United Auto Workers Expand Strikes In United States

The United Auto Workers (UAW) labor union expanded their strikes last week of the United States’ top three auto manufacturers (Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis) when 8,700 workers walked off the job at a Ford truck plant in Kentucky on Wednesday.

That move brings the total number of union workers on strike to close to 34,000.

The union promised more walkouts will be coming soon. “We’re entering a new phase of this fight, and it demands a new approach,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in remarks last week. “We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out.”

Union leaders said the decision to launch the surprise Wednesday strike at Ford’s largest and most profitable facility came after the company refused to negotiate further on wage demands.

The strike is forcing the auto companies to lay off workers at other sites.

According to CBS, on Monday, October 9 General Motors laid off 155 workers at plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio while Ford let go 537 workers in Michigan and Ohio. Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, and Ram, laid off 570 workers at plants in Indiana and Michigan as recently as October 6. To date, CBS said Ford has laid off a total 1,865 workers while General Motors has let go of 2,330, and Stellantis has released 640 — bringing the combined total of strike-related layoffs to roughly 4,835.

The impact of the strikes is mounting quickly.

Economic losses to the auto industry through the first three weeks of the strike totaled approximately $5.5 billion, a report by the Michigan-based economic consultancy Anderson Economic Group estimated. That figure includes $2.68 billion in lost revenue for the carmakers, $579 million loss in direct wages for workers, supplier losses of $1.6 billion and dealer and customer losses totaling approximately $1.26 billion.

Read more about last week’s events here. Read Connecting the Dots’ previous coverage here, here, and here.