Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The UAW said Friday that its members have voted to authorize a strike at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
The union said an average of 97% of voting members across the so-called Big Three auto companies voted yes.
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Aug. 25 (UPI) -- The UAW said Friday that its members have voted to authorize a strike at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. The union said an average of 97% of voting members across the so-called Big Three auto companies voted yes.
"Our union's membership is clearly fed up with living paycheck-to-paycheck while the corporate elite and billionaire class continue to make out like bandits," said UAW President Shawn Fain in a statement. "The Big Three have been breaking the bank while we have been breaking our backs."
Fain is determined to push for a record contract for autoworkers as the Detroit Three automakers racked up combined profits of $21 billion in the first half of 2023.
The UAW strike authorization doesn't start a strike but gives UAW leadership the power to call one if the automakers don't deliver what the union considers a just labor contract offer.
Ford said in a statement after the UAW strike authorization that it hopes to work with the union toward "creative solutions during this time when our dramatically changing industry needs a skilled and competitive workforce more than ever."
After making serious concessions to the automakers years ago the union is looking to make up the losses now that the companies are robustly profitable.
The UAW said in Friday's statement that the autoworkers want "the elimination of tiered wages and benefits, wage increases to offset inflation and match the generous salary increases of company executives over the last four years, the re-establishment of cost-of-living allowances and defined benefit pensions and retiree healthcare, the right to strike over plant closures, significant increases to current retiree benefits, and more paid time off to be with family."
"Our members expectations are high because Big Three profits are so high. The Big Three made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year," Fain said in the statement. "That's on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits they made over the last decade. While Big Three executives and shareholders got rich, UAW members got left behind. Our message to the Big Three is simple: record profits mean record contracts."
As UAW labor contract talks started with Ford, GM and Stellantis in July Fain said since the UAW members deserve improvements and the companies can well-afford to deliver them, it's up to the companies whether there will be a strike.
GM said that a 2019 UAW 40-day strike, the longest since 1970, cost the company nearly $4 billion.
Unlike some other industries, when the UAW strikes it shuts down company production, imposing immediate costs on the employers. The union has a large strike fund to help sustain its members when they hit the picket lines.
According ot the UAW, its Ford members voted 98% to authorize a strike. At GM it was 96% and at Stellantis it was 95%.