In the “Automotive Capital of the World,” Detroit, Michigan, an impending threat to stop automotive production has commenced. The United Auto Workers, an international union of nearly 400,000 active automotive manufacturing workers, had plans to launch a strike if negotiations between the union and its employers weren’t complete by 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14, 2023. This deadline, now over a month late, has initiated a strike of immense proportions and consequences.
The United Auto Workers has gone on strike before but has never targeted all the ‘big three’ Detroit auto manufacturers at once. This effort, both negotiations and the strike itself, is aimed at Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation and Stellantis N.V.
Chris Frasier, Troy High School economics teacher, said of this strike, “It being the three big automakers seems like it’s gonna have a bigger impact.” This was something that economists expected before the strike ever began. It was predicted that a 10-day strike would cost the United States economy over $5.6 billion. In reality, the first two weeks of the strike cost the national economy $3.95 billion.
It’s now been over a month since the strike began, but experts predict it’ll last longer. Frasier agreed. “It’s not gonna be a one-week strike. It might be a long thing because, to me, it seems like the demands are high and it also seems like the management is not necessarily willing to give all these things right away.”
These demands have been changed since the strike began. According to the Washington Post, the union initially demanded “a 40% raise in wages over four years” and “that the automakers reinstate regular cost-of-living adjustments to wages to protect against inflation,” among other demands. These have since changed to a 36% wage increase demand.
Seeing the strike from a somewhat internal point of view, Charlie Webber, granddaughter of a United Auto Workers striker, believes that these demands are reasonable. “I think the UAW should get what they want. They’re not asking for much, or at least in my mind they’re not. The big companies only want more money by not paying their workers what they want and deserve.”
Frasier disagrees. “In my opinion, some of the things they were asking for are kind of tough. They’re asking for, like, 40% increase in wages. They’re asking for all their benefits back. They’re asking for less hours, more money.”
This isn’t the first strike in recent years. In September 2019, the United Auto Workers held a strike against General Motors Corporation. Since then, much has changed in the world that makes this strike different than others in the past, as explained by Scott Gibbons, teachers’ union member at Troy High School. “They took the brunt of cuts to save the companies, and then they were essential workers when COVID hit and they saved the companies again, and so there’s a little bit of a narrative there of, ‘We’ve done out part; now it’s your turn,’ and I’m not sure that narrative has been as well-articulated in previous strikes.”
Communication has also changed, which Gibbons explains as another difference between this strike and past ones. “Social media was around the last time they went through a round of strikes, but I think leveraging social media is a very different aspect of this [strike].”
As another way this effort is unique, Gibbons mentions the recent striking of other large guilds and unions. “I think another point working in their favor is the actors’ and screenwriters’ guilds are out as well. There seems to be this momentum that they might be able to capture that’s different from previous ones.”
Despite these new, unique circumstances working in the union’s favor, life as a striker isn’t quite as uplifting. Webber described her grandpa’s situation, “My grandfather retired a few years ago from Ford. He protests with his old workers so they can go to work without hating a place that he loved to work at.” She continued, “Since my grandfather is retired, he’s not losing much, but he’s driving an hour to go help and my grandmother isn’t that happy about losing time to hang out with him.”
Expectations for the outcome of the strike are in the union’s favor, but only time will tell. An estimate from before the strike began predicted that the strike fund will last about three months. Gibbons expanded on this, recounting that this statistic refers to a possible situation in which the union would be striking against all automakers at all locations for the entire three month period, which is currently not the case.
This effort is the first in history that the United Auto Workers have held a strike against all three big automakers at once. “This is a strategy we haven’t seen before of negotiating with all three at the same time, which makes it harder for them to go on strike for all three, but it affects all three businesses together,” stated Gibbons.
Despite the extremity this might imply, the striking isn’t random or overwhelming. “The biggest thing is that this the first time I’ve seen striking that is strategic. It’s not mass striking,” said Frasier.
No matter a person’s involvement in the strike or lack thereof, this affects everyone. “If this strike lasts, the prices of automobiles are gonna continue to go up,” predicted Frasier. “All of us are gonna try to purchase an automobile and these things have an effect on our life. No matter who you are, it’s gonna affect your life.”
