General Motors & Auto Workers Union Reach Tentative Agreement to End Strike
Jose Nino
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On October 30, 2023, the United Auto Workers’s strike ended as the union and General Motors revealed a tentative agreement.
On October 25, the union revealed that it reached a framework agreement with Ford, in addition to a deal with Stellantis on October 28. The latter company produces Chrysler, Dodge, and Ram vehicles.
This development came a few days after similar deals were hammered out with Ford and Stellantis.
The agreements had to be approved by local UAW leaders and subsequently ratified by a simple majority of each car company’s union-represented workers. That process took several days.
Roughly 13,000 UAW members started striking on September 15, after the expiration of their prior contract with the Big Three. This strike gradually grew to approximately 40,000 of the union’s 146,000 members walking off the work place. This strike decreased production for each of the companies.
According to GM leaders, the strike would slash its annual pretax profit by $800 million. Additionally, GM announced that the strike was costing it $200 million weekly at the time.
It’s good to see this labor dispute get sorted out. Unions these days have turned into parasitic institutions, which try to shake down productive companies while intimidating workers who don’t want to partake in their coercive activities.
Unions should be allowed to exist but their power must be drastically reduced in order to protect worker freedom while also maintaining levels of productivity in America’s corporate sector.
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