Auto Workers Strike Threatens Biden's Green Coalition

TIME

Unionized auto workers walked off the job and went on strike Friday to pressure three major automotive plants into raising wages in an era of big profits and as the industry begins a costly transition to electric vehicles.

Transcript

00:00 We are the union.

00:01 We are the union.

00:03 A mighty, mighty union.

00:05 Mighty, mighty union.

00:07 [HORN BLOWING]

00:10 No second class!

00:18 [HORN BLOWING]

00:22 [HORN BLOWING]

00:28 For the past 24 hours, we've been actively bargaining

00:32 with Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.

00:37 For the first time in our union's history,

00:40 we had all three companies bargaining right here

00:43 at the Solidarity House, leading into the final hours

00:46 of our strike deadline.

00:49 We've been working hard trying to reach

00:51 a deal for economic and social justice for our members.

00:55 Midnight on the evening of September 14 is a deadline.

01:01 UAW family, that deadline is nearly here.

01:06 Tonight, for the first time in our history,

01:09 we will strike all three of the big three at once.

01:13 This strategy will keep the companies guessing.

01:17 It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage

01:21 and flexibility in bargaining.

01:23 And if we need to go all out, we will.

01:26 [HORN BLOWING]

01:30 I didn't think this was going to happen.

01:32 I'm really happy that everybody stood together

01:34 and it was a unanimous kind of thing to strike.

01:38 Let's be clear.

01:42 No one wants a strike.

01:44 Say it again.

01:44 No one wants a strike.

01:46 But I respect workers' right to use their options

01:48 under the collective bargaining system.

01:50 And I understand the workers' frustration.

01:53 Over generations, auto workers sacrificed so much

01:55 to keep the industry alive and strong,

01:57 especially through the economic crisis and the pandemic.

02:00 Workers deserve a fair share of the benefits

02:03 they helped create for an enterprise.

02:04 It's my hope that the parties can return to the negotiation

02:07 table to forge a win-win agreement,

02:10 to continue our active engagement.

02:12 I'm dispatching two members of my team

02:15 to Detroit, Acting Labor Secretary Julie

02:17 Hsu and White House Senior Advisor Jean Sperling.

02:20 Both of them have been involved up to now.

02:22 To offer their full support for the parties

02:24 in reaching a contract.

02:26 The bottom line is that auto workers

02:28 helped create America's middle class.

02:30 They deserve a contract that sustains them

02:34 in the middle class.

02:36 (upbeat music)

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