We’ve already talked about how it’s the summer of strikes, but what exactly does that mean for our economy? Just how much damage will it do to our Paychecks?
Don’t look now, but it’s a really big number.
Here are Five Fast Facts on a potential auto workers strike:
- 📝 The Contract - The current contract expires on September 14th. It impacts about 146,000 workers at GM, Ford, and Stellantis (they make Chrysler and Jeep). There’s a vote soon about whether or not the strike is on. No word on whether there will be baseball bat-wielding thu—I mean, poll monitors watching the ballot boxes.
- 👊 The Conflict - The big negotiating points are the usual: general pay increases (they want 40% more), making temporary workers permanent, increases in pensions and more. Um, yeah, can we get a 40% raise, too?!
- 💰 The Cost - A think tank specializing in labor strikes predicts that even a short 10-day strike could cost the US as much as $5.6 billion, with most of that loss coming in Michigan. Live by the auto, die by the auto, right?
- 📣 The Status - Currently, negotiations have stalled. Union reps say their demands are fair and necessary, the automakers are pointing to a multi-billion shift to electric vehicles as prohibiting any new increases. Details shmetails…
- 😣 The Gauntlet - The COO of Stellantis threw down in the press, calling for union reps to end their “theatrics and personal insults” and urging them to be realistic. Even if he’s right, is that helpful?
🔥Bottom line: At the time of this writing, no vote has been held yet. If the vote does go the way of striking, it doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a strike…only that the union leaders are authorized to call a strike. It’s a pretty massive bargaining chip! But, there’s still hope for a resolution in the next few days. Where you land on this probably depends on your exact position in relation to the unions and the automakers themselves, but either way it’s going to impact Paychecks big time.
What do you think should happen here?
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