US car workers prepare to strike as contract talks hit deadline

The 31-year-old said he cannot even afford to buy the car he makes.

"We are still sitting on the backburner while these CEOs are making, you know, upwards of $20m a year," he said. "We're going to the grocery store, saying, 'well, what do we really need this week?'"

Mr Fain, who was elected to his position just a few months ago promising to take on the companies, cast the fight in biblical terms, saying it was part of a broader battle with the billionaire class and an act of faith that change was possible.

"We fight for the good of the entire working class and the poor," he said. "We're not the problem... corporate greed is the problem."
Jim Farley, chief executive of Ford, told reporters earlier this week that he hoped to avoid a strike but there was a limit to what the company was willing to concede.

"We have to protect the sustainability of the company," he said.

US carmakers are already grappling with a sales slowdown and costs associated with new investments as they shift production to electric vehicles, reports BBC.

A 10-day strike by all workers at the three firms could cost the car companies nearly $1bn (£800m) and workers nearly $900m in lost wages, according to estimates by the Anderson Economic Group. It said the total hit to the economy could amount to more than $5bn, as the effects of the strike spread.
Tyler Theile, vice president at the firm, said a stoppage would have to be "pretty lengthy to move the needle on national economic indicators."
But she warned that the decline in spending from lost wages, even if just a few factories are involved, will have significant impact locally - and could build in unexpected ways, given other risks, such as inflation and high interest rates, facing the economy.
"I think targeted strikes at specific locations has the potential to add up to a more significant economic impact than some are saying at this point," she said.
Coming into the strike, the supply of cars, which has been strained since the parts shortages of the pandemic, remains far lower than it has been in the past.
Analysts said that could also mean a prolonged walkout leads to higher prices for buyers.
Ford, GM and Stellantis together account for about 40% of US car sales, though their share has dropped sharply over the last quarter of a century, as foreign firms such as Toyota make inroads.
Those companies have successfully fended off unionisation campaigns and face lower labour costs.
But labour tensions in the US have been rising, as a tight labour market and pay hit by rising prices embolden workers.
Last year, there were more than 420 work stoppages, up more than 50% from the prior year, according to research from Cornell University.
Delivery giant UPS narrowly avoided a walkout earlier this year, and writers and actors in Hollywood remain on strike.
The last time the car industry faced a strike was in 2019, when workers at General Motors walked off the job for six weeks.
GM worker Jessie Kelly, who participated in that walkout, said she had been trying to save up in anticipation of another stoppage.
UAW participants are due to receive $500 in weekly strike benefits from the union, but that would still be significantly less than her wages, she said.
"My strike bills will not cover my mortgage, let alone the grocery bills, let alone the lights and the everything else. So it is gonna definitely be a struggle," she said.
Ms Kelly, who lives near Detroit, said she supported the fight, despite the costs, noting that her pay has not kept pace with rising prices and is quickly eaten up by childcare and housing expenses. The 33-year-old said she had just two weeks of holiday a year, which she was typically forced to use for emergencies.
"At the end of the day, we all want to work for a corporation that is making good money. We just want our fair share of that," she said. "At some point we have to say enough is enough.
"The CEOs are gonna keep paying themselves more and more money and we're the only ones being left behind."