September 15, 2023 United Auto Workers go on strike

Republican Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy at Fox Business Network Studios on September 11 in New York City.

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he thought that autoworkers’ decision to strike was “misplaced” but that “I understand where they’re coming from,” as he blamed President Biden for the standoff.

He continued, “I get the frustration. I don’t even really blame the workers, even though I think the union bosses are channeling this in the wrong direction. This falls at the feet of the current administration.”

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks at Prince George's Community College on September 14 in Largo, Maryland. 

President Joe Biden was dealt an economic and political blow Friday as the United Auto Workers went on strike after the union and major American automakers failed to reach a new contract, a development the White House worked to avoid and now places the president in a bind.

On one side, Biden faces pressure to support workers he has championed for decades and whose support he’ll need to win reelection. On the other is the potentially destabilizing risk of an auto manufacturing shutdown, threatening higher prices on vehicles and a blow to the economy just as Biden ramps up his “Bidenomics” sales pitch.

Until now, the White House has remained on the sidelines of the talks, declining to take a position in the contentious negotiations. It remained to be seen whether the start of a strike would push the president toward more vocal support for one side, or unlock steps by the administration to contain the economic fallout.

For Biden, who has labeled himself the most “pro-union president in history,” the strike also lays bare a tension between two of his chief objectives: improving wages and conditions for American manufacturing workers, and leading a transition to clean energy.

The president has insisted repeatedly those can be parallel goals, not competing ones. But the launch of the strike makes clear that reconciling those intentions will still be a complex challenge. Negotiations between the autoworkers and the Big Three car companies – General Motors, Ford and Jeep-maker Stellantis – had been complicated by the shift to electric vehicles.

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In a stark warning Friday, the US Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses across the country, said the UAW strike could damage the economy. The lobby group blamed President Joe Biden’s pro-union policies.

According to Chamber CEO Suzanne Clark:

Clark blamed the Biden administration’s promotion of unionization for the “summer of strikes” that led hundreds of thousands of workers to walk off the job across multiple industries.

Clark added:

Biden is widely considered to be the most pro-union president in history. But UAW president Shawn Fain has withheld the union’s endorsement of Biden and has frequently criticized him for what he considers a lack of support.

Unsold 2023 Wrangler sports-utility vehicles sit in a long row at a Jeep dealership on June 18 in Englewood, Colorado.

Stellantis, Jeep’s parent company, had apparently been preparing for a UAW strike by building up deep vehicle inventories at dealerships. That’s showing now that the strike has begun.

The UAW has called a strike on Stellantis’s Toledo, Ohio, factory where the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator are built. (The Gladiator is essentially a pickup version of the Wrangler.) But it will be a while before dealerships run low on those models. Jeep dealers have an average 207 days’ supply of Gladiators, according to data from Cox Automotive.

To calculate “days supply” analysts take the number of a certain model on dealer lots, and divide it by the number of that model that are sold on an average day. It indicates roughly how many days they could keep selling that vehicle out of existing inventory, even if no more came in.

Dealers also have an average 82 days supply of the Wrangler. That’s well above the industry average. According to recent figures, auto dealers of all sorts have an average of about 58 days supply of vehicles on their lots, so Jeep dealers are in relatively good shape.

Less so for GM’s dealers, however, according to Cox. Chevy dealers have only a 35-day supply of the Colorado midsized pickup and GMC dealers have 38 days’ worth of the closely related Canyon truck. Ford dealers, meanwhile, have just a 35-day supply of the Ranger midsized truck and a47-day supply of Ford’s Wrangler competitor, the Bronco.

US stocks were lower Friday morning after the United Auto Workers launched a strike against Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, the owner of Chrysler and Jeep.

Investors worry that the work stoppage could roil fragile supply chains and increase prices in an economy already grappling with elevated inflation. 

This is the first time in history that the UAW has struck all three of America’s unionized automakers at the same time.

