The United Auto Workers on Monday reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with General Motors, a move that is expected to end the union’s six-week strike against Detroit’s Big 3 automakers.
The deal features a 25% wage increase across a four-and-a-half year deal with cost of living adjustments, the Associated Press reported. The deal mirrors a tentative agreement UAW leaders reached last week with Ford and Stellantis.
The GM agreement still needs ratification from the union’s national council and a majority of members, but an approval likely would mean employees will return to work at some point in November.
The deal comes a day after GM workers expanded their strike by walking out of a company factory in Spring Hill, Tennessee, that employs nearly 4,000 and that produces Cadillac and GMC SUVs. Spring Hill joined about 14,000 other GM workers who were already striking at company factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.
GM was the last of the Big 3 to ink a deal with the UAW.
“In a twist on the phrase ‘collective bargaining,’ the UAW’s strategy to negotiate with and strike at the three automakers simultaneously paid off with seemingly strong agreements at all three organizations,” Lynne Vincent, a business management professor at Syracuse University and labor expert, told CBS MoneyWatch. “Once a deal was reached at Ford, the UAW could use that agreement as the pattern for the other two automakers, which gave the UAW leverage to apply pressure on the automakers.”
Mike Huerta, president of UAW Local 602 in Lansing, Michigan, was hesitant to celebrate the deal before seeing more information, saying that “the devil’s in the details.”
“Our bargainers did their job. They’re going to present us with something and then we get to tell them it was good enough or it wasn’t,” he said.
The UAW launched its historic strike — the first time the labor group has targeted the Big Three simultaneously — last month when thousands of workers walked off the job after their contracts with the automakers expired on Sept. 14.
The union’s initial demands included a 36% wage hike over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; and a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers.
GM and the other automakers responded to the strike by laying off hundreds of unionized, non-striking workers. GM laid off roughly 2,500 employees across Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New York and Ohio, according to a company tally. It’s unclear if GM will invite those employees back to work if the new UAW contract is finalized.
The UAW strike caused an estimated $4.2 billion in losses to the Big 3 and resulted in $488 million in lost wages for workers. The work stoppage also rippled and caused layoffs at auto supplier companies.
But the dispute also led to breakthroughs, with GM earlier this month agreeing to place its electric vehicle battery plants under a national contract with the UAW.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers have reached a tentative contract agreement with Stellantis, the union announced Saturday, edging the labor union closer to ending a 6-week strike that has dented Detroit’s Big 3 automakers and idled thousands of their employees.
The deal with Stellantis — which owns Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with several foreign auto-brands — comes three days after the UAW came to terms with Ford, leaving only General Motors without a contract with the union.
“On day 44 of our stand-up strike, I am honored to announce that our union is again victorious,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video posted to social media.
The agreement with Stellantis, which must still be ratified by UAW members, could bring thousands of workers back to their posts at assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and at vehicle parts warehouses across the nation.
Talks between Stellantis and the union, which included Stellantis Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart and UAW President Shawn Fain “went into the late evening” on Friday, sources close to the negotiations confirmed to CBS News.
Like workers at Ford, the strikers at Stellantis are expected to take down their picket lines and start returning to work in the coming days before their union members vote.
Acting Labor Secretary Julie A. Su in a statement congratulated “Stellantis and the UAW for their dedication and focus in coming together to reach” a deal.
“This tentative agreement includes a number of important provisions including a commitment to reopen the Belvidere plant in Illinois, which will bring good, union jobs back that community,” Su wrote. “The parties are also charting a future of good middle-class jobs in battery manufacturing, consistent with the President’s vision for a just transition where building a clean economy and creating good union jobs go hand-in-hand.”
But the UAW’s historic strike — the first time the labor group has targeted the Big Three simultaneously — began when thousands of workers walked off the job after their contracts with the automakers expired on Sept. 14. The union’s demands included a 36% wage hike over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; and a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers.
The dispute has also featured tough talk from Fain, who has called out the automaker CEOs for pinching pennies with workers while collecting lavish pay packages.
The aggressive tactics have yielded noteworthy breakthroughs for the UAW. Under their deal, Ford workers will receive a 25% pay bump over the 4.5-year life of the contract. Meanwhile, GM earlier this month agreed to place electric vehicle battery plants under a national contract with the UAW. Still, workers have also paid the price, with the automakers laying off thousands of employees.
Workers who participated in the strike have been paid through the union’s strike fund.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
DETROIT (AP) — Jeep maker Stellantis has reached a tentative contract agreement with the United Auto Workers union that follows a template set earlier this week by Ford, two people with knowledge of the negotiations said Saturday.
The deal, which still has to be ratified by members, leaves only General Motors without a contract with the union. The agreement could end a six-week strike by more than 14,000 workers at Stellantis assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and at parts warehouses across the nation.
Like workers at Ford, the strikers at Stellantis are expected to take down their picket lines and start returning to work in the coming days, before 43,000 union members vote.
The people, who asked not to be identified because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the talks, said most of the main points of the deal at Ford will carry over to Stellantis.
The Ford pact includes 25% in general wage increases over the next 4 1/2 years for top assembly plant workers, with 11% coming once the deal is ratified. Workers also will get cost-of-living pay that would bring the raises to over 30%, with top assembly plant workers making more than $40 per hour. At Stellantis, top-scale workers now make around $31 per hour.
Like the Ford contract, the Stellantis deal would run through April 30, 2028.
The deal includes a new vehicle for a now-idled factory in Belvidere, Illinois, which the company had planned to close.
Bruce Baumhower, president of the local union at a large Stellantis Jeep factory in Toledo, Ohio, that has been on strike since September, said he expects workers will vote to approve the deal because of the pay raises above 30% and a large raise immediately.
“Eleven percent is right on the hood,” he said. “It’s a historic agreement as far as I’m concerned.”
Some union members have been complaining that Fain promised 40% raises to match what he said was given to company CEOs, but Baumhower said that was UAW President Shawn Fain’s opening bid.
