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Tuesday, October 31, 2023

GM settles with UAW, as the third of the big three to do so. The strike is over, the union got good deals. The national need? More of the same.

Guardian, Oct. 30, 2023, report

The United Auto Workers’ six-week strike against the US’s three largest automakers appeared to be coming to an end on Monday as the union brokered a deal with General Motors.

The agreement follows on the heels of deals with Ford and Stellantis, brokered in the past few days, effectively ending the first simultaneous strike against the three Detroit automakers.

The UAW strike has been the largest by car workers in decades, and has proved an unusual political flashpoint, with Donald Trump and Joe Biden supporting workers over the car companies.

Biden lauded the reported agreement reached with GM. “I think it’s great,” said Biden, who has touted himself as pro-union.

[...] After the union reached a tentative agreement with Ford last week, Stellantis reached an agreement with similar contract terms on Saturday, and General Motors followed suit on Monday. The agreements include 25% wage increases for workers over the life of the contract and cost-of-living adjustments.

The union also won shortened wage progression scales, ended lower-paying wage tiers, and secured the reopening of Stellantis’s plant in Belvidere, Illinois, which closed down earlier this year.

[...] In the update on the tentative agreements reached with Ford and Stellantis, Fain said the next contract expiration was set for 1 May 2028. He called on other unions to align their contract expirations with their own to build collective pressure on employers in the next round of union contracts.

Fain had previously referred to workers at other auto companies including Tesla, Toyota and Honda as “UAW members of the future” and said on Sunday that the union’s next efforts will aim at unionizing auto workers at US plants currently not represented by unions at companies such as Tesla, Toyota and Volkswagen.

The non-unionized auto workers can see what UAW achieved. Either the non-union manufacturers will have to upgrade labor compensation, or face unionizing effort.

The next thing for Democratic politicians - come out fighting in any state having "right to work" laws; called by labor activists, "right to work for less."

Solidarity has worked with UAW workers. Now solidarity should be pushed wherever it can be. Strike - so to speak - while the iron is hot.

Bury "right to work." That should be articulated unambiguously by the Dems going into the 2024 elections. Poster child for the "right to work" contagion - Nikki Haley.

Hit her first and hard, South Carolina being out of step during her governorship, and still so. Change is in the air. Push. And reelect Biden. However strong or lukewarm his union bona fides may be, there would be less reform if Trump and Speaker Johnson do well next November. Reproductive freedom, clearly an issue needing emphasis. Work reform fits. Empower the people, with Democratic Party options, in personal decision making, and in working conditions. 

Solidarity. Define the needs, give the answers, win the elections.