DETROIT — The past several rounds of UAW contract negotiations with the Detroit 3 have given workers incremental raises, moderately improved benefits and job commitments from automakers looking to lock in future product plans.
This year, however, the UAW is seeking nothing short of wholesale changes to pay structures and work schedules that would redistribute corporate wealth and reset the standard of living for roughly 150,000 blue-collar employees.
The union's first-year president, Shawn Fain, says he's determined not only to claw back concessions made in 2009 during the financial crisis, but also to establish new employee protections born from a pandemic-era shift in thinking around work-life balance. He's demanding raises that are more than seven times what the union won in 2019, a 32-hour workweek at 40 hours' pay and a host of other gains.