Anybody who knows anything about negotiations, you always start out much higher than you think is realistic to get,” he said
Talks were under way with General Motors on Saturday in an effort to reach a similar agreement. Over 14,000 workers at GM remain on strike at factories in Texas, Michigan and Missouri.
The union began targeted strikes against all three automakers on Sept. 15 after its contracts with the companies expired.
The union and Stellantis went into intense negotiations on Thursday, the day after the Ford deal was announced, and finalized the agreement on Saturday.
UAW workers began their targeted strikes with one assembly plant from each company. The strikes were expanded on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that, and then the union hit Ford hard, taking down the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, the company’s largest and most profitable factory.
At the peak, about 46,000 workers were on strike against all three companies, about one-third of the union’s 146,000 members at the Detroit three. Automakers laid off several thousand more as parts shortages cascaded through their manufacturing systems.
Under the Ford deal, workers with pensions also will see small increases when they retire, and those hired after 2007 with 401(k) plans will get large increases. For the first time, the union will have the right to go on strike over company plans to close factories. Temporary workers also will get large raises, and Ford agreed to shorten to three years the time it takes for new hires to reach the top of the pay scale.
Other union leaders who followed more aggressive bargaining strategies in recent months have also secured pay hikes and other benefits for their members. Last month, the union representing Hollywood writers called off a nearly five-month strike after scoring some wins in compensation, length of employment and other areas. This summer, the Teamsters also secured new pay hikes and benefits for unionized UPS workers after threatening a nationwide strike at the delivery company.
AP Business Writer Haleluya Hadero contributed to this report from Jersey City, New Jersey.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain declared “a major victory” this week when union members reached a tentative agreement with Ford Motor that lifts most employees’ pay past $40 an hour.
The tentative deal is indeed a huge win for autoworkers, organized labor experts told CBS MoneyWatch.
The latest offer, announced Wednesday, includes a 25% wage increase across a four-and-a-half-year contract with restored cost-of-living adjustments and the elimination of a two-tiered wage system at two of Ford’s plants.
The proposed deal also shrinks the timeframe for when new employees are eligible to start earning top wages. Those specifics still need approval from the UAW’s national council and its general membership.
“This is tentative and there are more steps to take, but I see this as a good win for the employees and definitely for Shawn Fain and his team,” said Lynne Vincent, a business management professor at Syracuse University, who studies the psychological impacts of strikes.
UAW members began their historic strike last month when Ford, General Motors and Stellantis employees left their posts at factories in Wayne, Michigan, Wentzville, Missouri and Toledo, Ohio. The union decided not to strike at every factory those companies own and instead launched a so-called “stand up” strike involving strategic walkouts at three Big Three factories at first, which then expanded over the course of four weeks adding more pressure on automakers to give in to union demands. At the time, autoworkers were asking for a 40% pay raise, pension benefits to all employees and the return of cost-of-living adjustments that were eliminated in 2007, among other things.
The UAW didn’t get 40% and the union couldn’t get Ford to axe the two-tier system companywide, but “they won on their three main demands,” said Steven Greenhouse, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who studies labor organizing and workplace issues. A 25% wage increase combined with cost-of-lliving adjustments effectively gives UAW members at Ford a 33% raise.
“And by any measure, a 30% raise is a whole lot,” Greenhouse said.
Nevertheless, the Ford agreement signals a victory for UAW leaders who were able to energize and motivate thousands of workers to walk off the job, Greenhouse said. In doing so, the union managed to pressure Ford into upping wage increases to nearly triple its original 9% offer, Vincent said.
Ford was the first of Detroit’s Big Three automakers with which UAW leaders were looking to establish a new long-term labor contract, since their previous contract expired on September 14. The previous Ford contract gave workers a 6% pay increase every year for four years.
Ford’s tentative agreement with the UAW starts the clock ticking for GM and Stellantis to reach a deal, both Vincent and Greenhouse said. Vincent said she expects the remaining two automakers to offer the union a similar contract to Ford’s.
The UAW-Ford agreement is also a win for the union’s previously untested stand-up strike strategy which appears to have proved effective, said Vincent.
The tentative deal is an even bigger win for organized labor movements, she said.
“The right to strike over plant closures — that’s also a great part of this deal because the (auto) industry is changing so much with different types of technology and globalization, so having that right provides more power and protection to the workers,” Vincent said. “This is very much in line with what the employees wanted from the beginning.”
The success of the UAW’s unique strike strategy should motivate other unions to think about new ways to nudge employers into meeting worker demands, Vincent said. Workers fighting to unionize particularly at Amazon and Starbucks should dissect what happened in Detroit to come up with creative ways to further their own causes, she said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford Wednesday evening, a move that could be critical to ending the union’s six-week-old strikes against Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
“Today we reached a tentative agreement with Ford,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video posted to social media, while Ford also confirmed the deal in its own statement.
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations,” Ford CEO and President Jim Farley said.
The deal still needs to be approved by Ford’s approximately 57,000 UAW workers.
“I applaud the UAW and Ford for coming together after a hard fought, good faith negotiation and reaching a historic tentative agreement tonight,” President Biden said in a statement. “This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer congratulated the union and Ford for reaching a deal, saying she hoped “this momentum will help the UAW and the remaining companies reach an agreement so Michiganders can get back to doing what they do best.”
With a deal in place with Ford, the UAW would be able to use it to model similar contract settlements with GM and Stellantis. Typically, during past auto strikes, a UAW deal with one automaker has led the other companies to match it with their own settlements.
What’s in the deal?
The agreement includes a 25% general wage increase over the course of the four-year deal, said Chuck Browning, UAW vice president. That is 2% higher than Ford’s previous offer. Top wage earners will also now about $40 per hour, Browning said, and the agreement comes with an immediate 11% wage increase for all union members.
“UAW members at Ford will receive more and straight general wage increases over the next four-and-a-half years than we have over the last 22 years combined,” Browning said.
Temporary workers would also get wage increases of more than 150% over the life of the deal, while the union also won the right to strike over plant closures, Browning said.
