News & Commentary September 15, 2023

[Omaha Steve]

https://onlabor.org/september-15-2023/

By Greg Volynsky

Greg Volynsky is a student at Harvard Law School.

In Today’s News & Commentary, United Auto Workers strike against the Big Three.

For the first time in its 88-year history, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union has called a strike against all three Detroit automakers simultaneously. On Friday, roughly 13,000 U.S. auto workers walked off the job, due to a significant divide between the union’s contract demands and the offers of Detroit’s three major car manufacturers. The UAW called the strike “our generation’s defining moment . . . across the entire working class”, while Reuters called it “the most ambitious U.S. industrial labor action in decades.”

In an “absolutely unprecedented” move, the UAW has engaged in a limited “Stand Up Strike”, involving—for now—fewer than 10 percent of the union’s nearly 150,000 members. The union explained that “[t]his is a strike that grows over time, giving our national negotiators maximum leverage and maximum flexibility.” By calling a limited strike and targeting plants producing vehicles with lower profit margins, the UAW is mounting pressure without cornering the companies or squeezing its own strike fund. Professor Marick Masters of Wayne State University in Detroit summarized, “You put an animal in the corner and it’s dangerous.”

The UAW is demanding a 36 percent wage increase over four years, having conceded the initial demand of a 46 percent raise. After initially proposing around 9 or 10 percent four-year raises, GM and Ford have proposed 20 percent, while Stellantis has offered a 17.5 percent. Beyond wage increases, the UAW is advocating for the restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, elimination of varying wage tiers, a 32-hour four-day workweek, pension boosts, and other benefits.

FULL story at link above.