No fewer than 13,000 U.S. auto workers discontinued making vehicles and went on strike on Friday morning after their leaders couldn’t find a middle ground between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay.
In Wentzville, Missouri, a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, close to Detroit, and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, union members of the United Auto Workers began picketing.
The union walked out on all three companies at once for the first time in its 88-year history as their four-year contracts with each company expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday.
The strikes will probably determine the union’s and America’s domestic car industry’s future at a period when American labour is asserting its power and the businesses are preparing to make a historic switch from producing internal combustion automobiles to electric vehicles.
If they last a long time, dealers could run short of vehicles and prices could rise. The walkout could even be a factor in next year’s presidential election by testing Joe Biden’s proud claim to be the most union-friendly president in American history.
“Workers all over the world are watching this,” said Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 unions with 12.5 million members.
The strike is far different from those during previous UAW negotiations. Instead of going after one company, the union, led by its pugnacious new president, Shawn Fain, is striking at all three. But not all of the 146,000 UAW members at company plants are walking picket lines, at least not yet.
Instead, the UAW targeted a handful of factories to prod company negotiators to raise their offers, which were far lower than union demands of 36% wage increases over four years. GM and Ford offered 20% and Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, offered 17.5%.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the limited strikes will help to preserve the union’s $825 million strike fund, which would run dry in about 11 weeks if all 146,000 workers walked out. But Fain said more plants could be added if the companies don’t make better offers.
The strikes capped a day of both sides griping that the other had not budged enough from their initial positions.
In addition to general wage increases, the union is seeking restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans, pension increases for retirees and other items.