“That means they can’t keep devastating our communities and closing plants with no consequences,” he said.
The tentative agreement also improves retirement benefits for current retirees, workers with pensions and those with 401(k) plans, Browning said.
What happens next?
Browning called on all Ford union members to go back to work, adding that they would “be receiving further instructions on the process of returning to work soon.” He called it “a strategic move to get the best deal possible,” saying it would keep the pressure on Stellantis and GM.
Fain said that the union’s national council for Ford would vote Sunday on whether to send the agreement to the membership for approval. More details on the deal would be announced on a Facebook Live that night should the agreement be approved. The union would then hold informational meetings on regional and local levels before the Ford membership would vote, Browning said.
What have been the effects of the strike?
The tentative deal comes roughly two weeks after 8,700 union members walked off the job at Ford’s largest factory in Kentucky. The factory in Louisville produces heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs.
Ford has laid off 3,167 employees because of the strike, which began last month. It’s unclear if those employees will immediately return to work.
“We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again,” Farley said.
Both GM and Stellantis released statements following news of the tentative agreement with Ford saying they were working with the union to reach deals soon.
Earlier this month, Ford Chairman Bill Ford called for the union to end its strike, arguing that the company his great-grandfather started in 1903 is not the enemy of UAW members.
The UAW strike began when thousands of workers left their posts after their contracts with automakers expired on Sept. 14. Since then, the automakers have laid off thousands of employees and blamed their moves on the prolonged work stoppage. GM has laid off about 2,350 employees across Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New York and Ohio due to the strike, according to the company.
Stellantis — the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram — has laid off about 1,520 employees across Indiana, Michigan and Ohio due to the strike.
On Monday, about 6,800 employees at Stellantis walked off the job at the automaker’s largest plant in suburban Detroit while approximately 5,000 GM workers walked off the job Tuesday in Texas.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
About 5,000 factory workers for General Motors walked off the job in Texas on Tuesday to join the United Auto Workers strike, impacting a factory that produces some of GM’s most profitable vehicles, including the Chevrolet Tahoe and Chevrolet Suburban.
The employees at Arlington Assembly left their posts just hours after GM reported third-quarter earnings of more than $3 billion in profit. Revenue during the most recent quarter, which ran from July through September, rose 5.4% to $44.1 billion.
The Arlington Assembly plant also produces the GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.
“Despite having made $10 billion in profits in the past nine months, breaking revenue records for another consecutive quarter, and beating Wall Street expectations, GM’s latest offer fails to reward UAW members for the profits they’ve generated,” the union said in a statement.
GM on Tuesday said it was disappointed that Arlington workers decided to leave, labeling the UAW’s action an “unnecessary and irresponsible strike.”
“It is harming our team members who are sacrificing their livelihoods and having negative ripple effects on our dealers, suppliers, and the communities that rely on us,” the company said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
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The weekslong United Auto Workers strike intensified Monday when 6,800 employees at Stellantis walked off the job at the automaker’s largest plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly Plant produces the RAM 1500 trucks, the company’s best-selling vehicles, UAW leaders said Monday. With another 6,800 in the fold, the UAW now has more than 40,000 workers on strike.
Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM) didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the strike.
UAW leaders also said Monday that Stellantis has the weakest labor contract offer on the table among Detroit’s Big Three automakers. On Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain said Ford, General Motors and Stellantis are all offering a 23% wage increase across a four-year contract.
This is a breaking story that will be developed later.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
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The chairman of Ford is urging the United Auto Workers to end its strike against the company his great grandfather Henry Ford started in 1903, arguing that America’s future is tied to the success of the iconic car brand.
In his first public statement since the union strike began last month, Bill Ford on Monday said some UAW members are his long-time friends. But he also criticized the union, saying its leaders have tried to paint the Michigan automaker as the enemy.
“This should not be Ford versus the UAW,” the chair said during a press conference in Dearborn, Michigan. “It should be Ford and the UAW versus Toyota, Honda and Tesla — and all the Chinese companies that want to enter our home market.”
Ford’s comments land as his company is engaged in protracted negotiations with the UAW over a new labor contract. The union is asking Detroit’s Big Three automakers for wage increases, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers and a four-day work week.
The strike entered its fifth week on Monday, as both sides remain at odds over key concessions. UAW leaders tapped more Ford employees to strike last Thursday with 8,700 walking out of a truck factory in Kentucky.
Four weeks of a UAW strike has already created $7.7 billion in industry losses, according to Michigan consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $3.45 billion in losses for the Big Three, the firm estimates.
Responding to Ford’s comments, Fain on Monday said the chairman should “Call up Jim Farley, tell him to stop playing games and get a deal done.” Farly is CEO of Ford Motors.
The union leader went on to say that employees at Honda, Tesla, Toyota, and others are not the enemy, they’re future UAW members.
“It’s not the UAW and Ford against foreign automakers. It’s autoworkers everywhere against corporate greed,” Fain said. “If Ford wants to be the all-American auto company, they can pay all-American wages and benefits.
In line with past statements by top executives at all Big Three automakers, who have argued since before the strikes began that they have been engaged in “good faith” negotiations with the UAW, Ford blasted union leaders for targeting the automaker’s Kentucky plant, despite record offers having been made.
“We’ve offered a record contract which would have made our UAW employees among the best paid manufacturing workers in the world,” said Ford. “Despite this, the UAW leaders decided to escalate and strike our Kentucky truck plant last week.”
Ford Motors, in response to the Kentucky strike, laid off an additional 550 employees across plants in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. To date, about 2,480 Ford workers have been laid off as a result of the strike.
General Motors and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) have also laid off workers across the U.S. due to the strike.
The strike at the truck plant that builds the Super Duty pickup, Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition large SUVs took the automaker by surprise, a particularly tough blow as the lineup represents the company’s most lucrative products, generating $25 billion a year in revenue.
The UAW is no longer notifying the Big Three automakers before calling additional walkouts amid the labor group’s ongoing strike, Fain said in a live webcast on Friday.
