That’s it for our live coverage of the strike today. Stay tuned for more news and stories from my colleagues.
Key events:
About 13,000 UAW workers from GM, Ford and Chrysler-parent company Stellantis went on strike after walking away from the contract bargaining table. The existing contract expired at midnight on Thursday.
General Motors CEO hit back at strikers for rejecting ‘most significant offer’ in 115 years saying she was “extremely frustrated and disappointed”.
President Joe Biden dispatched two aides, Gene Sperling and acting labor secretary Julie Su to Detroit to help move along negotiations and he urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. In remarks given from the White House, Biden said that “no one wants a strike” but he believed “record corporate profits ... should be shared by record contracts for the UAW”. “The companies have made some significant offers. But I believe that should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts,” he said.
The UAW’s Twitter account was briefly stripped of its blue verification check shortly after the the UAW strikes began, a UAW official told the Intercept. The Intercept reports that the UAW’s blue check was restored once again after its initial story of the removed verification began circulating online.
UAW workers got wide-ranging support from members of congress including Bernie Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Elizabeth Warren and Ohio senator Sherrod Brown. “It is totally reasonable for autoworkers to finally receive a fair share of the record breaking profits,” said Sanders.
Tensions from the strike escalated after GM announced it expected to idle a non-striking plant because it would soon run out of parts produced by a striking plant and give 2,000 workers temporary unemployment. Ford also said it would temporarily layoff 600 workers.
The UAW announced it would resume bargaining talks on Saturday, according to Reuters.
Updated
UAW plans to return to bargaining table on Saturday
The UAW said it plans to resume contract negotiations on Saturday after 12,700 workers walked out of three factories run and owned by GM, Ford, and Stellantis, the Chrysler parent company, according to Reuters.
The previous contract between the union and the automakers expired at midnight on Thursday. Speaking from the White House, President Biden urged both sides to return to the bargaining table. The automakers’ previous contract expired at 11:59pm ET on Thursday.
Updated
General Motors said it expects to temporarily pause operations at a non-striking plant in Kansas and put 2,000 non-striking workers on temporary unemployment because the plant is expected to run out of parts, according to the Washington Post.
GM said the workers will not get the full slate of unemployment benefits they would typically get because they are working on an expired contract. Ford also expects to temporarily lay off 600 workers.
“We have said repeatedly that nobody wins in a strike and that effects go well beyond our employees on the plant floor and negatively impact our customers, suppliers and the communities where we do business,” GM told the Washington Post in a statement.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires of the UAW rally in Detroit, Michigan, where union representatives and lawmakers including senator Bernie Sanders and governor Gretchen Whitmer took the stage:
Updated
Bernie Sanders at UAW rally: "We refuse to live in an oligarchy."
“It is totally reasonable for autoworkers to finally receive a fair share of the record breaking profits,” said Sanders.
“The time is long overdue to end the disastrous two-tier system. It means finally ending the use of temporary workers and very importantly, it means that every auto worker receives a decent pension so they can retire with dignity,” he continued, explaining the significance of the strikes.
“It means as we combat climate change, the existential threat of climate change, you’re trying to make sure that this planet is healthy and habitable for our kids. That when the auto industry builds new electric vehicles and battery plants, it means that the workers in those plants become part of the UAW and receive the same wages and benefits as union members.
Brothers and sisters, the CEOs of General Motors, Ford and Stellantis and their major stockholders on Wall Street have got to understand, they cannot have it all.
We refuse to live in an oligarchy. We refuse to accept a society in which so few have so much and so many have so little. Brothers and sisters, enough is enough!” he said.
Updated
“I read a lot in the media about how a strike is going to be bad for the economy. Well let me tell you something about the economy,” said Sanders.
“When you have auto workers who cannot afford to buy the cars, that is bad for the economy.
When you have auto workers who can’t afford to take out a mortgage to buy a modest home, that is bad for the economy.
When you have auto workers who can’t afford childcare or to save up to send their kids to college, that is bad for the economy.
When you have auto workers who can’t afford prescription drugs, can’t afford healthcare, that is bad for the economy,” he continued.
