Why the United Auto Workers union is poised to strike major US car makers this week

About 146,000 U.S. auto workers are set to go on strike this week if General Motors, Ford and Stellantis fail to meet their demands for big pay raises and the restoration of concessions the workers made years ago when the companies were in financial trouble.

Shawn Fain, the combative president of the United Auto Workers union, has threatened to strike any of the three companies that hasn’t reached an agreement by the time its contract with the union expires at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Thursday.

Both sides began exchanging wage and benefit proposals last week. Though some incremental progress appears to have been made, a final agreement could come too late to avoid walkouts by UAW workers at factories in multiple states. Any strike would likely cause significant disruptions for auto production in the United States.

ALostBoy,

I heard in a podcast, one of NPRs I think, that if the union wants to deplete their strike fund they could give each member $500 every week and last for about 3 months. And that in just 10 work days there would be 5 billion dollars lost in the economy. So 345=60 billion dollars. Let’s see what happens and who blinks first.

dangblingus,

345 what? If 10 days is 5 billion lost, then 120 days would be $60 billion lost.

TRBoom,

I think he meant 345=60 billion dollars. 3 months times 4 weeks times 5 billion a week.

Edit, same thing happened to me. The asterisk is a markdown character for italics. You’ll notice that his 4 is italicized.

CmdrShepard,

I thought he was just using fancy math.

ALostBoy,

Yeah I didn’t proofread it. I meant to have an asterisk there.

Rapidcreek,

Auto manufacturers are in the same boat that everyone else is, finding good workers is extremely difficult. If you got good people you better have a plan to be able to keep them. It’s not like the old days where the old adage, take it or leave it applies

Hazdaz,

GM just offered them a 16% raise. This is for a group of people who are already the best paid workers in their field.

bradv,

Article says 10% over 4 years. That’s nothing.

Hazdaz,

autonews.com/…/gm-tops-ford-offer-proposal-raise-…

Sabata11792,
@Sabata11792@kbin.social avatar

That's a pay cut with inflation.

robbotlove,

group of people who are already the best paid workers in the field

this means jackshit if they still can’t afford to keep up with inflation and rising property taxes.

rayyyy,

Seems the CEOs manage to get nice raises. The standard company plan is to get poorly paid people to be mad at those who managed to bargain for decent pay, and it works so well.

CmdrShepard,

Shit all these car companies have jacked up the hell out of their prices over the last couple years too while these workers had to go into factories and work during the pandemic without seeing any sort of pay raise since 2019.

NatakuNox,
@NatakuNox@lemmy.world avatar

“Best paid in their field” and paid their fair share for their labor are not the same thing. 16% which is a lie, isn’t enough for 40 years of being under paid.

Hazdaz,

40 years of being under paid.

LOL

You might want to step out of this conversation if you think UAW members have ever been underpaid. Union workers for GM, Ford and Chrysler had been paid a good 30 to 50% (or more) more than autoworkers for Japanese and German carmakers operating plants in the US.

avidamoeba,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

Sounds like they should join UAW if they don’t want the gap to keep growing to the point where they can’t afford to live where they work. Cost of living ain’t waiting for their bosses to spare some change they could give to their major shareholders instead.

Hazdaz,

And yet they willingly vote against unionization. It’s almost as if they know something.

bluGill,
@bluGill@kbin.social avatar

I don't know what things are like in Japan, but in Germany everyone is in the union.

avidamoeba,
@avidamoeba@lemmy.ca avatar

I think they were talking about Japanese and German autos operating in the US. Only they know what UAW and German union workers don’t, apparently.

GeneralVincent,

What do they know? How about you let us all in on the secret of why unions are bad?

Every study and source I’ve seen says it results in higher pay and better working conditions, but maybe you have a reliable source saying otherwise?

NatakuNox,
@NatakuNox@lemmy.world avatar

If the worker isn’t the number one benefactor I don’t care if they are paid above the average. That goes for all industries. The owners, executive, investors, and board members shouldn’t. Paying works well never bankrupt a company, but underpaying absolutely will.

SCB,

No UAW member is underpaid. The UAW is among the most powerful unions in the world.

I’m all for this current fight but suggesting they are somehow underpaid is both laughable and demeaning to the UAW.

Endlessvoid,

Really buying into the corporate propoganda here aren’t you? These used to be great paying jobs, but the average auto workers salary has eroded just like every other industry and is less than $40k these days, even if you arbitrarily exclude non-union auto workers it’s still barely $50k. Even those non-union workers will benefit from industry wages increasing with this new contract.

Also, this contract will be a 4 year agreement through 2027, and auto workers haven’t seen a raise since 2019. If you considered the 46% they’re asking for as an annual raise over that time period 2019-2027 it would only be a 5.75% annual raise.

And we haven’t even talked about the inflation since 2019 which has already eroded their pay by 20%, plus whatever additional inflation through the next 4 years will do. If inflation doesn’t cool down through that period this 46% may barely maintain their current wages.

Sabata11792,
@Sabata11792@kbin.social avatar

Pretty easy to find good workers. You just have to not be a cheap ass about it.

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