Ford shares fell 1.5% on Friday, GM dropped 0.6% and Stellantis rose 0.4%.

Non-striking Big Three-adjacent auto companies like Tesla and Toyota were up 0.5% and 1.2%, respectively. 

Meanwhile, markets continued to focus on UK-based chipmaker Arm, which soared nearly 25% in Thursday trading, notching a very successful debut on the Nasdaq. Shares of the Softbank-owned company continued their gains on Friday morning, growing by about 6.1%. 

Oil prices were set for another weekly gain due to supply shortages and strong economic news out of China. 

US crude topped $90 per barrel on Thursday for the first time since last fall on fears that production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Russia along with flooding in Libya could send prices up further. 

New data on Friday showed that China, the world’s biggest oil importer, saw increased consumer spending and factory output. That news could boost Beijing’s struggling economy and also further lift demand for crude. 

US stocks are still on track to notch a winning week. 

The Dow was 36 points, or 0.1%, lower on Friday morning.

The S&P 500 was down 0.4%.

The Nasdaq Composite lost 0.5%.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra during an interview with CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich in Detroit today.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra defended her pay package in an interview with CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich Friday. She was paid $29 million last year, which is up 34% from what she received four years ago.

The UAW has pegged its 40% pay increase demand to the increase in CEO pay at the three automakers since 2019. In an interview on CNN, Barra pointed to the fact that 92% of her compensation is stock and options tied to company financial performance, and not pure salary. Her base pay is unchanged compared to 2019.

GM is offering UAW members a 20% pay increase during the life of this contract. But Barra said the hourly wage is only part of the compensation package, and pointed out that hourly workers also benefit from the company’s recent record profits.

“When the company does well, everyone does well,” Barra told CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich on CNN This Morning. “I think you have to look at the whole compensation package, not only a 20% increase in gross wages but also profit sharing.” Average profit sharing payments for UAW members at GM came to $12,750 last year, a record for the company, up from $10,250 in 2021. Over the last four years hourly profit sharing has totaled $40,000 per UAW member at GM.

Barra did not directly answer the question if it is fair that her pay is up 34% and the company is offering a 20% raise.

“I think when you look at the overall structure and the fact that 92% is based on performance, and what we’ve doing sharing in profitability when the company does well, I think we have a very compelling offer on the table,” she said. “And that’s the focus I have right now.”

Most of the 40% increase in auto CEO pay cited by UAW repeatedly in these negotiations was the $10 million difference between the $24.8 million that Stellantis CEO Carlos Tavares earned last year and $14.4 million that Mike Manley received in 2019 when he was CEO of Stellantis predecessor Fiat Chrysler. That was a 72% increase. Barra is the only CEO at the three companies still on the job from 2019. Ford CEO Jim Farley received $21 million lsat year, up 21% from the package his predecessor Jim Hackett received in 2021.

General Motors CEO Mary Barra said she’s “frustrated” with the autoworker strike that began overnight, and said that her company has a “very compelling offer” for the union.

“I think we have an offer that resonates with our people,” Barra told CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich, saying that the offer includes pay raises up to 21%, job security and healthcare. “Our team is ready to be at the table… and we need UAW leadership to get back to the table so we can get these issues resolved and get people back to work.”

But Barra pushed back against the union’s charge that the workers are looking for a fair pay increase which would nearly mirror her pay increases in recent years, pointing to profit sharing for employees which has hit record levels the past the few years. She also said that the union’s demands should be “realistic,” and not total more than $100 billion, which is more than double of GM’s market cap.

“If you’re asking for more than the company made, I think that’s not a good position,” Barra pointedly said. “I think we’re in a good position to get this done.”

US stocks were lower in premarket trading on Friday as thousands of UAW members went on strike at the same time against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis for the first time in history.

Investors fretted over the labor stoppage and its potential for inflicting supply chain chaos in an economy already strained from elevated inflation.

