Workers at the three largest automakers in the United States have just voted to authorize a potential strike of 144,000 autoworkers by a majority of 97%. The United Auto Workers union (UAW) announced the nationwide voting results on August 25. In recent months, the UAW has kicked off a contract campaign to win workers’ demands in contract negotiations for autoworkers at the three largest car manufacturers: General Motors, Stellantis, and Ford. 144,000 UAW workers are employed by these three companies and are covered by one contract. This contract is set to expire on September 14, after which workers will strike if the auto companies do not meet their demands.
The union has employed the tactic of practice pickets at auto plants in Detroit, Michigan and Louisville, Kentucky. Practice pickets are trade union actions in which workers “practice” for a strike by holding down a picket line prior to the start of their shifts. This tactic was employed successfully by Teamsters workers in their historic contract campaign at UPS.
On Thursday, August 24, the UAW announced that they had brokered a tentative agreement with Ultium Cells, which employs UAW workers to manufacture electric car batteries for General Motors. The Big Three for years have been using joint ventures such as Ultium Cells to employ an underclass of workers who are not covered by the Big Three master contract and are therefore not entitled to the same benefits. The tentative agreement will raise wages by over 20% for Ultium Cells workers
