EVERETT, WA——More than 1,800 union members will soon leave Boeing under a buyout plan offered last month, the first step in a continuing company job-cutting effort that’s expected to include layoffs later this year. The machinists union said 1,500 of its members applied for a buyout and were approved to leave the company. The engineering union said 305 of its members were approved and are expected to leave the company in April.

CANTON, MS—A Baptist minister in Jackson, MS, is leading efforts to unionize Nissan’s assembly plant here.

SAO PAULO, Brazil—A Brazilian union carried out a 24-hour strike on Monday at the GM assembly plant here to protest dwindling output.

FORT WORTH, TX—Lockheed has reached a tentative deal with a union that has been on strike for eight weeks at the defense contractor’s assembly plant here.

FORT WORTH, TX—Lockheed Martin is hiring temporary workers for its aircraft assembly plant here to replace striking Machinists’ union members.

WINDSOR, ON—Chrysler has fired four hourly employees at its assembly plant here for allegedly drinking alcohol while on the job.

KANSAS CITY, KS—Union workers at the General Motor’s Fairfax Assembly Plant approved a new local contract, averting a potential strike.

CANTON, OH—A United Steelworkers union has approved a five-year contract that will allow a $225 million expansion of Timken’s manufacturing plant here.