A UAW Local 2402 member waves a picket sign outside the General Motors Customer Care and Aftersales facility in Brandon, Miss., Friday, Sept. 22, 2023. The unionized workers joined others Friday in new nationwide walkouts as the labor standoff continues. Even after escalating its strike against Detroit automakers on Friday, the United Auto Workers union still has plenty of leverage in its effort to force the companies to agree to significant increases in pay and benefits.
“We believe the next step for UAW is the more nuclear option — going for a much more widespread strike on the core plants in and around Detroit,” said Daniel Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities. “That was would be a torpedo.” The union, Unifor, said the deal, which covers 5,600 workers, also includes better retirement benefits. If the deal is ratified in voting that will end Sunday morning, the union will use it as a pattern for new contracts at GM and Stellantis plants in Canada.
“It severely hits the dealerships, and it hurts the customers who purchased those very expensive vehicles in good faith,” said Art Wheaton, a labor expert at Cornell University. “You just told all your customers, ‘Hey we can’t fix those $50,000 to $70,000 cars we just sold you because we can’t get you the parts.’ ”
“What has hurt the consumers in the long run is the fact the companies have raised prices on vehicles 35% in the last four years,” he shot back. “It's not because of our wages. Our wages went up 6%, the CEO pay went up 40%. " To make up for the loss of striking workers, the automakers are weighing their options, including staffing the parts warehouses with salaried workers.
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