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Ram may build more trucks with sports team tie-ins

After a rather successful foray with a Red Wings edition of the Ram 1500 last year - some 3,000 units sold - the truck brand is both re-upping its relationship with Detroit's hockey powerhouse and considering expansion into other sport franchises.
Ram announced last month that it would carry on its partnership with the Red Wings throughout the 2012-13 NHL season. The company will not offer a special edition version of the 2013 Ram, due in part to the strike-shortened NHL season. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Ram boss Fred Diaz called the Red Wings partnership an experiment that "worked out so incredibly well, we're looking at the possibility of doing other things with other sports."
Diaz doesn't see Ram doing deals with entire leagues, but does think that other teams and cities, with a similar "rabid fan base" could make sense for co-branding. "We'll pick our spots and our moments, " said Diaz, "and if we feel like we have a good opportunity, we'll do it."

Ford, Stellantis workers join those at GM in ratifying contract that ended UAW strikes

DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union overwhelmingly ratified new contracts with Ford and Stellantis, that along with a similar deal with General Motors will raise pay across the industry, force automakers to absorb higher costs and help reshape the auto business as it shifts away from gasoline-fueled vehicles. Workers at Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, Dodge and Ram vehicles, voted 68.8% in favor of the deal. Their approval brought to a close a contentious labor dispute that included name-calling and a series of punishing strikes that imposed high costs on the companies and led to significant gains in pay and benefits for UAW workers. The deal at Stellantis passed by a roughly 10,000 vote margin, with ballot counts ending Saturday afternoon. Workers at Ford voted 69.3% in favor of the pact, which passed with nearly a 15,000-vote margin in balloting that ended early Saturday. Earlier this week, GM workers narrowly approved a similar contract. The agreements, which run through April 2028, will end contentious talks that began last summer and led to six-week-long strikes at all three automakers. Shawn Fain, the pugnacious new UAW leader, had branded the companies enemies of the UAW who were led by overpaid CEOs, declaring the days of union cooperation with the automakers were over. After summerlong negotiations failed to produce a deal, Fain kicked off strikes on Sept. 15 at one assembly plant at each company. The union later extended the strike to parts warehouses and other factories to try to intensify pressure on the automakers until tentative agreements were reached late in October. The new contract agreements were widely seen as a victory for the UAW. The companies agreed to dramatically raise pay for top-scale assembly plant workers, with increases and cost-of-living adjustments that would translate into 33% wage gains. Top assembly plant workers are to receive immediate 11% raises and will earn roughly $42 an hour when the contracts expire in April of 2028. Under the agreements, the automakers also ended many of the multiple tiers of wages they had used to pay different workers. They also agreed in principle to bring new electric-vehicle battery plants into the national union contract. This provision will give the UAW an opportunity to unionize the EV battery plants plants, which will represent a rising share of industry jobs in the years ahead.