‘We’re Out Here For The Middle Class, Not Just Autoworkers’ Says Striking Worker As UAW Marches On

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Just to clarify, you don’t have to be a Member of Congress to be the Speaker of the House. So, if I’m not doing The Morning Dump tomorrow, there’s a decent chance that I’ve been elected the new Speaker of the House. First order of business: Get rid of the 25-year import ban. Ok, real first order of business: rid of the Designated Hitter position in baseball (If Shohei Ohtani can hit it, every pitcher should!). Second order of business: Get rid of the 25-year import ban. Actually, the second order of business: pass a budget… that includes the repeal of the 25-year import ban. I’m good at this!

Speaking of good-at-this, there’s a great story this morning that highlights some of the views and attitudes of striking United Auto Workers I want to highlight. I’ll follow that up with Ford’s counterproposal to the UAW, because the automaker has moved a decent amount in the last few weeks.

All of this strike business is happening right as the automotive market in the United States is finally starting to return to where it should be after years of strife. Is that bad timing for some or bad timing for everyone?

“There are no days off when you’re fighting for your survival”

Uaw Striking Workers
Photo (And Top Photo): UAW

When covering a strike it’s important to talk to union leadership, of course, but it’s also just as key to hear from the workers on the line. The seed of this current flowering strike was planted when the former UAW leadership essentially ignored the average worker and made what many viewed as sweetheart backroom deals. Whatever you think of current UAW President Shawn Fain’s actual intentions (the average Big 3 C-suiter, at this point, seems to view him as the chaotic Joker played by Heath Ledger in the Nolan Batman flicks), he has repeatedly expressed that he’s merely an instrument of the people.

So let’s listen to some people.

The Detroit Free Press‘s Phoebe Wall Howard went out to the lines in the middle of the night to file this report: “For striking UAW workers, picket line feels different in the middle of the night.”

There’s a lot here:

“There are no days off when you’re fighting for your survival,” Brandon Clark, 38, who works as a “switcher,” driving a products truck in and out of docks at the site near Port Huron, told the Detroit Free Press.

“We’re out here for the middle class, not just autoworkers,” said the Eastpointe man. “We’re here so everybody can have a fair share of the American pie.”

And

“I tell my daughter we’re fighting for a better America,” said Anthony Theeuwes, 52, of Port Huron. As a temporary worker for nearly three years, he earns $17.53 lifting car parts such as doors and tailgates. The strike allows him to walk Esme to second grade these days.

“We’re waiting for a contract and hoping for the best,” he said. “I was a breakfast cook at Mama Vicki’s Coney Island (North) for 20 years. They paid more, plus benefits. They took good care of me. I thought coming to this job would be a good opportunity.”

I love the extremely Detroit clarification in that quote that he worked for Mama Vicki’s Coney Island North.

The bit about Theeuwes laboring as a temp worker for three years lifting heavy car parts is absolutely no surprise.

There’s long been a bi-partisan effort in this country to herald the blue-collar plant worker as a paragon of the American working class when it’s electorally convenient. They are largely portrayed as bearded men in John Deere hats, who work hard during the week and pray hard on the weekend. Yet, through slightly more partisan efforts, those same workers are suddenly lazy and spoiled when they ask for what they view as their fair share. Weird!

There are about 400,000 UAW members in the United States out of about 135 million full-time working Americans. That’s a tiny percentage overall, but union workers seem to think that raising wages for themselves will result in better pay for everyone else (there’s evidence that this is the case).

I liked this story. I think you should read it. Also, I thought this tweet from a radio show that the reporter was on was interesting:

Ford’s Big Counter Offer

Here’s a little graphic showing what Ford just shared with the UAW:

Image001

Look at all those checkmarks!

This does seem to come much closer to what autoworkers have seemingly asked for in their various requests and the bit about “No job loss due to EV battery plants” is interesting, and the enforcement mechanism for that will be interesting to see.

With this, Ford also sent out this note about the impact of the strike:

Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage. In this case, the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant has directly impacted some operations at Chicago Stamping Plant and Lima Engine Plant. Approximately 330 employees have been asked not to report to work, with layoffs taking effect beginning Sept. 30 at Chicago Stamping Plant and Oct. 2 at Lima Engine Plant.

