The president of the National Auto Workers Union, Sean Fain, has promised his members a different approach to collective bargaining with Detroit automakers this year. So far he has delivered. With a politically astute strategy, a resonating social media message, and the confidence that ailing unions can ride the wave of nationwide organized worker support, Mr. Fain has rallied the UAW to become a “businessman.” We have won the ‘war’ against greed and billionaire corporations. catch the national limelight, Ford engine
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“This is a defining moment for us as a union as workers, and we take different approaches every step of the way,” Fain said Tuesday night during a Facebook Live event with members. rice field. Former negotiators and several people involved in previous negotiations agree that this year’s negotiations, which officially begin on Wednesday, will be “different.”
Others said it would be “confrontational,” “expensive,” “critical,” “unprecedented,” and an “S-show.” The negotiations have seen new top negotiators willing to prove themselves on nearly every side, union members’ belief that concessions are not an option, and a push against the industry’s move to electric vehicles that will kill jobs and hurt wages. I have serious concerns.
The negotiations coincide with contract negotiations with Canada’s Unifor union, which represents 18,000 Detroit-based automaker workers whose contracts expire in September. Trade unions in the United States and Canada have expressed solidarity, which is expected to further complicate the competition for investment and jobs.
Instead of the usual handshake between the two to signal the start of negotiations, the union opted for a “membership handshake” between international UAW leaders and factory workers on Wednesday. Company representatives will not be attending the event. However, the union plans to start closed-door meetings with company officials next week.
Fain acknowledged on Tuesday that the start of negotiations meant “a break with tradition,” saying, “Until we do the right thing for our members and fix the broken status quo with the Big Three, I will continue to work with the CEO. I don’t shake hands,” he said. . ”
Public disagreements between the UAW and the automaker came unexpectedly early in an editorial in the local Detroit newspaper by Ford CEO Jim Farley and UAW Vice Chairman Chuck Browning, who heads the union’s Ford division. It’s already started in the last two weeks.