An Inside Look at the UAW Strike
Tactics, Outcomes and Implications
Recently, the United Auto Workers (UAW) achieved a landmark contract with the Big Three automakers.
The tactics used by the union, the gains won, and the implications for the auto industry and the greater labor movement, were the basis of a recent webinar moderated by Harry Katz, Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining and Director of the Scheinman Institute.
His panelists included Arthur Wheaton, ILR Director of Labor Studies; Cathy Creighton, Director of the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab; and Jamie LaReau, Automotive Reporter, Detroit Free Press.
Jamie LaReau, of the Detroit Free Press, stated that for this strike the UAW used a novel approach that has been called the ‘stand up strike’ where individual auto plants were targeted as opposed to a more general strike. This proved to be very effective in keeping the automakers off balance.
The union’s settlement was “extraordinary”, noted Cathy Creighton, Director of the ILR Buffalo Co-Lab. She added that the ability of the UAW to organize all its members with a clear message of the specific gains the union was going to win for its members was key to its success.
The strength of the new UAW contract is going to force other car manufacturers such as Toyota and Honda to significantly increase the pay they provide to their workers in the U.S., stated Arthur Wheaton, Director or Labor Studies at ILR.
Learn more and view the webinar here .