“We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out,” Fain said. “Going forward, we will be calling out plants when we need to, with little notice.”
Ford Motor and the UAW must resolve contract negotiations because that’s what’s best for workers, the auto sector and the nation, the Ford’s chairman also said.
“I call on my great UAW colleagues — some of whom I’ve known for decades,” Ford said, advising company negotiators to ignore the name-calling and accusatory rhetoric that often comes with hammering out a new labor agreement. “We need to come together to bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks.” Ford said he has been involved in negotiating every UAW contract since 1982 and the key is to not take the heated discussions personally.
“When this ends, we have to all work together again and, not just work together, but become a family and continue on and we will,” he said. “So that’s why I think it’s really important I keep urging restraint in terms of any kind of rhetoric, because it’s not helpful.”
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers union expanded its strike to a Ford plant in Kentucky that employs around 8,700 union employees, the company’s largest plant worldwide. Todd Dunn, the president of the UAW Local 862, joins CBS News with the reasons his shop chose to join the strike.
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UAW President Shawn Fain said the union would not expand its strike against the Big Three automakers on Friday, but that the UAW stood ready to add more workers to the picket lines at any time as its labor action enters a new phase.
“We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out,” Fain said in a livestream update on negotiations. He later added: “We changed the rules. Now there is only one rule – pony up.”
The announcement marks a tactical shift, Fain said. Previously the UAW had announced strike expansions on Fain’s weekly Friday updates. But now, as part of the union’s strategy to keep the automakers off balance, Fain said strike expansions could come at any day of the week, at any time.
This past Wednesday for the first time it announced an expansion midweek, and without warning, when 8,700 UAW members went on strike suddenly at Ford’s largest factory, the Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville.
“We’re entering a new phase of this strike, and it demands a new approach,” Fain said. “We’re done waiting until Fridays to escalate our strike.”
Fain said that the companies had started to wait until Fridays to make progress in their bargaining positions, and that the union is changing it strategy in order to speed up progress in negotiations.
“A negotiation requires both sides making movement. If they’re not ready to move, we’re going to give them a push in a language they understand – dollars and cents,” he said.
This is the first time that the union has gone on strike against GM, Ford and Stellantis at the same time. But rather than shut down any of the companies’ US operations completely, the union has targeted its strike against specific facilities, and then expanded the strike gradually in order to increase pressure at the bargaining table.
The Kentucky Truck Plant is a key money maker for Ford, assembling heavy duty pickup trucks and full-size SUVs and producing $25 billion in annual sales, or about one-sixth of its revenue. It also produced an estimated $150 million in profits a week, according to an estimate from Colin Langan, auto analyst at Wells Fargo.
Ford officials told reporters Thursday that the company has gone as far as it can on the additional money it can offer members.
“We have reached our limit. We’ve actually stretched ourselves to get to this point,” said Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford Blue, which is the unit that sells most of Ford’sgasoline-powered cars to consumers. “We arestill working to get this done. We’re open to moving some money around within the deal that might fit the union’s needs better, but in terms of cost of deal, we’re there. We have been very clear, we’re at the limit. Going further will hurt our ability to invest in the business as we need to invest.”
Fain mocked that statement from Ford, saying that while Ford has recovered well since the Great Recession, its workers have seen only modest pay increases, which were outweighed by rising prices.
“I found a pathetic irony in that statement,” he said on Friday. “You know who stretched themselves? The Ford workers who didn’t get a single raise for a decade.”
Fain said the union is in a strong bargaining position and has already achieved a lot in negotiations, but not enough to make up for past concessions by workers.
“We’re at the point in this process where we’re looking for one thing only – a deal,” Fain said. “We’re not giving these companies an extra hour, or an extra day. They know what needs to happen, and they know how to get it done. Taking out Kentucky Truck sent a very clear message not only to Ford, but to GM and Stellantis as well. Don’t you dare slow walk us or low ball us. We will take out whatever plants you force us to.”
The companies are on record as offering members an immediate 10% raise to union members and additional raises totaling 10 percentage points or more during the life of the contracts, which are likely to run through the spring of 2028.
The companies are also agreeing to some kind of return of the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to union pay scales to protect workers from rising prices. The union gave up the COLA in 2007, as well as traditional pension plans and health care coverage for retirees for workers hired after the concession contracts reached that year.
In addition, a week ago, Fain announced that GM had agreed to a major union demand to place workers at new and planned EV battery plants under the national master agreement at the company.
GM, Ford and Stellatis have all announced plans to shift from traditional gasoline-powered vehicles to electric vehicles, or EVs. That would end the need for the jobs in their current plants that build engines and transmissions.
All three are in the process of building at least three plants each, almost all in joint ventures with Asian battery makers, that will be used to power EVs. All are expected to pay significantly less than UAW members at those engine and transmission plants are now paid.
Going into negotiations, the companies had insisted the battery plant workers would be employees of the joint ventures, not the companies themselves, and that their pay scale would not be included in this contract.
Details of what GM has agreed upon in relation to workers battery plant workers is not yet known, as GM has not confirmed the tentative agreement on the issue. Ford officials have said they also have been negotiating with the union on the battery plant issue and that progress had been made, without giving details.
The United Auto Workers union is raising the stakes against Detroit’s Three automakers, shutting down Ford’s largest factory and threatening Jeep maker Stellantis.
In a surprise move Wednesday night, 8,700 members left their jobs at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant in Louisville. Union President Shawn Fain said in a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the automaker “isn’t taking us serious” and blaming Ford for failing to resolve the impasse.
“They made it happen — this is on them, Fain said.
Ford’s truck plant makes heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs, hitting the company’s most lucrative products. The vehicles made at the plant generate $25 billion per year in revenue, the company said in a statement.