Liz Door, Ford’s Chief Supply Chain Officer (from Ford’s media briefing Friday, Sept. 29)

“We understand to date there are about 2,400 supplier employees that have been laid off. But as a consequence of the actions today, we see this two-week inflection point. We have roughly 125,000 supplier employees that support our Michigan Assembly Plant. And if prolonged, this really could have a significant impact as it extends into our other Ford factories. We see anywhere between 325,000 to 500,000 employees that could be laid off.”

Carrot and stick.

It’s Good To Be Just About Everyone That Isn’t Stellantis

2023 Jeep® Gladiator Rubicon
Photo: Stellantis

In addition to the Kia Carnival, the rest of the car market pretty much had a great third quarter (we’re still waiting on a few to report). GM was up 21.2% year-over-year, Honda was up 52.7%, and even Mitsubishi was up 32.3% over the same period. This makes sense as these automakers suddenly have products to sell and fleet sales are finally starting to return.

The third quarter did suck ass for one automaker, though, and that automaker was Stellantis. While Chrysler was up (95.8%!) and Maserati saw a big jump (38%!), the rest of the portfolio shrank. Let’s go through the brands and roast them:

  • Dodge (-22.7%): Just rebadged Alfas now, and not even the good ones
  • Alfa Romeo (-16.0%): Needs to bring back the MiTo
  • Fiat (-30.3%): Who are the 145 people who actually bought Fiats?
  • Jeep (-4.2%): Too many overbuilt, underbaked crossovers
  • RAM (-3.5%): The Ram 1500 is a good truck, but what we really want is a weird little Maverick-like Fiat-based thing, sorry-not-sorry

In the short term, the strike is maybe…less bad (?) for Stellantis because why should they even keep making cars that the market doesn’t appear to be in love with? If automakers like Toyota and Honda have the hardware and can jump in and offer good deals to conquest buyers then the strike might be temporarily good for the car market, but the last thing that consumers need over the long-term is a return to restricted inventory.

Ram Recalls 273k Trucks Over Weird Camera Issue

Ram 1500 Classic
Photo: Stellantis

Modern vehicles are complex and one little bit of complexity that is now mandatory is a backup camera. This actually makes a ton of sense and it’s the one piece of technology I’d like to add back to my older BMW.

It’s useful! Unless you have one of the nearly 273,000 trucks built by RAM because the radio software might prevent the rearview backup camera from being shown. Oops. The recall covers  022-2023 Ram 1500, Ram 3500 Cab Chassis with GVWR less than 10,000 lbs., and 2022-2024 Ram 2500 vehicles.

The good news is that this is just a software update and should be able to be carried out by dealers, free of charge.

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142 thoughts on “‘We’re Out Here For The Middle Class, Not Just Autoworkers’ Says Striking Worker As UAW Marches On”

  1. The DH should still be split by league; that was part of the fun, that AL and NL baseball are different… good for fun WS strategies, though I won’t have to worry about either team I prefer (Anaheim, Washington) being back there any time soon.

    As for the House, it’s funny to see some media outlets try to both-sides away one party’s internal bickering nearly shutting the government down with basically nothing from the other party contributing to the gridlock this time.

          1. dude, you don’t even live in this country, so your (incorrect) grasp of the situation is tenuous at best, but we always love to slap the bots around when they appear

              1. I don’t know, bub, but you don’t live here, but we let lots of people into this country, even in the comment sections. It’s cool, but since you lick boots…is it cool, though? I’m torn

                  2. I have no idea what country you live in. Truly. But between spelling and sentence structure, it isn’t America, and it’s got nothing to do with your ideas or opinions.

  7. So being a more or less casual baseball fan, I can’t say I mind the DH rule. One thing I do find interesting is that a number of my friends who find originalism to be a horrific thing in Supreme Court judges just hate the DH thing because it’s not traditional baseball. (And I love them, anyway!)

  8. I believe the only thing this strike is going to do for the middle-class is make it even more impossible for them to be able to afford to buy a new (UAW-built) car. They’re cutting their own throats long term with these excessive demands.

      1. Great argument. <rolleyes> So you’re saying that if the UAW’s ridiculous demands are met, car prices won’t be affected? They’re already too high… and making UAW-produced vehicles more expensive than their non-UAW-produced competition is going to put them at a serious disadvantage (again) resulting in lower sales and more layoffs. Don’t come crying to me when even more plants are built in Mexico.

