Price of a strike at the Detroit automakers: $5 billion -study
By Joseph White
DETROIT (Reuters) — A ten-day strike by the United Auto Workers that shuts down the Detroit Three automakers could cost the manufacturers, workers, suppliers and dealers more than $5 billion according to a new analysis by the Anderson Economic Group, an economic consulting firm.
With less than a month before a Sept. 14 deadline to reach new contracts, concerns about the impact of a walkout by UAW members at one or all of the Detroit Three are growing.
While General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford Motor (NYSE:F) and Stellantis North America represent only a portion of the total U.S. auto industry, their workers are concentrated in Michigan — a pivotal 2024 election state. U.S. President Joe Biden on Monday urged the automakers and the union to come to a «fair agreement.»
A ten-day strike against GM alone could have an economic cost of more than $1.4 billion, as could a ten-day strike against Ford alone, Patrick Anderson, the firm's president, told Detroit's Automotive Press Association in a videoconference on Thursday.
A ten-day strike against Stellantis North America could have a total economic cost of just under $1.2 billion, Anderson said.
Of the $5 billion in total losses should the UAW strike all three automakers, $859 million would be wages lost by striking workers, Anderson's study estimated.
Anderson chose a ten-day work stoppage to build an economic forecast. The UAW has not said whether it will strike any of the Detroit automakers or for how long. In 2019, UAW workers walked off the job at GM for 42 days. That cost workers nearly $1 billion in lost wages, Anderson estimated. GM recorded a $3.6 billion pretax loss related to the walkout.
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