Detroit — Dozens of United Auto Workers and supportive community members marched outside a Jeep Grand Cherokee plant here in a practice picket that will be a similar scene to Sept. 15 if the Detroit Three automakers don’t cooperate, the union’s president said on Wednesday.
“We’ve got 22 days until the deadline,” UAW President Shawn Fain said at the gathering. “These companies better come to the table. The clock is ticking. I can tell you right now, every indication is that if they don’t get their s— together, we’re going to be doing what we’re going to do here in a little bit.”
Holding “Record profits, record contracts” signs and chanting, “Tik tok” and other phrases, a sea of red gathered in a strip-mall parking lot off Conner Street with a backdrop of Stellanits NV’s Mack Assembly Plant on the east side. The group walked in front of a nearby gate entrance to the plant. The picket that was organized by members wasn’t a work stoppage, but was meant to bring together autoworkers around a core purpose and raise awareness of the union’s demands for a new contract, organizers said.
“Have you seen the price of a gallon of milk?” said Nathan Burks, 48, of Detroit, a UAW member of five years who works in skilled trades and says at $27.52 per hour, he’s still a few years away from reaching the top of his pay scale. “It’s more expensive to buy food that’s healthy for you than the cheaper junk food. I can be making the same as an employee at Target. We used to be the powerhouses of the economy. Now we’re not.”
The UAW’s demands entail a 46% wage increase over four years for the 145,000 employees, a 32-hour work week for 40 hours’ pay, rolling over all current temporary/supplemental employees to full-time, cost-of-living adjustments and pensions and retiree health care for all. The total demands could increase total labor costs, including wages and benefits, to more than $100 per hour per worker. The automakers’ current all-in labor costs are around $65 per hour compared to $55 at foreign automakers and $45 at Tesla Inc.
“We’re not asking to be millionaires,” Fain said. “We’re just asking for our fair share so we can survive.”
Fain said he’s headed to similar events in the coming day with stops planned at Ford Motors Co.’s Kentucky Truck Plant and Louisville Assembly Plant on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Although the union hasn’t declared a lead company, Fain says not to read in the locations of the rallies as they are based on his schedule and invitations from locals.
The picket comes as the union is wrapping up strike authorization votes, the results of which are expected on Friday. Local unions that have posted their results show overwhelming support for the procedural vote.
“The workers are pissed off and they’re fed up,” Fain said. “They want their share — not just our workers, workers everywhere, workers that don’t have a voice right now, because they don’t have a union.”
Shaheena Allen, 42, of Detroit, a UAW member of almost three years who works at the Mack plant, said she voted to support the strike authorization.
“We’re doing the same, equal work, and not getting the same equal pay,” she said. “It’s not right. We actively need better things for a contract, so why not (strike)?”
Among the marchers was U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, who emphasized the sacrifices the UAW has made in previous contracts to keep the companies afloat.
“Workers have saved our country over and over again,” she said. “I can’t understand in 2023, these CEOs are now being stingy. I looked. They’re making record profits. Shareholders are getting their payouts. These folks are busting their butts every day, and they’re not getting their fair share.”
In 2022, GM, Stellantis and Ford reported adjusted operating income in North America, respectively, of $13 billion, $15.2 billion and $9.2 billion. Stellantis’ profit-sharing checks were the highest at $14,760, followed by GM workers receiving $12,750 and Ford’s, $9,176. Temporary and supplemental workers, however, don’t receive profit-sharing checks.
Also on workers’ minds is product allocation. Dan Steele, 30, of Toledo, Ohio, says he was temporarily laid off on Friday for a year from his job in materials delivery at Stellantis’ Dundee Engine Plant. The automaker is investing $83 million there to produce a new 1.6-liter, I-4 turbocharged engine with direct fuel injection for two plug-in hybrid models it will sell in North America, but there’s space for more after the automaker has ended production of the Tigershark 2.4-liter I-4 engine.
“It is nerve-racking,” Steele said. “We need (product), because I don’t think Stellantis even wants to build anything here.”
Stellantis in previous statements has said it’s committed to working with the UAW to negotiate a new agreement that balances workers’ concerns and its vision to compete in the marketplace in the future.
Other UAW members say they came out to show their support to leave behind a strong contract for future generations.
“Workers fought to lay the foundation for me,” said Charles Roberts, 54, of Detroit, who has been a UAW member for 30 years and is a continuous improvement lead at Mack. “I want to pay it forward, and give it back. It could be better for the younger workers.”
bnoble@detroitnews.com
X: @BreanaCNoble