Those calls for embody:
- The elimination of tiers on wages and advantages;
- Substantial wage will increase;
- Restoration of cost-of-living (COLA) changes;
- Defined profit pensions for all staff;
- Re-establishment of retiree medical advantages;
- The proper to strike over plant closures;
- A “working family protection program” that retains union members employed within the occasion of a plant closure or monetary downturn;
- An finish to what the union known as “abuse” of short-term staff;
- More paid day without work; and
- Significant will increase to retiree pay.
The union can even be searching for advantages and protections outdoors of that formal checklist. While studying member questions on the Facebook Live stream, Fain stated he deliberate to push the businesses to maneuver to a shortened 32-hour work week.
“When I was elected, I said the UAW was back in the fight,” Fain stated. “That’s what the Big 3 are going to see when we deliver our economic demands.”
The union formally started bargaining with the Detroit 3 final month. Contracts expire Sept. 14.
Fain, on the livestream, offered charts displaying the automakers’ recently-announced second-quarter earnings, adopted by a chart that confirmed wage concessions made by the union since its contract in 2007, through the Great Recession.
“If the companies want to brag about record profits, then it’s time for record contracts,” Fain stated. “It’s time for them to deliver for our members, and we’re going to deliver for our members, come hell or high water.”
Fain on Tuesday additionally reiterated previous feedback that the union wouldn’t decide a conventional lead firm to cut price with however would as an alternative negotiate with all three concurrently.
The union might face an uphill battle on a lot of its calls for.
The automakers are probably open to wage will increase however are anticipated to balk at reinstituting cost-of-living changes and pensions, based on sources.
Fain has insisted the automakers can afford the union’s calls for, pointing to their collective $250 billion in income over the previous 10 years. The newly-elected president has made some extent of interacting with members on social media, like on Tuesday’s Facebook stream, to get them on the identical web page heading into the potentially-contentious talks.
“This isn’t a time for fighting amongst ourselves or division,” Fain stated. “This is a time to be united for a common cause. We have to do it, and we’re going to deliver.”
Source: www.autonews.com