Dow futures fell by 21 points, or 0.1%, on Friday morning. S&P 500 futures were also down 0.1% and the Nasdaq Composite was trading 0.3% lower.

The Big Three automakers took a dive in premarket trading. General Motors (GM) was down by 0.3%, Ford (F) was 1.2% lower. Stellantis (STLA), however, was trading about 0.5% higher.

Non-striking Big Three-adjacent auto companies like Telsa (TSLA) and Toyota (TM) saw gains in premarket trading, up 0.5% and 1.61%, respectively.

United Auto Workers members exit the plant and go on strike at the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant on September 15, 2023 in Wayne, Michigan. 

The UAW made a calculated choice to strike the particular plants it chose to walk off, said Patrick Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group.

The assembly plants, in three different states and owned by three different automakers, all make profitable gas-powered vehicles.

The targeted strike shows the union’s “strategy and resolve,” he said.

Although the strike is an escalation in the union’s tactics, Anderson argued it comes with significant risks, because they could inflict lasting damage to the entire auto industry.

Robert Nardelli, chairman and chief executive officer of Chrysler LLC, speaks during an interview at the 2009 North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan.

The United Auto Workers union has the leverage in the historic current strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, according to Bob Nardelli, who was CEO of Stellantis predecessor Chrysler LLC in the period leading up to its 2009 bankruptcy.

In an interview on CNN Friday Nardelli said he understood the union’s demand for higher pay given that wages have not kept up with inflation.

“They’re just trying make an earning to provide for their families,” he said. But he did criticize some of the union’s bargaining demands as “overreaching.”

He pointed to the union’s talk of wanting 40-hours of pay for a four-day, 32-hour work week, and said its demand to restore the traditional pension fund for employees hired since 2007 wasn’t realistic. The union agreed to give up pensions for new hires in 2007 negotiations when Chrysler was in dire straits.

“I understand you’ve got to put it all on the table and then come together,” he said. “But this has been a very polarizing negotiation.”

And the former Big Three CEO said he’s worried that the union has taken such an ambitious stance at the bargaining table that it will be difficult to reach a deal to end the strike.

“The UAW has spent countless hours, tactically deciding how to go on strike. I’m not sure they spent the same amount of time figuring out how to get back to work,” he said.

In a statement Friday, Stellantis said it is making contingencies across the company to remain operational during the strike.

The company, which makes cars under the Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram brands, said it was disappointed by the breakdown in negotiations.

A Tesla logo is seen at a charger station in Virginia, United States on August 16.

Tesla faces growing electric vehicle competition, and rival automakers are challenging its position as the EV market leader. Tesla gained the crown by beating competitors to market by literally years. But industry analysts believed Tesla would ultimately be bested by legacy automakers that could make much cheaper EVs.

However, Detroit’s cost advantage could erode if it makes significant concessions to the United Autoworkers Union, said Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities. And a prolonged strike could delay the timing of GM, Ford and Stellantis’ EVs coming to market.

Ives noted that the lower EV costs that unionized automakers could be disruptive to Tesla. But any additional cost passed on to consumers because of concessions to the union – even it it’s just $3,000 per car – would hurt demand and help Tesla, Ives argued.

“Lets be clear: This is a potential nightmare situation for GM and Ford,” Ives added.

Other nonunion automakers may not be celebrating quite as much as Tesla during the strike, though.

Asian-headquartered automakers for various reasons do not have the vehicles in inventory to take advantage of their seemingly amazing opportunity here. They can’t seem to produce EVs fast enough.

That inventory position – worse than Detroit’s – will tend to drive up prices, because supply constraints mean buyers won’t be able to just buy a car someplace else. 

Scott Fox, a striking worker at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, has been working for Ford for 40 years – and he told CNN he’s on strike to look out for the next generation.

“I gotta look out for the people that are coming up behind me right now,” Fox told CNN’s Vanessa Yurkevich.

Fox’s plant makes the Ford Ranger and Bronco. It’s one of three that the UAW struck Friday.