The Stand Up Strike just hit Ford’s biggest plant. Here’s how it went down, and why 8,700 members at Kentucky Truck Plant took action.#StandUpUAWpic.twitter.com/mzO0AZGMKS
Fain on Thursday also hinted at further action against Stellantis, which also owns Chrysler, Dodge and Ram, along with several foreign car brands. “Here’s to hoping talks at Stellantis today are more productive than Ford yesterday,” he wrote on X, without saying what might happen.
The strike came nearly four weeks after the union began its walkouts against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis on Sept. 15, with one assembly plant from each company.
“Painful aftershocks”
Ford called the UAW’s move to widen the strike on Wednesday “grossly irresponsible” and said it has made strong wage and benefit offers to the union. It said the move puts about a dozen other Ford facilities at risk, as well as parts supply plants.
“In addition to affecting approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, this work stoppage will generate painful aftershocks – including putting at risk approximately a dozen additional Ford operations and many more supplier operations that together employ well over 100,000 people,” the company said.
A Ford executive said the union called a meeting at the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters Wednesday afternoon where Fain asked if the company had another offer.
High-ranking Ford executives responded that they are working on possibly bringing electric vehicle battery plants into the UAW national contract, essentially making them unionized. But they didn’t have a significantly different economic offer, the executive said. Fain was told the company put a strong offer on the table, but there wasn’t a lot of room to increase it and keep it affordable for the business, the executive said.
Fain responded by saying, if that’s the company’s best offer, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant,” said the executive. The meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, he said.
The escalation against Ford shows that Fain is trying to increase pressure on the company, said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.
But Ford and the other automakers have made concessions and raised wage offers, he said. The companies, he said, “may have reached their resistance points to varying degrees.” Executives, he said, have bottom line positions they can’t cross in terms of staying competitive with other automakers.
Fain, Masters said, likely is testing how far he needs to push Ford before going to “full throttle,” by taking all 57,000 Ford members out on strike.
The union’s move doesn’t leave him optimistic for a quick end to the strikes, Masters said. “I think the issues that remain on the table are quite thorny,” he said, pointing to union demands that all workers get defined benefit pensions and health insurance when they retire.
The UAW expanded its strikes on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that. The Kentucky strike brings to 33,700 the number of workers on strike against the three automakers.
Thus far, the union has decided to target a small number of plants from each company rather than have all 146,000 UAW members at the automakers go on strike at the same time.
Mounting layoffs
The Big Three automakers have furloughed or laid off roughly 5,000 workers since the strike began. GM on Monday idled a total of 155 workers at plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Ford let go 537 workers in Michigan and Ohio, according to the latest numbers posted on X. Stellantis laid off 570 workers at plants in Indiana and Michigan as recently as October 6, the company confirmed Monday.
Striking workers are receiving $500 a week from the union’s strike pay fund. In some states, laid-off workers could qualify for state unemployment aid, which, depending on a variety of circumstances, could be less or more than $500 a week.
Fiorani said that as the strikes widen, more workers will likely be laid off at non-striking plants.
Separate companies that manufacture parts for the automakers are likely to have laid off workers but might not report them publicly, said Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Michigan.
A survey of parts supply companies by a trade association called MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers found that 30% of members have laid off workers and that more than 60% expect to start layoffs in mid-October.
The United Auto Workers union announced Wednesday that its nearly 4-week strike against the “Big Three” automakers was expanding to Ford’s truck plant in Kentucky.
Roughly 8,700 union members work at the Louisville facility producing the company’s Super Duty trucks as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs.
The walkout Wednesday marks the first time during the strike that the union has targeted the production of large pickups, a big moneymaker for Ford as well as General Motors and Stellantis, which owns the Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands.
“We have been crystal clear, and we have waited long enough, but Ford has not gotten the message,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement. “It’s time for a fair contract at Ford and the rest of the Big Three. If they can’t understand that after four weeks, the 8,700 workers shutting down this extremely profitable plant will help them understand it.”
Ford called the decision to strike the Kentucky plant “grossly irresponsible but unsurprising.” The company said it had made an “outstanding offer” to the union in an effort to end the strike.
“In addition to affecting approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, this work stoppage will generate painful aftershocks ― including putting at risk approximately a dozen additional Ford operations and many more supplier operations,” the company said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers continue to lay off hundreds of factory workers as the United Auto Workers strike reaches its fourth week.
General Motors on Monday idled a total of 155 workers at plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, the company confirmed. Ford let go 537 workers in Michigan and Ohio, according to the latest numbers posted on X. Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) laid off 570 workers at plants in Indiana and Michigan as recently as October 6, the company confirmed Monday. To date, Ford has laid off a total 1,865 non-union workers while GM has let go of 2,330 and Stellantis has released 640 — bringing the combined total of strike-related layoffs by the Big Three to roughly 4,835.
Automakers say they are forced to lay off those workers because their job tasks are tied to factories the UAW has called on to strike. Ford, GM and Stellantis have not disclosed if they plan to rehire those workers once the strike ends.
“While we are doing what we can to avoid layoffs, we have no choice but to reduce production of parts that would be destined for a plant that is on strike,” Bryce Currie, Ford’s vice president for Americas Manufacturing and Labor Affairs, said in a statement Monday. “Strike-related layoffs are an unfortunate result of the UAW’s strategy.”
The UAW launched its “stand-up strike” last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers halted work at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers; and a four-day work week. Automakers have responded by laying off thousands of non-union workers.
The layoffs are separate from the hundreds of workers let go by companies that supply parts to Ford, GM and Stellantis. LM Manufacturing, a Michigan company that makes seats for the Ford Bronco, temporarily laid off about 650 workers last month because of the UAW strike, CBS Detroit reported. Another supplier, Sodecia Automotive, said last week that it will temporarily lay off about 140 workers until late November, according to a company notice.
GM reaches agreement in Canada
The strike bug stretched north of Michigan on Tuesday as GM workers in Ontario, Canada, walked off the job. Hours later, both sides reached an agreement with GM saying in a statement that work will resume at the company’s facilities Tuesday afternoon.
