The strike in the US auto industry is expanding. It also includes those employed in a large factory of “Stellantis”, reported the world agencies and BTA. Growing protests threaten production of the winning RAM 1500 pickup truck (RAM 1500).
The United Auto Workers (UAW) union said 6,800 more workers at a Michigan pickup plant are joining the strike as the company presented “the worst offer ever on wage increases, temporary workers’ compensation and more.”
More than 40,000 union representatives, who work for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, are already participating in the labor protest, which began on September 15.
Total economic losses from the strike reached $7.7 billion, according to the latest data from consulting firm Anderson Economic Group, with the Big Three losing $3.45 billion. .
The union resorted to an unusual campaign of simultaneous strikes against the Big Three, North America’s largest automakers. The strikers are demanding a 40 percent increase in wages, which will include an immediate 20 percent raise. They also want an improvement in my social security benefits. They also insist that the union agreement also protects the labor rights of those employed at the electric car battery plants in the US.
In addition to general wage increases, the union is calling for the restoration of the cost-of-living wage growth scheme, an end to different pay levels for manufacturing positions, a 32-hour work week with 40 hours of pay being retained, the restoration of traditional defined benefit plans for new hires as well as pension increases for retirees.
The head of the United Auto Workers, Sean Fein, acknowledged last month that the union’s demands were audacious, but, he said, automakers make billions and can afford them. He rejected claims by car companies that higher royalties would force them to raise vehicle prices. Labor costs represent only 4-5 percent of costs for auto companies as a whole, Fein pointed out.
“We are not the problem. Corporate greed is the problem,” the union leader said.
Assembly shop workers make about $32 an hour plus large annual profit-sharing checks. Ford said its employee’s average annual pay, including overtime and bonuses, was $78,000 last year.
2023-10-24 04:55:22
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