Midnight deadline for automaker union strike looms as talks with workers have a distance to go

(As originally published with videos and additional photos, Thu, September 14th 2023, 8:47 PM EDT)

DETROIT (TND) — There are just hours to go but quite a distance between proposals to avoid a strike by members of the United Auto Workers union against Detroit’s three automakers.

The deadline for 146,000 workers is a minute before midnight, Thursday night, and talks have been going on through the day without a resolution.

The UAW is demanding a 36% boost in pay over four years and while the companies raised their offers, they’re still much less that what the union seeks.

Union President Shawn Fain has said the automakers rejected some other demands.

“We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifices and contributions our members have made to these companies,” he said. “To win we’re likely going to have to take action. We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.“

The automakers contend they made fair proposals, but a labor agreement that’s too expensive would force them to raise prices above their non-union foreign competitors.

The manufacturers also talk about making huge investments to develop and build electric vehicles while still building internal combustion vehicles.

Fain, the UAW president, has a strike plan.

He said the union will start by striking at a limited number of plants, with the final decision on locations to come at 10 p.m. ET. The aim of the targeted strikes would be to give the union leverage in talks and keep the auto companies guessing about its next move.

“If the companies continue to bargain inbargain bad faith or continue to stall or continue to give us insulting offers, then our strike is going to continue to grow,” Fain said.

If there’s no deal by midnight, then union officials will join workers on picket lines on Friday, rather than bargain.

The UAW started negotiations by demanding 40% raises over a four-year contract but lowered the amount to around 36%. As of Thursday afternoon, Ford and General Motors agreed to a 20% hike, with GM offering 10% in the first year. Fain said the union is evaluating the GM offer and will respond.

The last known offer by Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, was 17.5%, but the company has made another offer since then.

Besides pay increases, the union wants cost-of-living raises restored, along with traditionally defined-benefit pensions for new hires, rather than just 401(k)-style retirement plans.

Other items include doing away with tiered wages for people doing the same jobs, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, and pension increases for retirees. Fain said retirees haven’t gotten a raise in more than a decade.

The union demands are said to restore concessions the workers made years ago, when the companies were in financial trouble.

”We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifices and contributions our members have made to these companies,” Fain said. “To win we’re likely going to have to take action. We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.”

Failing talks by the deadline could lead to the first simultaneous strike against the automakers in the UAW’s 88-year history. The union has an $825 million strike fund.

Americans should look for the prices of cars to rise if a strike occurs, even though the automakers have been running their factories around the clock to get supplies from factories to dealers.

At the end of August, the three had enough vehicles to last for 70 days. After that time, they’d run short and buyers who need vehicles would go to nonunion competitors. That demand would cause those competitors to charge more.

The auto industry accounts for about 3% of the nation’s gross domestic product, and the economy is already under strain from elevated inflation.

Unlike with rail and airline workers, President Joe Biden doesn’t have the authority to order autoworkers to stay on the job.

So far this year, there have been 247 strikes involving 341,000 workers. That’s the most in two years — according to Cornell University, which has counted since it began tracking strikes in 2021 — though the numbers are still well below what they were during the 1970s and 1980s.

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.