A Historic Strike (And Win) For Auto Workers

from The New York Times I'm Sabrina. Tavern and this is the. [Music]. daily a wave of strikes that had. paralyzed the Auto industry came to an. end on Monday when the last of the three. big car manufacturers General Motors. reached a deal with the Union that. represents Auto. Workers today my colleague Neil budet on. that historic deal.

and why it was such a win for. workers it's Tuesday October. [Music]. 31st so Neil we last had you on the show. in September and at that point the union. that represents Auto Workers the UAW Was. preparing to strike against the three. big car makers Ford GM and stellantis. formally Chrysler shortly after you.

previewed that for us they did in fact. go on strike and today we're coming back. to you because the union appears to have. a tentative deal with those companies. after weeks of striking and lots of. negotiations tell me what happened what. exactly have they gotten in this deal. well I don't know if the union has ever. gotten a pay increase this big in one. single contract it's a really in some. ways kind of a a breath taking number so.

the top UAW wage now is $32 an hour over. 4 and 1/2 years that will increase by. 25% to more than $40 an hour with a. little overtime it would be fairly easy. for workers to make $100,000 or more and. in a place like Flint Michigan a factory. town like that that's a really solid. middle class life that these people are. now going to be able to live but really.

the bigger moves are for people who are. lower down on the pay scale there are. people who are making 22 or $26 an hour. and we're going to have to wait five or. six or seven years to get to the top. wage now they'll move to the top wage in. three so you'll see somebody who was. making $20 an hour and in four and a. half years their wages will double so. that is a really big move for the people. who are lower down it's not just a. benefit for those up at the top so Neil.

what else is in the tentative agreement. one of the biggest things is that the. union won cost of living adjustments to. their wages this is something that they. had given up several years ago and had. wanted to win back and had been unable. to win back in previous negotiations and. so now they have it so if inflation goes. up their wages will creep up to soften. the blow of inflation then in addition. to that there's richer.

contributions to the pension plan and. 401k and they also won the right to. strike if the automakers close any. plants in the past they were not allowed. to strike over plant closures now they. are able to do that so in other words. this gives workers more power to. actually have some influence over What. factories companies are closing. absolutely this is definitely another. lever that they can pull to respond to. the companies if the company does.

something like tries to close a plant. and eliminate some of their UAW jobs so. Neil help me understand what these. concessions for workers actually mean I. mean it sounds like a pretty big win for. them right put it into context for me so. the pay increase of 25% is more than all. of the combined increases that the union. got in wages for over about the last 20. years part of the problem was that in.

the past they had gotten small increases. inflation went up and they had really. seen their actual purchasing power and. and living standard go down and now. they're gaining back a lot of that and. more so a remarkable win for the workers. here I mean this is really a moment for. labor across the board we just did a. show about the Hollywood writers getting. a huge win and their Union negotiations. so how did the Auto Workers get such a. huge win what was the strategy well.

traditionally they would strike at all. plants at one company they would pick. one company known as the Target and they. would go on strike there and try to get. the best deal they could from that. company and then try to get the other. two to agree to the same terms that was. the traditional way the way it's been. done for decades and decades basically. everybody walking off the job at the. same time everywhere. correct but this. time.

they had a new. president I want to thank every member. who voted no matter who you voted for. Shan Fain today we put the companies on. notice the fighting UAW is. back he was elected last spring and he. came in with a completely different. approach and a completely different. mindset and idea of how to do this about. 13,000 workers at three major auto. companies are now on strike for the very. first time and so what they did.

was they struck at all three companies. at the same time but they only picked a. few targeted plants or locations to. strike so here are the two strikes that. were announced today the additional. locations you've got they would add more. over time to increase the pressure on. the. companies. are the UA strike expanding once again. more plants shutting down did was it. kept the companies off balance they.

weren't sure where the union was going. to hit next or where they were going to. feel the impact next the strike is. expanding to an additional 38 plants. across 20 States adding thousands more. workers to the picket. line so in other words the new president. Shan feain was employing this very new. strategy that was kind of like Guerilla. style tactics right it wasn't everywhere. everybody all at once that the companies. could kind of prepare for and saw coming.

it was suddenly this plan suddenly that. planned it was keeping the companies. guessing about what the workers were. going to do exactly and it was. frustrating for the companies because. they didn't know when or what sha feain. was going to do next and it created a. high level of anxiety on the company. side at the very beginning they were. really frustrated they didn't know how. to respond to it and it proved very. effective for Shan Fain and the United.

