UAW president Shawn Fain says 21% pay hike offered by Chrysler parent Stellantis is a "no-go"
UAW president Shawn Fain says 21% pay hike offered by Chrysler parent Stellantis is a "no-go"
"United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain said Sunday that the union is rejecting an offer from one of the Big Three automakers for a 21% wage increase as autoworkers for Ford, General Motors and Chrysler parent company Stellantis went on strike Friday,” CBS News reports.
"The union has asked for 40% pay increases to match the average pay increases of the CEOs1
For context - the 21% number would not be any immediate raise - it would be cumulative over a 3+ year period.And it would come after an extended period when wages have fallen behind living costs, and after the UAW gave up wages and benefits to keep Detroit afloat when it was struggling.
The story quotes Fain with this: ""First off, labor costs are about 5% of the cost of the vehicle. They could double our wages and not raise the price of the vehicles and still make billions in profits. It's a choice. And the fact that they want to compare it to how pitiful Tesla pays their workers and other companies pay their workers — that's what this whole argument is about. Workers in this country got to decide if they want a better life for themselves, instead of scraping to get by paycheck to paycheck, while everybody else walks away with the loot."
I almost commented by saying that a 21% pay increase is HUGE. Then I read the article and found the 40% pay increase for CEOs. That's so fucking insane.
The middle class is made up of managers, supervisors, and directors. Not workers.
EDIT Y'all are downvoting me, but what do you think the "middle" part of "middle class" stands for? They're the people between the working class and the owning class! That's what makes them middle class. That was lost over time because class politics are alien in America.
I remember when I worked for a Union and our members were a little split on the 8% raise we were offered. I reminded them that over the terms of the last contract, inflation had risen over 10% and that 8% was still a pay cut.
The UAW holds all the cards here. They can't make new cars without a trained labor force and they don't have the time or the money to train a new one. So the auto industry might think about playing ball.
Sure they will. And it will all just replace all the auto workers. Within a few years. Also, the Segway will change the world as we know it.
I'm skeptical of his so-called "stand-up strike" model, but when he says things like this I start having hope again. Hell yes!
For anyone that wants to say 21% is a ton, remember this is over the 4 year contract. This is the equivalent of 5% a year. Also, the last 3 years alone, there has been 18% inflation, and the last contract just didn’t keep up with that.
And IIRC this is after making a bunch of concessions during the previous contract negotiation where they forgoed pay raises which was only supposed to be a temporary measure. This was nearly a decade ago.
Forwent?
Not even 5%, 4.88%