Photo: Kansas City UAW members on strike at GM in 2019
by Nicholas Wurst
SMART-TD Local 1473 and Railroad Workers United (both personal capacity)
Worcester, MA
The United Auto Workers (UAW) have entered into negotiations with the “Big 3” car manufacturers: Ford, General Motors (Buick, Cadillac, Chevy, and GMC), and Stellantis (Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram). 150,000 UAW members are covered by contracts across all three companies. These workers have been the backbone of the UAW for decades and the contract battle is being posed as a possible turning point for the union, similar to the battle at UPS for the Teamsters. ISG stands with UAW members in the fight for contracts with strong wage increases, improved benefits, and job protections.
The contracts expire on September 14th. On August 15th, the combined membership at all three companies voted 97% in favor of strike action. The last strike at any of the Big 3 was in 2019 where UAW struck GM in the first major action by the union since 2007.
Two years after the 2007 strike at GM, the “Great Recession” was in full swing and GM and Chrysler had filed for bankruptcy. UAW leadership agreed to concessions including forgoing cost-of-living adjustments. $80 billion in government bailouts for GM and Chrysler were quickly agreed to by both corporate parties in 2008 and 2009 during the Bush Jr. and Obama administrations. This was followed by years of profitability, but those wages and benefits lost have not returned and workers’ pay has further stagnated in the face of inflation and rising living costs.
Since 2008, the car companies have increased use of lower-paid and temporary workers, creating a dangerous situation of tiered pay schemes where the companies try to pit sections of the workforce against each other in a race to the bottom. Longer shifts, more injuries, faster pace of work, plant closures, and layoffs have built up anger and concern for the future.
Green Jobs Should Be Good Jobs
In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have been posed as the future of transportation. The growing investment in EV technology and production has been used to cut union jobs and wages. The CEO of Ford claimed that EV production would need 40% fewer employees. A 2018 UAW study found the move toward EVs endangered 35,000 jobs.
The automakers are fighting hard to ensure that new EV factories are excluded from existing union agreements, forcing the UAW to organize the plants from scratch. In Lordstown, OH, the new GM battery plant became the first of the new factories to unionize in December 2022. The old GM plant in Lordstown—which was closed as part of the deal that ended the 2019 strike—employed workers at around $30/hour, while the workers in the battery plant make $17 an hour.
Despite automakers attempting to portray themselves as green, the UAW has gathered support from a number of large environmental groups like the Sierra Club. At an event on August 17th, environmentalists and auto workers called for support for the UAW in its negotiations in order to fight for green jobs to be good, union jobs.
Big Test For New UAW Leadership
The UAW sees the contract campaign at the Big 3 as a make-it-or-break-it moment for the union. After a corruption investigation revealed collaboration between past UAW officers and the companies, union members won direct, one-member/one-vote elections for leadership. The candidate slate put forward by the reform caucus “Unite All Workers for Democracy” (UAWD) won the first direct election.
The UAW was one of the main forces to emerge from the surge of industrial unionism in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Before the victories like the Toledo Auto-Lite strike and the Flint Sit-Down strike in the 1930s, autoworkers were unorganized and many of the conservative craft unions thought the relatively new auto industry was unorganizable. While once a powerhouse, the UAW has declined due largely to the failures to both prevent offshoring jobs and to organize foreign companies’ factories in the U.S.
The new UAW leadership needs a big win, and then a serious organizing campaign targeting EV factories and non-unionized automakers to capitalize on it. The Big 3 contracts are the first test of the new reform leadership. Both union reform efforts and the labor movement need a clear win. The recent Teamsters-UPS contract fight was led by a similar reform leadership, but didn’t demonstrate workers’ power the way a victorious strike would have. The new UPS contract won gains compared to the 2018 agreement, but it contains serious limitations.
Biden And The Democrats: Allies Of The Big 3
Biden and the Democrats are looking to court union workers’ votes in the 2024 election. However, they are a fundamentally corporate party, clearly demonstrated by the $9.2 billion government loan to Ford in June. While Biden will posture in support of UAW workers, ultimately his administration wants to support the auto manufacturers. The UAW will come under huge pressure to avoid a strike and accept weak contracts. If it came to a strike, the Biden administration could intervene to try and defeat the union like it did recently to the railroad workers.
Unlike many unions, the UAW has yet to endorse Biden’s campaign. If the UAW led the way by committing its resources to building an unapologetically pro-labor workers’ party, the labor movement could gain a crucial tool in the fight against the bosses. A workers’ party could fight for higher wages, price controls, free healthcare and housing, as well as for public ownership and democratic control of the auto industry and the energy industry. Workers would then be in control and able to guarantee good jobs in a transition to a sustainable future.
Solidarity Needed
UAW workers need real solidarity. UAW-built vehicles are transported by Teamster truckers and union railroaders, who should refuse to cross picket lines. Union workers at Big 3 factories in Canada and Mexico could organize solidarity actions. Other unions can donate to the strike fund and turn out members to reinforce picket lines. Informational pickets can be organized at Big 3 dealerships nationwide. Solidarity committees can be set up to coordinate all this and more. A win for UAW workers would be a win for all workers.
Independent Socialist Group 