Auto Workers so the strike starts in. September is there a moment when the. union realizes this new strategy it's. got going is. working yeah fairly early on they knew. they were gaining ground and the best. example of that came at the beginning of. October Ford and the UAW were going to. have a negotiating session it was at the. Ford world headquarters they had a big. room with this giant negotiating table. with 50 seats on one side and 50 seats.

on the other they were all set for this. big meeting but the union got there and. Ford did not have a new offer for them. and that surprised Shan Fain and he was. annoyed and right then and there he told. Ford you just lost Kentucky Truck and he. was referring to this truck plant in. Louisville Kentucky it's Ford's largest. it's for's most profitable and he walked. out minutes after the meeting started. and called the local president in.

Kentucky and told them tell your workers. to walk out of the. [Music]. plant thousands of Auto Workers. unexpectedly walked off the job at one. of Ford's most and that night they. walked out this is serious this Kentucky. plant does a lot this is the plant that. builds the Superduty FS series it also. builds the Expedition as well as the. Lincoln Navigator high-profit Vehicles. this one really hurts Ford.

and it was a really dramatic moment. because it showed the power that sha. feain had to strike at the company very. quickly and at a time in a place the. company was unprepared for they thought. they figured out the so-called rules of. the game so we changed the rules and now. there's only one rule Pony. up and then after the strike at the. Kentucky plant the UAW did the same. thing to GM we're going to hit when we.

need to hit and where we need to hit and. then to stellantis they went out at Big. Truck plants owned by those companies. time is on our side and our strategy is. working and very quickly about 2 weeks. later the UAW has reached a deal with. Ford Union president they had a. tentative agreement with Ford and then 3. Days Later stantis agreed to basically. the same terms as Ford and then finally. on Monday October 30th there was a.

tentative agreement with General Motors. which means the strike is finally after. 6 weeks coming to an. [Music]. end so in the end do we have any sense. of what this strike cost the auto. companies yes it has hit their bottom. line and if you look at GM for example. just the other day they said that the. strike had cost them $800 million.

which is a significant sum but it's not. crippling to the companies it's a sum. they can manage and get by with General. Motors is on track to make about10. billion this year so it really doesn't. knock them off course okay so overall. this pretty unorthodox approach caused. the auto companies some pain enough to. make deals with the UAW that are very. favorable to workers and the person at. the center of that as we've been. discussing is sha feain who you know has. this kind of brash confrontational.

approach and I remember the last time. you were on the show you were saying. there's a real question about whether. that's going to work and it seems like. we have the answer to that right yes. Shan Fain has really through this strike. emerged as one of the most important. leaders in the uaw's long history for. the last 20 years the union has really. been going backwards they've been giving. concessions to the companies they've. accepted did lower wages for newer.

workers and sha feain is the man who. turned that around what sha Fain has. done is really impressive and it's going. to have implications for the future not. just for the UAW but for other unions. and even non-unionized workers and. certainly for organized labor in. [Music]. general we'll be right back. [Music].

so Neil how should we understand this. really big potential win for the UAW and. what it means for the Union in the. longer term it really is a very big win. for the United Auto Workers because it.

changes the prospects for the union they. now have the potential to gain new. members and organize because this. contract really enhances the Union's. image and reputation for years they had. been going backwards and now they're. taking their members forward and winning. higher wages and better benefits so it. makes the union more attractive to. workers who could potentially join and. what does it mean about what the Union's.

Ambitions are at this point well they're. looking toward the South and throughout. the South and the lower Midwest foreign. own automakers Toyota Honda Hyundai. Nissan own plants that are non-union and. in the past the UAW has made some. attempts to organize these plants and. they've been rebuffed they tried at a. Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga. Tennessee and the workers rejected the. UAW but now they can come back and show.

these big gains that they have gotten in. this contract and in many cases these. plants in the South these non-union. plants pay significantly less than UAW. wages for example at many of these. plants of starting wages is in the high. teens and then people can climb up into. the mid 20s. 2527 an hour but this new contract takes. the top UAW wage up to 40 so there's a. really wide wide gap between what the.

