US: United Auto Workers strikes at General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis plants

Workers affiliated with the United Auto Workers (UAW) union have begunstagingstrikes at three US assembly plants owned by General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, from Friday morning (Sept 15).

The current labour contracts expired Thursday night (Sept. 14). The UAW president said the companies have failed to put forward an acceptable offer.

Three plants have been specifically targeted as they produce highly profitable vehicles for the companies that continue to be in high demand.

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UAW President Shawn Fain announced that about 12,700 workers will participate in the strikes—5,800 at Stellantis, 3,600 at GM and 3,300 at Ford.

The union represents 146,000 auto workers in total across the US.

What are the demands?

The UAW is seeking a 40 per cent pay increase for its workers. Among other demands are a four-day working week, the return of automatic pay increased parallel to inflation and limits on how long a worker can be considered ‘temporary’ staff.

The companies have responded by giving record proposals, with Ford offering a 20 per cent hike, GM 18 per cent and Stellantis 17.5 per cent.

But UAW says the companies should be more generous in offering proposals.

“We are using a new strategy, the ‘stand-up’ strike. We will call on select facilities, locals or units to stand up and go on strike,” UAW President Shawn Fain said Thursday.

Statement by Ford

Ford said the UAW presented its “first substantive counterproposal” to four of the company’s offers, but it “showed little movement from the union’s initial demands.”

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“If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labour costs, which are already significantly higher than the labour costs of Tesla, Toyota and other foreign-owned automakers in the United States that utilise non-union-represented labour,” Ford said.

97 per cent union members support strike

Negotiations between the two parties commenced in July and were fraught with tension from the beginning. Union President Fain opted not to engage in the traditional symbolic handshake with executives to kickstart the talks. In the previous month, a resounding 97 per cent of members voted to grant authorisation for a strike.

On Thursday, the White House disclosed that President Joe Biden had a phone conversation with Shawn Fain concerning the negotiations. However, specific details of the conversation were not provided.

This conflict has the potential to result in increased prices for consumers and significant disruption for the leading players in the automotive industry.

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