He says the union’s most important demand is getting rid of the two-tier wage system, in which some employees are paid less for the same work as other workers.

Fox said he agreed with the union’s targeted strike approach and said the strikes could swell if the automakers refuse to meet the union’s demands.

UAW 1112 President Dave Green talks about the mood of the workers in the plant, on March 6, 2019, in Lordstown, Ohio.

Automakers have attacked the UAW, saying their demands are excessive and unreasonable. Ford said the union’s demands would bankrupt the company if they were enacted.

But the union has said it has given up too much to help the automakers return to profitability after GM and Chrysler went bankrupt during the 2008 global financial crisis – and it’s time for the companies to return the favor now that the companies’ business is booming again.

The union wants to restore some of those lost benefits. But the automakers have balked at an expansion of pensions and a four-day workweek. The union also wants to end a two-tiered pay scale, in which some workers are paid far less for the same work as others.

Green says the benefits and pay raises the union demands are necessary to help workers keep their families financially secure.

Shawn Fain stands with UAW members striking at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne on September 15.

United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain had some choice words for automakers early Friday morning.

Responding to automakers, who said the union has not negotiated in good faith, Fain said the union had provided its demands to the automakers six weeks ago but had not been given a response until last week.

“We had to file unfair labor practice charges on the companies to get them to come to the table. They waited until the last week to get down to business. Shame on them, and what they say is complete BS,” he told CNN while on a picket line outside Ford’s Michigan Truck plant in Warren Michigan.

Last month, Stellantis said it was “shocked” when Fain announced that the union was filing unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing GM and Stellantis of not bargaining in good faith. GM called the charges an “insult.”

Fain said the union will “keep building” upon the strike if the automakers refuse to come to the table.

Ford trucks for sale at a dealership in Long Beach, California, on September 23, 2022.

In the early days of a strike, car shopping won’t change much. Ford, GM and Stellantis dealerships will stay open, as car dealerships are independent franchises that aren’t owned by the auto companies.

Most of those dealers have a few weeks’ worth of new and used cars on hand to sell.

“We started to stock up on used vehicle inventory, especially in the domestic makes and some of the hotter models,” said Scott Kunes, chief operating officer of Kunes Auto and RV Group, which owns more than 40 dealerships in the Midwest.

However, if the strike drags on a very long time, prices will start to rise, Tyson Jominy, an industry analyst with JD Power said.

At plants where workers aren’t out on strike, production can continue for a while, or at least until all the components the factories have on hand have been used up. This includes GM, Ford and Stellantis factories in Canada and Mexico, which could keep operating for a while longer.

But, before long, production at these factories will be impacted by a lack of major components coming from US factories that have been shut down, said Thomas Goldsby, professor of supply chain management at the University of Tennessee.

Prices probably won’t reach the levels they reached during the computer chip shortages during the pandemic, but, in the worst case, they could come close.

UAW signs lay on the grass outside the Toledo Assembly Complex plant as part of a strike against Chrysler just before midnight on September 14.

Since no deal was reached before the 11:59 pm ET deadline Thursday in contract negotiations with the Big Three automakers, the United Auto Workers union launched a targeted “stand up” strike at just three auto plants initially. 

For UAW members at all other plants, however, they will continue to go to work unless and until they, too, are called to strike. But they now will be working without a contract. 

That doesn’t mean, though, they lose all key protections in their jobs, according to the UAW legal counsel, which created an FAQ sheet for members. 

For instance, while they lose the right to arbitrate their disputes with management, management must bargain with them over potential “changes to the status quo,” according to the FAQ. And the status quo is made up of the terms and conditions in their now-expired contract. 

That includes everything from wages, overtime pay, break time and vacation to health and safety issues, work rules and even the price of food in snack machines. 

The FAQ advises workers to “follow all standard operating procedures, safety policies and supervisor’s instructions.” It notes that they may refuse “voluntary” overtime, but not “mandatory” overtime and they can’t engage in a work slowdown. 

