On Wednesday, the United Auto Workers (UAW), following its successful ratification of new contracts with automakers after a weeks-long strike, announced it would be looking to organize workers at over a dozen automobile factories which are not currently unionized.
The new effort is expected to organize over 150,000 autoworkers employed by 13 different automakers, including BMW, Honda, Hyundai, Lucid, Mazda, Mercedes, Nissan, Rivian, Subaru, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo, according to a news release by the union.
The announcement was delivered on the heels of the UAW’s successful ratification of new contracts with the “Big Three” automakers – Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis – after a six-week strike which earned the workers improvements to their pay and benefits which will go on for years into the future.
The union said it will be pouring the most effort into its efforts at the Toyota assembly plant in Georgetown, KY, were Camry, RAV4, and Lexus ES vehicles are made by nearly 8,000 employees.
Following the UAW’s success at the Big Three automakers, Toyota announced it would raise wages for its US employees. It promised to increase the wages of hourly workers at the top rate by roughly 9 percent, starting on January 1st. It would also smooth the path for workers to reach the top rates and increase the amount of paid time off available to workers.
At the same time, Honda, Nissan, Subaru and Hyundai increased salaries for their US employees as well, in what the union called an effort to stifle its own organizing efforts.
However the UAW said the workers still are not happy. One worker at the Georgetown plant, Jeff Allen, 29, who endured two workplace injuries, said that the raise the company offered will not dissuade workers from organizing.
In the UAW release, Allen said, “We still build a quality vehicle. People take pride in that, but morale is at an all-time low. They can give you a raise today and jack up your health benefits tomorrow. A union contract is the only way to win that’s fair.”
The UAW said that automakers which are not unionized will try to depress wages through the use of a mix of full-time, temporary, and contract employees.
Following his championing of the fight for benefits in the recent strike, UAW President Shawn Fain said that although the UAW was seeing the most non-union employees approaching them coming from the south, there is also an overwhelming response from workers in the Midwest and West as well.
In a statement, Fain said, “The money is there. The time is right. And the answer is simple. You don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck. You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your rent or feed your family while the company makes billions. A better life is out there.”
