The labor movement fight for economic justice continues on.
UAW President Shawn Fain last night with an audience of ~30,000 on Facebook spoke for more than 50 minutes. His message was simple. “Let’s Stand up and let’s make history,” Fain said. He said the Big Three offers were “outrageously unrealistic.” The history he is talking about starts at midnight tonight when the UAW for the first time ever is striking all of the so-called Big Three companies – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. With defiant language Fain laid out the latest twist in the UAW strategy to “stop the Big Three from killing jobs.” Rather than the traditional single target company, there will be selective and ongoing strikes at all of the companies.
Click to enlarge.
This is a deft move that will stretch the UAW strike fund as most of its ~150,000 workers will remain on the job, but bring immense pressure on the management of the auto companies and their numerous suppliers. The back of the envelope calculation is this: UAW strike pay is $500 per week and will also protect health insurance premiums. The union strike fund is ~$825 million. With selective strikes this can last a long time rather than becoming exhausted in say ~3 months with an industry wide strike.
Click to enlarge.
Fain also excoriated the Big Three offers and at one point basically said Ford CEO Jim Farley was a liar for remarks he made the night before to media for saying the Ford offer eliminates tiers. It doesn’t.
Moreover, there will be no bargaining tomorrow and perhaps over the weekend as the UAW International executive board, Fain, UAW vice presidents and national negotiators will be demonstrating with members including at a UAW Ford facility in Detroit that Ford is trying to close.
Click for more.
The UAW wants a 40% increase in wages over the four-year contracts, repeatedly saying compensation of the Big Three chief executives on average increased 40% during the last four years. The UAW is also seeking pensions for all workers, better retiree benefits, shorter work hours and an end to a tiered wage system that starts new hires at roughly half the top U.A.W. wage of $32 an hour.
The companies negotiating separately have made proposals raising wages by roughly half what the union is asking, claimed Fain, while basically dismissing the other requests.
Click for more.
Auto executives, aside from being tone deaf or worse during the negotiations – on this past Monday Stellantis for example announced more share buybacks, which is a large point of contention at the UAW since they enrich the rich – are dealing with a tectonic shift in attitudes. This AutoInformed notes is part of a growing hostility toward the widely unequal distribution of income in the US. Consider for example, the just started Google antitrust trial. Big corporations can and do hold down wages, tilt government policies their way, spread misinformation, promote insurrection, and monetize a person’s private information with impunity. For decades wages for most Americans have grown much more slowly – if at all – than corporate profits for the incomes of the extremely wealthy. Globalization works for a couple of percent of the people in the US.
Click for more.
“We’re not just going to stand by as corporate executives and the rich can continue to make extraordinary profits while the rest of us continue to get left further and further behind at the Big Three,” Fain said. Labor is only roughly 5% of the cost of a new vehicle.
There are large forces at work here, ones that might inhabit the universe of all working people everywhere. So the work of socially progressive Walter Reuther and other UAW founders continues – on the picket line. CEOs are not the center of their universe. The companies are “staring down a well-organized and pissed off workforce that’s ready to do what it takes to win a strong contract,” Fain said.
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UAW to Start Selective Big Three Strikes at Midnight
The labor movement fight for economic justice continues on.
UAW President Shawn Fain last night with an audience of ~30,000 on Facebook spoke for more than 50 minutes. His message was simple. “Let’s Stand up and let’s make history,” Fain said. He said the Big Three offers were “outrageously unrealistic.” The history he is talking about starts at midnight tonight when the UAW for the first time ever is striking all of the so-called Big Three companies – Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. With defiant language Fain laid out the latest twist in the UAW strategy to “stop the Big Three from killing jobs.” Rather than the traditional single target company, there will be selective and ongoing strikes at all of the companies.
Click to enlarge.
This is a deft move that will stretch the UAW strike fund as most of its ~150,000 workers will remain on the job, but bring immense pressure on the management of the auto companies and their numerous suppliers. The back of the envelope calculation is this: UAW strike pay is $500 per week and will also protect health insurance premiums. The union strike fund is ~$825 million. With selective strikes this can last a long time rather than becoming exhausted in say ~3 months with an industry wide strike.
Click to enlarge.
Fain also excoriated the Big Three offers and at one point basically said Ford CEO Jim Farley was a liar for remarks he made the night before to media for saying the Ford offer eliminates tiers. It doesn’t.
Moreover, there will be no bargaining tomorrow and perhaps over the weekend as the UAW International executive board, Fain, UAW vice presidents and national negotiators will be demonstrating with members including at a UAW Ford facility in Detroit that Ford is trying to close.
Click for more.
The UAW wants a 40% increase in wages over the four-year contracts, repeatedly saying compensation of the Big Three chief executives on average increased 40% during the last four years. The UAW is also seeking pensions for all workers, better retiree benefits, shorter work hours and an end to a tiered wage system that starts new hires at roughly half the top U.A.W. wage of $32 an hour.
The companies negotiating separately have made proposals raising wages by roughly half what the union is asking, claimed Fain, while basically dismissing the other requests.
Click for more.
Auto executives, aside from being tone deaf or worse during the negotiations – on this past Monday Stellantis for example announced more share buybacks, which is a large point of contention at the UAW since they enrich the rich – are dealing with a tectonic shift in attitudes. This AutoInformed notes is part of a growing hostility toward the widely unequal distribution of income in the US. Consider for example, the just started Google antitrust trial. Big corporations can and do hold down wages, tilt government policies their way, spread misinformation, promote insurrection, and monetize a person’s private information with impunity. For decades wages for most Americans have grown much more slowly – if at all – than corporate profits for the incomes of the extremely wealthy. Globalization works for a couple of percent of the people in the US.
Click for more.
“We’re not just going to stand by as corporate executives and the rich can continue to make extraordinary profits while the rest of us continue to get left further and further behind at the Big Three,” Fain said. Labor is only roughly 5% of the cost of a new vehicle.
There are large forces at work here, ones that might inhabit the universe of all working people everywhere. So the work of socially progressive Walter Reuther and other UAW founders continues – on the picket line. CEOs are not the center of their universe. The companies are “staring down a well-organized and pissed off workforce that’s ready to do what it takes to win a strong contract,” Fain said.
AutoInformed on