Auto staff are three days right into a strike on the Large Three American automakers. Talks are ongoing, however not numerous progress has been reported but. The automakers have introduced layoffs in response.
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
Auto staff are placing for a 3rd day at three Midwestern auto crops.
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UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE: (Singing) We’re the union. We’re the union. Mighty, mighty union. Mighty, mighty union.
DETROW: Talks between the automakers and the United Auto Staff Union are ongoing, however not an entire lot of progress has been made but. NPR’s Andrea Hsu has been following this story and joins us now. Hey, Andrea.
ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Hello.
DETROW: So Day 3 of the strike – what is the newest?
HSU: Nicely, this actually is an unprecedented strike. It is the primary time the UAW has walked out on all three of the massive three automakers directly. However on the identical time, it is restricted and focused. So staff at simply three crops are placing in the intervening time. It is a GM plant in Missouri, a Ford plant in Michigan and a Stellantis plant in Toledo, Ohio. And collectively, they make use of about 13,000 staff, or 9% of the union workforce, at these three auto corporations. However this is a twist, Scott – the automakers have already introduced layoffs at different crops, which they are saying is a consequence of this strike.
DETROW: OK. And simply to underscore that, we’re speaking about crops that aren’t the crops the place the strike is occurring.
HSU: That is proper. The businesses are saying it is a ripple impact. The crops which might be on strike assemble vehicles, however additionally they make parts for a few of these different crops. So for instance, the Ford staff, who’re on strike in Michigan, nicely, a few of them are answerable for coating supplies that then go on to staff in a distinct a part of that plant who will not be on strike. And Ford’s saying that these staff cannot do their jobs with out the coating course of, so Ford has already advised 600 folks to not report back to work. And likewise, GM is saying it is going to have to put off 2,000 staff in Kansas this week as a result of it could possibly’t get elements which might be made by staff in Missouri who’re on strike.
DETROW: So what’s the UAW saying in response? And is there any sense but whether or not these sorts of layoffs may change their technique?
HSU: I imply, it may ultimately, however it would not seem to but. The UAW is saying these layoffs are pointless, that the businesses are simply attempting to place the squeeze on staff, attempting to get them to accept much less. However an essential level is that automobile corporations normally pay staff once they briefly idle a plant. However GM at the very least has made clear they don’t seem to be going to pay them this time as a result of this is because of a strike. Now, the UAW has stepped up and mentioned it might ensure that the laid-off staff do not go with out revenue. However it’s unclear how a lot the union’s going to offer. The union’s already paying staff who’re on strike about $500 per week.
DETROW: What are the opposite main sticking factors right here?
HSU: Nicely, I might say the largest sticking level remains to be pay. The automobile corporations have sweetened their affords. They began out providing 10% wage will increase over 4 years. Now they’re as much as 20 and 21%. However the UAW is asking for 40% compounded over 4 years, in order that’s nonetheless a very large hole.
DETROW: Yeah.
HSU: And the carmakers are saying what they’ve provided is traditionally beneficiant at a time once they’re going through this very costly transition to electrical autos. Ford has mentioned the UAW’s calls for would bankrupt the corporate proper once they should be investing earnings to safe the corporate’s future. However, in fact, the UAW’s president, Shawn Fain, has rejected these arguments. He is been hammering this message that the carmakers have been vastly worthwhile over the past decade and that they should share extra of these earnings with the rank and file. He was on Sunday exhibits this morning. Right here he was on CBS’s “Face The Nation.”
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SHAWN FAIN: If we do not get higher affords and we do not get down and handle the members’ wants, then we will amp this factor up much more.
HSU: And, Scott, what he means by that’s he could add extra crops to the strike, and that actually may occur at any time. You realize, Shawn Fain sees this as going past simply the autoworkers. For him, it is actually a wrestle between the working class and what he calls the billionaire class.
DETROW: That is NPR’s Andrea Hsu overlaying this ongoing strike. Thanks a lot.
HSU: You are welcome.
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