“We will not accept that over the last 20 years, the average wage for American auto workers has decreased by 30% after adjusting for inflation,” said Sanders.
“You’re wanting to know why you’re out on strike right now, that’s the reason,” he continued.
Sanders also addressed Ford CEO Jim Farley, saying:
Mr Farley, last year, you made nearly $21m in total compensation and my guess is that when you retire from your job, you’re going to have a great compensation … and all kinds of benefits.
Do you have any clue as to what it’s like to be a worker getting older, having worked your entire life and not having any money in the bank as you prepare for retirement?”
Updated
Sanders also addressed the CEO of Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, saying:
Do you know, Mr Tavares, what it is like to be classified as a temp and despite working year after year, you’ll remain a temp, receiving wages and benefits significantly lower than your brothers and sisters doing the same exact work?
Mr Tavares, do you have any clue what that is about?”
Updated
“Do you have any clue clue what it’s like for one of your workers to try and survive on $17 an hour, which is the average starting wage of an automobile worker?” Sanders said in his remarks, addressing General Motors CEO Mary Barra.
“Do you know, Miss Barra, what it’s like to try and raise a family, put food on the table and pay rent when you’re making $20 bucks an hour?” he continued.
Updated
“In the last 50 years, there has been a massive redistribution of wealth. The problem is it’s gone in the wrong direction,” said Sanders.
“Instead of going from the top down to the bottom, it’s going from the bottom up to the top … we’re going to reverse that trend,” he continued.
“If the ruling class of this country wants a redistribution of wealth, we’re going to give it to them,” he added.
Updated
Bernie Sanders at UAW rally: 'The average American worker today is worse off than he or she was 50 years ago'
“Despite record breaking corporate profits, despite corporate America spending hundreds of billions on dividends and stock buybacks, the average American worker today is worse off than he or she was 50 years ago,” said Sanders.
“Brothers and sisters, that is exactly what this strike is all about,” he added.
Updated
Bernie Sanders has taken the stage in Detroit where he is addressing UAW workers currently on strike against auto companies.
“The fight that you are waging here is not only about decent wages, decent benefits and decent working conditions in the automobile industry.
It is a fight to take on corporate greed and tell the people on top this country belongs to all of us, not just a few,” said Sanders.
Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer also made an appearance at the rally during which she addressed the crowd of UAW workers, telling them:
We all want the same thing … our chance at a good life, a fair shot. We all want to be able to make it in Michigan, for us and our families and we are all on team Michigan.
We will continue to fight to ensure that every worker is treated with dignity and respect and that Michigan continues to lead the world. I am here with you my brothers and sisters from the UAW. I love you. I respect you and I stand with you.”
Updated
Michigan’s secretary of state made an appearance at the rally and pledged her support to UAW workers at the rally, saying:
“We’re going to stand with you. We’re going to win. No matter how long it takes, no matter how long we need to stand together, we will lock arms and say, ‘Solidarity wins.’”
UAW members to hold rally at Ford site in Detroit, with Bernie Sanders set to appear
UAW members are set to host a rally at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center in Detroit at 5pm ET where Vermont senator and vocal union supporter Bernie Sanders is set to make an appearance.
We will have a live feed of the rally and will bring you the latest updates.
UAW members, supporters and media gather for the Stand Up Rally at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center in Detroit. If you're in the area, join us and wear red if possible!
— UAW (@UAW) September 15, 2023
Program starts at 5 PM ET#StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/1PtpaRjzhz
Updated
Republican senator JD Vance of Ohio has issued a letter to White House advisor Gene Sperling who president Joe Biden dispatched to Detroit as part of the White House’s liaising efforts in the negotiations.
Vance, who said in a separate press statement that he supports the UAW’s demands for higher wages, told Sperling that his involvement “deserves further scrutiny”.
Vance accused Sperling of seeking political gain by steering the strikes in traditionally Republican states, saying:
The UAW’s planned strikes have targeted just three plants, including two in the deeply Republican states of Ohio and Missouri. Only one strike affects Michigan, where the bulk of UAW members live and work. This pattern seems hardly coincidental.
