This is the first strike in US history carried out simultaneously against the three major automobile manufacturers.
More than 10,000 American workers at three assembly plants are going on strike against the large unionized automakers (General Motors, Ford and Stellantis), the first time in the country’s history that it has been carried out simultaneously against these companies.
“The Big Three are on strike. ‘Stand Up’ strike,” the United Auto Workers (UAW) union has published on its X social network account, formerly Twitter.
The ‘Stand Up’ type of strike is, as defined by the union itself on its website, “a new strike approach” that consists of calling some local strikes and adding more and more, which provides “maximum influence and flexibility in the fight to get a fair contract from each of the big three automakers.
The call came after the three manufacturers did not offer what was demanded by the union, which asked to recover lost benefits “more than a decade ago, when the companies lacked liquidity and were on the verge of bankruptcy,” as published by the CNN network.
Thus, the UAW has rejected double-digit wage increases with the intention of materializing its “ambitious demands” regarding wages, benefits and employment protection in a context in which the ‘Big Three’ have recorded enormous profits.
The strike has been supported by the General Motors assembly plants in Wentzville (Missouri) – which has 3,600 employees -, the Ford truck plant in Warren (Michigan) – with 3,300 workers – and the Stellantis in Toledo (Ohio) –with 5,800 strikers–.
Despite the high number of striking workers, up to 145,000 union members were expected to join the strike in the days leading up to the strike.
