The potential shipping stoppage over UPS workers revolting over the lack of a new deal is ancient history, but now it’s the auto workers' turn. On Thursday, United Auto Workers will go on strike as their current contract expires with the big three, Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), in Detroit. Ironically, one pet project of the Left and their environmental allies is a roadblock in the ongoing negotiations: electric cars. The automakers want to use a chunk of their profits to increase production while their workers demand a pay raise.
The Wall Street Journal added that the UAW hopes to use these talks to reclaim the ground they were forced to concede during the financial crisis, specifically job security provisions and retirement benefits, which were forced to take a backseat. There have been strikes before, and it’s cost billions.
The publication cited the 2019 GM strike, where nearly 50,000 workers walked off for 40 days, costing the company $3.6 billion. The UAW is also not negotiating with just one company in these rounds but all three. We could be in for an unprecedented work stoppage during a period when the big automakers are planning to unveil several new electric vehicle models.
The Journal added that a 10-day strike could result in $5 billion in lost economic activity, with the union having a $825 million strike fund that could hold over their members for at least two months. Workers want a 40 percent wage increase over four years, among other things, money the automakers want to use to ramp up EV production. Thus far, both sides aren’t budging (via WSJ):
The car companies say they need the money to fund their switch to electric vehicles; the union says its workers deserve more cash because of high inflation, their work during the pandemic and concessions made in past negotiations to help the automakers survive darker times.
Weeks of intense talks and combative public volleys have yet to produce a deal for any of the automakers. Union leaders say members are prepared to hit picket lines at any company that hasn’t reached a tentative labor agreement after the current contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
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Union leaders and rank-and-file workers say the costs involved in the EV transition aren’t an excuse to skimp on worker raises.
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Typically by this point in the negotiation process, union leaders would be focused on reaching a deal with one company. But UAW negotiators continue to bargain with all three, rather than targeting one, raising the possibility that the union could strike more than one of the companies if they can’t reach deals by the late-Thursday deadlines.
A strike at all three companies would send union workers at dozens of U.S. factories to the picket lines, a work stoppage without much precedent in automotive history.
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UAW leaders are pressing for at least a 40% wage increase across the four years of the contracts. They are also demanding 40 hours of pay for a 32-hour workweek, restoration of retiree medical benefits and a crackdown on the use of temporary workers.
As of last week, the sides still appeared far apart on the wage issue. Stellantis on Friday proposed a 14.5% pay increase. Meanwhile, Ford has floated a 9% raise and GM offered 10%.
GM and Ford have also proposed additional lump-sum payments, more than $16,000 in signing bonuses and inflation-protection payments. Fain called their offers an insult.
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The UAW slogan right now is “Record profits mean record contracts.” They’re sticking to their guns.
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