United Auto Workers members at the Detroit Three automakers authorized the union to call a strike against the companies when their contracts expire on Sept. 14 with “near universal approval,” the union said Friday.
The UAW reported that final votes are still being tabulated, but that the combined average across Stellantis NV, General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. was 97% in favor of strike authorization.
During a livestreamed event Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain said, “97% of you voted to authorize a strike because you know that we do have the power, that we are united and we’re not afraid. And we’re gonna win. The Big Three’s race to the bottom ends on Sept. 14.”
Fain once again characterized progress at the bargaining table as “slow” but said negotiations are no further behind now than they typically are. He emphasized that the union leaders’ goal is not to strike, but to secure good contracts for members — something he said is still possible by the current contracts’ Sept. 14 expiration. Still, he said preparedness is key.
He also reiterated union leaders’ position that they will not agree to contract extensions, and that the union is not selecting a target company on which to model negotiations.
“It is possible for us to get where we need to be,” Fain said. “But these companies got to buckle down and get serious about your demands, and about you getting your share of equity. We’ve got a lot to take care of in 20 days.”
The vote is a formality and does not necessarily mean there will be a strike. It offers the union the leverage of a threat to halt the automakers’ operations, which has the potential to hurt profits. A 40-day national strike at GM cost the Detroit automaker $2 billion in 2019.
Although UAW leaders have said striking isn’t the goal, they haven’t said it’s out of the question, with Fain this week threatening the action if the automakers don’t budge on the union’s demands.
There are about 145,000 members employed at the Detroit Three compared to more than 1 million active members and retirees eligible to vote in the union’s elections.
“The turnout will be an indicator of how engaged workers are, and how close they’re following it,” said Harley Shaiken, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in labor and the global economy. “That will tell us where the membership stands.”
The UAW’s demands entail a 46% wage increase over four years, a 32-hour work week for 40 hours’ pay, rolling over all current supplemental employees to full-time, cost-of-living adjustments, defined benefit pensions and retiree health care for all, increases to retiree benefits, the right to strike over plant closures, and more paid time off. All told, the 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.
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.
The UAW has more than $825 million in its Strike and Defense Fund, according to the union. That’s over $100 million more than what the UAW had at the end of 2017 ahead of the strike at GM in 2019, but the union has increased the weekly strike pay to $500 from the $250 stipend workers received when that strike began.
A national strike at all three companies, though unlikely, could represent a total economic loss of $5.6 billion if it lasted 10 days, according to East Lansing’s Anderson Economic Group, a consulting group that also has done work for automakers like GM and Ford, its website says.
John Barbosa, 52, of Clinton Township has been a UAW member for nearly 19 years and is a millwright apprentice at Stellantis NV’s Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio that builds the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator.
“It is a little bit of a scary time around the talks on both sides. It’s not an easy thing,” he said ahead of voting to approve the strike authorization. “I see a lot of anxiety from co-workers … from the dirty tactics of the company that they try to use and put fear into people.
“I am proud of my union brothers and sisters,” he continued. “It’s good to see the resolve, and that they’re willing to stand up.”
The UAW reported that the strike authorization vote by GM workers passed by 96%. The results “put the company on notice,” Mike Booth, UAW vice president and director of the union’s GM department, said in a statement.
GM spokesperson Pat Morrissey said in a statement: “We continue to work hard with the UAW every day and bargain in good faith to ensure we get this agreement right for our team members, our customers, suppliers, the community and the business.”
Hourly UAW-represented workers at Ford voted in favor of authorizing strike by 98%, while salaried UAW-represented workers voted in favor by 99%, according to the union.
“This resounding strike authorization vote by our Ford members shows that they are ready to go the distance and do what is necessary to claim their fair share of Ford’s success,” Chuck Browning, UAW vice president and director of the union’s Ford department, said in a statement.
Ford spokesperson Kelli Felker said in a statement that the Dearborn automaker “is proud to build more vehicles in America and employ more UAW-represented hourly workers in America than any other automaker. We look forward to working with the UAW on creative solutions during this time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever.”
Stellantis workers voted in favor of authorizing a strike by 95%. UAW Vice President Rich Boyer, director of the union’s Stellantis department, said the vote is a “warning” to the automaker: “We know the company can afford our demands and we are united and willing to do what it takes to win them.”
Stellantis spokesperson Jodi Tinson said in a statement that discussions between the company and the union “continue to be constructive and collaborative with a focus on reaching a new agreement that balances the concerns of our 43,000 employees with our vision for the future — one that better positions the business to meet the challenges of the U.S. marketplace and secures the future for all of our employees, their families and our company.”
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
bnoble@detroitnews.com