        1. My comment, wasn’t an argument, but thanks!

          So, here’s a legitimate and serious rebuttal to both posts. Do you honestly and legitimately believe that the reason that costs have skyrocketed as a whole is due to the UAW?

          It very clearly is not the reason for such things, and in so many ways, we’ve gotten here (pick your example, and I have some if you claim to have none) due to corporate greed and the desire to pack profits on rather than create a sustainable product. I get that a business’ first purpose can be to make money, and that the second purpose is to stay in business…but that’s not really what has been going on. Or do you not think so?

          Historically, the only reason any one gets days off, vacations, etc., is due to unions. The rhetoric isn’t a glitch, it’s a feature.

          1. Re-read my comment. I never said that all car prices are high because of the UAW. I am saying that if the ridiculous demands the UAW is currently making are met, the prices of UAW-built vehicles are going to increase to the point that they will no longer be competitive with non-UAW-built vehicles – which will kill their sales – leading to lower production & layoffs. I live in a right to work state and have never been in a union, yet I have good pay, great work conditions, plenty of vacation time, decent healthcare coverage, 100% 401k matching up to 6%, and other benefits – all without paying union dues and padding some union leader’s pockets (how many former UAW leaders have been sent to prison now? I’ve lost count). If I don’t like what my employer does, I can go get a job at another one. There was a time when unions were needed, but that time has long since passed.

            1. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you said this:

              “So you’re saying that if the UAW’s ridiculous demands are met, car prices won’t be affected? They’re already too high… and making UAW-produced vehicles more expensive than their non-UAW-produced competition.” You can’t say/claim this, and then back away from the direct correlation that you made. So, what percentage does this play? If a Tacoma produced at a non-union plant is more expensive (or, was? I don’t know what new prices will be) than a Colorado produced at a union plant…what role did the union play in that?

              I don’t know what state you live in (I didn’t ask, don’t tell us) and I’m thrilled for you, seriously. However, alllllll the right to work states I know of are the exact opposite. I’m thinking that your success, such as it is, is more a function of what you do (your career) than where you live. Such is demonstrably not the case in right to work states in the south.

              And there is no doubt that traditionally (or, at least in the recent past) too many union leaders are complete scumbags 100000% full-stop. And this is likely why the UAW’s current guy is going so hard the opposite way, to “showwwww” he’s different.

              1. Suuuuure he’s different. LMAO!!!!!

                Here let me explain the comment that you are seizing on… I’m not trying to “back away” from ANYTHING I’ve said!:

                “So you’re saying that if the UAW’s ridiculous demands are met, car prices won’t be affected? They’re already too high… and making UAW-produced vehicles more expensive than their non-UAW-produced competition.”

                When I said “They’re all too high” I meant ALL car prices – UAW-produced and non-UAW=produced.

                If the UAW’s ridiculous demands are met, UAW-produced vehicles will be disproportionately higher than their non-UAW-produced competition.

                That’s all.

                …and even though you don’t want to know… South Carolina. You know… where BMW, Volvo, Mercedes Benz Vans, and now Scout Motors have chosen to build cars. Don’t be surprised to see even more jobs leaving UAW-controlled states (and probably the COUNTRY) after this bloodbath is over. As former Ford CEO Mark Fields recently stated “When you think about how the UAW is thinking about this strike action versus the automakers, the UAW is playing checkers and the automakers are playing chess.”

                The UAW will likely win this battle, but in the long run, they’re only shooting themselves in the foot.

  9. Disclaimer: I am a Phillies fan(Muck the Fets). I used to hate the DH, as I believed that if you play in the field you should swing the bat. Pitchers hitting homeruns are some of the most memorable moments because of the unlikelihood(Thanks Joe Blanton). However once the Phils signed Bryce Harper I came around on the idea of DH in both leagues. It is nice everyone is playing by the same rules, and it no longer gives odd advantages/disadvantages during the World Series. Also more offense and better batters make the game better! GO PHILS!

  10. I had to go elsewhere to find these numbers, but it looks like at least at Ford, a brand new UAW employee starts at around $65k per year, and can work up to around 100K. This raise would bring that starting salary up to 81K per year, capping out near $126k. Still way less than UPS drivers, but I digress.
    What exactly is the middle class these days?
    In MI a public school teacher starts around $47K and maxes out at $65K. Note that generally requires at least one post-graduate degree.
    District court Judges make $177, slightly more than the guys who bring their amazon deliveries.
    According to census data in MI “middle class” is anywhere between $24k to 73K per year.
    Right now UAW are at minimum upper middle class in their own state. I think this has way more to do with job security than income.

