The United Auto Workers union launched a blistering attack on General Motors, with 5,000 workers at a lucrative SUV plant in Arlington, Texas, going on strike on Tuesday.
The strike comes a day after the union continued Strike at Stellantis pickup truck plant Located in Sterling Heights, Michigan, north of Detroit.
The additions have further intensified a labor dispute that has entered its sixth week, with about 46,000 union workers now on picket lines. The comments from both sides showed that while unions and automakers maintain their respective positions, they remain far apart over what each considers fair wages and benefits.
The Arlington plant, which builds large truck-based SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade, opened shortly after General Motors announced strong third-quarter financial results. SUVs are one of GM’s most profitable vehicles.
The company on Tuesday Net profit was just over $3 billion This quarter was down 7% from the same period last year. But the company reported strong demand and prices for its vehicles.
UAW President Shawn Fain noted that GM beat Wall Street expectations but trailed Ford in its offer, retaining a two-tier wage structure and offering the weakest 401(k) contribution of all three automakers at 8%. . “It’s time for GM workers and the entire working class to get their fair share,” Fein said.
GM Chief Executive Mary Barra said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the automaker had made a record offer and would not agree to a contract that jeopardized the company’s future.
Barra said GM’s record pay rewards employees but does not put jobs at the company or the UAW at risk. “Accepting unsustainably high costs will put our future and the jobs of GM team members at risk, and jeopardizing our future is something I will not do,” she said in a statement.
On the picket line in Texas, Ethan Pierce, a materials handler who has worked for GM for more than 23 years, said that during the 2008 U.S. financial crisis, when GM was in serious financial trouble, workers made the decision. Sacrifices were made, concessions were made, to help save General Motors. “We started asking for some stuff back. They didn’t want to give it to us,” Pierce said.
Now, he said, workers are struggling as inflation drives up prices. Pierce said one of the sticking points was GM’s refusal to let workers strike over planned plant closures. “If you are being treated unfairly, sooner or later you have to stand up,” he said. “When we are treated better, other people are treated better.”
General Motors said it was disappointed with the escalation of the strike in Arlington, which it called “unnecessary and irresponsible.” The strike is hurting employees and will have “a negative ripple effect on our dealers, suppliers and the communities that rely on us.”
Automakers have Layoffs have been carried out since the strike began and blamed the layoffs on the strike. General Motors Co. shares have fallen more than 14% this year, hitting their lowest point since the pandemic in 2020 on Tuesday, when the company’s sales growth fell by nearly 11%.
The company said last week GM made an offer that increased the total value of its previous offer by about 25%.
Barra said in a note to shareholders on Tuesday that General Motors has made a record proposal to the union that would increase maximum wages at the plant. $40.39 per hour, Or about $84,000 per year for four years.
The company also said the strike was expected to reduce pretax profits by $800 million this year and $200 million each week thereafter. GM said those estimates were made before the strike in Arlington.
Thomas Kochan, a professor of work and employment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said the escalation means negotiations are at a critical juncture.
“Reaching an agreement that everyone can live with puts enormous pressure on both the company and the union,” he said. “The impact of the strike at these three companies, which expands and is prolonged over time, will be far-reaching and will have a very serious negative impact on companies and employees.”
He said the companies were approaching the limit of what they could offer, and the union was as close to what it could legitimately expect to receive.
“Sometimes, both sides have to have very personal conversations in negotiations,” Kochan said. “It’s time to stop public rhetoric.”
He said both sides must test whether a deal is possible. “They are professional negotiators and should be able to find the key points where a new deal is acceptable to both parties.”
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Associated Press Texas chief photographer Julio Cortez contributed to this report from Arlington, Texas.
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