UAW Escalates Strike After GM Reports Profit

5K walk off the job at key plant in Texas
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 24, 2023 2:12 PM CDT
After GM Reports Profit, UAW Escalates Strike
United Auto Workers members walk the picket line during a strike at the Stellantis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, in Sterling Heights, Mich., Monday, Oct. 23, 2023.   (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The United Auto Workers union turned up the heat on General Motors as 5,000 workers walked off their jobs Tuesday at a highly profitable SUV factory in Arlington, Texas. The move comes just a day after the union went on strike at a Stellantis pickup truck factory in Sterling Heights, Michigan, north of Detroit. The additional plants further escalate a labor dispute that's in its sixth week and now has about 46,000 union workers off the job. And rhetoric from both sides shows that they remain far apart on what they believe are fair wage and benefits offers, with the company and the union hold firmly to their positions.

The addition of the Arlington plant, which makes big truck-based SUVs such as the Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade, came just after GM announced strong third-quarter financial results, the AP reports. The SUVs are among GM's most profitable vehicles. The company on Tuesday posted a net profit of just over $3 billion for the quarter, down 7% from a year ago. But the company reported strong demand and prices for its vehicles. UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that GM beat Wall Street expectations, yet its offer lags behind Ford, preserving a two-tier wage structure and offering the weakest 401(k) contribution of all three companies at 8%. "It's time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share," Fain said.

GM CEO Mary Barra said on Tuesday morning's earnings conference call that the company already has made a record offer and won't agree to a contract that jeopardizes the company's future. Barra said GM's record offer rewards employees but doesn't put the company or UAW jobs at risk. "Accepting unsustainably high costs would put our future and GM team member jobs at risk, and jeopardizing our future is something I will not do," she said in a statement. (Fain has drawn attention, and criticism, for his aggressive tactics.)

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