    1. Yup. Health care workers, educators, and first responders should probably make more than assembly line workers and package transporters. Yet our society has shown what they value more!

  12. That Ford offer seems like a heck of a good deal, what am I missing? new hire to 6 figures in 4 years? Sign me up.

    When BYD and other Chinese brands get established here and increase their share in Europe, these autoworkers soon won’t have any jobs to go to if they price themselves out of the market.

    I think BYD is now the worlds 4th largest car company by volume (recent sales), while the top two are saddled with massive record debts and Toyota can’t even build a decent EV yet. VW’s I.D. range of cars (not mileage) isn’t great either, although I think they are now building better EVs – 2024 onwards. I don’t know if they’ll be price competitive.

    I see tough times ahead for the big three and their workers.

    1. It doesn’t include pension for those not grandfathered into it. I thought they did give it in the Canada deal, but perhaps its not the same pension as US. Bigger raise than Canada. Overall seems like a decent deal, can’t see it getting any better.

    2. By my calculation, 36% of vehicles sold in the US are from UAW factories. I think we’ll see GM/Ford/Chrysler continue to lose market share and the trend to evs reduce labor content in the vehicles they do sell. One saving grace is that the Tesla pickup truck is so goofy looking I doubt it is much of a competitor. They could have gone with something mainstream and really grabbed a lot of market share which would hurt the big 3.

      1. I still can’t believe that Tesla thinks the truck is a good idea. The forthcoming Model 2 is supposed to be the best selling car in the world ever if you listen to them.
        Of course the Model Y isn’t far from being the top seller in the world according to some, so who knows. (shrug).

    3. BYD and all other Chinese car makers are state-subsidized and pay slightly above-slave wages in China. The only 2 ways to compete with that are: a) we do the same here, or b) import tariffs

      If they open factories here they’ll have to pay the same wages as the rest of the industry here and obey the same regulations.

      1. You are correct for the American market, I had forgot about the possibility of the points you make.
        I can’t see us competing on wages, and import tariffs work both ways.

        Maybe the I.R.A. will encourage them to build here for the Fed rebates then the labor costs would be equalized?

        Do they really need to build here to be price competitive though?

        1. When you say “tariffs work both ways” you have to take into account that most other countries (including the EU and its members) do have import tariffs on US-made cars, and have had them for a long time (even if – in the EU mostly – they don’t call them ‘tariffs’ but some form of ‘tax’ for non-EU-made cars). So the US slapping import tariffs on cars would just make things even.

          The IRA subsidies are incentives to build factories here even without tariffs.

      1. Great contribution, really enlightening, thanks.

        Seriously, do you think this sort of behavior convinces anyone that you’re right or that the other person is wrong? Or even comes off as anything other than juvenile snickering from the back of the class?

        1. Listen, dude, everytime an article comes out that even hints at the UAW, we get a bunch of low grade trolls that roll in with stupid comments. I don’t care, for a second, what you think about what I say but comments like the one above are garbage, and can’t be allowed to just sit with no response.

          It’s a stupid bootlicker response to simply say “big money good, wish I had that, man those autoworkers are in trouble”

          If you’re supporting his stupid, shallow comment, you’re in that boat, too.

          1. Sure looks like you’re going around insulting people while pretending to yourself that you’re somehow “fighting the good fight”. You’re not. You’re a troll, just a smug and self-satisfied version of the species. All you’re doing is playing in the mud with other trolls of opposing beliefs and occasionally dragging someone else into the mud when they mistakenly think you want a discussion when you really want affirmation or a chance to abuse someone. Mindlessly calling people names on the internet is not activism, it’s a way for you to work out your anger problems on strangers without any consequences other than increasing your sense of superiority.

            Hopefully you don’t go around acting like this in real life. It’s easy for the anonymity of the internet to cause people to allow their worst selves to take the lead so I can understand. I myself have lashed out at people with contrary opinions on subjects that I felt strongly about. But it didn’t help anyone and arguing about it like children degrades every adult involved.

