UAW member Tasha Johnson leads a chant at a union rally in Detroit on Friday. (AP)
DETROIT — The United Auto Employees said it plans to resume bargaining on Saturday after the union launched simultaneous strikes at three factories owned by General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler parent Stellantis on Friday.
The walkouts on the Detroit Three by 12,700 employees, kicking off probably the most ambitious U.S. industrial labor motion in many years, are halting production of the Ford Bronco, Jeep Wrangler and Chevrolet Colorado, together with other popular models, though the motion was smaller than some expected.
The ripple effects of the strike began to spread on Friday, as Ford told 600 employees who should not striking that they shouldn’t come to work on Friday and GM told some 2,000 employees at a Kansas automotive plant that their factory likely can be shut down next week for lack of parts, stemming from a close-by plant being struck.
“We’re not going to wreck the economy. The reality is we’re going to wreck the billionaire economy,” UAW President Shawn Fain said.
The motion caps weeks of clashes between the union and Detroit Three executives over union demands for an even bigger share of profits generated by combustion trucks, shorter work weeks, restoration of defined profit pensions and stronger job security as automakers shift to electric vehicles.
The automakers’ previous contract expired at 11:59 p.m. EDT on Thursday. Fain said the union will hold off more costly company-wide strikes for now, but all options are open.
President Joe Biden, who faces re-election next 12 months, called for the auto corporations to reward employees just as executives’ salaries have risen. “Nobody wants a strike, but I respect employees’ right to make use of their options,” Biden said, echoing statements from union leaders. “The businesses have made some significant offers but I imagine they need to go further to make sure record corporate profits mean record contracts.”
Dozens of employees picketed the essential entrance at Ford’s Michigan assembly plant in Wayne on Friday as many passing drivers blew their horns in solidarity.
Employees said they’ve been hurt by a series of changes to their contract and work rules over the past 15 years which have shifted risks to “tier two” employees. Those employees could make only half the hourly wages of senior UAW employees and face an extended climb to achieve the very best pay under the expired contract.
Not one of the Detroit Three has proposed eliminating those tiered wage systems – a key UAW demand – but they’ve offered to chop the time needed to achieve top pay from eight to 4 years.
“There are occasions after I look in my pantry, I look in my fridge and I don’t know the way I’m going to feed my family,” said Gerry Gunn, 38, a Ford employee who was on the picket line on Friday in Wayne.
Executives say the union’s asks would make the automakers uncompetitive against other nonunion rivals. “We still have a ways to go along with the offer they placed on the table last night,” said GM CEO Mary Barra on “CBS This Morning” on Friday, while Ford CEO Jim Farley said the UAW‘s 40% wage hike demand would “put us out of business.”
Along with Ford’s Wayne plant, the strikes are happening at assembly plants operated by GM in Wentzville, Missouri, and by Stellantis’ Jeep brand in Toledo, Ohio. Those plants produce among the automakers’ most profitable vehicles.
Friday’s walkout was smaller than some analysts expected, but employees in Michigan supported the plan. “Keep the opposite plants open,” said Sofus Nielsen, a 29-year Ford veteran, outside the Wayne plant. “This manner we will be out here longer and hurt them more.”
Targeted walkouts could limit the price of strike pay to the UAW, which has an $825 million strike fund. The automakers have built up billions due to robust profits from the trucks and SUVs UAW members construct.
Biden on Friday said acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and adviser Gene Sperling will travel to Detroit to supply support for talks however the White House said they’d not intervene or mediate. The White House declined to say if Biden supported the UAW‘s 40% wage hike proposal.
Ford shares ended barely modified on Friday, GM stock rose about 1% and Stellantis shares earlier closed up 1.9% in Milan.
The UAW has said it wants a 40% raise, while the automakers have offered as much as 20%, but without key advantages demanded by the union. The automakers have said the union’s demands would create an unsustainable financial situation and leave them exposed to losses in coming years.
Fain has rejected the automakers’ assertions, saying the businesses have spent billions on share buybacks and executive salaries.
Ford said the UAW‘s latest proposals would double its U.S. labor costs and make it uncompetitive against Tesla and other nonunion rivals.
Stellantis said it had immediately gone into “contingency mode” and would take structural decisions to guard the corporate and its North American operations, without elaborating.
GM said on Thursday that the UAW wage and advantages proposals would cost the automaker $100 billion, but didn’t elaborate.
While Biden is pouring billions in federal subsidies into expanding electric-vehicle sales, this shift could threaten combustion powertrain jobs. The UAW has not endorsed his re-election.
Biden’s likely opponent, former president Donald Trump, on Friday criticized the shift to EVs as a job-killer for the UAW.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
