The UAW strike has now gone on longer than at GM in 2019 — and there's still not an end in sight
AP
- UAW-GM workers were fighting plant closures in 2019.
- Four years ago, about 46,000 GM workers went on strike for 40 days.
- The last auto-worker strike targeted GM, not all three Detroit companies.
The United Auto Workers union's historic strike at the Detroit Three hit a new milestone this week: it has officially surpassed the 40-day strike at GM in 2019.
The United Auto Workers began strikes at all three Detroit car companies earlier in September after both sides failed to come to an agreement before the contracts expired. It's the UAW's second strike in as many contract talks, but the circumstances are particularly unique this go-around.
UAW President Shawn Fain has led his members on what the union is calling a "Stand Up Strike," where work stoppages are dolled out incrementally and in response to progress (or lack thereof) at the bargaining table.
The issues on the table this time around are also much different. The UAW is currently asking for significant wage increases and a reversal of concessions like cost-of-living adjustments workers made during the Great Recession.
These demands have been met with strong opposition from executives at Ford, GM, and Stellantis, who say that the union's asks coupled with the extended work stoppages are only benefitting competitors like Tesla.
But four years ago, when some 46,000 hourly workers at General Motors went on strike for more than a month, the union was largely fighting to keep plants open. GM at the time had idled two large assembly factories in Ohio and Michigan as well as other smaller plants, with plans to shutter these factories entirely.
The Lordstown, Ohio factory did eventually close, but a previously idled plant in Detroit was converted into an EV facility.
What the UAW looked like four years ago
Things looked much different for the auto union in 2019.
At the time, UAW leadership was embroiled in a yearslong federal criminal probe, eroding trust with the rank-and-file membership. At the same time, an age-old issue for UAW workers – plant closures – provided the union with the opportunity to rally enthusiasm and forge more unity among members.
Typically, the UAW chooses what is referred to as a "lead company" or a "strike target" to set a pattern for bargaining at the other two companies (that's different with Fain, who has said the Big Three are the target). The union chose GM in 2019 because of the plant closure issue and the need to negotiate the future of those factories and their workers.
Officially, the UAW went on strike in 2019 over pay, job security, and better benefits. But one of the main sticking points at the table was GM's decision to close four US factories, including a large assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio.
The sides eventually agreed to a deal that saw GM investing billions of dollars in a battery joint venture in Lordstown, which unionized with the UAW in late 2022. In return, GM was allowed to shutter three other factories.
Reverberations in the industry
During the bitter, 40-day strike, the longest nationwide strike at GM since the 1970s, GM was forced to shutter several non-union plants as supplies from union-represented shops stopped coming through. In the end, GM said the 2019 UAW strike cost the company some $3 billion.
GM's suppliers were also hard-hit when orders all but dried up during the extended work stoppage. Several suppliers were also forced to idle their own plants and issue temporary layoffs without business from GM.
These work stoppages hit customers first, zapping supply for dealer repair shops and creating long waitlists for normally simple repairs.
The hit for customers didn't happen overnight, though. Even in the depths of the strike, dealers reported healthy inventory levels for the time of year. It wasn't until those stockpiles started dwindling at the end of 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit US shores, that GM dealers started to run out of cars.
What a resolution looked like
At the end of the 40-day GM strike in 2019, GM workers won considerable gains, including better wages, a clear path to full-time employment for temporary workers, and a hefty one-time signing bonus of $11,000 to partially make up for lost wages during the work stoppage.
A tentative agreement was reached on day 31 of the strike, typically signaling the end of a work stoppage. But union leaders at the time chose to continue striking even after reaching a tentative agreement with GM, deciding instead to wait until its members voted to approve the deal.
The reason for this at the time was that the agreement to allow GM to close Lordstown and other factories left many members still feeling nervous about the future. About 57% of GM workers eventually voted in favor of the agreement its leadership reached with the company.
from Business Insider https://ift.tt/RykC0nL
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