“People talk about paying homage to the hood, paying homage, to like, minorities, paying homage, to like, the workers; you know what you can do is fucking pay these people. Fuck homage, pay us.” - Eddie Huang
Arguably the most important piece of automotive news this century is currently ongoing and its effects will hit the American consumer harder than anything that has happened before it.
As of 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, September 14, 2023, factory workers for the “big three” American car manufacturers - Ford, GM, and Stellantis (F.K.A. Chrysler), have walked off the job as negotiations between United Auto Workers and their respective companies has failed to resolve.
Welcome to the end of the American-made car as we know it.
Close to a half-century ago, the American car industry was about to have its coffin nailed shut, as Americans turned to cheaper, compact, and better-built fuel sippers from Toyota, Datsun, and Volkswagen.
In today’s globalized economy, it is even clearer that this time around the big wigs that control the big three are the ones nailing their coffin shut.
Before we get into the current situation with the UAW, I want to talk about unions in general and why they are so important.
On top of negotiating a fair wage, unions look out for workers' health, well-being, and safety on the job.
I and other members of my family are beneficiaries of benefits negotiated by one or more of our parent’s unions. I feel grateful because not only was there a time when union membership was plentiful, but not demonized.
Like most fucked up things in the present day, there is a connection to Ronald Reagan. In August 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization, the union representing air traffic controllers, went on strike as they sought to negotiate for better working conditions and better pay due to the nature of their jobs. At the time, most ATC personnel made $36,613/year, a figure that some Americans deemed "enough."
The thing is, most air traffic controllers are federal employees, who are prohibited by law from striking. Instead of heading to the table to negotiate, President Reagan used the law as a threat and gave them an ultimatum for striking PATCO members to return to work within 48 hours or be fired, plus the additional whammy of never being eligible for federal employment ever again. 1,300 members broke the strike, while Reagan hailed the scabs as heroes and called the striking member's demands as "an unfair tax burden to fellow citizens."
So how does this relate to the UAW strike?
Since the PATCO strike, any proposals by labor unions to prevent a strike have always been seen as "too much" or "unreasonable" by both the bigwigs and the corporate media that defend them. The bosses appear on CNBC, Fox Business, or CNN to try to defend themselves as virtuous heroes of the working class as the providers of jobs that build the middle class in the Midwest, directing the blame and burden from themselves onto the workers and their demands.
Workers do not aimlessly demand stuff out of thin air, the conditions of both the workplace and the outside world influence it.
What the UAW is asking for is a minimum 40% pay hike with cost of living adjustments, pensions for hourly workers, and a shift to a four-day work week; which are nonstarters for the big three.
Ford CEO Jim Farley went on CNBC on September 15 saying that such demands would bankrupt the company, saying that they would be making more than "schoolteachers and members of the military;" essentially labeling his workers as greedy.
An infographic shared by labor historian Jeff Schuhrke shows that over the past four years, the cost of labor for each car has gone up 4-5%, while the top wage hike for UAW members has gone up to around 6%. This is all happening when inflation in the US has gone up at a rate of 20% from this time in 2019, and because they are not protected with cost of living adjustments, they have essentially taken a 15% pay cut. All the while, average new car prices have gone up faster than inflation and profits for the big three have gone up 65%.
So where is the money going? Are the workers getting more profit sharing? No, the executives are overseeing stock buybacks, which have gone up at a rate of 1,500% since 2019.
To break it down, workers provide the value in making new cars, the bosses keep the labor cost of said cars as low as possible and they use the fat profits to buy back available shares and artificially inflate the value of their company stock, which is tied to their pay. Since 2019, CEO pay has gone up by an average of 40%.
Thank you, Ronald Reagan. (The SEC, under Reagan, adopted Rule 10b-18 in 1982)
Blaming the workers while the bigwigs steal from them is just as American as apple pie or blaming Asian people for their economic woes. At this point there is only one endgame for them: adapt and survive. As technology leads the race to make cars cheaper for the manufacturers to manufacture, the human element will be taken out unless the ghouls that run GM, Ford, and Stellantis find intrinsic value in keeping them.
At this point, competitors like Tesla are eating their breakfast, lunch, and dinner and if the strike advances, they'll take the fridge too.
In America, the first phrase one should learn in the king’s English will be the most important one they’ll use: “Fuck you, pay me.” These companies brought personal transportation to the masses on the backs of factory workers and they are not afraid of bragging about it. Ford invented the assembly line at a time when such innovation enabled him to build a well-paid and well-educated workforce, and it seems like they're taking that for granted.
It is without a doubt that this strike will hurt the domestically-made American automotive industry in all aspects of the supply chain from the factories to the dealerships. This time around, they will not have the Japanese to blame, or even non-union competitors like Tesla - Ford, GM, and Stellantis will have themselves to blame.
The American-made car as we know it can be destroyed by American greed.
Ingat.