UAW President Shawn Fain says he’s serious about winning every item the union proposed. GM says his demands ‘would threaten our ability to do what’s right for the long-term benefit of the team.’
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Fain: Automakers made a quarter of a trillion dollars in the last decade. It’s time for economic justice.
General Motors says a list of costly contract demands laid out by UAW President Shawn Fain last week is untenable, but Fain insists he is serious about winning everything proposed.
The demands — including more than 40 percent pay raises through 2027, pensions for all workers and protection against layoffs — would claw back virtually every benefit UAW members have lost since they helped keep GM and Chrysler afloat in the Great Recession.
“These are the members’ demands,” Fain said in an interview. “This isn’t some wish list. These companies have made a quarter of a trillion dollars in the last decade. … Our workers have delivered for these companies in the best of times and the worst of times. It’s time they get their equal share and get economic justice.”
The list also calls for the automakers to shorten work weeks, restore cost-of-living adjustments and significantly expand retiree benefits. The union formally presented its economic proposals last week to GM, Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler successor Stellantis as the negotiations barrel toward a Sept. 14 deadline that could lead to production-crippling strikes.
Fain, on a livestream for members announcing the demands, called them the most “audacious and ambitious” set of proposals in decades. He presented charts showing the automakers’ recently announced second-quarter profits, followed by a chart showing wage concessions made by the union since 2007.
“If the companies want to brag about record profits, then it’s time for record contracts,” he said. “It’s time for them to deliver for our members, and we’re going to deliver for our members, come hell or high water.”
Delivering on many of the UAW’s demands could prove challenging for the Detroit 3.
The automakers, according to sources, have no appetite for adding long-term structural costs such as pensions, cost-of-living adjustments, layoff protection or expanded retiree benefits.
“Realistically, you should not expect to get it all, because the car companies are not going to grant it all,” said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University in Detroit who specializes in labor issues.
“In theory, a strike could force the companies into making major concessions and granting a considerable part of the overall package, but if they were to do that, it could drive them out of business.”
GM, in a strongly worded statement, pushed back against what the union proposed.
“The breadth and scope of the Presidential Demands, at face value, would threaten our ability to do what’s right for the long-term benefit of the team,” the company said. “A fair agreement rewards our employees and also enables GM to maintain our momentum now and into the future.”
Among the most ambitious demands is what Fain called a “working family protection program,” which would continue to pay workers for community service projects or other tasks if a plant were idled.
The idea would be similar to the jobs bank, which was created in the 1980s but eliminated in the runup to the 2009 bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler. That program gave workers 95 percent of their usual take-home pay while on layoff. At the program’s height, the Detroit 3 were spending billions of dollars a year paying thousands of idled employees, according to Masters.
“That contributed to the companies’ financial woes,” he said. “Many workers spent their time taking classes or doing other things — essentially sitting around.”
Fain last week defended the jobs bank.
“It’s sad that we were villainized during the recession, when they close a plant or have layoffs, for workers receiving pay basically so they can keep paying their bills and keep the economy going and keep the economy from crashing,” he told Automotive News.
“We never want people to be paid to do nothing, but there are circumstances where the companies, even now, have been profitable and have chosen to shutter plants. And workers are left hung out high and dry.”
The stimulus checks issued by the federal government during the pandemic prove his point, Fain said.
“What happened when the government paid money to people, to families, they went out and spent money and kept the economy going,” he said. “Same concept. It works.”
In terms of wages, the union is seeking a 20 percent raise upon ratification of a new contract and 5 percent raises in each of the next four years, according to sources familiar with the plans.
That would put top wages at more than $47 an hour, vs. today’s $32 an hour.
The union has proposed a contract that would last four years and eight months, expiring on May 1, 2028. May 1 is International Workers’ Day.
In addition, Fain said the union would seek “a 32-hour work week with 40 hours’ worth of pay.” He said a truncated week could spur the Detroit 3 to hire more union workers.
“I think it will create more jobs, more opportunities for people to get their share in the economy,” he said.
Fain admitted worker expectations are high as contract talks heat up but said he is not concerned about being unable to deliver a satisfactory agreement that can be ratified.
“I’ve promised nothing except we’re going to work really hard to get the best agreement we can for our members,” Fain said. “At the end of the day, this agreement’s up to the membership. If they’re not happy with it and don’t think it goes far enough, they have every right to turn it down. It’s up to the companies to satisfy the demands of this membership.”
