The United Autoworkers Union is set to expand its unprecedented strike on the three major U.S. automakers Friday as it continues to bargain with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis and pay and pensions for its 150,000-plus members.
UAW President Shawn Fain is expected to release a statement at 10:00 am Eastern time outlining new targets for industrial action follow last week's decision to target 38 new production sites across 20 different states as part of its historic strike, now entering its fifteenth day, against the so-called Big Three.
The union is seeking a 40% pay increase, spread over 4 and a half years, as well as the re-introduction of cost-of-living adjustments, defined benefits pensions and the end to pay tiering for newly-hired workers.
Each of the Big Three have countered with proposals that cap pay increases at around 40%, while also taking issues with the tactics and rhetoric employed by Fain – who was joined on the picket line in Michigan earlier this week by President Joe Biden – and the political dimension the strike has now gained.
"Our focus in not on politics but continues to be on bargaining in good faith with the UAW leadership to reach an agreement as quickly as possible that rewards our workforce and allows GM to succeed and thrive into the future," General Motors said in a statement ahead of Biden's visit to Michigan.
GM furloughed around 2,000 workers last week, and stopped production at a plant in Kansas City as a result of the expand strikes, while Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis have laid of a combined 1,000 workers in Ohio, Indiana and Michigan.
Anderson Economic Group, a Lansing, Mich., consultancy, published a report last weekend suggesting that even a 10-day strike could cost the U.S. economy around $5.6 billion and tip the economy of the state of Michigan itself into recession.
“If we were to have a long strike in 2023, the state of Michigan and parts of the Midwest would go into a recession,” said CEO Patrick Anderson. “When GM workers went on strike in 2019, you saw gross state product drop in Michigan in the fourth quarter, while in the rest of the country it was largely unaffected."
"That won’t be the case this time if the UAW goes through on its threat to strike all three companies.” he added.
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