About 146,000 U.S. auto workers are set to go on strike this week if General Motors, Ford and Stellantis fail to meet their demands for big pay raises and...
DETROIT — About 146,000 U.S. auto workers are set to go on strike this week if General Motors GM, +1.17%, Ford F, +2.84% and Stellantis STLA, +0.77% fail to meet their demands for big pay raises and the restoration of concessions the workers made years ago when the companies were in financial trouble.
What do workers want? The union has asked for 46% raises in general pay over four years — an increase that would elevate a top-scale assembly plant worker from $32 an hour now to about $47. In addition, the UAW has demanded 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-style retirement plans; and a return of cost-of-living pay raises, among other benefits.
Fain himself has acknowledged that the union’s demands are “audacious.” But he has argued that the richly profitable automakers can afford to raise workers’ pay significantly to make up for what the union gave up to help the companies withstand the 2007-2009 financial crisis and the Great Recession. The companies have rebuffed the union’s demands as too expensive. The automakers’ argument is that they will be absorbing enormous capital expenses in the coming years to continue to build combustion-engine vehicles while at the same time designing electric vehicles and building battery and assembly plants for the future.
What happens next? The union and companies are continuing to trade wage and benefit counteroffers and will likely continue to do so into the work week ahead of Thursday night’s strike deadline. Still, Fain has raised some hope by saying the union doesn’t want to strike and would prefer to reach contract agreements with the automakers.
Sam Fiorani, an analyst with AutoForecast Solutions, a consulting firm, said the automakers had roughly 1.96 million vehicles on hand at the end of July. Before the pandemic, that figure was as high as 4 million.