With the United Auto Worker’s (UAW) strike entering its second week, union president Gary Jones is warning the public that additional walkouts could happen at any time. Jones spoke outside a Detroit plant on Friday and said that the union may face a vote for a broader strike if the negotiations do not make progress soon.
The strike began on September 15th and affects nearly 50,000 members from General Motors plants in the United States. The union and employers have different views when it comes to certain labor practices, health care costs, and job security for temporary workers.
Jones has consistently spoken out against General Motors in the lead up to the strike, citing several instances of “chronic misconduct” by the company. Among them, a 2005 labor agreement between The United Auto Workers and General Motors that, according to Jones, “left the union broke and without resources to fight for the middle-class.”
The strike is the largest organized act of labor protest since 2007, when nearly 73,000 UAW members went on strike for two days. The current UAW strike is organized by hourly workers, who have the advantage of having a contract negotiated separately from the union’s salaried employees.
The recent UAW strike has been met with a great deal of support from the public, with many elites, politicians, and well-known individuals chiming in to show their solidarity for the protesting workers. Jones, however, continues to urge both sides to quickly resolve disagreements and make a deal that meets the needs of both the union and GM, so that future labor action can be avoided.