A major, multi-plant strike in Michigan could be costly to one of the president’s closest gubernatorial allies. It might create economic reverberations across a state that Donald Trump won in 2016. Perhaps these are mere coincidences, but your involvement supplies a different explanation and raises questions about the work President Biden enlisted you to do.
It is unclear whether your purpose was to facilitate negotiations and avert a strike or to shield President Biden’s policies from scrutiny and protect his and Democrats’ political fortunes.”
He went on to accuse Sperling of exploiting the “UAW to protect your boss at the expense of American workers”.
Updated
Democrats throw their support behind striking auto workers
Other politicians that are voicing their support for UAW workers include Massachusetts’s senator Elizabeth Warren, representative Ayanna Pressley and New Jersey senator Cory Booker.
On Friday, Warren wrote:
“@Ford, @GM and @Stellantis have raked in record profits for years. I stand in solidarity with @UAW workers striking for wages and benefits that reflect the work they do.”
.@Ford, @GM and @Stellantis have raked in record profits for years. I stand in solidarity with @UAW workers striking for wages and benefits that reflect the work they do.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) September 15, 2023
Meanwhile, Pressley said:
“Organized power is realized power & our movement for workers’ justice is stronger than ever.”
Solidarity with our @UAW siblings as they strike for a fair & just contract.
— Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) September 15, 2023
Organized power is realized power & our movement for workers’ justice is stronger than ever. https://t.co/yW0W3EOLbh
Booker, who said that his grandfather used to work on an assembly line in Detroit, said that he is confident that UAW will achieve a deal with auto companies.
“My grandfather worked on an assembly line in Detroit, and fought for his fellow workers as a UAW union rep. He would be proud of the UAW members striking today. I stand with them & am confident they will achieve a deal that lifts up workers, their families, and their communities,” Booker wrote.
My grandfather worked on an assembly line in Detroit, and fought for his fellow workers as a UAW union rep. He would be proud of the UAW members striking today. I stand with them & am confident they will achieve a deal that lifts up workers, their families, and their communities.
— Cory Booker (@CoryBooker) September 15, 2023
Updated
UAW chief Shawn Fain hit back at Ford CEO’s claim that UAW’s demands would bankrupt the company.
Speaking to reporters, Fain called Ford CEO Jim Farley’s comments “a joke”, adding:
They could double our wages and they could not raise the price of vehicles and they would still make billions of dollars. It’s a lie like everything else that comes out of their mouth.”
“They could double our wages and they could not raise the price of vehicles and they would still make billions of dollars. It's a lie like everything else that comes out of their mouth.”
— The Recount (@therecount) September 15, 2023
— UAW chief Shawn Fain on Ford CEO's claim that UAW's demands would bankrupt the company pic.twitter.com/iLm6I0TppL
Updated
Rashida Tlaib, Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, backs striking workers
Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic representative of Michigan, has also thrown her support behind UAW auto workers, many of whom are striking in her state.
In a tweet on Friday, Tlaib wrote:
“Workers are asking to be valued. They shouldn’t have to beg BCBS MI. They are making billions and shouldn’t leave their workers struggling.”
Join Joshua (just 2 years old!) and the @UAW workers @BCBSM who are on strike to address the extreme outsourcing and pay inequity.
— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib) September 15, 2023
Workers are asking to be valued. They shouldn't have to beg BCBS MI. They are making billions and shouldn't leave their workers struggling. pic.twitter.com/8KWGTbwNnd
In an earlier message to Congress, Tlaib said, “They have record profits and that should result in record contracts” and urged for stronger contracts for auto workers.
Comrade congresswoman and Detroit DSA member @RashidaTlaib stands with autoworkers and the entire working class!#standupUAW https://t.co/AO6x2GvxEu
— Detroit DSA 🌹 (@detroitdsa) September 14, 2023
Updated
Here’s an essay that Senator Bernie Sanders wrote for the Guardian about why Americans should support the UAW, prior to Friday’s strike declaration.
