Workers are on strike at all 3 Detroit auto makers for the first time in their union's history
Workers are on strike at all 3 Detroit auto makers for the first time in their union's history
About 13,000 U.S. auto workers have stopped making vehicles and headed for the picket lines. Their leaders have been unable to bridge a giant gap between union demands in contract talks and what Detroit’s three automakers are willing to pay.
Those "20%" raises are spread over 4 years which averages to ~5%/year, barely keeping ahead of inflation. The media throwing that out without quantifying it is a blatant attempt by the corporate press to breed animosity towards the unions and paint them as greedy.
And to help keep GM from going bankrupt they took concessions a decade ago or whatever that they never got back. Now they want back what they had and some more to account for the ridiculous inflation and corporate greed we've seen since then across all of corporate America. I don't see why that's so unreasonable.
GM did go bankrupt. The concessions they took were also significantly lesser than what it could have been without the Obama administration structuring a more union friendly bankruptcy.
Just wait until "the strike is hurting the holy economy" narrative gets going.
Just wait until “the strike is hurting the holy economy” narrative gets going.
Surprised it already hasn’t tbh.
FTA:
If the strikes drag on, shortages could push vehicle prices higher and strain an economy already bruised by inflation.
Cue the “but I was thinking about maybe potentially kind of buying a new car next year, and this will either make it more expensive or force me to wait” BS
Note: I’m not referring to underprivileged folks whose current vehicle craps out/is stolen and they’re in desperate need of a new method of transportation. I’m talking about folks who are either in no danger of losing their only vehicle &/or can easily obtain a new one and are whining about nothing more than minor inconvenience.
And let’s not forget how embarrassing the state of public transportation is in the US. We basically pretend it doesn’t exist and is impossible to achieve, thus forcing those who live here to have access to some sort of private automobile.
Fuck
I used to work at Electronic Arts for 13 years. Doesn't sound very different. Large public corporations will do anything to make profit, including layoffs.
“The automakers, however, say they’re facing unprecedented demands on capital as they develop and build new electric vehicles while at the same time making gas-powered cars, SUVs and trucks to pay the bills.“
GM's full-year 2022 revenue was $156.7 billion.
Keep clutching your pearls, automakers. You disingenuous fucks.
and the government keeps giving them plenty of handouts to make the transition “easier”. fucking insane.
Oligarchies are expected to lie, cheat, and steal. That's what makes them an oligarchy.
General Motors Co. booked $9.9 billion in net income last year, down from 2021's $10 billion despite chronic supply chain woes, rising interest rates and a slowing economy.
GM's comparatively strong financial performance enabled the Detroit automaker to deliver profit-sharing bonuses of $12,750 to approximately 42,300 hourly employees (total number of employees in 2022 was 167,000) - GM's highest such profit-sharing payout. The bonuses total $500 million for the year, the company said.
https://investor.gm.com/news-releases/news-release-details/gm-reports-third-quarter-2022-results
How well do you sleep well at night after shilling for large corporations online?
“GM's full-year 2022 revenue was $156.7 billion, net income attributable to stockholders was $9.9 billion and EBIT-adjusted was a record $14.5 billion. Results were at the high-end of the company's revised EBIT-adjusted guidance range.”
We have so much capital demand that we did almost 3 billion in stock buybacks the last two years... yeah that makes sense. They just bought back shares 3 months ago.
Revenue is not profit
My B. 14.5 billion in profits. Clearly they are saints, with the welfare of the common man foremost in their thoughts.
Remember everyone: Unions and strikes are cool, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.
Starting in 2007, workers gave up cost-of-living raises and defined benefit pensions for new hires. Wage tiers were created as the UAW tried to help the companies avoid financial trouble ahead of and during the Great Recession. Even so, only Ford avoided government-funded bankruptcy protection.
Many say it’s time to get the concessions back because the companies are making huge profits and CEOs are raking in millions.
That’s the problem with agreements like this - workers concede because it’s an emergency type of situation, but when things get back to normal it’s never revisited. As a result, the workers have suffered the repercussions of their “emergency time concessions” for 16 years while the companies reap the benefits of their employees’ sacrifice.
This has to be successful…I feel like it will set a precedent going forward regardless of the outcome. Let’s hope it’s positive. Solidarity!
The stock buybacks specifically are disgusting, they should be getting those stocks...
The automakers made around 5 BILLION USD in stock buybacks this last year alone.
i can here it now, more cries of "nobody wants to work anymore"
Fuck then up. Workers need to put the hurt on their useless CEOs.
The limited strikes will help to preserve the union’s $825 million strike fund, which would run dry in about 11 weeks if all workers walked out. But Fain said more plants could be added if the companies don’t make better offers.
Even Fain has called the union’s demands audacious, but he maintains the automakers are raking in billions and can afford them. He scoffed at company statements that costly settlements would force them to raise vehicle prices, saying labor accounts for only 4% to 5% of vehicle costs.
Smart idea: ask for a lot and strike immediately. Don't wait and strike all at once. Pull more workers off the job if they refuse to negotiate, but start out slow.
That allows time for the board to ask management wtf is going on, because they are slowly losing money.
It also a great move for getting support from the general population. It makes it hard to villanize the Union when they are being reasonable.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The strike will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry at a time when U.S. labor is flexing its might and the companies face a historic transition from building internal combustion automobiles to making electric vehicles.
Instead, the UAW targeted a handful of factories to prod company negotiators to raise their offers, which were far lower than union demands of 36% wage increases over four years.
Starting in 2007, workers gave up cost-of-living raises, defined benefit pensions for new hires, and wage tiers were created as the UAW tried to help the companies avoid financial trouble ahead of and during the Great Recession.
“We’re the ones for the last 20 years who have been kind of hoping things would change and we would get back some of the stuff that we lost with the bankruptcy,” said Tommy Wolikow, who delivers parts to an assembly line at GM’s pickup truck plant in Flint, Michigan.
The automakers, however, say they’re facing unprecedented demands on capital as they develop and build new electric vehicles while at the same time making gas-powered cars, SUVs and trucks to pay the bills.
GM CEO Mary Barra told workers in a letter Thursday that the company is offering historic wage increases and new vehicle commitments at U.S. factories.
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I don't know, but the US auto industry mostly assembles the final vehicle from my understanding. The parts are frequently made elsewhere and shipped in. They can say it's made in the US because the assembly is completed here.
Imported trucks need to be built in the US, but domestic trucks can be built outside the US.
BUT WE ARE LIKE A (abusive) FAMILY!
Won't automakers be moving their production lines aboard as result ? There are companies that moved production abroad to reduce costs or/and not have to care about working conditions. Just saying.
Thanks to the chicken tax, they'll have to keep some manufacturing in the USA. Maybe this will be what finally kills it.
They kinda already did, the big automakers fighting unions are arguably what caused Detroit's current situation. I wonder if they can outsource even more or if they're stuck for some reason.
It's not a case of being "stuck" per se. It's just not cost effective to move production on this kind of stuff overseas. Shipping goes by volume, and cars have an absolutely atrocious cost to volume ratio (think about how many dollars worth of iPhones you could stuff into the space occupied by a single car). It makes a lot more sense to build them where you plan to sell them (broadly speaking). That's why a lot of car manufacturing still happens in countries like the US, Canada, and the UK.