For the first time in the union’s history, the United Auto Workers union is on strike over all three of America’s unionized automakers at once: General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis.
3 manufacturing facilities, one from each of the Big Three automakers in Missouri, Michigan, and Ohio, had employees leave on Friday. Union supporters cheered at the picketers while waving signs.
The UAW dubbed its planned walkout of three plants which it described as a Stand Up walkout a strategic new method of taking unpaid leave of absence.
The first three locations where the UAW went on strike were GM’s Wentzville, Missouri, which employs 3,600 UAW workers; Ford’s Michigan Truck plant in Wayne, Michigan, where 3,300 workers will go on strike; and Stellantis’ Toledo Assembly complex in Ohio, where 5,800 workers will go on strike.
Out of the 145,000 UAW workers, fewer than 13,000 actually quit their jobs.
The automakers went on strike after ridiculing the union’s lofty demands for better pay, benefits, and employment safeguards for its members.
The union was making an effort to recoup a number of perks that had to be forfeited more than 10 years prior when the companies were short of money and on the brink of collapsing out of business.
Late on Thursday, Ford CEO Jim Farley stated that the business couldn’t meet all of the union’s demands. Friday morning, UAW President Shawn Fain told CNN that the Ford CEO’s assertions were a joke.
However, the UAW’s choice of facilities will allow the remaining 22 assembly plants to keep producing cars and trucks and keep their workforces employed.
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UAW Demands 20% Pay Raise, Reinstatement of Pension Plan, and COLA
For the three automakers, none of the SUVs and pickup trucks produced at the three factories are top sellers.
Despite the companies’ proposals to increase hourly pay by as much as 20% throughout the course of the contracts, the union went on strike.
These offers would have raised the highest-paid autoworkers’ basic compensation to more than $80,000 annually, not including overtime or profit-sharing bonuses, at the maximum existing hourly rate of $32.32.
However, the union entered into discussions with a demand for an immediate 20% raise and four further 5% raises over the course of the contract. Late in the negotiations, it did reduce those compensation demands, though reportedly not by enough to close the gap with the automakers’ proposals.
The UAW also asked for the reinstatement of a regular pension plan for those employed after 2007 as opposed to merely the 401(k) plan they currently have, as well as the provision of retiree health insurance, which is currently unavailable to those hired after 2007 but is still available to more senior employees.
The union is also calling for the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) in order to shield its members from rising costs. In the 2007 contract, the union lost COLA.
The union contended that real salaries have decreased recently as a result of inflation, despite the fact that businesses have reported record or nearly record profits, manufacturers’ CEO compensation has increased by up to 40%, and automobile prices have reached record highs.
The UAW is also advocating for greater vacation time and has suggested a four-day, 32-hour work week without a salary cut.
But in addition to wage and benefit problems, the union’s worries about job losses and plant closures are among the main topics driving the negotiations.
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Source: CNN
