“The locals that are not yet called on to join the Stand-Up strike will continue working under an expired agreement. No contact extensions,” Fain said on Facebook Live. Though the contract has expired, terms and conditions remain in place, and the union members cannot be fired or disciplined for no reason.
“This strategy will keep the companies guessing,” Fain said. “It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining. And if we need to go all out, we will. Everything’s on the table.”
GM, Ford, and Stellantis earned a combined profit of $21 billion in the first-half of 2023, according to American Public Media’s Marketplace.
For 2022, GM’s Barra earned nearly $29 million, Ford’s Farley earned about $21 million, and Stellantis’ Carlos Tavares earned $24.8 million, according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings cited by NPR. Fain says a UAW worker at GM’s Ultium battery cell plant in Lordstown, Ohio, starts at $16.50 per hour.
The UAW’s last strike, against GM in 2019, lasted 40 days and cost the automaker about $3 billion.
For 2022, GM’s Barra earned nearly $29 million, Ford’s Farley earned about $21 million, and Stellantis’ Carlos Tavares earned $24.8 million, according to Securities & Exchange Commission filings cited by NPR. Fain says a UAW worker at GM’s Ultium battery cell plant in Lordstown, Ohio, starts at $16.50 per hour.
The UAW’s last strike, against GM in 2019, lasted 40 days and cost the automaker about $3 billion.
The UAW has a war chest that is enough to make $500 a week payments to each member for 3 months
Prior to the onset of the strike, Farley also told CNBC that the union’s proposal could quite literally bankrupt the company.
Current UAW Demands
Eliminate tiered wages. Top pay for the entry hire tier is about $19 an hour.
Wage increases of 36% over the four years of a new contract. The UAW started at 6%; Latest offers are 20% from GM and Ford, 17.5% from Stellantis, says the AP.
Restore the annual cost of living wage increases.
Defined benefit pensions for all workers.
Re-establish retiree medical benefits.
Restore the right to strike over plant closures and the Working Family Protection Program, which pays workers from closed plants for community service work.
End “abuse” of temporary workers (who are hired and laid off at-will with the ebb and flow of production demands).
More paid time off to be with families.
Significant increase in retiree pay.
Though not specified on the website, Fain also has called for a four-day, 32-hour work week, citing evidence that the reduction in hours typically results in better productivity. But as the UAW also says most of its members typically put in 60 or more hours a week, this demand would essentially add eight hours per week of overtime pay.
Most of the union demands above would reverse concessions the UAW made after the Bush and Obama administrations’ bailouts of the US auto industry some 14 years ago. In particular, the two-tier wage system and stopping pay for workers laid off under factory closures ended GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s deep cost-disadvantage to non-union foreign automaker “transplants” and more recently non-union Tesla.
Eliminate tiered wages. Top pay for the entry hire tier is about $19 an hour.
Wage increases of 36% over the four years of a new contract. The UAW started at 6%; Latest offers are 20% from GM and Ford, 17.5% from Stellantis, says the AP.
Restore the annual cost of living wage increases.
Defined benefit pensions for all workers.
Re-establish retiree medical benefits.
Restore the right to strike over plant closures and the Working Family Protection Program, which pays workers from closed plants for community service work.
End “abuse” of temporary workers (who are hired and laid off at-will with the ebb and flow of production demands).
More paid time off to be with families.
Significant increase in retiree pay.
Though not specified on the website, Fain also has called for a four-day, 32-hour work week, citing evidence that the reduction in hours typically results in better productivity. But as the UAW also says most of its members typically put in 60 or more hours a week, this demand would essentially add eight hours per week of overtime pay.
Most of the union demands above would reverse concessions the UAW made after the Bush and Obama administrations’ bailouts of the US auto industry some 14 years ago. In particular, the two-tier wage system and stopping pay for workers laid off under factory closures ended GM, Ford, and Chrysler’s deep cost-disadvantage to non-union foreign automaker “transplants” and more recently non-union Tesla.
Prior to the onset of the strike, Farley also told CNBC that the union’s proposal could quite literally bankrupt the company.
Ford noted that it had received a counterproposal from the UAW hours before last night’s deadline. The automaker said that if it agreed to those terms, it 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.”
The workers received support from President Joe Biden, who dispatched aides to Detroit to help resolve the impasse and said the Big 3 automakers should share their “record profits.”
Even Fain has called the union’s demands audacious, but he says the automakers are raking in billions and can afford them. He scoffs at company claims that costly settlements would force them to raise vehicle prices, saying labor accounts for only 4% to 5% of vehicle costs.
Many say it’s time to get the concessions back because the companies are making huge profits and CEOs pay packages are soaring.
https://apnews.com/article/auto-uaw-workers-strike-gm-ford-stellantis-7ce3ca9d94b911250d07556b7af376c7
Historic times... the UPS strike, Railroad strike, Hollywood Writers and Screen Actors strike, LA Teachers strike.... I bet there are other big union strikes going on this year also.
When the economy is as bad as it is now a strike is insane! Kind of like shooting yourself in the foot. Buy a older non computer controlled car and drive it forever. Also be much cooler to ride in style versus current look a like whatevers. As long as there is one Chevy small block on the road there will be replacement pistons, bearings, cylinder heads and blocks available. Drive On!
ReplyDeleteI know this is not right and won't likely be published but it looks like about 90 percent of the ladies in the picture shown seem to get enough to eat.
ReplyDeleteand the two guys who are also overweight are behind the women. Yes, Americans older than 30 are overweight. Yes, women are more prone to it, especially midwestern women over 40 with sedentary jobs.
DeleteWere you just testing to see if I'd post your comment or delete it?