by Domenico Maceri * –
SAN LUIS OBISPO (USA). “When we return to the negotiating table in 2028 it won’t be about the big three. There will be 5 or 6.” With these words Shawn Fain, president of the UAW (United Auto Workers), looked ahead after the conclusion of the historic contract with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the three major automotive companies. The success of the new contract won for its members will serve as a springboard for organizing unions representing metalworkers in other large automotive companies such as Toyota, Tesla and BMW.
The charismatic Fain managed, after seven weeks of strikes in some factories, to secure a very advantageous contract as was recognized by all. This is a notable change since over the past decades unions had been forced to make many concessions to auto companies to try to maintain jobs.
The new contract includes significant pay increases that haven’t been seen in more than forty years. Employees will receive a 25 percent increase in their paychecks spread over the next four and a half years. The highest hourly wage will reach $40 an hour. It includes an immediate increase of eleven percent and restores the COLA (Cost of Living Increase), the adjustment of wages to the cost of living that will keep inflationary effects at bay. Employees at the current lowest wages stand to gain the most as they see their wages increase by 150 percent over the next 4 1/2 years. The new contract also eliminates the salary difference between new employees and experienced ones. A concession made by the union to the companies that had created dissent among workers who were paid differently even when they did exactly the same job.
The union has failed to achieve the 32-hour work week that remains at the current 40. These raises for union members would add nearly $900 to the cost of producing each car, according to Ford, which of course consumers would eventually have to cover. Furthermore, the editorial board of the Washington Post pointed out that the new contract, positive for workers, however includes investment reductions of 12 billion dollars in the production of electric vehicles.
The issue of electric vehicles was the opening that allowed Donald Trump to intervene during the strike last month. The former president had gone to give a speech to a group of metalworkers who were not part of the union, attacking Fain and the leadership, whose conduct would cause the end of their jobs. Trump said an emphasis on building electric cars would reduce the number of jobs because they are easier to build. Joe Biden, promoter of the change towards electric vehicles, stimulated by federal funds, however, also went to Detroit. Unlike Trump, Biden participated in the picket lines of striking metalworkers, and recently praised the new contract. He billed it as a victory for workers and unions in general. As regards electric cars, the new contract also includes the production of this type of vehicle. It is therefore an inevitable transition, accepted by Biden and the metalworkers, while offering protection to workers. All in all, Biden also emerges victorious with the new contract, considering the fact that Michigan, where the three big car brands have their headquarters, remains a swing state for the 2024 election.
The announcement of the new contract has already had positive effects and adds to the successes already achieved by writers’ unions in Hollywood. It will also serve as an inspiration and encouragement to workers at CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid pharmacies, which do not have unions, to take work abstentions. It will also serve as an encouragement to teachers in Portland, Oregon who have just recently announced a strike to obtain economic improvements that would also indirectly benefit their students.
Some concrete effects have already emerged even for Toyota’s metalworkers who are not unionized. The Japanese national airline announced a 9 percent increase starting from January 1, 2024. Toyota will also reduce the time needed to obtain the maximum rate to 4 years. Toyota’s move would aim to reduce although it would not completely eliminate the need for a union for its employees. That’s exactly what Fain intends to do. “Our union has seen dark days,” Fain said in a Facebook stream, also declaring that he does not see the union in “decline.” It’s hard to blame him.
* Domenico Maceri, PhD, is professor emeritus at Allan Hancock College, Santa Maria, California. Some of his articles have won awards from the National Association of Hispanic Publications.
