Demanding for 36% raises in general pay over four years...
About 13,000 auto workers have walked off the job at three targeted factories after their union leaders couldn't reach a deal with Detroit's automakers
The United Auto Workers union is seeking big raises and better benefits from General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. They want to get back concessions that the workers made years ago, when the companies were in financial trouble.
A small percentage of the union’s 146,000 members walked off the job at a GM assembly plant in Wentzville, Missouri; a Ford factory in Wayne, Michigan, near Detroit; and a Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, on Thursday.
Shawn Fain, the combative president of the UAW, said, the targeted strikes will give the union leverage in contract talks and keep the auto companies guessing about its next move.
It could also make the union’s $825 million strike fund last much longer.
Last week both sides began exchanging wage and benefit proposals. Though some incremental progress appears to have been made — General Motors made a new, richer offer just hours before the strike deadline — it was not enough to avoid walkouts. The strike could cause significant disruptions to auto production in the United States.
Workers' demands:-
Asking for 36% raises in general pay over four years — a top-scale assembly plant worker gets about $32 an hour now. In addition, they has also demanded an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs; a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay; the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans; and a return of cost-of-living pay raises, among other benefits.
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