United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain walks with union members striking at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, early Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Three things to know about the United Auto Workers strike
Brady Knox September 15, 09:02 AM September 15, 09:22 AM Video Embed
For the first time, the United Auto Workers union has gone on strike against all three Detroit car companies at the same time.
UAW President Shawn Fain announced the union would be going on strike late Thursday night, as negotiations with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis automakers faltered and the deadline to reach a deal passed at 11:59 p.m.
UAW ANNOUNCES HISTORIC AUTO STRIKE AFTER NEGOTIATIONS WITH AUTOMAKERS FALTER
Here are three things to know about the historic strike.
What is the UAW demanding?
The UAW is aiming for an increase in benefits, primarily a 36% wage increase for workers over four years. It is additionally demanding the restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, abandoned for new hires in 2007, an end to tiered wages for factory jobs, a 32-hour workweek with 40 hours of pay, pension increases for retirees, and the restoration of defined-benefit pensions for new hires who only receive a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
How did talks fail?
Talks failed in the final hours before the 11:59 p.m. deadline on Thursday when the three companies were unwilling to meet the demands of the UAW, particularly the 36% pay increase over the next four years.
Instead, General Motors and Ford offered the union 20% increases, with Stellantis offering 17.5%. The union turned down the offers from the three companies, deciding instead to strike at a targeted group of factories in an effort to force the companies to meet the demands.
As a result, about 13,000 autoworkers went on strike early Friday morning at three locations, according to the Associated Press.
How could this affect Biden?
The strike offers a unique conundrum for President Joe Biden, who faces a clash of his promises to support unions, hold together the economy, and oversee a transition to a clean energy future. He had expressed optimism that a strike would be avoided.
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“He is not directly involved, but he certainly has a strong interest in seeing a settlement that both sides can live with,” Harley Shaiken, a labor professor at the University of California at Berkeley, told the Washington Post. “A strike makes things much more complicated, and it raises the specter of political damage when Biden can least afford it and would most like to avoid it.”
Part of the problem for autoworkers is the fear of a transition to electric vehicles, pushed by Biden, as it could replace their jobs for fewer positions with fewer benefits.
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