This is an unprecedented strike in the automobile industry across the Atlantic. For the first time, the industry union (UAW) is simultaneously targeting three major American automobile manufacturers also called the “Big Three”: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (group resulting from the merger between Peugeot-Citroën and Fiat-Chrysler).
The movement which began on the night of Thursday September 14 to Friday September 15 is announced as one of the largest that the American automobile industry has ever known. The union is demanding a salary increase of 36% over 4 years, after refusing a 20% increase, considered sufficient by certain leaders. None of the manufacturers wanted to increase pensions or grant additional days off to employees.
However, the groups are making record profits: 11 to 12 billion dollars at Ford this year, around ten billion dollars for General Motors. “This is a defining moment for our generation. The money is there, the cause is just, the world is watching,” Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union, said in a speech.
Multiple concerns of employees
Interviewed by L’Express, the director of the program on worker power and economic security at the American think tank Roosevelt Institute, Alí R. Bustamante, sees several reasons for these strong tensions in the sector. Among them, “the poor performance of the American automobile industry over the last thirty years” which has real consequences on employee benefits, or even “the inflation over the past year and a half which has eroded their purchasing power “. The transition to electric cars – massively subsidized by the Biden administration – is also at the heart of the concerns of employees, who want more guarantees on the preservation of their work.
If the strike persists, it could spread and weigh on the American economy. The automobile industry represents 3% of the national GDP. The UAW union alone brings together 150,000 employees in the United States, spread across several factories in Detroit. For the moment, no duration of the strike has been announced, but if it were to last 10 days, then it would cost around $5 billion in losses according to the consulting firm Anderson Economic Group (AEG). For some employees, it could even last even longer: “at least a month or two”, estimates Sofus Nielson to AFP. This Ford employee for 29 years, including fifteen at the Wayne plant, said he was “worried about young workers” who have lower salary scales and benefits.
“Microeconomic consequences”
However, could this unprecedented strike have consequences in Europe where Stellantis is widely established? For economist Anne-Sophie Alsif, from the audit firm BDO France, “the consequences will be microeconomic”, she tells the newspaper The gallery. In other words, these strikes could impact certain businesses, consumers and households in the United States, but their consequences will remain weak on the European continent.
In a statement yesterday, the group said it was ready to “identify issues and concerns in order to reach a mutually acceptable agreement and believes that these will be historic and important negotiations, which will lay the foundations for the future of the automotive industry as it transitions to electric vehicles (EVs). Anne-Sophie Alsif, however, considers that a company like Stellantis will suffer little from the strike. With its numerous factories around the world, it will be able to rebalance its difficulties.