LABOR
Pay freeze at GM plant
General Motors workers at an auto assembly plant in northern Spain accepted a two-year salary freeze as part of a labor deal aimed at boosting competitiveness against other European factories.
The roughly 6,000 employees at the plant near Zaragoza won’t get a wage increase in 2013 and 2014 as part of a five-year collective bargaining agreement.
The agreement should help the Zaragoza plant be “part of the company’s investment plans and allotment of new models,” the carmaker said in an emailed statement.
GM’s European operations, which consist primarily of Germany-based Opel and its British sister brand Vauxhall, have accumulated losses of $18 billion since 1999.
Mexican labor costs fall
Mexico is looking for business opportunities in the Chinese market after a new report suggested that Mexican labor costs have fallen below those of China.
President Enrique Pena Nieto visited Hong Kong and said “I am convinced that Mexican products should take advantage of the dynamism of China’s markets.”
Just a decade ago, Mexico’s prospect of exporting much to China seemed distant. Mexican average labor costs were then almost double China’s.
But a report by a chief economist for Bank of America Merrill Lynch estimated that Mexico’s labor costs are now 19.6 percent lower than China’s.
The study by chief economist Carlos Capistran cites the bank’s own estimates and official data indicating that a big increase in China’s costs have turned the balance.
FINANCE
Social media filings
Netflix Inc., the subscription video-streaming service, said it may use Facebook and Twitter to release material information now that U.S. regulators have cleared the practice. The company listed the social-media services operated by Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. as possible outlets for news in a regulatory filing.