Lana Payne, president of the Unifor union, which represents more than 20,000 Canadian autoworkers at the Big Three said GM agreed to all items that it members fought for such as pensions, retiree income and converting temporary workers into permanent employees during the agreement.
The new agreement covers about 4,300 autoworkers at three GM facilities in Ontario.
Automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers. GM on Monday brought to the negotiating table a 20% wage increase, an 8% company contribution to employee retirement accounts and increasing temporary worker wages to $20 an hour.
Negotiations are continuing this week but neither side has signaled an end in sight. The longer the strike lasts, the deeper it hurts the nation, economists have said.
Three weeks of the UAW strike has so far cost the U.S. economy $5.5 billion, according to Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan consultancy firm. That figure includes Big Three losses at around $2.68 billion and $1.6 billion in losses for parts suppliers.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Union workers at Mack Trucks have voted down a tentative five-year contract agreement reached with the company and plan to strike at 7 a.m. Monday, the United Auto Workers union says.
Union President Shawn Fain said in a letter to Mack parent company Volvo Trucks that 73% of workers voted against the deal in results counted on Sunday.
“As you are aware, UAW members and workers across the economy are mobilizing to demand their fair share,” Fain wrote. “Over the last three months, we have met with Company representatives in an effort to address issues raised by our members. The Union remains open to exploring all options for reaching an agreement, but clearly we are not there yet.”
The UAW represents about 4,000 Mack workers in three states. Union leaders had reached a tentative agreement on the deal on Oct. 1.
The deal included a 19% pay raise over the life of the contract.
“We are surprised and disappointed that the UAW has chosen to strike, which we feel is unnecessary,” Mack president Stephen Roy said in a statement Sunday.
“We are committed to the collective bargaining process, and remain confident that we will be able to arrive at an agreement that delivers competitive wages and benefits for our employees and their families, while safeguarding our future as a competitive company and stable long-term employer,” Roy added. “We look forward to returning to negotiations as soon as possible.”
Fain said in his letter to Volvo Trucks’ head of labor relations that employees working early Monday will exit the factories after performing tasks needed to prevent damage to company equipment.
The workers are in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
Thousands of UAW members across at least 20 states were already striking as the union attempted to reach a deal with the Big Three automakers.
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A new report from the Labor Department Friday shows that the U.S. added 336,000 jobs in September, well above economists’ expectations. The sunny jobs report, however, serves as a contrast to the numerous labor strikes taking place across the nation. Jo Ling Kent has more.
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United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that the union’s ongoing strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers is securing vital concessions, mooting the need to expand the work stoppage — at least for now.
“We are winning, we are making progress and we are headed in the right direction,” the union leader said in a broadcast on Facebook.
As evidence of that momentum, Fain said General Motors has agreed to fold employees at its forthcoming electric vehicle battery plant in Indiana into the UAW contract. “Today we made GM say yes when they’d rather say no,” he said.
Yet while Fain said negotiations are progressing, he also emphasized that Ford, GM and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with several foreign car brands) still need to meet union demands on issues including retirement benefits.
“Our strike is working but we’re not there yet,” he said. “Everything we’ve done has been [with] one goal in mind: record contract that reflects Big Three record profits.”
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers; and a four-day work week. Along with a pay hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted in 2007 as the companies were struggling financially.
The automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers, arguing that the UAW’s wage and other demands would make it hard to compete with other car manufacturers.
Automakers said this week they’re still negotiating in good faith, with Ford saying Thursday it would “continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues.”
“Negotiations remain ongoing, and we will continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues,” GM said Friday. “Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows GM to be successful into the future.”
“Transformative win”
Fain said the UAW was set to announce an additional strike at GM’s plant in Arlington, Texas, but union leaders changed course upon receiving a written agreement from the automaker that it would add its EV battery manufacturing to the UAW contract. The agreement was a “transformative win,” for the union’s membership said Fain, who sported a white T-shirt with the words “EAT THE RICH” in large bold letters for the livestream.
Workers at GM’s Arlington plant produce the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL as well as the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V, CBS News Detroit reported.
GM adding the EV plants is “a monumental development,” said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University.
“GM went far beyond and gave them this,” he said. “And I think GM is thinking they may get something in return for this on the economic items.”
Battery plants are key to the union’s survival as the auto industry makes a generational transition from internal combustion engines to vehicles that run on electricity. Fain has long wanted to pull the battery factories into the national contracts with the intent of winning top union wages for workers.
If electric battery plants are nonunion and pay less than UAW-represented assembly plants for gas cars, workers who might eventually lose their jobs at gasoline engine and transmission plants would have no place to go to get the same wages and benefits.
The auto companies have said the plants, mostly joint ventures with South Korean battery makers, had to be bargained separately.
Fain also used Friday’s address to mention other concessions made by the Big Three: Ford began its negotiations by offering a 9% wage increase and that has more than doubled to 23%. Stellantis and GM meanwhile have current offers of 20% increases.
Fain said Ford and Stellantis have agreed to restore cost-of-living adjustments to worker wages, which were eliminated in 2007. The automakers have also agreed to reduce the time it takes for workers to reach top wages, which is currently eight years, to three years at Ford and four years at GM and Stellantis, he said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers union said General Motors has agreed to put the company’s battery plant workers under the union’s national contract, calling it a major victory in the ongoing strike against the “Big Three” automakers.
UAW President Shawn Fain said in a Facebook Live address to members Friday that GM had put the agreement “in writing.” The two sides have not yet reached a broader deal on a new four-year contract, but Fain called the battery plant provision a major step forward.
“We’ve been told for months that this is impossible,” Fain said. “We’ve been told the [electric vehicle] future must be a race to the bottom. And now we’ve called their bluff.”
Fain said the Detroit-based automaker agreed to put battery plant workers under the union’s contract after the union threatened to strike the company’s assembly plant in Arlington, Texas, where GM rolls out high-margin SUVs like the Chevy Tahoe and Cadillac Escalade.
A GM spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked to confirm Fain’s announcement, and the union could not provide further details on the plan Friday.
