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The United Auto Workers yesterday outlined plans for a series of strikes targeting individual U.S. auto plants in what would be its first-ever simultaneous strike against the Detroit Three automakers if agreements are not reached by today, Reuters reported. "To win, we're likely going to have to take action," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a Facebook Live address, adding the UAW was not planning company-wide walkouts if no deal was reached but would escalate if negotiations did not improve. "We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they have never seen before." Fain said the Detroit Three automakers had offered 146,000 U.S. autoworkers pay raises of as much as 20% over four and a half years but called the hikes inadequate even as automakers protested the union had yet to formally respond to their latest more generous offers. Coordinated strikes would mark the first-ever simultaneous labor stoppage at all three Detroit automakers and one of the largest U.S. industrial labor actions in recent years.

A proposed federal rule that would establish staffing requirements at nursing homes across the U.S. could push the already-troubled sector further into distress, even as the pandemic highlighted their failings, Bloomberg News reported. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said that “chronic under-staffing remains a concern,” in a Sept. 1 statement outlining the proposed rule, which includes requiring a registered nurse onsite 24 hours a day, seven days a week. About 75% of U.S. facilities would need to make adjustments under the new rule, CMS said. Nursing homes could receive a hardship extension “in limited circumstances.” Labor shortages and their associated costs still plague nursing homes, which in some cases have eliminated beds because of an absence of caretakers. That’s also created a problem for hospitals, which rely on the homes to take patients who need rehabilitation services when they’re ready for discharge. “I 100% agree that there should be adequate staffing at nursing homes,” but “this is an added cost on an already-strained sector,” said Lisa Washburn, managing director at Municipal Market Analytics. CMS estimates that the costs over 10 years to meet the mandates will be $40.6 billion.

A cybersecurity company founded by former Pentagon brass said in a regulatory filing that it would furlough most of its workers and explore options including bankruptcy reorganization or liquidation, the Wall Street Journal reported. IronNet, co-founded in 2014 by former National Security Agency director and retired Army Gen. Keith Alexander and other former intelligence and defense officials, announced the layoffs and the possibility of bankruptcy in an 8-K filing Tuesday to the Securities and Exchange Commission, also saying it would “substantially curtail” its operations. IronNet, which didn’t respond to a request for comment, said the furlough would last until its financial position improved enough for it to rehire a “portion” of affected employees and restart its operations. It has retained several employees to guard against service interruptions, it said. “In the absence of additional sources of liquidity, the Company’s existing cash and cash equivalents and anticipated cash flows from operations are not sufficient to meet the Company’s operating and liquidity needs,” IronNet said in its filing. The company posted losses in its last two fiscal years, $111 million for the year ended in January, and $242.6 million the previous year.

The U.S. economy added more jobs than expected in August, but a rise in the unemployment rate and moderation in wage growth pointed to an easing in labor market conditions, fueling expectations the Federal Reserve could pause its rate hike cycle, Reuters reported. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 187,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department said in its closely watched employment report on Friday. Data for July was revised lower to show 157,000 jobs added instead of the previously reported 187,000. The unemployment rate rose to 3.8% from 3.5% in July.

The United Auto Workers union and the three Detroit automakers have less than two weeks to negotiate a new labor contract, and a strike of some sort seems increasingly likely, the New York Times reported. The union’s president, Shawn Fain, has primed rank-and-file members to be prepared to walk off the job if the union’s long list of demands for improved wages and benefits are not met. A strike against one of the companies, especially a prolonged stoppage, could send an economic jolt through several Midwestern states and crimp the profits of General Motors, Ford Motor or Stellantis. G.M. workers walked out for 40 days in 2019 before reaching an agreement. A strike against all three — a step the union has never taken but one Mr. Fain has said he is willing to call for this year — could have a noticeable impact on the broader U.S. economy. “If that happens, even a short strike would impact economies throughout Michigan and across the nation,” said Patrick Anderson, the chief executive of the Anderson Economic Group in East Lansing, Mich. The talks are playing out as automakers are spending tens of billions of dollars to transition to electric vehicles, which require fewer workers to assemble than traditional gasoline-powered cars and trucks. The terms of the new contract will determine how both autoworkers and the companies fare in an E.V.-centric industry. At the same time, significant wage and benefit gains could provide a tailwind for a union movement that has been gaining strength across several industries.

The Biden administration is offering $12 billion in grants and loans for automakers and suppliers to retrofit their plants to produce electric and other advanced vehicles, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said yesterday, Reuters reported. "While we transition to EVs, we want to ensure that workers can transition in place, that there is no worker, no community left behind," Granholm, a former governor of car-manufacturing state Michigan, told reporters in a call. Speeding grants and other subsidies to fund conversion of existing auto plants to build electric vehicles could help the White House blunt criticism from automakers and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union over proposed environmental rules aimed to help usher in the EV era. The UAW has warned that a rapid change could put thousands of jobs at risk in states such as Michigan, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Last week UAW members voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing a strike at the Detroit Three automakers if an agreement over wages and pension plans is not reached before the current four-year contract expires on Sept. 14.

Businesses posted far fewer open jobs in July and the number of Americans quitting their jobs fell sharply for the second straight month, clear signs that the labor market is cooling in a way that could reduce inflation, the Associated Press reported. The number of job vacancies dropped to 8.8 million last month, the Labor Department said Tuesday, the fewest since March 2021 and down from 9.2 million in June. Yet the drop appeared to be even steeper because June’s figure was initially reported as 9.6 million. That figure was revised lower yesterday. July’s figure was still healthy historically — before the pandemic the number of openings had never topped 8 million. And there are still roughly 1.5 available jobs for each unemployed worker, which is also elevated but down from a peak last year of 1.9.

Juul Labs plans to lay off roughly 30% of its workforce, whittling its operations as it seeks to raise capital or sell the company, the Wall Street Journal reported. The e-cigarette maker has been on tenuous financial footing since U.S. regulators last year ordered its vaping products off the market, then suspended the ban pending the company’s appeal. Juul staved off bankruptcy last fall after some early investors bailed it out. Since then, Juul has sought and failed to make a deal with a larger company on a sale, investment or licensing arrangement that could provide capital to continue its operations. Juul is awaiting a final decision from the Food and Drug Administration on whether its current products can remain on the U.S. market. The dispute hinges on unresolved technical questions in Juul’s application for federal authorization. Last month, in a separate application, Juul submitted its next-generation vaporizer for U.S. clearance. Juul hasn’t been able to strike a deal at what it deems a fair valuation without FDA authorization for one of its devices, a company spokesman said. Potential investors also have expressed concerns about the proliferation of illegal disposable vaping products, which have taken market share in the U.S. from Juul and others.

The dismantling of bankrupt trucker Yellow is shaping up as a bidding battle over real estate as trucking companies look to capitalize on a rare chance to snap up coveted freight terminals across North America, the Wall Street Journal reported. Old Dominion Freight Line last week agreed to buy Yellow’s network of about 170 truck terminals for $1.5 billion, surpassing an earlier offer of $1.3 billion from rival trucker Estes Express Lines. Both bids exceeded the value Yellow placed on its real estate in its bankruptcy filing, signaling the high value trucking companies place on the sites. Old Dominion Freight Line is now the stalking horse in a bankruptcy court-supervised auction that will take place on Oct. 18. That means ODFL is the front-runner but by no means the certain winner in a contest expected to draw bids from across the trucking industry and the industrial real-estate sector.