… The UAW members will be fighting not only for themselves but against a corporate culture of arrogance, cruelty and selfishness causing massive and unnecessary pain for the majority of working families throughout the country. Their fight against corporate greed is our fight. Their victory will resonate all across the economy, impact millions of workers from coast to coast and help create a more just and equitable economy.
What are some of the issues that are pushing UAW members to strike? At the top of the list is the extraordinary level of corporate greed shown by industry leaders.
In the first half of 2023 the big three automakers made a combined $21bn in profits – up 80% from the same time period last year. Over the past decade, these same companies made some $250bn in profits in North America alone.
Yet last year, the big three spent $9bn – not to improve the lives of their workers, not to make their factories safer, but on stock buybacks and dividends to make their wealthy executives and stockholders even richer.
Read the full essay here.
Updated
Ohio Democratic senator Sherrod Brown joins strikers in Toledo
Ohio’s Democratic senator Sherrod Brown showed up at the auto strikes outside the Toledo Jeep plant on Friday in a show of solidarity with the striking workers.
“The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay in this plant is 365 to 1, and they’re telling workers to keep making these concessions?” Brown told reporters.
"The ratio of CEO pay to average worker pay in this plant is 365 to 1, and they're telling workers to keep making these concessions?"— @SenSherrodBrown #StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/FI3WE1xv0o
— UAW (@UAW) September 15, 2023
“I don’t care what they’re paid, as long as workers here are paid well. ” Brown said, referring to the auto companies’ CEOs.
“CEOs make that kind of money, 20 or 30 million a year, but you know, they’re making that kind of money and not only won’t settle – I know negotiations are tough – but they won’t even offer a serious legitimate proposal for a contract to this union,” he added.
Updated
Bernie Sanders says workers' 'fight for a just economy is our fight'
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders has voiced his support for the striking auto workers across the country.
“I stand with courageous @UAW workers as they go out on strike. Their fight for a just economy is our fight. Solidarity forever,” Sanders tweeted on Friday.
I stand with courageous @UAW workers as they go out on strike. Their fight for a just economy is our fight. Solidarity forever. pic.twitter.com/K5bjOrgIph
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 15, 2023
“I really applaud the courage of Shawn Fain and the workers of at the UAW for standing up and saying, ‘You know what? Enough is enough.’ We need an economy that works for everybody. Not just the people on top,” Sanders added.
Sanders is set to appear at a rally alongside UAW president Shawn Fain at the UAW-Ford National Programs Center in Detroit this afternoon.
Updated
Ford CEO stops briefly to meet with picketers outside Michigan plant
Ford CEO Jim Farley briefly stopped by to meet with picketers outside the Wayne, Michigan plant.
Several workers near retirement weren’t particularly impressed by the gesture. He makes $29m a year, they noted, while hourly workers are “fighting to get money to survive after we leave here”.
“How many years do we even have left to live after we retire? 10 years?” asked worker Stu Jackson, who highlighted the toll factory work exacts on workers’ bodies and health.
The UAW gave up major concessions during the 2009 recession, but executives like Farley have yet to repay the union now that the industry is once again booming, said Terrance Pope.
“They forgot about us and it is time for them to give back,” Pope added.
Until that happens, Farley’s presence is meaningless and perhaps insulting, they said.
“Did you see Farley in his tailored European suit? Wasn’t he sharp?” Jackson asked. “He looks like the $29m dollar man. Those nice shoes.”
“And look at us,” Jackson added indignantly, motioning to the small group dressed in jeans, t-shirts and sweatpants. “This isn’t fair.”
Updated
The responses among picketers to Joe Biden’s comments on the strike and plans to travel to Detroit to help negotiate a deal varied.
“He’s on our side because he needs the UAW support when the election comes – that’s why he’s on our side,” said Stu Jackson, who is nearing retirement. “And he says he’s a union man, so we’re going to give him a chance.”
“We don’t need him to come and tell us what’s good for us because we already know what we need, but he probably needs to talk with the CEOs and get them to cooperate and give us what we’re entitled to,” Jackson added.
