As a potential strike at the Detroit Three automakers inches closer, the United Auto Workers union is pushing for a substantial pay raise for its members: 40% over four years.
It's the kind of raise that Marcelina Pedraza, a Ford electrician in Chicago, thinks is long overdue.
"Everything's going up — the cost of food, gas, mortgage interest rates," Pedraza said. "A lot of people haven't been able to have a safety net anymore."
UAW, which represents 150,000 workers at General Motors, Stellantis and Ford, is not alone in asking for big pay raises over the course of their contract (it's a tad lower than its opening gambit of 46%).
In recent months, workers across industries have fought for — and, in a handful of cases, won — around 50% wage increases over the next four to five years, as they call out years of stagnant wages and robust company profits.
These bold union demands, bolstered by a tight job market and frustration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, are paying off in some sectors with raises that significantly exceed the expected rate of inflation.
After months of contentious negotiations that led 340,000 UPS workers to the brink of a strike, the Teamsters union in July secured a 48% average total wage increase, over the course of the five-year contract, for existing part-time workers. Teamsters general president Sean O'Brien said the contract "sets a new standard in the labor movement."
In August, the Allied Pilots Association, which represents 15,000 American...
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