“We’ve been told the EV future must be a race to the bottom. And now we’ve called their bluff.”
– Shawn Fain, UAW president
Battery plant workers loom large in what the union calls a “just transition” away from combustion-engine cars and trucks toward EVs. The union has worried that Ford, GM and Stellantis, which owns the Dodge and Jeep brands, would use the manufacturing pivot as an opportunity to shift away from union labor toward lower-wage, nonunion workforces.
Backed by federal subsidies, automakers are expected to move heavily toward EV production in the years to come. The UAW has insisted that any new jobs created by electric vehicle demand should have the same standards as traditional union auto jobs, with high wages and retirement security.
The automakers have generally maintained that the battery plants are joint ventures with other outside companies and therefore the union could not involve those plants in bargaining.
Fain cast the purported offer from GM as a major breakthrough.
“The [automakers’] plan was to draw down engine and transmission plants and replace them with low-wage battery jobs,” Fain said. “We had a different plan.”
He added, “We expect to win at Ford and Stellantis as well.”
UAW President Shawn Fain, shown here on the picket line, said General Motors has offered to put battery plant workers under the union’s contract.
JIM WATSON via Getty Images
The UAW has been on strike against Ford, GM and Stellantis for three weeks. It is the first time in the union’s history that it was waged a concurrent work stoppage at all of the Big Three. But rather than shut down all facilities, the union has opted to strike only targeted plants to leave room for escalation.
So far, roughly 25,000 workers have gone on strike at five assembly plants and dozens of parts distribution facilities, while thousands more have been temporarily laid off as a result of the walkouts. Roughly 150,000 workers are covered under the three national contracts.
The union’s strategy of deploying unpredictable walkouts has left the companies on their toes.
Last week, the union expanded the strike at Ford and GM while sparing Stellantis; the week prior, it expanded the strike at GM and Stellantis while sparing Ford.
On Friday, Fain announced no additional plants to be struck, citing the progress that has been made in negotiations.
“Not everything is about pulling out the bazooka,” Fain said. “We’ve been very careful about how we escalate this strike, and we’ve designed this strategy to increase pressure on the companies, not to hurt them for its own sake.”
He added, “They know we’ve got more cards to play.”
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is scheduled to give an update Friday on the union’s labor contract negotiations with Detroit’s Big Three automakers, with some signs the sides are narrowing their differences as the strike inflicts an increasingly heavy financial toll.
Fain could yet call for additional targeted strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis facilities, where about 25,000 workers at five vehicle assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses have walked off the job since the work stoppage began on Sept. 15. But UAW and automaker representatives made meaningful progress during talks Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, raising hopes of a possible thaw in the contentious negotiations. A source with the UAW also told CBS News that the sides are engaged in “active talks.”
What automakers are offering
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, a faster path to full-time jobs for temporary workers and a four-day work week.
Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted in 2007 as the companies were struggling financially.
Ford said in a statement that it sweetened its proposal to the union this week, offering a general wage increase of more than 20% over four years. The company also said it offered to increase retirement plan contributions and include temporary workers in profit-sharing.
GM made its latest offer to the UAW on Sept. 21, the details of which neither side has made public. The automaker’s previous offer included a 20% wage increase “over the life of the agreement” and cost-of-living adjustments.
GM on Wednesday announced it has lined up a line of credit of up to $6 billion in light of the possibility of a longer strike. The company said it is “being prudent in the face of uncertainty.” GM also said it estimates the strike will cost the company about $200 million in lost production in the third quarter.
The most recent offer from Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) also includes a 20% wage increase through 2027 for full-time employees, and a 6% company match for retirement contributions.
Layoffs piling up
The UAW launched a coordinated strike last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers walked off the job in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Since then, the automakers have furloughed or laid off thousands of non-union workers at plants in five states.
Ford this week expanded its layoffs to 350 workers at a transmission plant in Livonia, Michigan, and 50 workers at an axle plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Those workers were officially laid off Thursday, bringing Ford’s total layoffs to 1,330, the company said in a statement.
“These are not lockouts,” Ford said. “These layoffs are a consequence of the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant, because these two facilities must reduce production of parts that would normally be shipped to Chicago Assembly Plant.”
GM has laid off more than 2,100 workers across four states, while Stellantis has idled nearly 370 workers, Reuters reported.
So far, the strike has cost the auto industry about $3.9 billion, according to an estimate from Michigan-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $325 million in worker wages, $1.12 billion in losses for the automakers, $1.29 billion in losses for parts suppliers, and $1.2 billion in dealer and customer losses.
The UAW so far has avoided strikes at factories that manufacture large pickup truck and SUVs, which account for much of the automakers’ profits.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers are furloughing or laying off thousands of non-union employees amid a bitter standoff with striking members of the United Auto Workers.
The UAW on Oct. 29 expanded its nearly three-week-old strike to target GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant in Delta, Michigan, which manufactures the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Ford workers at the Chicago plant make the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator.
Automakers say the furloughs and layoffs are a result of the UAW strike, which has now entered its third week.
“It is unfortunate the UAW’s decision to call a strike at GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly continues to have negative ripple effects,” GM said in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday that confirmed the furloughs. “The impacted team members are not expected to return until the strike has been resolved. Since we are working under an expired labor agreement, there are no provisions for company-provided sub-pay in this circumstance.”
The automakers also said that a lengthy strike will lead to more layoffs for people who work at auto parts suppliers.
“We understand to date there are about 2,400 supplier employees that have been laid off,” Liz Door, Ford’s chief supply chain officer, said last week, adding that if the strike is prolonged, there could be “anywhere between 325,000 to 500,000 employees that could be laid off.”
The UAW has criticized the automakers’ moves to lay people off, with union chief Shawn Fain saying last month that the Big Three are using the layoffs as a tactic “to put the squeeze on our members to settle for less.”
The UAW launched a coordinated strike last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers walked off the job at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio — the first time union members at the companies had simultaneously stopped work. Another 5,600 workers at 38 GM and Stellantis-owned parts distribution centers in 20 states walked off the job last month.
