Being as I live in the Detroit area, I guess it would be natural for me to take an interest in the current UAW strike against the Big Three, given Detroit is still attached at the hip to automotive companies and their suppliers. I wrote a piece yesterday on this subject (UAW Chief Says They Still Have Cards Left to Play, but Is the Deck Dwindling?) and expounded upon some thoughts I have going into week five of the strike.
Here is an excerpt from that post:
As I was browsing some news today I came across an update about where the Big 3 and the UAW were currently going into week 5 of their strike right here.
The Detroit Three automakers escaped additional strikes Friday but got little additional comfort from the leader of the United Auto Workers, who signaled he's ready to take down more of their most profitable plants if the companies don't sweeten their contract offers.
In a Facebook Live update, UAW President Shawn Fain cited "serious progress" in negotiations late this week with General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV, sharply criticized Ford Motor Co. and said "there is more to be won" from all three companies, even after they've offered what he agreed are "record contracts."
Fain's latest bargaining update to members took place on Day 36 of the union's unprecedented simultaneous strike by 34,000 workers at all three Detroit auto companies."The bottom line is, we’ve got cards left to play, and they’ve got money left to spend," Fain said. "That’s the hardest part of a strike: Right before a deal is when there is the most aggressive push for that last mile. They want to wait us out. They want division. They want fear. They want uncertainty. And what we have is our solidarity.”
They did have unified solidarity two or three weeks ago and publicly, you're still going to see that played out.
However, the grumbling is beginning amongst those who are on strike, and worry has set in with those who are still working, yet wondering if a Wednesday or Friday announcement is going to order them to go on strike.
However, I did read another article that takes a bit of a different view right here that made me stop and think. From that article:
GM's offer will push peak annual wages to more than $80,000. Add in profit-sharing checks and some overtime here and there and their total yearly take could easily reach six figures.
It's hard to square that with Fain's depiction of his members as exploited working stiffs who can't afford to buy the products they make.
The automakers, with their ongoing acquiescence to his demand for more money for less work, have made Fain a blue-collar hero who will continue to torment them long after this strike is settled.
The companies must start playing the game Fain's way. With this offer, they should declare, "take it or leave it, but it's as good as its going to get."
Ford said it had reached its limits in terms of a financial package, but, as Fain noted Friday, followed the contention up with a better offer.
To drive home that they're done being bled, the automakers should set a deadline and start taking things off the table if there's no settlement.
So the difference in what I had been led to believe was happening as opposed to what Finley says above is this: I've been hearing that the auto companies were dragging their feet to get closer to where they felt comfortable but possibly that area is exactly where the UAW has wanted to be all along if I'm following Finley's thought here. So if the executives from the Big Three continue on this path, very soon it will be time to say "That's it!" and walk away. The membership would be mighty peeved if the numbers that have leaked out as already agreed to are true, but the union did not close the deal, and things started being pulled off the table.
At the end of my article yesterday, I wrote this:
If Shawn Fain is bluffing on this deal, he better get in one of the faster cars the Big 3 make and drive on 75-South out of town as soon as possible -- and head to Vegas, where the stakes aren't nearly as high as messing with 100,000-plus UAW members' futures.
Yet if what is being theorized in the article above is correct, not only would Fain not be run out of this town — they would probably start renaming things after him, starting with the UAW headquarters downtown. They would change the name from Solidarity House to Fain HQ, and he would become the most beloved person in blue-collar Detroit.
What would be interesting about this is, according to some reports, they're aiming for a four-year deal which would lock in The Big Three to these new terms, and if we are heading into a recession, as some economists feel, it would be interesting to see how long that holds together and for how long.
