United Automobile Workers (UAW) members are taking unprecedented strike action against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis at three plants across the Midwest, demanding wage increases on par with recent hikes in compensation for the chief executives of the three automakers as inflation bites.
Thousands of workers are striking at plants in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio as bosses remain at loggerheads with UAW president Shawn Fain, offering workers roughly half the wage increase he is demanding and rejecting his other proposals on healthcare, pensions, and other issues of concern outright.
UAW workers have never downed tools at plants for all three companies at once, but the strikes are still targeted fairly narrowly, with the vast majority of the 150,000 unionized workers for the automakers continuing to work elsewhere – at least for now.
The prospect of a broader strike is worriesome for Joe Biden, who claims to be the “most pro-union president in American history,” especially as the UAW has not yet endorsed him for 2024 and members seem dissatisfied with his efforts – or lack thereof – to resolve the dispute.
“I don’t know what he’s done,” remarked Garry Quick Quick, UAW president in Fain’s hometown of Kokomo, Indiana.
“Ask him. I don’t think he knows what he’s done. Seriously. I’m not trying to be mean,” Quick added.