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The UAW's 'record contract' hinges on pensions, battery plants

DETROIT - After nearly four weeks of disruptive strikes and hard bargaining, the United Auto Workers and the Detroit Three automakers have edged closer to a deal that could offer record-setting wage gains for nearly 150,000 U.S. workers. General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis have all agreed to raise base wages by between 20% and 23% over a four-year deal, according to union and company statements. Ford and Stellantis have agreed to reinstate cost-of-living adjustments, or COLA. The companies have offered to boost pay for temporary workers and give them a faster path to full-time, full-wage status. All three have proposed slashing the time it takes a new hire to get to the top UAW pay rate. The progress in contract talks follows the first-ever simultaneous strike by the UAW against Detroit's Big Three automakers. The union began the strike on Sept. 15 in hopes of forcing a better deal from each major automaker. But coming close to a deal is not the same thing as reaching a deal. Big obstacles remain on at least two major UAW demands: restoring the retirement security provided by pre-2007 defined benefit pension plans, and covering present and future joint- venture electric vehicle battery plants under the union's master contracts with the automakers. On retirement, none of the automakers has agreed to restore pre-2007 defined-benefit pension plans for workers hired after 2007. Doing so could force the automakers to again burden their balance sheets with multibillion-dollar liabilities. GM and the former Chrysler unloaded most of those liabilities in their 2009 bankruptcies. The union and automakers have explored an approach to providing more income security by offering annuities as an investment option in their company-sponsored 401(k) savings plans, people familiar with the discussions said. Stellantis referred to an annuity option as part of a more generous 401(k) proposal on Sept. 22. Annuities or similar instruments could give UAW retirees assurance of fixed, predictable payouts less dependent on stock market ups and downs, experts said. Recent changes in federal law have removed obstacles to including annuities as a feature of corporate 401(k) plans, said Olivia Mitchell, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School and an expert on pensions and retirement. "Retirees want a way to be assured they won't run out of money," Mitchell said.

2020 Dodge Charger pricing starts at $31,390

We've been talking about the 2020 Dodge Charger for three months, and it's finally time to start doing the math on trade-in values and loan payments. The 2020 Charger lineup starts with the SXT in rear-wheel-drive trim priced at $29,895, plus a $1,495 destination charge for a total of $31,390. That's a $425 bump over the 2019 model. The rest of the range doesn't get a price bump higher than $250 save for the Hellcat Widebody. The 2019 Charger didn't offer Widebody variants, so those are new for 2020. The lineup with MSRP changes from 2019: Charger GT RWD $33,390 ($150 more than 2019) Charger SXT AWD $35,090 ($25 more) Charger R/T $37,890 ($150 more) Charger Scat Pack $41,490 ($250 less) Charger Scat Pack Widebody $47,490 (brand new model) Charger SRT Hellcat Widebody $71,140 ($2,150 more than 2019 non-widebody) Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition $75,635 (brand new model) There's a price differential of $44,245 from bottom to top. Even more relevant to the Charger faithful, there's a displacement and power differential from the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 in the SXT with 292 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque to the 6.2-liter supercharged Hemi V8 in the Charger Hellcat Widebody Daytona 50th Anniversary Edition with 717 hp and 650 lb-ft of torque. Dodge plumps the Scat Pack in the middle as having the "most horsepower per dollar," with its 392-cubic-inch Hemi V8 pumping 485 hp and 475 lb-ft. In the amusement park business, this is what's called "Fun for everyone." The Scat Pack Widebody makes a break from its standard sibling with stiffer springs, larger sway bars, and shocks, and retuned dampers. Changes throughout the rest of the lineup save for the SXT center on new wheel and tire options, and an updated Performance Handling Group on the GT and R/T trims. The 2020 Charger order book opens in the fall, but America's family-friendly muscle car won't start hitting dealer lots until early 2020.

Plug-in BMWs, long-term updates and the best of SEMA 2018 | Autoblog Podcast #560

On this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Associate Editor Reese Counts. The pair discuss the BMW 740e xDrive iPerformance plug-in hybrid as well as our long-term Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid and Honda Ridgeline. They also discuss the best of SEMA Show 2018, including some pretty wild cars from Dodge and Chevy. Finally, we spend your money. This week, rather than pulling questions in from our email, we head to Reddit to answer some questions on r/cars.Autoblog Podcast #560 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown 2018 BMW 740e xDrive iPerformance 2018 Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid long-term 2018 Honda Ridgeline RTL-E long-term SEMA Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video: Green Podcasts BMW Chrysler Dodge Honda chrysler pacifica