After obtaining record contracts with the Detroit automakers, the United Auto Workers union is initiating an unprecedented campaign to organize 13 non-union automakers in the United States.
The union announced on Wednesday that approximately 150,000 autoworkers from BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo will be covered by the drive.
Employees are signing electronic cards as part of the campaign to show support for union efforts to possibly organize those automakers’ U.S. plants.
It cannot be assured that the union will make every effort to organize each plant or automaker taking part in the campaign. In general, employees would have to cast ballots in favor of UAW representation.
Expanding the union’s membership was the next goal, according to UAW President Shawn Fain, following the ratification of record contracts with General Motors, Ford Motor, and Stellantis. Among the benefits of the contracts approved by the “Big Three” Detroit automakers are increased profit-sharing payments, cost-of-living adjustments, and hourly pay increases of at least 25%.
In an internet video, Fain stated, “To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union: Now it’s your turn.”
When its four and a half-year contracts with the Detroit automakers expire in April 2028, Fain had previously pledged to go beyond the “Big Three” and expand to the “Big Five or Big Six.”
It is against union tradition to launch significant organizing campaigns at the same time. Usually, it would take months, if not years, to win over factory workers’ support for a vote on UAW representation.
Organizing non-union automakers would greatly aid the union’s bargaining efforts and scale, but during his brief tenure as UAW president, Fain repeatedly rewrote the rules of engaging with automakers. Rather than focusing efforts on a single company, he negotiated deals with Ford, GM, and Stellantis simultaneously.
From approximately 700,000 members in 2001 to 383,000 at the start of this year, UAW membership has been nearly halved. At 1.5 million at its height in 1979.
A number of non-union automakers, including Hyundai, Toyota, and Honda, declared their intention to raise employee wages in the weeks that followed the UAW’s agreements with Stellantis, Ford, and GM.
According to Fain, these rises are known as the “UAW bump,” which stands for “U Are Welcome,” he added.
Nevertheless, the UAW’s record of success in uniting automakers outside of Detroit is dismal.
The UAW has tried in the past to unionize foreign-owned automakers in the United States. Most recently, the support required for unionization was not provided to plants owned by Nissan and Volkswagen. The UAW has previously attempted, with little to no success, to organize Tesla’s Fremont plant in California.
Musk was questioned about the goals of the UAW later on Wednesday at the 2023 Deal Book Summit in New York. In response, he said, “If Tesla becomes unionized, it will be because we deserve it and we somehow failed.”
The iconic Camry and highly profitable RAV4 and Lexus ES are made at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky assembly complex, home to 7,800 workers, which the UAW said on Wednesday is one of the company’s “strongest campaigns” to date.
In the video, Fain stated, “Workers are reaching out to join our movement and to join the UAW from the West to the Midwest and especially in the South.” “The funds are available. Now is the ideal moment. And the response is uncomplicated. You don’t need to survive on handouts. While the company makes billions, you don’t have to worry about how you’re going to feed your family or pay your rent.
