UAW strike against major US automakers continues

Negotiations on a new contract continued between the United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Big Three US automakers as the UAW’s strike against the three automakers. The union had set Friday as the deadline for sending more workers and plants to strike if no “serious progress” is made, Xinhua news agency reported. Currently, 12,700 workers at Ford Motor Co.’s Wayne Assembly Plant in the state of Michigan, General Motors Co.’s Wentzville Assembly in the state of Missouri and Stellantis NV’s Toledo Jeep plant in the state of Ohio are on strike. Negotiations continue, so does the quarrel among top management of the UAW and the three US automakers. Responding to an opinion piece by GM President Mark Reuss published Wednesday in a local media outlet, UAW Vice President Mike Booth, also director of the union’s GM department, Thursday produced his opinion piece in the same media. “Temporary workers start at 16.67 dollars an hour. Once a temporary worker actually gets a permanent job, the starting wage is 18 dollars an hour. I don’t know what qualifies as ‘poverty wages,’ but show me a Big Three executive who would work for that pay,” Booth writes. The union wants to see workers become permanent employees at the top rate after 90 days. It also wants to restore pensions for all and retiree healthcare plans. While there has been “some progress” at the bargaining table in eliminating the divisive tiers system, everyone knows the core “tier” at the Big Three is the tier created in 2007, when workers lost their pensions and post-retirement healthcare. “GM is not addressing that,” the Detroit News quoted Booth in his opinion piece.