Auto workers have voted overwhelmingly to give union leaders the power to call strikes against the “Big Three” Detroit auto companies if a contract agreement is not reached.
The United Auto Workers union said Friday that 97 percent of its members voted to approve one or more strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the makers of Dodge, Chrysler and Jeep vehicles.
The contracts between the union representing nearly 150,000 workers and the three automakers expire on September 14 at 11:59 p.m. A ten-day strike at all three companies would cost the US economy an estimated $5.6 billion.
“We’re tired of watching the Big Three’s profits break the bank, while we break our backs,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a fiery Facebook Live video announcing the vote count.
Fain said earlier this week that negotiations with the companies are not progressing fast enough. Analysts put the probability of a strike at more than 50 percent, but Fain has said a strike is not inevitable.
UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday that 97 percent of members voted in favor of approving one or more strikes against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
Members of United Auto Workers march holding signs at a union rally to be held near a Stellantis plant in Detroit on Wednesday
Contract talks with the Detroit Three began in July, but Fain has consistently said the companies are not negotiating in earnest.
While a strike permit is a common negotiating tool in the US auto and other industries, the tension over this year’s contract talks in Detroit is new.
The vote does not guarantee that a strike will be called, but it does guarantee that the union has the right to call a strike if the companies refuse to come to a fair deal, the UAW said.
“Our members’ expectations are high because the Big Three’s profits are so high,” Fain said.
Fain told members on Facebook Live on Friday that the union still has not selected a target company for a strike and could walk away from all three.
“Things can always change during the negotiations if something miraculous happens to one of the companies, it can change,” he said. ‘We want all three contracts by September 14.’
Fain has outlined an ambitious set of goals, including ending the tiered pay system that pays new hires less than veterans, reintroducing cost-of-living adjustments, and restoring defined benefit plans that the automakers ended for new hires years ago.
GM, Ford and Stellantis have said they want to reach a deal that is fair to workers but also gives companies flexibility as the industry shifts to electric models that have fewer parts and require less labor.
A file photo shows EV Hummers at a General Motors plant in Detroit. The negotiations come as the industry shifts to electric models that have fewer parts and require less labor
Stellantis, which has drawn much anger from Fain in recent weeks, said on Friday that negotiations “remain constructive and collaborative.”
The company said it wants an agreement that balances employee concerns and positions Stellantis to “face the challenges of the U.S. market and secure the future for all of our employees, their families and our business.”
Ford said it is working with the UAW on “creative solutions at a time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever.”
The union is aiming for a 40 percent wage increase, reinstatement of pensions for new employees, abolition of wage scales and other issues. Fain has often told workers that they must be prepared to strike in order to gain profits from the profitable automakers.
The union also wants to represent the joint venture electric vehicle battery plants being built by the companies, and is pushing for high union wages at those plants.
Jason Hale, an assembly line superintendent at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, said he voted for a strike.
He hopes the union will be able to secure overall wage increases and reinstate cost-of-living wage increases and pensions for all workers. The cost of living matters most, he said.
“They just make too much money and don’t give us enough,” he told the AP.
He thinks the union should strike all three companies at the same time. “That would show solidarity and we are here to mean business,” he said.