Why the United Auto Workers union is poised to strike major US car makers this week
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.
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.
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
Pretty easy to find good workers. You just have to not be a cheap ass about it.
GM just offered them a 16% raise. This is for a group of people who are already the best paid workers in their field.
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.
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.