“Biden already gave them a bunch of money for those battery plants, so now he’s got to take care of us and go to bat for us,” added Reggie Kirkland, who said he is striking to protect his retirement.
Yvette Lenardo, who joined the picket even though she works at a nearby plant, said she was unsure whether the president has the UAW’s back. “He is supposed to be with us, but is he?” she asked, adding that she needs to hear more about his position on the strike.
Another worker simply guffawed when asked if the president supported the union. “That’s all I have to say,” he said as he composed himself.
Updated
Here are some images coming through the newswires on the auto strikes in Michigan:
Here is Tom Perkins’ report from outside Ford’s plant in Wayne, Michigan where striking workers are voicing their concerns:
Mike Duneske is a 29-year plant veteran who says he is picketing outside the sprawling plant, which employs 2,800 hourly workers, for the “younger generation that isn’t earning enough money to make it”.
When he started in 1994, his wage was $12.56 an hour, equal to nearly $26 an hour when adjusted for inflation in 2023.
Workers start at about $16 an hour at Michigan Assembly, and that’s generating a huge amount of turnover.
“It’s a turnstile in there, they can’t keep anyone working in the plant,” Duneske added.
When asked why the UAW was forced to strike, Duneske responded, “Two words: corporate greed.”
Updated
UAW's Twitter verification stripped amid strikes
The UAW’s Twitter account was stripped of its blue verification check shortly after the the UAW strikes began, a UAW official told the Intercept.
According to the official, the UAW’s verified account, which the union paid for, was verified until Friday morning when the blue verification check was no longer there.
A screenshot of the UAW’s Twitter account showed the missing blue icon next to UAW’s Twitter handle.
Elon put the blue check back up. Maybe the Big Three will fold this fast too. pic.twitter.com/tnHY6Zzomd
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) September 15, 2023
The Intercept reports that the UAW’s blue check was restored once again after its initial story of the removed verification began circulating online.
As of Friday afternoon, the verification icon can be seen alongside the union’s handle.
“Class solidarity among the nation’s elite has long been a feature of the American political economy, and the move by Musk, the richest man on the planet, is in line with that sense of allegiance, even as he promotes himself as a populist friend of the working man,” the Intercept reports.
“Musk is also the owner of a non-union automaker, Tesla. Wage increases won by union workers often trickle down, so to speak, to non-union workers, requiring even bosses like Musk to pay workers more from his share of profits. That gives Musk a direct financial incentive to help break the strike, even beyond whatever ideological affinity he may have with the capitalist class,” it added.
Musk, a vocal opponent of unions, previously dared the UAW to try and unionize Tesla workers.
Last March, the billionaire CEO tweeted, “I’d like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.”
Our real challenge is Bay Area has negative unemployment, so if we don’t treat and compensate our (awesome) people well, they have many other offers and will just leave!
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 3, 2022
I’d like hereby to invite UAW to hold a union vote at their convenience. Tesla will do nothing to stop them.
Biden: Companies should go 'further' in strike negotiations
In brief remarks on Wednesday, Joe Biden said that auto companies should “go further” in their negotiations with striking workers.
“The companies have made some significant offers. But I believe that should go further to ensure record corporate profits mean record contracts,” he said.
“Record corporate profits, which they have, should be shared by record contracts for the UAW,” Biden reiterated.
“Just as we’re building an economy of the future, we need labor agreements for future,” he continued.
Biden, who has previously declared himself as the “most pro-union president,” said during his remarks that “strong unions are critical to growing the economy and growing from the middle out, bottom up, not the top down.”
“I believe that transition should be fair and a win-win for auto workers and auto companies. But I also believe contract agreements must lead to a vibrant…America…that promotes good strong middle class jobs,” he said.
Biden also announced that he is dispatching deputy labor secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling to Detroit as part of the White House’s effort to continue its “active engagement” in the negotiations.
Updated
Biden said that in efforts to continue the White House’s “active engagement,” he is dispatching two members of his team to Detroit which include deputy labor secretary Julie Su and White House senior advisor Gene Sperling.
Biden said that both Su and Sperling “offer their full support for the parties in reaching a contract.”
