The UAW leadership on Wednesday night in a virtual town hall highlighted targets and priorities for upcoming contract talks with the Detroit Three automakers.
Union chiefs noted automakers’ significant profit margins and high executive compensation in recent years, and spotlighted demands such as ending wage tiers, ensuring job security and reestablishing cost-of-living allowances. They also told members to expect more communication compared with the past as contract talks approach.
The town hall livestreamed to almost 1,000 people over Facebook and more over Zoom in what was pitched as the first of numerous such sessions to come. Many of those tuning in shared the names of their United Auto Workers locals and offered words of solidarity in the online chat.
More:UAW’s Shawn Fain makes national remarks to members, vows to hold carmakers accountable.
Offering a bit of motivation for what is widely expected to be a heated round of talks, UAW President Shawn Fain emphasized how much Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Jeep- and Chrysler-parent Stellantis have made in the years since the Great Recession and the GM and Chrysler bankruptcies forced major concessions on workers who now must contend with the impact of inflation.
“The Big Three collectively have made just under a quarter of a trillion dollars in profits in North America between 2013 and 2022. That’s trillion with a T, as in time to pay up. That’s trillion with a T, as in time to end tiers,” Fain said, calling the figure a “mind-boggling amount of money.”
The union also stressed that CEOs Jim Farley of Ford, GM’s Mary Barra and Carlos Tavares of Stellantis had each made millions of dollars in compensation, part of the union’s pushback against expected company claims that worker demands are unrealistic.
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Among the major changes from past bargaining outlined in the session led by Fain, Secretary-Treasurer Margaret Mock and vice presidents Mike Booth, Chuck Browning and Rich Boyer involves communication. Fain said it would be “constant.”
“Here’s what you can expect from us. No more bargaining in total secrecy behind closed doors. The company knows what’s happening in bargaining. Hell, they’re in the room,” Fain said.
Members should expect regular bargaining updates, national days of action at plants around the country and parking lot rallies, Fain said, in order to show the companies “we’re not playing around and we mean business.”
Mock said the choice of whether the union strikes is up to the companies.
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“They can work with us to make sure we get what we are owed or they can fight us, and we will be forced to take action,“ Mock said, highlighting the impact of the 40-day strike against GM in 2019.
Mock said revenue for the company in North America dropped $10.7 billion and profits fell $3.4 billion during the strike. She also highlighted the size of the union’s strike fund at $825 million and the increase in strike pay to $500 per week, which was OK’d earlier this year.
Mock also called on members to get ready.
“We need every local to get organized in their plants and to show these companies that we are ready to and willing to strike if need be. We will go the distance to win what we deserve even if that means staying out,” Mock said.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.