The walkout by thousands of factory workers presents economic and political risks for the Big Three automakers, Midwestern states and President Biden.
Autoworkers put down their tools
Thousands of autoworkers walked off the job on Friday morning at three Midwest plants in an unprecedented strike, as the United Automobile Workers and Detroit’s three big carmakers remained miles apart on contract talks.
The move could be the most costly yet in a “summer of strikes.” Thousands of workers in many sectors have joined picket lines to demand higher wages, job security and clarity on how employers will deal with disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence. For President Biden, who is trying to revive his poll numbers by talking up his handling of the economy to help the working class, the strike presents a political challenge heading into the election next year.
The carmakers are already feeling some pain. Ford and General Motors were down in premarket trading. Shares in Stellantis, which makes Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, and Ram vehicles, fell at the open in Amsterdam, only to recover their losses.
A lengthy strike could dent the Big Three’s profits, analysts say, at a time when the companies are investing heavily in electric vehicles to catch up to Tesla and Chinese rivals. Mary Barra, G.M.’s chief, warned that meeting all or most of the union’s demands could hobble the company’s prospects. “Make no mistake: If we don’t continue to invest, we will lose ground, and it will happen fast,” she said. “Nobody wins in a strike.”
The unions are using new tactics. As The Times’s Neal Boudette reports, this is the first time the U.A.W. has called a strike at all three big carmakers simultaneously. (Typically it’s just one, as in 2019 against G.M.). Union leaders are also focusing on factories that make the most profitable models, including the Ford Bronco and the Chevrolet Colorado pickups.
They’ve also warned that they could expand the strike at any moment. “It’s going to keep them guessing on what might happen next,” Shawn Fain, the U.A.W.’s president, said. “And it’s going to turbocharge the power of our negotiators.”
The union’s demands include:
A 40 percent pay raise over four years, which would bring wages for many full-time workers to roughly $32 per hour.
Reinstate cost-of-living adjustments, which have become a central plank in contract negotiations amid high inflation.
A four-day workweek, a demand that’s grown in popularity since the pandemic scrambled workplace culture.
The political costs loom large. A 10-day strike could send Michigan into recession, according to a recent economic analysis. If the work stoppage were to last six weeks — the 2019 strike at G.M. lasted 40 — it could push the U.S. economy “close to the edge of a recession,” Mark Zandi, an economist for Moody’s, told The Times.
The strike is a big test for Biden. He often speaks of his pro-union roots, but doesn’t have a deep relationship with Fain, a relative newcomer in D.C. circles.
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