After securing record contracts with the Big Three Detroit automakers in October, the United Auto Workers union, keen to build upon its momentum, last month launched an organizing drive across 13 non-unionized automakers.
Union President Shawn Fain, speaking in a livestream Monday evening, elaborated on the union's plans, saying that Ford (F) -), General Motors (GM) -) and Stellantis (STLA) -) are having trouble competing with nonunion automakers that keep wages and benefits low.
The UAW, he said, is going to "help them with that problem, and raise the standard across the country, instead of lowering it."
Related: Tesla's Musk has harsh take on unions as the UAW takes bold new step
New UAW accords: wage increases, COLAs
The contracts Fain achieved after roughly 40 days of ever-expanding stand-up strikes feature a minimum of 25% pay increases, cost-of-living adjustments and better benefits, among other things.
The only way to ease that auto industry competition, which Fain said results in companies pitting workers against other workers to enhance profits, is by uniting "against corporate greed through a union contract."
"Not just for the Big Three, but for automakers everywhere," he said.
The union's plan to successfully unionize every nonunion automaker is based on what Fain called a 30-50-70 strategy.
When 30% of coworkers sign union cards, the UAW will very publicly go "loud and proud" about the unionization effort. When 50% of coworkers sign cards, Fain said, he will personally join each organizing effort for a rally.
When 70% of coworkers sign cards — and when the organizing committee has representatives from every "department, line and shift" — the UAW will demand the given automaker recognize the union.
"Just like our Stand Up Strike, no single company is the target," Fain said. "They’re ALL the target. And just like our Stand Up Strike, they won’t know what’s coming next."
UAW files charges with NLRB
The aggressive strategy came mere hours after the UAW filed charges of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board against Honda, Hyundai and Volkswagen for allegedly attempting to disrupt workers' efforts to organize.
Both Honda and Hyundai disputed the union's claims. Volkswagen said it would "investigate accordingly."
The union alleged that management at three plants — Honda in Greensburg, Ind.; Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tenn. and Hyundai in Montgomery, Ala. — were confiscating union materials and threatening workers who were attempting to organize.
“These companies are breaking the law in an attempt to get autoworkers to sit down and shut up instead of fighting for their fair share,” Fain said in a statement.
More than 1,000 workers at Volkswagen's Chattanooga plant had signed union cards as of Dec. 7.
Workers, according to the UAW, have said that the wage increases several nonunion automakers have been announcing recently are not enough to dissuade them from organizing.
Related: How the UAW auto union landed its record contracts: A timeline of events
Tesla's Musk vs UAW's Fain
Tesla (TSLA) -) is among the nonunion automakers that have not initiated wage increases in an attempt to ward off unionization efforts.
CEO Elon Musk is convinced that Tesla treats its workers well enough to dissuade them from unionizing.
He said at the 2023 DealBook Summit last month that lineworkers at Tesla can advance into management and that the company has made many people into millionaires through stock options.
"I think it's generally not good to have an adversarial relationship between one group at the company and another group," Musk said. "I disagree with unions because I don't like anything which creates a lords and peasants sort of thing. I think unions naturally try to create negativity at a company."
But Fain, during a Dec. 1 Q&A session in Detroit, said the unionization effort that is building across the country "is a lot bigger than Elon Musk."
“The irony is (Musk) talks about lords and peasants, and that’s the current status,” Fain said. “While he’s getting extremely wealthy off the backs of his workers and he’s building rocket ships to fly his ass into outer space, workers continue to scrape to get by.”
Musk, with a net worth of $223 billion — largely composed of Tesla stock — is the world's richest man, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, a title he first gained in 2021.
"This is a fight for freedom," Fain said Monday.
"The freedom to not live paycheck to paycheck while your employer makes record profits," he added. "The freedom to leave things better for future generations. The freedom to retire with dignity. And history shows us that freedom is only won and protected by everyday people standing up and fighting for it."
Contact Ian with tips via email, ian.krietzberg@thearenagroup.net, or Signal 732-804-1223.
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