'It’s the billionaire economy - that's what they are worried about.The 2023 United Auto Workers strike is an ongoing labor strike involving automobile workers in the labor union United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three unionized automakers in the United States- Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis. 'They pretend the sky will fall if we get our fair share of the quarter of a trillion dollars the Big Three have made over the past decade,' Fain said. Executives of the Detroit Three have said the UAW's demands will make them uncompetitive as the shift to EVs offsets the profits delivered by the combustion trucks UAW members build. Like the Hollywood unions, the UAW members at the Detroit Three face threats from new technology that a richer contract will not resolve. The actors and writers have been on strike for more than 100 days. Other unions, including Teamsters at delivery giant United Parcel Service (UPS.N) and writers and actors in Hollywood, have also been emboldened, and some including UPS have won substantial raises. But the automakers have billions in cash to withstand job actions. The union has since beefed up its strike fund to $825 million. That six-week strike cost GM $3.6 billion and stressed the finances of UAW members. In 2019, the union launched a strike against GM when the company refused to agree to a contract by the deadline. Now comes the crucial test for Fain's strategy as the current contracts with the Detroit Three expire.

Moments later, Fain quoted from the Christian Bible - which he said he reads daily.įain has slammed the automakers' 'inadequate' wage offers with a trash can labeled 'Big Three Proposals' perched on a shelf behind him. On Wednesday, he told UAW members they must fight for a better contract 'by any means necessary' - one of Malcolm X's most quoted phrases. civil rights leader Malcolm X on the back. In one of his early Facebook Live videos, he delivered his message wearing a black T-shirt with a quotation from U.S. The 54-year-old union veteran, who carries his UAW-member grandfather's pay stubs in his wallet, has escalated his rhetoric - and his stage craft - since bargaining kicked off in July. UAW-Detroit Three contracts have tended toward incremental change, with worker gains offset by provisions that allowed the companies to drive costs down with automation and process efficiency. Over and over, the hard-nosed union chief has told UAW members at the Detroit Three that they can reverse 20 years of wage and retiree benefit concessions, stop further plant closures and end a seniority-based, tiered compensation system that pays new hires as much as 44% less than veteran workers.Īchieving any one of those goals in one bargaining round would be a significant achievement. “We fight for the good of the entire working class and the poor,' he said. Bernie Sanders, to reframe the UAW's contract bargaining as a battle to re-set the balance of power between workers and global corporations. Prior UAW presidents picked just one to set a pattern for the other two.įain has made creative use of social media, appearances on network and cable news programs and alliances with high-profile progressive politicians such as U.S. With the clock ticking down, Fain is running what amounts to a public auction among the companies to push each one to top the other to avoid a costly walkout.

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