(The Center Square) – United Auto Worker Union President Sean Fain said workers will strike at some plants at three of Detroit’s major vehicle manufacturers if automakers don’t seal a deal by tonight.
“We’re preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before,” Fain said on Facebook Live.
Instead of calling all nearly 146,000 UAW workers covered by Ford, Stellantis, and General Motors to strike, the UAW will likely target specific factories for strikes.
More than 1,000 Blue Cross Blue Shield workers walked out Wednesday. UAW Local Union 1781, Local Union 2500, Local Union 2145, and Local Union 2256 entered into negotiations with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan earlier this summer.
The UAW said the strike aims to abolish the multi-tiered pay structure and to stop outsourcing work to contractors but said BCBSM rejected their demands.
“Regrettably, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan rejected our demands, steadfastly maintaining a twenty-year service length prerequisite for pay equality,” a UAW post said. “They also expressed an unwavering intention to continue outsourcing our union work without any restriction.”
The UAW feels union workers have been left out of the transition to electric vehicles. They say while corporate profit increased during the pandemic, workers didn’t receive additional benefits.
“The time has come to say: Enough is enough! The UAW insists that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan value their front-line union employees as much as they value their profit margins and the CEO’s substantial $17 million salary in 2022. Our call for job security, pay equality, and robust benefits must be met, especially in these times of soaring corporate profits.”
Overall, Fain has targeted wage increases of as much as 46% over four years, cost-of-living adjustments, pensions and retiree health care for all workers, and a 32-hour work week paid as 40 hours.
Fain said in a YouTube video explaining the strike, saying auto workers are fighting for a decent standard of living, better work-life balance, and to prevent plant closures.
“We will not stand by as corporate executives continue to make extraordinary profits while the rest of us continue to get left further and further behind,” Fain said in the video.
Ford Motor Company Presiden and CEO Jim Farley said Ford presented four offers since Aug. 29 but hasn’t received a “genuine” counteroffer.
“If there is a strike, it’s not because Ford didn’t make a great offer. We have and that’s what we can control,” Farley said in a statement.
Ford said the offer included wage increases, cost of living adjustments, fully eliminated wage tiers, increased retirement savings contributions, health care benefits, and up to five weeks of vacation and 17 paid holidays annually.
