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Feb 26, 2024

UAW strike will be costly; TPI has 85 bus bodies in stock following customer bankruptcy

There's less than a month to go until contracts between the UAW and the Detroit Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — expire. And analysts are warning that a strike could be

There's less than a month to go until contracts between the UAW and the Detroit Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis — expire. And analysts are warning that a strike could be hazardous to the financial health not just of automakers, but the entire United States, our sister paper Crain's Detroit Business reports.

"A strike on all three companies would be 'akin to taking down 2 percent of U.S. GDP and could incite intervention analogous to what occurred in the rail sector,' according to a Bank of America analysis released last week," CDB's Kurt Nagl writes.

A 10-day strike against all the automakers could result in more than $5 billion in economic losses, the Anderson Economic Group said in an Aug. 17 report.

A six-week strike against GM in 2019 led to a "single quarter recession" for Michigan, Anderson noted. A wider strike involving more automakers and more plants would impact economies nationwide.

The impact of a strike in 2023 could be bigger on consumers because there is still a limited number of vehicles on the market after production shortages due to COVID-19 and a struggling supply chain.

If you want a place to follow all the potential UAW strike news, our sister paper Automotive News has launched a "micro" website focused on the talks.

Anyone want 85 composite school bus bodies?

TPI Composites Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., finds itself with the composite bodies — and had to cut a little more than 100 jobs from sites in Rhode Island and Mexico — after its customer, electric bus maker Proterra Inc., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

As PN's Jim Johnson writes, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based TPI is an unsecured creditor for Proterra and expects to lose millions of dollars in Proterra's restructuring. But unlike other creditors, it also finds itself with lightweight composite bus bodies it had completed but hadn't yet delivered.

"We're optimistic that there will be a use for them or somebody else will come in and want those bodies," Jerry Lavine, president of the company's transportation business line, told Jim. "Right now, we have no definite plans. We're just waiting to see what happens with Proterra."

For now the bus bodies are stored on a secured yard on TPI's property.

Uniforms worn by Honda workers in Alabama, Indiana, North Carolina and Ohio today may end up in future vehicles through a recycling program that combines end-of-life textiles and post-consumer PET from water bottles to make sound absorbing parts.

Honda says it works with Leigh Fibers to collect uniforms that can no longer be used. Leigh strips them of zippers and buttons, then sends the baled textile to insulation supplier UGN Inc. UGN blends the fibers and molds them with polyester from the water bottles.

Honda says it recycles 2,800 tons of textile waste and 3,000 tons of post-consumer PET for sound-absorbing insulation on Honda and Accura vehicles.

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