UAW workers are going to be earning and. what these non-un workers in the South. are earning so basically the UAW is kind. of looking around at the landscape. seeing what it just got and thinking. maybe it could expand the territory. expand where it actually has members. right expanding to other companies that. are in fact not unionized absolutely. Shan Fain has said that is their. ambition is to go on the road and. organize he said organize like we've.

never organized before and go to these. plants and try to convince these workers. to sign up and have them vote in favor. of the UAW this time now they can go to. these plants in the South and say this. is what we won from the big three and. that's what we can win for you from. whoever your employer is Mercedes BMW. Hyundai Toyota Nissan and so on now. let's turn. to the auto companies themselves and you.

know obviously this is a very favorable. deal for workers that they just struck. what does this ultimately mean for their. business you know the big three well it. creates more challenges for these. companies it means that their labor. costs are going to increase and they've. been preparing for this about two years. ago they started cutting costs. internally in hopes of making enough. Cuts so that it would cushion the impact.

of higher labor costs but it's not like. the old days where there were labor. contracts that had certain terms that. really burdened the Detroit companies. that kept them from competing labor cost. these days is only about 5% of the cost. of an automobile so it's that 5% that is. going to increase but it's such a small. portion that it's not going to throw. these companies economics compl. completely out of whack got it so Neil.

you've been covering the Auto industry. for 21 years how would you describe this. moment that we're in and what has this. agreement. changed it's really a dramatic point in. time when I came in the story of Detroit. was a story of Decline and those. companies were struggling they were. closing plants they were laying off. workers the UAW itself was in Decline. and in Retreat and really in the last 10.

years these companies have become. rejuvenated after General Motors and. Chrysler came out of bankruptcy and Ford. survived the financial crisis of 2008. yes correct they have slimmed down and. become really competitive and have had a. long run of near record or record. profits and at this point this means the. winnings of that hot streak for the the.

companies gets extended to the workers. now they're really going to see the. impact of those profits trickle to them. and improve their lives as well so the. workers really scored a win after many. many years of losses yes it's a dramatic. turnaround Shan Fain said the other day. that this Union used to be a story of. Decline and defeat and now this this is. a story of Victory and moving forward.

and do you think Neil that it provides. some sort of blueprint for other types. of Industries I mean in terms of his. tactics and how they actually pulled. this off I'm not sure the tactics. themselves the targeted strike and. hitting certain plants at certain times. I don't know if that's transferable but. just the fact that the UAW has won this. big victory should embolden other unions. to try to do something similar and I.

think you'll even see uh non-union jobs. reacting to this just in the Auto. industry alone for example the. foreign-owned plants in the South that. are non-unionized you're likely to see. them raise their wages kind of. preemptively so as to maybe Stave off a. UAW attempt to organize their plants if. they give their workers a raise maybe. they won't want to join the UAW so just.

that alone is going to have a ripple. effect throughout various Industries. where there are unions and even where. there are no unions so in a way this. seems like a win-win like Auto Workers. Make a Better Living and it doesn't. fundamentally change the competitiveness. of the American automakers well it's. certainly a win for the. workers if you go back to the ' 60s and'. 7s getting a job in an auto plant was a. ticket to the middle class class you. could get out of high school take one of.

these jobs and be assured of living a. very comfortable life you could raise. your family have some nice vacations and. live a great life and send your kids to. college and we haven't really seen a lot. of jobs like that in the last 20 years. and this contract brings that back. brings back that potential the UAW in. the past I mean they've taken credit for. helping build the middle class in the.

United States and prosperity in the post. World War II years and now they have the. potential to be that kind of engine. again as Shan feain says it helps. restore the American. [Music]. dream Neil thank you it was a pleasure. thanks for having. [Music]. me. [Music].

we'll be right. [Music]. back.

here's what else you should know today I. hope and pray that civilized Nations. everywhere will back this fight because. Israel's fight is your fight as Israeli. troops Advance deeper into Gaza Israel's. prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called. on world leaders to support his. country's war against Hamas and rejected. calls for a ceasefire describing such a.

possibility as quote a surrender to. terrorism Israel did not start this war. Israel did not want this war but Israel. will win this war asked about the. growing civilian death toll in Gaza from. Israeli air strikes which has surpassed. 8,000 people according to the hamron. health Ministry Netanyahu accused Hamas. of preventing civilians from leaving the. areas of conflict a claim that Hamas.

disputes meanwhile in Gaza on Monday. Israeli armored vehicles appeared to be. moving toward Gaza City a Hamas. stronghold from three directions during. operations there Israel said it had. rescued one of its soldiers who'd been. abducted by Hamas on October 7th and. brought to. Gaza today's episode was produced by. Diana Win Luke Vander plug Olivia Nat. and janon Lynn it was edited by John.

Ketchum and MJ Davis Lynn contains. original music by Maran Lozano and Pat. mccusker and was engineered by Chris. Wood our theme music is by Jim brunberg. and Ben lansberg of. [Music]. wonderly that's it for the daily I'm. Sabrina Tavern see you. tomorrow. [Music].