UAW President Shawn Fain met with UAW members on Facebook Live last night and laid out the members’ demands in Big Three bargaining. UAW members are thinking big and the Big Three can afford it. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year. That’s on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits that the Big Three made over the last decade.
“Record profits mean record contracts,” Fain said. “Yes, we’re demanding double-digit pay raises. Big Three CEOs saw their pay spike 40% on average over the last four years. We know our members are worth the same and more.”
Summary of Bargaining Goals as Articulated by Fain
- Eliminate Tiers – It’s wrong to make any worker second class. We can’t allow it any longer in the UAW. The Teamsters ended tiers at UPS. We’re going to end tiers at the Big Three.
- Substantial Wage Increases – Yes, we’re demanding double-digit pay raises. Big Three CEOs saw their pay spike 40% on average over the last four years. We know our members are worth the same and more.
- Restore COLA – It’s Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA) that made sure working-class communities thrived for decades. Taking that away hammered us and our hometowns. It must be restored.
- Defined Benefit Pension For All Workers – All workers deserve the retirement security that UAW members had for generations.
- Re-Establish Retiree Medical Benefits. That’s just as essential as a solid pension.
- Right To Strike Over Plant Closures. The Big Three have closed 65 plants over the last 20 years. That’s been as devastating for our hometowns as it has been for us. We have to have the right to defend our communities from the corporate greed that’s killing so many cities and towns.
- Working Family Protection Program. It’s a program that keeps UAW members on the job. If companies try to flee our hometowns, they’ll have to pay UAW members to do community-service work. Companies can still make a healthy profit and it’ll keep our communities healthy, too.
- End Abuse Of Temp Workers. We are going to end the abuse of temps. Our fight at the Big Three is a fight for every worker.
- More Paid Time Off To Be With Families. Our members are working 60, 70, even 80 hours a week just to make ends meet. That’s not living. It’s barely surviving, and it needs to stop.
- Significantly Increase Retiree Pay. We owe our retirees everything. They built these companies and they built our union. We will not forget them in these negotiations.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
UAW Wants 40% Wage Increase in 2023 Contract Negotiations
UAW President Shawn Fain met with UAW members on Facebook Live last night and laid out the members’ demands in Big Three bargaining. UAW members are thinking big and the Big Three can afford it. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year. That’s on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits that the Big Three made over the last decade.
“Record profits mean record contracts,” Fain said. “Yes, we’re demanding double-digit pay raises. Big Three CEOs saw their pay spike 40% on average over the last four years. We know our members are worth the same and more.”
Summary of Bargaining Goals as Articulated by Fain
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.