- The auto supplier trade organization on Tuesday said it is aware of more than 100 supplier companies “enacting some form of temporary layoffs” of up to 12,000 U.S. salaried and hourly employees.
- About 48,000 UAW members have been on strike and picketing outside GM’s U.S. facilities since Sept. 16.
- The impacted supplier workers add to the more than 10,000 non-UAW employees with GM to be impacted from the strike in North America and thousands more in the Canadian and Mexican supply chain. Source CNBC
President Vladimir Putin told Gazprom PJSC to turn to refilling European gas-storage facilities next month, signaling that long-awaited additional Russian supplies could be on the way. The move will “create a more favorable situation on the European energy market,” Putin said at a meeting broadcast on state television Wednesday. Source Al Jazeera
The chaos in gas and electricity markets is set to hit one group of people the hardest this winter: the four million households that use prepayment meters (PPMs).
While most people pay their bills monthly for energy they have already used, PPMs require people to pay for energy before they use it. PPMs take whatever money is in the meter and supply energy to the household. Source Open Democracy
Russia’s Gazprom has damped hopes for additional gas exports to Europe next month as the continent struggles with record prices, despite recent hints from President Vladimir Putin that more could be forthcoming.
UK and European gas prices surged as much as 18 per cent on Monday after a keenly awaited pipeline capacity auction showed no increase from Russia either through the Ukrainian pipeline system or lines passing via Poland to north-west Europe. Source FT