Samuel Messidor
Photo: UAW, Toledo auto workers on strike
150,000 autoworkers organized under UAW in the United States, and 18,000 autoworkers organized under the Canadian Unifor union have voted to authorize a strike by an overwhelming margin during the contract negotiations with the “Big Three” auto manufacturers Ford, GM, and Stellantis. The UAW contracts expired on September 14 while Unifor’s expires on the 18th.
As of September 15, nearly 13,000 workers across three plants—one plant from each auto company—went on strike, marking the first time in history UAW went on strike against all three auto manufacturers at once. However, UAW President Shawn Fain has stated that he will hold back from a strike by all the workers under the contract unless negotiations drag on, saving costs for the union and remaining “flexible”. Non-striking workers have been instructed by the union to not damage machinery or engage in work slowdowns.
UAW says it is fighting for 40% wage increases, an end to two-tier employment and temp work, better pension and healthcare plans, shorter workweeks, the right to strike over plan closures, and for promises to include new electric vehicle production facilities under the UAW bargaining umbrella. Fain is holding back a UAW endorsement of Biden’s re-election as a bargaining chip on the last point, citing the massive government investment into EV production as reason for the government to work with UAW on unionizing the new plants.
The last UAW strike against a “Big Three” corporation was the 2019 strike against GM which cost the company billions but ended with a conciliatory contract and a nevertheless profitable year for GM. Contracts first established at one of the “Big Three” generally set the standards for the other two.
Auto production in the US has been shifting over the last few decades from the Great Lakes region to the South where wages are lower and unions are weaker. This comes after the 2008 financial crisis spurred the automakers to shutter factories, lay off thousands of workers, replace many full-time workers with part-timers, and cut into unionized workers’ conditions. UAW agreed to a series of concessions including wage cuts and two-tier systems to “save” the companies from bankruptcy. The workers were skinned twice: not only were conditions and pay sacrificed, but their tax money went in the billions to “bail out” the companies they are exploited by.
Like Teamsters President O’Brien, UAW President Fain campaigned as the democratic, reform candidate against the old, business-friendly sell-out leadership of the union, riding the wave of worker anger and militancy against years of concessions and declining working conditions and wages. However, Fain’s militant rhetoric stands in contrast to repeated concessionary contracts at UAW strikes across the country under his leadership—including the Clarios sell-out contract forced down the throats of workers, the ongoing attempts to force a sell-out contract at the Lear car seats plant, and the agreed-upon exclusion of the Ultium battery plant from the “Big Three” national agreement.
Democrats have been lining up behind the UAW bureaucracy just as they did during the Teamsters-UPS contract negotiations.
Recently, Bernie Sanders held a webinar with Fain, while US Representative Haley Stevens, architect of the 2008-2009 concessions, spoke at a UAW rally in Detroit, saying he “stood with” the UAW during those concessions and that he now stands with UAW as the investment into EV restructures the auto industry.
