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Workers at Mississippi auto supplier protesting low wages

Workers at an automotive seat factory in Mississippi are protesting what they say are low wages and poor working conditions as they attempt to unionize in what could become a new front for the United Auto Workers in the state. A group of workers and supporters at the Faurecia SA seating plant in Cleveland plans a Tuesday march. "We work an auto job and we're getting paid like Wal-Mart wages," said Jamarqus Reed, a 32-year-old Pace resident who has worked at the plant for almost 10 years. "We're trying to better ourselves." Nationally, the UAW has staked its future on unionizing Southern auto factories, with limited success so far. The union has been trying to organize Nissan Motor Co.'s Canton, MS, plant for years, and lost a 2008 worker vote at a Johnson Controls plant in nearby Madison that French-based Faurecia bought in 2011. The UAW narrowly lost a unionization vote at the Volkswagen AG plant in Chattanooga, TN, last year, but the union has since qualified for a new labor policy at the plant that grants access to meeting space and to regular discussions with management. The policy stops short of collective bargaining rights. The union is also trying to organize Nissan's assembly plant in Smyrna, TN, and Daimler AG's Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa, AL. Protesters say Faurecia employees make a top wage of $11.64 per hour, while contract workers make $7.73 an hour. Company spokesman Tony Sapienza said that with overtime, the typical Faurecia employee makes more than the $27,000 a year that is the median wage around Cleveland. Wages are often low in the heavily impoverished Delta. "We are very confident that we are offering a very competitive wage," Sapienza said. Organizers criticize use of lower-paid contract workers Shannon Greenidge, a 44-year-old Cleveland resident, said she worked for a labor agency for more than two years before being hired directly by Faurecia. Greenidge said she makes $9.29 an hour, and can't save for retirement or to send her 11-year-old daughter to college. "That's not going to help me down the line in life," she said. Union supporters say as many as half the workers at the plant work for a contract-labor agency. Sapienza said that while the number varies, the company expects 15 percent of its workforce will be temporary employees this year. The UAW has organized some Southern auto parts plants in recent years, including Faurecia plants in Cottondale, Alabama, in 2012 and Louisville, Kentucky in 2013.

Car2go introduces four-seat Mercedes B-Class vehicles

Easily identified by its huge fleet of blue-and-white Smart Fortwos in cities around the world, Daimler's Car2go car sharing service is growing in Canada – both in the number of vehicles and the doors that they have. For the first time in North America, the company is renting a model with a usable backseat thanks to a new pilot program bringing 75 examples of the Mercedes-Benz B-Class to Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary. The point of adding these hatchbacks to the ranks is to offer an option for those seeking more than the paltry room that the ForTwo offers. Car2Go imagines people using the B-Class to haul extra people in the back or just for the added cargo space. The vehicles wear the same blue-and-white look as the rest of the fleet, but they're specially identified for users in the smartphone app. Best of all, for this pilot program, their rental cost is the same 41 cents per minute as the tinier Smarts. The car sharing service has already started testing the waters of offering the B-Class in Germany. Its Car2Go Black pilot program was announced last year and placed 100 of the hatchbacks in both Berlin and Hamburg. car2go Just Got A Lot More Spacious Carsharing Leader Introduces Four-Door Vehicles For The First Time In North America AUSTIN, Texas, Sept. 28, 2015 /CNW/ -- car2go N.A., LLC, the market leader for one-way carsharing in Canada, announced today that car2go will be introducing 75 four-door vehicles to its fleet in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. The pilot program, which officially launches today, provides over 300,000 car2go members in Canada exclusive access to the Mercedes B-Class vehicle, a roomy, versatile alternative to car2go's signature smart fortwo vehicle. The new four-door vehicles are also equipped with the latest car2go technology, allowing members the ability to control their entire car2go experience seamlessly through the official car2go smartphone app. car2go will be introducing 75 four-door vehicles to its fleet in Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary. CLICK TO TWEET: car2go introduces Mercedes vehicles in Canadian markets for the first time http://c2g.cc/Gdscbf "As our members embark on new life chapters – whether moving to a new residence or growing their family – we want to continue providing an affordable and convenient transportation option that allows them to go wherever life takes them," said Paul DeLong, President and CEO of car2go N.A.

Man makes record-setting drive across the US in 28 hours, 50 minutes

Records, as the say, are made to be broken. Whether that's cramming the most hot dogs down your gullet, running a faster mile, or yes, driving across the United States, odds are that there's someone out there wants to eat more, run faster or drive harder. Speaking of that last example, the record for driving from a set location on the east coast, in particular the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan to the Portofino Hotel in Redondo Beach, CA, has been one that has fascinated gearheads since a guy named Cannonball Baker made the trek from New York to LA in 53 hours, 30 minutes, in 1933.
The competition saw its glory days when Car and Driver's Brock Yates came up with the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining Sea Memorial Trophy Dash (more affectionately known as the Cannonball Run), although the record was most recently set by Alex Roy and his 32-hour, seven-minute trek behind the wheel of a BMW M5 in 2006. Now, there's a new champion, who made the trip from east to west in a scarcely imaginable 28 hours and 50 minutes, behind the wheel of a 2004 Mercedes-Benz CL55 AMG. That's works out to an average speed of 98 miles per hour over the course of 2,813.7 miles.
His name is Ed Bolian, and Jalopnik has a writeup of the epic voyage that details everything from the history of the Cannonball Run to Bolian's preparation and trouble finding co-drivers, to the trip itself. It is well worth a read.