Labor Could Be Detroit’s Next Big Disruption

livemint.com:

Just when it is becoming easier to find a car, along comes another potential supply shock: a United Auto Workers strike. Labor Day this year comes at an unusually tense point in relations between U.S. vehicle assemblers and General Motors, Ford and Chrysler-owner Stellantis.

The current four-year contract negotiated by the UAW union on behalf of factory employees at the Detroit Three expires on Sept. 14. The two sides seem far from agreeing on a new contract.

Ford on Thursday published the terms of its offer, including a 9% wage increase over the four years. The UAW is asking for a 46% increase. Its plain-speaking president, Shaun Fain, responded in a Facebook address to members that Ford’s wage proposal “insults our very worth." And Ford is the most union-friendly of the Detroit Three.

Although it trails GM in terms of U.S. market share, it assembles more vehicles locally. Its reputation for having a softer touch extends to Canada, where the Unifor union last week picked Ford as its potential target for pattern bargaining, ahead of the expiration of its own contract with the Detroit Three on Sept.

18. While Fain didn’t like Ford’s offer, he accused GM and Stellantis of “refusal to bargain in good faith" and said the UAW had filed a legal complaint against them. Stellantis called the action frivolous and GM said it was “an insult to the bargaining committees." Even allowing for the theatrics of an all-but-public negotiation, none of this bodes well so close to the deadline.

If no agreement comes, Fain has said the union will call a strike, potentially at all three companies. A recent vote authorized it to do so with 97% of members voting in favor. With good reasons to dig in on both sides, it was always going to be a