So far, the strike has cost the auto industry about $3.9 billion, according to an estimate from Michigan-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $325 million in worker wages, $1.12 billion in losses for the automakers, $1.29 billion in losses for parts suppliers, and $1.2 billion in dealer and customer losses.
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, restrictions on the use of temporary workers and a four-day work week. Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted after the 2008 financial crisis.
For their part, the automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers, while arguing that the UAW’s wage and other demands would make it hard to compete with other car manufacturers. Both sides have said they’re open to further negotiations.
“We can confirm there was a meeting today between the GM and UAW leadership teams,” GM spokesman David Barnas said in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday. “The union did present a counter to our proposal from Sept. 21. We are assessing, but significant gaps remain.”
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
From President Joe Biden joining auto workers on the picket line to 75,000 health care workers girding to strike in multiple states, organized labor in the U.S. is enjoying a resurgence this year, while finding its most receptive audience in more than half a century.
“There is a feeling that the system is fundamentally unfair to the workforce that is doing all the hard work,” said Harry Katz, a professor of collective bargaining at Cornell University.
In an era of escalating income disparity, Americans are more open to the idea of collective bargaining and workers advocating for better pay and benefits. Public approval of labor unions registered at 67% in August, down from 71% a year ago when was at its highest reading since 1965, according to Gallup.
“Right now, unions are very popular. It’s more of a recognition of wealth inequality, the gap between the top one-tenth of 1% and everybody else,” Jeffrey Schuhrke, a labor activist and assistant professor at the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State College, told CBS MoneyWatch.
What is driving the protests?
Declining real wages, a tight labor market and robust corporate profits only bolsters the case for workers, many of whom had to show up during the pandemic even as many Americans worked remotely.
“It helps that union organizers, some of them regular workers themselves, or actual professional or staff, recognize that it is an advantageous moment,” Schuhrke said.
That advantage includes having a labor-friendly president and favorable rulings from a Democratic-led National Labor Relations Board, he noted. “The labor movement knows that window is not going to be open forever,” he added.
Mr. Biden’s unprecedented trip to Michigan to stand with striking members of the United Auto Workers highlights organized labor’s current sway, according to Schuhrke, a labor historian.
“It is the first time a sitting U.S. president has joined striking workers on a picket line — they’ve joined before as candidates, but not as president,” Schuhrke said. “What matters is the strike is so popular, and the union has so much support, that the president thought it advantageous and maybe even critical to his political future that he be seen standing with workers.”
Many industries rallying for change
An important feature of the current labor landscape is that the trend in activism isn’t isolated within a cluster of businesses, but is visible across a range of major sectors of the American economy, including transportation, health care and media.
There is a common ingredient, however: Much of the upsurge in labor protests is in blue-collar jobs where wages have long lagged productivity and corporate profits, with millions of Americans struggling simply to maintain their standard of living, let alone thrive at time that inflation has sapped households’ purchasing power.
Such grievances underlie the UAW’s strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers, now into its third week. More than 25,000 unionized workers, or 17% of the labor group’s members, have walked off their jobs at Ford, GM and Stellantis (the owner of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, as well major foreign auto brands).
The public’s mostly warm embrace of striking autoworkers could lessen as its impact spreads to dealers, customers and third-party suppliers who don’t have a seat at the bargaining table, according to Patrick Anderson, principal and CEO of Anderson Economic Group, an East Lansing and Chicago-based analysis firm. “When the innocent bystanders begin to feel it, it will affect the generally supportive sentiment Americans have been expressing about the UAW’s demands thus far,” Anderson stated Monday in a release that estimates $3.95 billion in total losses to the U.S. economy from the union’s strike’s first two weeks.
Labor unrest in Motor City is not confined to autoworkers. The Detroit Casino Council, representing five unions at three city casinos, late Friday said workers overwhelmingly voted to authorize strikes as soon as mid-October when contracts expire.
“Just like autoworkers, Blue Cross Blue Shield staff, UPS workers, writers and hotel workers, Detroit casino workers are considering all options available to make sure one job in a Detroit casino is enough to raise a family on, Nia Winston, Unite Here Local 24 president, said in a statement.
Major casinos in Las Vegas are also facing potential walkouts by workers, with the city’s Culinary Workers Union recently announcing that its 60,000 hospitality workers had authorized a strike if a deal is not reached with companies including MGM International, Wynn and Caesars Entertainment.
Elsewhere around the country, more than 75,000 health care workers are threatening a three-day strike starting Wednesday at Kaiser Permanente hospitals and medical centers in five states and Washington, D.C. Staffing levels and wages are at the heart of the negotiations between the Oakland-based health care giant and the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions.
Highlighting the rise in worker activism, even nonunion pharmacists recently walked off the job and closed multiple CVS Health locations in and around Kansas City. Now back at work, those involved in the work stoppage drew words of support from the Kansas Pharmacists Association, which said the pharmacists were laboring under a system that “values medication volume over safety and quality of health care.” The nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain said it would address the concerned raised by its pharmacists.
UPS “template”?
Last month’s contract ratification by more than 300,000 United Parcel Service workers is an example of how a credible strike threat can yield an agreement, Schuhrke said.
The shipping giant had a strong incentive to make a deal, Cornell’s Katz added. “You don’t replace 300,000 drivers very quickly.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters said its most lucrative agreement ever with UPS would “improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of workers” and provide a roadmap for other organizing efforts, the union’s president, Sean O’Brien, said in a statement.
“This is the template for how workers should be paid and protected nationwide, and nonunion companies like Amazon better pay attention,” O’Brien stated.
Still, how much power workers actually have depends on the situation — and those employed at Starbucks and Amazon “don’t have a lot of bargaining leverage,” according to Katz.
With passage of stronger labor laws, there is lots of room for corporations to stall negotiations, as companies are only legally required to come to the table, not to reach an agreement.
“Forty percent of unions that have formed don’t get a first contract,” Katz said.
