Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) are preparing to strike to ensure their new proposals for contract renewals are accepted.
If they are not confirmed by Sept. 14, when the contracts expire, union organizers are ready to fight for over 150,000 employees to receive better working conditions.
Car companies, such as the Big Three of Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis (formerly Chrysler), were given the “Members’ Demands,” which UAW President Shawn Fain referred to as the “most audacious and ambitious list” in years. Fain was elected in March to the position, as part of the Unite All Workers for Democracy movement that ended the one-party rule, dominant for generations at the UAW.
In a Facebook Live session in August, Fain said the bargaining was grounded in facts, namely the companies’ rising profits, well in the billions.
“Record profits mean record contracts,” Fain emphasized to members. “Bargaining’s not a one-person show. Those days are gone, and gone with those days is the false belief that union contracts are solely won by the president.”
In a similar vein as the writers’ and SAG-AFTRA strike, a primary concern for workers is to affirm that technological advancement will not jeopardize their job security and quality. For autoworkers specifically, it is the rise of electric vehicle manufacturing. As EVs become a new normal, those creating the cars want to verify that their assembly won’t diminish working standards as they live up to environmental ones.
Other demands include restoring cost-of-living adjustments, eliminating tiers on wages and benefits, and making all current temps permanent employees.
In a new plan of attack, Fain is letting the Big Three feel the looming threat that any of their workers could be under strike in the upcoming weeks.
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