“The bottom line is that autoworkers help create America’s middle class. They deserve a contract that sustains them in the middle class,” he said.
Biden: 'Record corporate profits ... should be shared by record contracts for the UAW'
Biden appeared to support the strikers in strong comments made during his White House address:
The president said: “Record corporate profits ... should be shared by record contracts for the UAW.”
He also expressed regret that the strike had not been averted but urged both parties to return to the negotiating table:
“No one wants a strike but I respect workers’ rights to use their options under the collective bargaining system and understand their frustrations,” said Biden.
“I do appreciate that the parties have been working around the clock … It is my hope that the parties can return to the negotiating table to forge a win-win agreement,” he added.
Updated
Joe Biden has started speaking.
We will bring you the latest updates.
Updated
As we wait for Joe Biden to deliver remarks on the UAW strikes, here is what industry experts and lawmakers are saying about the strikes, Reuters reports:
Arthur Wheaton, director of labor studies at the Cornell School of Industrial and Labor Relations says:
“It’s not a devastating hit to the communities. It’s not a devastating hit for the strike fund. It’s not a devastating hit on the balance sheet for any of the automakers but it starts to raise the stakes, which was the intent.
“I think they are making progress at the table ... the initial (automaker) offers were much lower, like 9% (wage) increases and now you’re up to 20% for increases. So that’s more than double. You’re seeing the UAW come down. You’re no longer hearing anything about the 32-hour work week from the UAW,” he added.
Sam Fiorani, a production forecaster at Auto Forecast Solutions says:
“This is more of a symbolic strike than an actual damaging one ... If the negotiations don’t go in a direction that [UAW President Shawn] Fain thinks is positive, we can fully expect a larger strike coming in a week or two.”
Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush believes a potentially prolonged strike may be good news for electronic vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
“If the strike lasts longer than three to four weeks, it will be moderately detrimental to GM and Ford’s EV strategy in 2024 ... While the Detroit stalwarts battle with the UAW, there’s a bottle of champagne that’s being iced at Tesla headquarters,” he says.
Meanwhile, Elissa Slotkin, a Democratic representative from Michigan voiced her support towards the strikes, saying:
“I’m looking forward to joining our auto workers on the picket line this weekend. For the sake of Michigan’s economy and our working families, I hope this strike is short-lived ... I hope the UAW and the Big Three continue to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement as quickly as possible.”
Updated
While we wait for Biden’s remarks on the UAW strike, here’s more on picketing happening at one auto plant from Tom Perkins for the Guardian, reporting from Wayne, Michigan.
Under blue skies in Wayne, Michigan, a half hour outside Detroit, the mood is festive but defiant as hundreds of autoworkers picket at the entrances to the Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant, which produces the Ranger and Bronco.
A chorus of horns blares in support from Michigan Avenue, a busy highway running through the nation’s automotive heartland. Strikers here turned away semi-truck after semi-truck trying to deliver parts.
“Hell no you’re not coming in here, keep it moving,” a worker yelled.
The strikers’ message: they’re no longer accepting the automakers’ “corporate greed”. They point to the companies’ record profits in recent years and massive stock buyback programs that are enacted as workers struggle to make ends meet.
Domonique Hicks, a young mother of three who lives in Detroit, said the $16.67 an hour wage is not feeding her children.
“We’re here to take back what Ford took from us,” Hicks said. “They didn’t want to bargain with us so we’re making a statement – if you can make millions and billions, then we deserve something. We build those cars.”
The strike will go on for as long as Ford “wants to keep their checkbook in their pocket,” she added.
Updated
Biden to begin speaking shortly on auto worker strike
Biden will soon give remarks about the UAW strike, Reuters reports.
Biden will make his remarks on the strike from the White House’s Roosevelt room, which were originally scheduled for 11.30 am ET.
A live stream of the speech will be available on this blog.
Stay tuned for coming updates.