Automakers are placing profit before their employees, the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning research group, argued.

The UAW agreed to massive concessions in benefits, including pensions, during the 2008 global financial crisis, when GM and Chrysler went bankrupt. To help keep the companies afloat, the union gave up many of their demands in contract negotiations during the early days of the Obama administration.

Now that automakers have returned to profitability, the union want to restore some of those lost benefits. But Ford said the union’s demands would bankrupt the company. GM and Stellantis have also balked at an expansion of pensions and a four-day workweek.

“The Big Three are playing a dangerous game that kicks dirt in the face of American workers, risks the industry being at a competitive disadvantage globally, and undermines public health,” Gaspard said.

United Auto Workers hold up strike signs right across from the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, on September 15.

UAW President Shawn Fain admits the union’s demands are “ambitious” but he insists they’re justified, given the automakers’ strong profits in recent years. The automakers have balked at most of the union’s demands.

Here is what the union is demanding … and what happens next.

Raises

Ford and GM are now offering a 20% raise during the life of the contract, and Stellantis is offering 17.5%. The union started with a demand for an immediate 20% raise, and four additional raises of 5% each over the course of a four-year deal.

Pensions and inflation adjustments

The UAW wants a return of traditional pension payment plans and retiree health care for all UAW members. Workers hired before 2007 still have those benefits. Those hired since – a majority of hourly workers – do not.

The union also wants to see a return to cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) to protect members from inflation.

Job protections and benefits

The union demands limits on the use of temporary workers and forced overtime. The union also wants more time off for workers, including a four-day workweek. And the UAW is fighting to gain certain job protections for workers, including the right to strike over plant closings.

A ‘just’ transition to EVs

Fain and other union leaders say they’re not opposed to EVs but that it must be a “just transition.” As members lose their jobs building gasoline engines and transmissions, they should be able to shift to jobs building EV batteries and other parts, the union demands. And they say those jobs should pay the same scale that UAW-represented jobs at auto plants pay.

Shawn Fain speaks to union members striking at Ford's Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, early Friday.

Shawn Fain is one of the most important people in the US economy today. A year ago, almost no one knew who he was.

The new president of the United Auto Workers union, sworn into office less than six months ago, is leading his union’s strikes at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, the company that builds cars for the US market under the Jeep, Ram, Dodge and Chrysler names.

With glasses and a receding hair line, Fain, 54, doesn’t necessarily look like a rabble rouser. But he is not afraid of strong rhetoric, even by the standards of labor leaders, attacking the “billionaire class” and “corporate greed.”

The automakers have expressed outrage about some of Fain’s tactics.

At the end of last year, he was an underdog candidate from the UAW staff running against the long-entrenched but scandal-ridden caucus that had led the union for decades. Two of the previous three presidents had gone to prison due to the scandal, as did some executives at Fiat Chrysler who had bribed them.

Incumbent President Ray Curry was not implicated. But the scandal, including misappropriation of union funds and taking money from company officials at Chrysler, forced the union to agree to a government monitor to oversee its operations. And as part of that, the union agreed to give the rank-and-file membership a direct vote to pick a president, rather than having the leader chosen at union conventions by elected officials.

Fain comes from Kokomo, Indiana, a blue collar city in central Indiana that is surrounded by farm land. Multiple plants there produce much of the engines and transmissions that go into Stellantis cars and trucks. Three of his four grandparents worked at auto plants.

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The UAW is referring to its targeted strikes as a “Stand Up Strike.” But what does that mean?

The union created a website to explain the concept.

“The Stand Up Strike is a new approach to striking. Instead of striking all plants all at once, select locals will be called on to ‘Stand Up’ and walk out on strike,” according to the page.

“As time goes on, more locals may be called on to ‘Stand Up’ and join the strike,” the description continued. “This gives us maximum leverage and maximum flexibility in our fight to win a fair contract at each of the Big Three automakers.”

