Targeting plants that build some of domestic industry’s most popular vehicles, the United Auto Workers called selective strikes at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, belonging to Detroit Three automakers as talks on a new contract stalled.
UAW President Shawn Fain said union members would stage stand-up or selective strikes at General Motors Assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri, where the company builds it popular midsized trucks, the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon; at the Stellantis Jeep complex in Toledo, Ohio, where the Jeep Wrangler and Jeep Gladiator are built, and Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where the company builds the Ford Bronco and Ford Ranger.
Historic walkout begins
“It’s the first time the UAW has struck all three companies,” said Fain, who made the announcement two hours before the expiration of the old agreement. In all, the limited strikes involve 13,300 of the union’s 146,000 members employed by Detroit’s Three automakers.
“This fight is our generation’s defining moment. Not just at the Big Three, but across the entire working class. We will stand up for ourselves. We will stand up for our families. We will stand up for our communities,” said Fain, who has emphasized the damage plant closings have done to towns and cities across the Midwest throughout the negotiations.
Stellantis said the strike was an unfortunate development.
“We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership’s refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families, and our customers. We immediately put the Company in contingency mode and will take all the appropriate structural decisions to protect our North American operations and the Company,” Stellantis says in a statement after the strikes began.
GM also said it was disappointed the union had chosen to strike one of its plants.
“The UAW has informed GM that they are on strike at Wentzville Assembly in Missouri as of 11:59 p.m. We are disappointed by the UAW leadership’s actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments,” GM said.
“We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible for the benefit of our team members, customers, suppliers, and communities across the U.S. In the meantime, our priority is the safety of our workforce.”
GM Chair and CEO Marry Barra, who’s nearly $29 million compensation package UAW chief Fain has held up as one of the reasons for the high salary demands for workers, recalled the impact of the strike four years ago.
“We know a strong GM is important to all of us,” she said, adding GM is offering union workers the biggest raise in the company’s 115-year history. “Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won.” GM is offering 20% pay increase, while reducing the grow-in period essential to tiered-age structure from eight to four years.
Ford says proposal too costly
At Ford, which is facing the first walkout by its blue-collar workers since 1976, the walkout is being greeted was combination of dismay and anger with the UAW’s high command. CEO Jim Farley says the union’s proposals would push Ford into bankruptcy.
“Unfortunately, the UAW’s counterproposal tonight showed little movement from the union’s initial demands submitted Aug. 3. If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labor costs, which are already significantly higher than the labor costs of Tesla, Toyota and other foreign-owned automakers in the United States that utilize non-union-represented labor,” he noted.
“The union made clear that unless we agreed to its unsustainable terms, it plans a work stoppage at 11:59 p.m. eastern. Ford has bargained in good faith to avoid a strike, which could have wide-ranging consequences for our business and the economy,” the company’s statement noted.
The Washington-based Economic Policy Institute noted an auto strike is bound to spoil over into the larger economy.
“In the 2008 auto industry crisis, GM and Chrysler (now Stellantis) agreed to bankruptcy and government-supported restructuring. While this deal saved jobs throughout the auto sector, it came with steep costs to workers. Union workers agreed to a wage freeze, entry of lower-wage ‘tiered’ workers, and other concessions affecting retiree pensions and health care benefits.
“In 2009, the companies suspended contractual cost of living adjustments and have not had one since. Since that time, average consumer prices have increased nearly 40% and autoworker wages have not come anywhere close to keeping up,” EPI said.
“As unionized auto wages fell behind, so did non-unionized auto wages. This spillover effect whereby wage suppression of union workers filters out into the broader economy and damages the wages of non-union workers as well is a key dynamic driving U.S. inequality in recent years,” EPI said in a report released this week.
