UAW workers head for picket lines in first national strike against GM
since 2007
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[September 16, 2019] By
Nick Carey, Ben Klayman and David Shepardson
DETROIT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United
Auto Workers (UAW) went on strike at General Motors just after midnight
Sunday and about 48,000 hourly workers at its facilities are headed for
the picket lines in the morning, union officials said early Monday.
U.S. labor contract talks reached an impasse on Sunday, and the UAW
called for the first nationwide strike at GM in 12 years.
"We do not take this lightly," Terry Dittes, the UAW vice president in
charge of the union's relationship with GM, said at a news conference in
downtown Detroit on Sunday.
"This is our last resort."
GM said in a statement that its offer to the UAW during talks included
more than $7 billion in new investments, 5,400 jobs - a majority of
which would be new - pay increases, improved benefits and a
contract-ratification bonus of $8,000.
"We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency," the
automaker said.
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Late on Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump on Twitter urged the UAW and
GM to "get together and make a deal!". GM spokesman Tony Cervone said
the automaker "couldn't agree more" with Trump's call.
A strike will very quickly shut down GM's operations across North
America and could hurt the broader U.S. economy. Prolonged industrial
action would also cause hardship for GM hourly workers on greatly
reduced strike pay.
GM's workers last went out on a brief two-day strike in 2007 during
contract talks. A more painful strike occurred in Flint, Michigan, in
1998, lasting 54 days and costing the No. 1 U.S. automaker more than $2
billion.
No further talks were scheduled before the strike is set to begin, a
union spokesman and GM said.
Talks are set to resume on Monday at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT).
The union has been fighting to stop GM from closing auto assembly plants
in Ohio and Michigan, and arguing workers deserve higher pay after years
of record profits for GM in North America.
GM argues the plant shutdowns are necessary responses to market shifts,
and that UAW wages and benefits are expensive compared with competing
non-union auto plants in southern U.S. states. In its statement, the
automaker said its offer to the union included solutions for the
Michigan and Ohio assembly plants currently lacking products.
A person familiar with GM's offer said that could include producing a
future electric vehicle in Detroit.
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It could also include turning a plant in Lordstown, Ohio, into an
electric vehicle battery plant or going through with the proposed sale
of the plant to a group affiliated with electric vehicle start-up
Workhorse Group Inc.
A new battery plant could give some UAW workers at Lordstown the chance
to remain with GM.
The closure of Lordstown drew widespread criticism, including from
Trump, who met with GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on Sept. 5. Ohio is
crucial to Trump's re-election bid in 2020.
But several Democratic presidential candidates said they backed the UAW,
including Senators Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris, former Vice
President Joe Biden and Representative Tim Ryan.
Sanders noted GM received a U.S.-taxpayer funded $50 billion bailout a
decade ago. "Our message to General Motors is a simple one: End the
greed, sit down with the UAW and work out an agreement that treats your
workers with the respect and the dignity they deserve," Sanders said in
a statement.
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![](../images/091619pics/busine37.jpg)
A member of United Auto Workers, Aramark workers, carries a strike
sign outside the General Motors Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant in
Detroit, Michigan, U.S. September 15, 2019. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook
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Biden said on Twitter he backed the UAW's demand for "fair wages and benefits
for their members. America's workers deserve better."
The union has framed the plant closures as a betrayal of workers who made
concessions in 2009 to help GM through its government-led bankruptcy.
"General Motors needs to understand that we stood up for GM when they needed
us," Ted Krumm, head of the union's bargaining committee in talks with GM, said
at the Sunday news conference. These are profitable times ... and we deserve a
fair contract."
The UAW says significant differences remain between both sides over wages,
health care benefits, temporary employees, job security and profit sharing.
The strike will test both the union and GM at a time when the U.S. auto industry
is facing slowing sales and rising costs for launching electric vehicles and
curbing emissions.
Kristin Dziczek, vice president of industry, labor and economics at the Ann
Arbor, Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research (CAR), said the strike at
GM's U.S. facilities will also shut its plants in Canada and Mexico as the
automaker's supply chain is so integrated.
"That's going to have a big effect on the economy," she said.
GM starts off the strike with healthy levels of inventory of some its key,
high-margin vehicles.
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As of Sept. 1, the automaker had 96 days supply of its Chevrolet Silverado
pickup truck, 59 days supply of its Chevrolet Equinox SUV and more than 100 days
supply of the Cadillac Escalade.
If the strike is short, hourly workers should not suffer much. But strike pay
provided by the UAW, which has been building up reserves in preparation for
possible industrial action, is just $250 per week.
The automaker has 12 vehicle assembly plants, 12 engine and power train
facilities and a handful of other U.S. stamping plants and other facilities.
On Friday, the UAW announced temporary contract extensions with Ford Motor Co
and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) while it focused its attention on GM.
The union had targeted GM as the first automaker with which it wanted to
conclude contract talks.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which transports some GM vehicles to
dealerships, said it would honor the UAW's GM picket lines.
(Reporting by Nick Carey and Ben Klayman in Detroit; Additional reporting by
David Shepardson in Washington and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Daniel
Wallis, Lisa Shumaker and Sandra Maler)
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