Updated
Biden aides will travel to Detroit to help with UAW contract negotiations, WSJ reports
Biden is expected to send aide Gene Sperling and acting labor secretary Julie Su to Detroit given the auto strike, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Sperling and Su are expected to help aid in negotiations between UAW workers and auto manufacturers, as workers began a historic strike on Friday at midnight, WSJ reported citing two people familiar with the plan.
Per the WSJ:
Sperling and Su, who have been in daily touch with the UAW and auto companies in recent weeks, won’t be directly involved in the negotiations or playing the role of a mediator, the people said.
The trip comes as Biden is expected to give remarks on Friday about the strike from the White House, Reuters reports.
Updated
The United Auto Workers have aligned their wage increase demands of 40% to the similar salary increases the CEOs at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis have seen in recent years.
CEO pay at the big three increased 40% from 2013 to 2022, while US auto worker hourly wages have fallen 19.3% since 2008 with inflation taken into account.
According to data compiled by the non profit foundation As You Sow, General Motors’ CEO to median worker pay ratio is 362 to 1 and Ford’s is 281 to 1. CEO pay at the big three automakers in the US is substantially higher compared to CEO pay of foreign automakers, including ones with much higher revenues.
Volkswagen reported 2022 revenue at $295.7bn and paid their CEO $9.1m, Toyota reported a revenue of $256.6bn with their CEO pay at $5m, Daimler (Mercedes Benz) reported 2022 revenue at $158.3bn with CEO pay at $3.17m, and Honda reported a revenue of $124.2bn with CEO pay at $1.48m.
In comparison, Ford’s revenue in 2022 was $136.3bn, with CEO pay at $22.8m and General Motors’ revenue was $127bn with CEO pay at $29.1m. Stellantis reported a 2022 revenue of $191.4bn in 2022 with CEO pay at $24.8m.
“UAW members see the CEO pay disparity as a measurement of how they are undervalued. Skyrocketing CEO pay is linked to worker dissatisfaction and lower profits, making excessive pay a distinct material risk that shareholders must take seriously,” said Rosanna Landis Weaver, director of wage justice and executive compensation at As You Sow, in a press release.
Updated
General Motors CEO hits back at strikers for rejecting 'most significant offer' in 115 years
The CEO of General Motors, Mary Barra, has come out with fighting words over the start of the auto workers’ strike, saying she is “extremely frustrated and disappointed” that industrial action has begun and warning that the walkout would harm employees, their families and the economy.
Speaking to CNBC, Barra, who has headed GM since 2014, called the concessions being offered by the Detroit three carmakers targetted by the strike “generous” and “historic”. They amounted to over 20% wage increases, she said, on top of job security and “world-class health care” which combined was “the most significant offer we’ve had in our 115-year history”.
Se added: “We didn’t have to be here”.
Some 3,600 GM workers belonging to the United Auto Workers (UAW) union walked out of the carmaker’s Wentzville, Missouri plant at midnight on Thursday, part of the total of 12,700 who are out across three plants in the first stage of the strike. The Wentzville plant builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize trucks as well as cargo vans, which are among GM’s most popular models.
Sounding a gloomy note, Barra told CNBC that “this is not going to be positive from an industry perspective or for GM”. She said that she thought the strike could be resolved quickly, but warned that its impact could be felt immediately, with painful consequences.
“We need to get there fast because this is not good for our employees, for the communities and their families. For every GM job there are six other jobs in the economy that depend on us running, so we’ve got to get back to work.”
Updated
UAW have shared images and videos coming from Friday’s announcement of a strike at three major auto-plants.
Autoworkers chanted, “We are the union! Mighty, mighty union,” while holding UAW strike signs, as seen in a video shared by UAW on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"WE ARE THE UNION! MIGHTY MIGHTY UNION! ALL THE WORKERS UNION! ASS-KICKING UNION!" #StandUpUAW #SolidaritySeason #Local900 pic.twitter.com/eWUIjXYYRb
— UAW (@UAW) September 15, 2023
UAW member Eric Heggie shared video of workers leaving the Jeep Toledo Assembly Complex plant in Ohio as Friday’s strike began.
