On Sept. 15, the United Auto Workers (UAW) declared a strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis North America (parent of Chrysler), the three largest automobile companies in the United States. These corporations are collectively responsible for about half of all American car production. About 146,000 workers — the vast majority — employed by the Big Three automakers are represented by the UAW. Currently, at least 18,000 of these workers are on strike. The union has threatened strikes at more plants in the coming days. While participating actively in the strike, workers receive $500 per week and basic medical coverage from the UAW.
On Sept. 14, the labor contract between UAW and the Big Three automakers expired. A new and more aggressive UAW president, Shawn Fain, promised to secure significantly more favorable contracts. Since March, negotiations for the next contract have been ongoing, but the parties could not agree on terms, and the strike began the day after contract expiration as negotiations continued. At first, Ford was spared strike expansion (which GM and Stellantis were subject to) because of progress at the bargaining table. However, the UAW has recently announced further strike expansions at Ford and GM, this time sparing Stellantis. Workers have walked out of both factories and parts distribution centers.
The union is demanding a near-40 percent pay increase for represented workers over a period of four years. Under the recently-expired contract, hourly wages for auto workers ranged from $18 to $32. The UAW is also demanding a 32-hour work week, a phase-out of the use of temporary workers, an end to tiered wages, a return to cost-of-living adjustments fixed to Not Seasonally Adjusted CPI-W (an inflation metric), pension benefits including medical coverage for retirees, and the right to strike over plant closures. Unprofitable or outdated plants would be pressured to remain open. A 2021 executive order from President Biden mandated that US automobile manufacturers produce 50 percent electric vehicles by 2030. Because of this, the Big Three began preparations to shutter some existing plants, to be replaced with new, modernized electric vehicle plants. The already-electric Tesla, as well as internationally-based automobile manufacturers, have far lower labor costs than the Big Three due to non-unionized labor.
Biden’s visit was brief and his speech was an introduction for UAW president Shawn Fain. Fain has been known to criticize Biden, but on this occasion he welcomed Biden and noted that this was the first time in history that a sitting president had walked a picket line. Typically, presidents try to at least appear not to take sides in private-sector business conflicts. Biden began by recalling how “the UAW saved the automobile industry back in 2008.” This refers to when they took benefit cuts in order to prevent the bankruptcy of their employers in the financial crisis. “Now the companies are doing incredibly well,” he continued, “and guess what? You should be doing incredibly well too. … You deserve the significant raise you need, and other benefits.”
Former President Donald Trump also visited auto workers, giving a speech on the strike, although those particular auto workers were not unionized. Unlike Biden, who picketed and only gave brief remarks, Trump held a rally where he spoke for over an hour at a non-union factory in Clinton Township, Michigan. In his speech, he called the workers “truly great Americans who do not get the credit they deserve,” adding that “electric can put you out of business, you know that,” as workers booed in agreement.
Trump called for “a future that puts American dreams over foreign profits,” though the demands of the UAW would be largely at the expense of American corporations rather than foreign ones. Trump frequently referred to a concept he called “economic nationalism,” saying that he has “risked it all to defend the working class from the corrupt political class that has spent decades sucking the life, wealth, and blood out of this country.” Though Trump’s own speech was darkened with a message of class warfare, he referred to Biden’s advisors as “radical left Marxists” and “fascists.”
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