Former United Auto Workers union President Bob King speaks during an interview with CNN.

Former United Auto Workers union President Bob King told CNN’s Laura Coates Thursday night that membership delivered the Big Three automakers a message.

“I hope that the companies are listening to them and give them a better offer than what they have so far,” King said. “The companies have made a lot of brinkmanship bargaining rather than good-faith bargaining …. and they would never, ever get ratified by the membership.”

King was president of the UAW from 2010 to 2014 and did not organize a strike during his tenure as the union leader. He told Coates that the company’s criticism of Fain is misplaced, because he is representing the will of 145,000 autoworkers who voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike.

“They’re voicing their concerns and frustrations,” King said. “These companies made $250 billion in the last 10 years only because of our sacrifices.”

“To me, it’s a tremendous level of injustice,” he added.

Shares of the Big Three automakers fell slightly in premarket trading after the United Autoworkers union went on strike at one plant belonging to each company.

Stock futures for GM (GM), Ford (F) and Stellantis (STLA), maker of Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge and Ram brands, all fell about 1%. The strike was widely expected, and the companies’ stocks have risen a bit over the past month in the midst of a broader market rally.

Unlike the unionized automakers, stock futures for Tesla (TSLA), which employees non-union workers, were up slightly Friday morning.

United Auto Workers members who walked off the job at three plants as part of a targeted strike will picket throughout the day. The UAW said it will not negotiate with the automakers Friday, dashing any expectations of a quick resolution.

UAW President Shawn Fain told union members Thursday just before the strike started that the targeted strike strategy “will keep the companies guessing” and give union negotiators “maximum leverage” when they return to the bargaining table.

He said the number of workers who walk off the job could grow in the coming days and weeks.

“If we need to go all out, we will,” he told members. “We must show the companies you are ready to join the … strike at a moment’s notice. And we must show the world our fight is a righteous fight.”

One potential strategy down the road may be to target certain engine or transmission factories, which could quickly cripple the automakers’ abilities to produce vehicles. Industry experts had expected the UAW to use that tactic right off the bat Friday, but the union instead opted to strike at several plants that produce key cars, trucks and SUVs for the automakers.

By the union’s tally, only about 12,700 Big Three employees are on strike at the moment. That’s a far smaller number of workers than the union’s total 145,000 members at Ford, GM and Stellantis, the maker of the Chrysler, Dodge, Ram and Jeep brands.

Having fewer members walking out could help the union preserve its resources for a prolonged strike. With fewer people on strike, the union would need to pay out less money from its $825 million strike fund – stretching the money for longer.

The union has made clear, though, that it could call on more workers to strike if negotiations don’t progress. Starting with a smaller number of striking workers also gives the union room to ramp up as a bargaining tactic.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain speaks during an interview on September 15.

United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain dismissed Ford CEO Jim Farley’s claim that Ford would go bankrupt if it met all of the union’s contract, saying, “It’s a joke.”

Ford CEO Jim Farley told CNN earlier in the day that the company couldn’t afford all of the union’s demands, including a 40% pay raise and a 32-hour, four-day work week. Company officials had told reporters earlier in the day that the $30 billion in operating profits the company made from 2019 through 2022 would have swung to a $14.4 billion loss had it be operating under terms of the UAW’s contract demands.

Ford had offered the UAW a 20% pay raise over the life of the contract, including an immediate 10% hike. But it wasn’t enough to prevent a strike.

Fain said earlier Thursday evening that “we are committed to winning an agreement with the ‘Big Three’ that reflects the incredible sacrifice and contributions UAW members have made to these companies.”

Rashida Tlaib enters the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on July 25.

Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, whose father worked for Ford and was a UAW member, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on “The Source” Thursday that she hopes a deal can be reached with the three big auto companies because people are anxious about it. 

