The UAW Is Preparing for a Strike: Here Is What to Know

livemint.com:

Talks between the United Auto Workers union and the Detroit automakers are facing a looming deadline with the labor agreements at General Motors, Ford Motor and Jeep-maker Stellantis set to expire at 11:59 p.m. ET Thursday. If a deal hasn’t been reached, UAW President Shawn Fain has made clear he is ready to strike with plans to target specific U.S.

factories, rather than a broader walkout at one or more companies. The UAW represents about 146,000 hourly workers at the three companies’ U.S. factories, and the negotiations come at a pivotal time for not only the auto industry but also the U.S.

labor movement more broadly. The Detroit car companies are coming off one of their most profitable periods in history, but also trying to tackle a tricky and costly transition to electric vehicles. The UAW is emerging from a yearslong corruption scandal with a newly elected leader who is adamant about taking a stand and reversing past concessions.

Here is what you need to know: What does the UAW want? The 88-year-old union has put forth what it describes as its most “ambitious" and “audacious" set of bargaining demands in history, including a double-digit wage increase. Additionally, it wants to restore cost-of-living adjustments, re-establish medical benefits for retirees, create a program that would pay workers on layoff and end different wage classifications, a system described as “tiers." It is also seeking the right to strike over plant closures, a demand that follows the idling earlier this year of a Stellantis plant in Illinois, and a shorter, 32-hour workweek for full 40-hour pay. Fain has repeatedly argued that the car companies are highly profitable and giving their own CEOs big pay increases, and it is now time for