A 46% pay raise. A 32-hour workweek with 40 hours of pay. A restoration of traditional pensions. The demands that a more combative United Auto Workers union has pressed on General.
A 46% pay raise. A 32-hour workweek with 40 hours of pay. A restoration of traditional pensions. The demands that a more combative United Auto Workers union has pressed on General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford—demands that even the UAW’s own president calls «audacious»— are edging it closer to a strike when its contract ends Sept. 14, per the AP. The automakers, which are making billions in profits, have dismissed the UAW’s wish list. They argue that its demands are unrealistic at a time of fierce competition from Tesla and lower-wage foreign automakers as the world shifts from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles. The wide gulf between the sides could mean a strike against one or more of the automakers, which could send already-inflated vehicle prices even higher.
A potential strike by 146,000 UAW members comes against the backdrop of increasingly emboldened US unions of all kinds. The number of strikes and threatened strikes is growing, involving Hollywood actors and writers, sizable settlements with railroads, and major concessions by corporate giants like UPS.
