results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It said it’s been hurt by increased costs at its Medicare Advantage business, and it cut its forecast for profit over the full year.
Starbucks dropped 15.9% after falling short of expectations for both profit and revenue in the latest quarter. Sales trends weakened at its stores outside the United States in particular, and it cut its full-year forecasts for profit and revenue.
Super Micro Computer, which has been one of Wall Street’s hottest stars, gave back 14% despite topping expectations for profit. The company, which sells server and storage systems used in AI and other computing, fell shy of analysts’ forecasts for revenue. Expectations had bult up after its stock had already tripled this year amid a broad frenzy on Wall Street around artificial-intelligence technology.
Advanced Micro Devices dropped 8.9% despite reporting profit that matched expectations. Its revenue came in a bit shy of forecasts, as did the midpoint of its forecasted range for revenue in the current quarter.
On the winning side was Amazon, which climbed 2.3% after reporting stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The retail behemoth credited reaccelerating growth at its cloud-computing business, in part, as it benefits from demand for AI.
Before the Fed's announcement, stocks and Treasury yields had been moving relatively little following some weaker-than-expected reports on the economy.
One report from the Institute for Supply Management said the U.S. manufacturing sector unexpectedly fell back into contraction last month.
A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly fewer jobs at the end of March than economists expected. The hope on Wall Street has been that a cooldown could help prevent upward pressure on inflation. The downside is that if it weakens too much, a major support for the economy could give out.
Some recent economic reports raised fears about the potential for a stagnating economy combined with high inflation. The Fed doesn’t have great tools to fix such a scenario, called “stagflation.”
But Powell downplayed the risk of that and said inflation is much lower and economic growth is better than the last time stagflation struck in the 1970s and 80s.
“I don’t see the ‘stag’ or the ‘flation,’” he said.
AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimon Zhong contributed.
A banner for cruise operator Viking, marking its initial public offering, hangs on the front of the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, May 1, 2024 in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)
FILE - A person walks in front of an electronic stock board showing Japan's Nikkei 225 index at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 22, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
FILE- A person looks at an electronic stock board showing Japan's stock prices at a securities firm in Tokyo, on April 30, 2024. Asian stocks fell Wednesday, May 1, 2024 with most of the markets in the region closed for a holiday. Meanwhile, U.S. stocks closed out their worst month since September. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)
