The last two were in 2007 when workers walked out of GM plants for two days and Chrysler plants for six hours. A week-long strike could cost the company as much as $1.7 billion in revenue and $35 million in net income, according to Sean McAlinden, chief economist for the Michigan-based Center for Automotive Research.
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Dziczek said the strike notice doesn’t necessarily mean a strike will happen.
“I hate the whole idea of a strike, but if it comes to that, why then I’m union all the way”, said Craig.
Art Wheaton of the Worker Institute at Cornell University said that a short-term strike could help the UAW leadership prove to the rank and file that it is being tough with Fiat Chrysler, which he said matters because of a few worker perceptions that the union and company are too close.
“FCA USA confirms that it has received strike notification from the UAW”, said Fiat Chrysler in a statement Tuesday.
The strike may not hit every Fiat Chrysler factory.
The UAW notified Fiat Chrysler that the current four-year contract extension would expire at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday.
Dziczek also warned, however, that a work stoppage could have serious consequences for the company – the least profitable of Detroit’s Big Three – and its relationship with its workers.
The UAW has four options Wednesday: It could reach an new agreement with Fiat Chrysler, it could agree to extend the contract deadline if discussions are going well but are incomplete, it could call a targeted strike at selected plants or it could call a nationwide strike. Normally, UAW contract events before the ratification vote feature “us versus them” tones rather than a united front.
“More than 40 percent of the company’s factory workers are considered entry-level employees and are paid $16 to $19 an hour, compared with $28 for veteran workers”. “A lot of people live paycheck-to-paycheck”. The terms of the bailout barred UAW from taking punitive action over labor grievances against automakers General Motors and Fiat Chrysler, but that stipulation was lifted this year. We all know this was looming, but it is hard to save for it. No one wants a strike.
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The UAW Facebook postings come as the UAW and Fiat Chrysler are attempting to restructure a tentative agreement that workers overwhelming rejected during a two-week voting process that ended last week.
