The United Auto Workers have overwhelmingly authorized a strike if they don’t reach a deal with the Big Three automakers by the time their contracts expire in mid-September, the union announced Friday.
Final votes are still being counted, but the current combined average of votes to strike across the three companies is 97%, the UAW said.
“Our union’s membership is clearly fed up with living paycheck to paycheck while the corporate elite and billionaire class continue to make out like bandits,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.
But despite the vote setting the stage for a strike, he stressed to workers in a Facebook Live on Friday that union leaders are fighting to avoid having them walk off the job.
“I want to be clear: Our goal is not to strike,” he said. “Our goal is to bargain for good contracts.”
The union, which represents about 150,000 workers, is asking Ford Motor
F,
General Motors
GM,
and Stellantis
STLA,
to raise wages 46% over the life of the contract; restore pensions and cost-of-living adjustments; increase benefits for retirees; get rid of tiers; reduce the workweek from 40 hours to 32 hours; and more.
The union says negotiations with the companies have been slow, and has repeatedly emphasized that the Big Three are generating big profit — a combined $21 billion in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, the UAW says, automobile workers have been left behind as they work under contracts filled with concessions that the companies no longer need.
“Inflation has been hammering us,” Fain told UAW members Friday. “This is our time to take back what we’re owed.”
The current four-year contract expires at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Sept. 14. The automakers, which have seen pressure on their stocks ahead of a possible strike, have said they are committed to coming to an agreement.
“Ford is proud to build more vehicles in America and employ more UAW-represented hourly workers in America than any other automaker,” a company spokesperson said Friday. “We look forward to working with the UAW on creative solutions during this time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever.”
A spokesperson for Stellantis said: “The discussions between the company and the UAW’s bargaining team continue to be constructive and collaborative with a focus on reaching a new agreement that balances the concerns of our 43,000 employees with our vision for the future.”
GM did not immediately return a request for comment Friday.
Preliminary vote totals to authorize the strike at each company were 96% at General Motors, 98% at Ford and 95% at Stellantis, according to the union.
Related: ‘I have a pension; they don’t’: Why United Auto Workers are fighting to end a two-tier system for wages and benefits
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