            Anyway it’s a ridiculous term. Anyone can be a “bootlicker” depending on which authority the speaker considers it legitimate to submit to. If I, for instance, believed that the only principle of society is that might makes right it would be reasonable to call anyone who obeys laws a “bootlicker”. Trump and his cronies could call anyone defending the Constitution “bootlickers” of the Founding Fathers, a group of powdered and wigged dandies who presume to tell us what to do from centuries-old graves. It’s essentially a gratuitous insult with no actual information about the person being insulted.

            1. I’m super excited for your lengthy post. That’s kind of you to feel like you needed to dive in. It’s thoroughly meaningless.

              I’m amused that you think a post here on a discussion board in Autopian would be considered “activism” on either side. That’s a nonsensical point. Since none of you labor toadies seem to pay attention to each other, I’ll say it again, and keep saying it: if you’re against the autoworkers and what they’re trying to do, you’re the problem, and there isn’t a spectrum here. You should be treated as an enemy of people.

              Obviously, you don’t know me personally, so I can tell you anything and it can be true or not true. But I absolutely am like this at all times and have no problem speaking my mind, if there is an issue that I feel requires it.

              Again, you seem to think that this is some sort of elevated discussion. In truth, since 2016, just about every public forum I do or did pay attention to has seen an influx of people that are lackies for big business. If you pay any attention to anything, you would have seen this at sites like Deadspin, Jalopnik and even sites like Expedition Portal have an influx of tools who simply want to burn something down. I am quite confident that one reason you have to pay to comment here is to keep some of that out…and often, it works. But even a great site (similar to this one), like Defector, has had a run of this lately. Paid shills/trolls gotta troll.

              I see this in a cyclical fashion regarding education. Every so often, they fall out of the woodwork to bemoan teacher salaries, or retirement, or who knows what. Then, after a while, they crawl back under their rock again.

              I’m unclear if we’re dealing with rock dwellers here, paid anti-union shills, or any combination of the two. But they’re idiots, and their stupid argument must absolutely not, ever, never, be allowed to have oxygen without being countered, and it matters not a whit to me if you agree with that.

              1. Yeah man, whatever with your justifications for being an asshole. You’re not helping anyone, you’re actually hurting the causes you believe in and the only thing that benefits is your ego. Read over your post and if it doesn’t come across as condescending and patronizing you’re delusional. You’re acting like a jerk because you enjoy it and you’re using the cover of politics to shield yourself from criticism when someone calls you out. Examine your behavior and realize that the conflicts you run into online and in real life may be your fault. Because you’re the asshole. Even if the other person has asshole beliefs you’re the one performing asshole actions so you’re worse. But I’ll take solace in the fact that no matter how much unpleasantness you put out into the world it’s undoubtedly worse to be you. Anyone so filled with bile must be deserving of pity in some way.

                1. Nope, you’re wrong, and as I said…I could give a shit if you think that way. If you’re against the autoworkers and they’re case, you’re an enemy of the people.

                  I love the common reply from you pests that I have some sort of awful life, but if that helps you deflect from your shill/troll attitude, good on ya!

                  The good thing is, just like houses with a “Trump 20/20” sign still flying proudly, these idiotic posts are super helpful in seeing who can’t be taken seriously, like, ever

                  1. “They’re case”
                    Another amazing pearl of wisdom from one of the preeminent thinkers of our time! Hopefully your students are not also becoming a case, as these autoworkers apparently are. Thanks for all the cognizant and coherent responses; you are really winning over a lot of people and not at all hurting the cause you are trying to support.
                    (/s)

        2. Yep. It’s people like him who make unions look bad. The worst part is apparently he works in education, yet he can’t put together cognizant responses and rational arguments!

          2. It appears you’ve got a real problem with reading comprehension, because I continue to put together “cognizant responses.” They just happen to slap down the absurd bootlicking that tends to come out of the woodwork anytime there’s a union post

            1. I expect you wouldn’t know that! But you should follow me, because I’m amazing, and seldom wrong

              Also, my life is pretty great, but I appreciate your concern

  13. Getting rid of all import restrictions is certainly going to lose you the UAW’s support, and is even a bit far for this laissez faire neo-liberal (although I do like that VW badged single-cab manual transmission Ranger they get in other countries, so maybe I’ll come around). However, getting rid of import restrictions would be a better way of helping the global poor than anything the UAW is proposing.

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