2023 United Auto Workers strike
The 2023 United Auto Workers strike was a labor strike involving automobile workers in the labor union United Auto Workers (UAW) and the three unionized automakers in the United States—Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis. These three automakers' factories combined employ about 145,000 UAW members and produce about 50 percent of the vehicles manufactured annually in the US, accounting for 1.5 percent of US GDP. The strike began on September 15, 2023, when the union was unable to reach a deal with the three automakers. It was the first trilateral strike against the three automakers in the union's history.
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Striking workers listening to a speech by US President Joe Biden in Michigan in September 2023 | |||
| Date | September 15 – October 30, 2023 (1 month, 2 weeks and 1 day) | ||
| Location | United States
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| Caused by | Disagreements over the terms of a new labor contract | ||
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The hardline stance taken by the newly elected UAW president Shawn Fain contributed to the UAW's decision to strike. In particular, he has criticized stagnant wages that do not account for inflation and has called for the end of a tiered employment system that underpays newer employees, the restoration of overtime and retirement benefits that were lost as a result of the 2007–2008 financial crisis, the institution of a four-day workweek, and improved worker protections against plant closures as electric vehicle production increases.
A central concern for the automakers is the cost of labor relative to domestic and foreign non-union competitors, particularly as the industry transitions to electric vehicle manufacturing. The automakers have stated that they anticipate the need to invest a significant portion of their profits from gasoline-powered vehicles into new production technology for electric vehicles.
The strike was suspended in the last week of October as the automakers made tentative deals that largely matched the UAW demands, starting with Ford on October 25, followed by Stellantis on October 28 and finally General Motors on October 30. In announcing the deals with the automakers, UAW instructed workers to return to the job, thus ending the 46-day labor strike on October 30th. The new contracts would be ratified when individual UAW membership voting with all three companies ended from November 16-17 2023.