“They know what’s at stake,” the Democrat said. “So many of our UAW neighbors throughout my district constantly tell me how they’re struggling. That they’re living check by check. They should be able to take care of their families, like my father did.”

“They’re willing to use one of the most powerful tools we have in our country to fight against corporate greed. Which is the right to strike.”

United Auto Workers members walked off the job and joined picket lines at midnight Friday morning.

UAW social media accounts posted and reposted videos of workers walking out of plants to cheers from sign-waving union members. Picket lines were forming, a sign not only of the targeted strikes taking shape but also the possibility of wider strikes that the union has already hinted at.

GM responded shortly after midnight, when the UAW officially went on strike.

“The UAW has informed GM that they are on strike at Wentzville Assembly in Missouri as of 11:59 PM,” the company said in a statement.

“We are disappointed by the UAW leadership’s actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments. We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible for the benefit of our team members, customers, suppliers and communities across the U.S. In the meantime, our priority is the safety of our workforce,” the statement concluded.

The UAW on Thursday sent information to its members about which local units would be on strike.

GM Wentzville Assembly

Approx. 3,600 members

Product: Chevrolet Colorado, Express; GMC Canyon, Savanna

Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex

Approx. 5,800 members

Product: Jeep Wrangler, Gladiator

Ford Michigan Assembly Plant – Final Assembly and Paint

Approx. 3,300 members

Product: Ford Ranger, Bronco

NOTE: This is not the entire Michigan Assembly Plant facility, BSU/ISA (colloquially called “Stamping”) is not on strike

Ford CEO Jim Farley speaks to reporters about the UAW contract talks at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit on September 13.

It’s possible that the Big Three automakers will shut down operations and lay off members who are not technically on strike.  

Ford CEO Jim Farley said on CNN on Thursday that striking plants that make critical parts could affect workers at downstream assembly plants. 

“We can’t make a vehicle without an engine or transmission or stamping. So those people will, you know, basically be furloughed,” Farley said. 

Strikers are not eligible for unemployment benefits, but workers who are on temporary layoff can receive the benefits, which differ depending on the state where they work but would be less than the union’s $500 strike pay. There also are legal questions in different states about qualifying for unemployment. 

A union spokesman said earlier Thursday that he couldn’t comment on members’ eligibility for unemployment benefits if they were laid off due to plants shutting down from lack of parts caused by the strike. 

A strike against the automakers could have big economic effects.

According to Anderson Economic Group, a 10-day strike against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis would cost the US economy $5 billion.

Goldman Sachs estimated the strike would cut overall quarterly annualized growth by 0.05 to 0.1 percentage points for each week the strike lasts.

The suppliers up and down the supply chain, many of which are small businesses, will feel the brunt of the work stoppage, the National Association of Manufacturers President.

United Auto Workers union members and their families picket at the General Motors Flint Assembly plant on October 13, 2019, in Flint, Michigan.

UAW went on strike against General Motors in September 2019, when the union’s nearly 50,000 hourly full-time and temporary workers walked out at 31 GM factories and 21 other facilities across nine states. The union and company negotiators reached a labor contract in October 2019 after a nearly six-week strike.

By the time that strike was in its fourth week, GM said it was looking at losses of up to $90 million a day.

Picket signs for a strike are prepared on a table at United Auto Workers Local 1005 in Parma, Ohio, on September 13.

Members of the United Auto Workers at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis are on strike. Here are some key numbers to know:

That’s the top hourly wage for most of the UAW members at GM, Ford and Stellantis.

During contract negotiations, union members wanted an immediate 20% raise, and four more annual increases of 5% each. Wages would have increased 46% over the four-year life of the contract.

The average purchase price for a new car in August, according to data from Edmunds. That’s a 30% increase from the average sales price in August 2019.

The United Auto Workers went on strike against all Big Three automakers – General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis – for the first time in its history after their contracts expired at 11:59 pm on Thursday.

The union is demanding pay raises and improved benefits.