TOLEDO IS STANDING UP!!! #StandUpUAW pic.twitter.com/ZezD933Y1O
— Eric Heggie (@EricHeggie) September 15, 2023
UAW president Shawn Fain previously wrote about autoworkers deserving a wage increase as automakers receive record profits. Fain detailed how an increase in manufacturing electric vehicles should also include an increase in workers’ wages.
Read his essay for the Guardian, written with California congressman Ro Khanna.
…[Here] we are in the 11th hour of UAW-big three negotiations, and corporate greed stands as the barrier preventing movement and a fair and good contract for autoworkers. Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have made a quarter trillion dollars over the last 10 years. Those profits, and the very existence of the big three today, were only possible through the sacrifices made by UAW members when American taxpayers bailed out the industry. Those same workers were never made whole after being forced to accept lower wages and were stripped of cost-of-living adjustments and retiree pensions.
Over the last four years, each big three CEO received on average a 40% pay raise on top of their multimillion-dollar salaries. Autoworkers saw their pay increase by a mere 6% in that same period of time, falling behind in inflation like the rest of American workers.
Since 2003, the big three have closed 65 auto plants. Plant closures ruin lives, rip apart families and wreck entire communities. For too long, the auto companies have treated these plants and workers as disposable for their bottom line. If allowed, they will continue to leave entire towns and communities behind.
What’s also at stake in these contract negotiations is the very future of the auto industry itself – and workers’ place in it. The electric vehicle transition must be as much about workers’ rights as it is about fighting the climate crisis. We will not let the EV industry be built on the backs of workers making poverty wages while CEOs line their pockets with government subsidies. There is no good reason why EV manufacturing can’t be the gateway to the middle class. But the early signs of this industry are worrying. We will not let corporate greed manipulate the transition to a green economy into a roll back of economic justice.
Read the essay here.
Explained: Why is strike happening?
The latest UAW strike is the largest auto strike to happen in decades. But why is it happening now?
Here’s an explainer from the Guardian’s Michael Sainato.
…Why is it happening?
The union argues that autoworkers have never been fully compensated for the sacrifices they made after the 2008-09 financial crisis when they agreed to a raft of cuts to save the industry. The automakers received huge bailouts and soon returned to record profits.
Workers are pushing for at least a 40% wage increase over four years in a new contract, an end to two-tier wage systems in which new hires are paid significantly less for doing the same work, an increase to benefits for retirees and return of a defined pension instead of a 401k, reinstatement of cost of living adjustment raises, a 32-hour workweek, job security protections and protections for workers affected by plant closures.
The United Auto Workers (UAW) president, Shawn Fain, was elected to head the union as part of a reform campaign within its ranks, aimed particularly at taking a more aggressive approach toward bargaining with automakers after workers had taken concessions amid auto bankruptcies during the 2008 economic recession and have yet to regain those concessions and share in the quarter of a trillion dollars in profit the big three automakers have made in the last decade.
How did the strike begin?
In late August, the UAW, which represents the workers at the big three automakers in the US, announced membership voted about 97% in favor of the strike authorization. The union has never gone on strike at the big three automakers simultaneously…
Read the full article here.
Updated
13,000 auto workers on strike
Good morning.
About 13,000 members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) began striking on Friday at 12.00am ET after automakers failed to negotiate a new contract to meet worker demands.
The amount of workers on strike is only a fraction of the 150,000 total members of the UAW, but UAW officials say the strike could expand if negotiation talks continue to fail.
The strike is the first one in the 88-year history of the UAW, after negotiations around wage increases, pension, and other union demands broke down.
“If we need to go all out, we will,” UAW president Shawn Fain said, adding that company-wide strikes are not off the table if new contracts cannot be negotiated, CBS News reported.
Here’s more on the historic picket:
General Motors CEO Mary Barra told CNBC on Friday that she was “extremely frustrated and disappointed” by the walkout, adding that the company was ready to keep negotiations open.
The automakers on strike come from three major Midwest-based plants owned by General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler.
Joe Biden will speak on the strike later today. Biden spoke with Fain and autoworkers before the strike deadline, Bloomberg reported.
Stay tuned for more updates.
Updated
