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For the first time in the nearly 90-year history of the United Auto Workers, the union is on strike against all three of the large Detroit automakers — General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler — at the same time.
The targeted strike, which started on Sept. 15 and expanded last Friday, has shut down three auto plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, and 38 parts distribution centers operated by G.M. and Stellantis. About 18,300 U.A.W. members are on strike while the union demands a 40 percent pay increase. The shutdowns affect only a few car models, but a protracted strike would affect consumers and the U.S. economy.
Neal E. Boudette, who covers the auto industry from Detroit for The New York Times, has been reporting on the negotiations between the union and automakers. He has covered the automobile industry since 2002, when he was in Germany working for The Wall Street Journal. He joined The Times in 2016.
In an interview, Mr. Boudette spoke about the evolution of the industry, its symbolism in the United States and what this strike could mean for other automakers. This interview has been edited and condensed.
President Biden visited a picket line in Michigan this week, which has been described as unprecedented for a sitting president. Does this strike feel different from U.A.W.’s strike at General Motors in 2019, or ones before that?
A lot of the strikes in the past 20 years have been symbolic more than strategic. This year, it’s a totally different dynamic. The union has a very strong negotiating position. The car companies are making tons of money, and workers have not received raises that have kept up with inflation. The workers have a lot of support from the public.
There have been strikes in the past that were very contentious and even resulted in street clashes. But in the 21st century, there hasn’t been a strike like this.
You worked in Germany before coming to Detroit. How do the settings compare?
Detroit is Motor City. The whole region has this very strong connection to automobiles. There’s a century-long history and a great deal of culture built around the automobile. The Detroit Red Wings — their logo is a winged wheel.
It was less so in Germany. I was based in Frankfurt, not an auto center. Opel was a little bit outside of Frankfurt, and Mercedes was south of Frankfurt. B.M.W. was down in Munich; Volkswagen was up north in Wolfsburg. Each of those towns is a little like Detroit, but you didn’t have the concentration that you have in Detroit.
How has the evolution of electric vehicles changed your beat?
The biggest trend is electrification, and there are many different aspects of it. Aside from the fact that you have to get these cars designed and developed and produced, there’s a social aspect to it. We need chargers all over the place, and charging a car is a different social experience than filling up your gas tank.
Then there’s the climate aspect. The evolution of the industry to electronic vehicles has been called the biggest transition the industry has seen since the introduction of the moving assembly line.
The beat is multifaceted now. Before the financial crisis, it wasn’t quite like that. There was a technology race, but it was a very limited technology race. And now it’s taking on a much greater breadth.
What affects will the strike have on the industry?
Eventually the union and automakers will come up with an agreement. And then the next big question will be: How much of a burden does this contract put on these companies? Their competitors — Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda, Kia — are foreign companies who operate nonunion factories. Most of their workers make considerably less than the top U.A.W. wage.
In recent years, U.A.W. tried to organize a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee and a Nissan plant in Mississippi, and the workers voted down union representation. They didn’t want to rock the boat.
But there’s a lot of power on the side of workers these days. I think it’s possible workers in the South say: We’re making $22 an hour. The workers in Detroit are making $32 an hour. We should be in the union.
As an auto industry reporter, are you a big car guy?
It’s funny, I’m not. I’m interested in cars, but I’m not a big car person. I drive a Chevy Malibu, believe it or not.
Cars are interesting products to cover. There’s no other country in the world where there are as many pop songs and movies about cars. The Beach Boys’ “409”; that David Hasselhoff TV show, “Knight Rider.” It’s a whole TV show built around a car.
There are good stories in Detroit. Sometimes it’s a matter of explaining things to readers. We did a lot of that in the past year on the transition to E.V.s. There are also really interesting personalities to write about. That’s what keeps me going.