UAW President Speaks About Union’s Historic Strike Against Corporate Greed

“it is long past time to stand up for the working class, to stand up for our communities and to stand up against unchecked corporate greed.”
—UAW President Shawn Fain

Editor’s note: Declaring that “it’s time to stand up for the working class,” the United Auto Workers on Sept. 15 launched a historic “Stand Up Strike” where for the first time ever they struck all of the Big Three automakers at once. The auto workers have seen their wages, benefits and quality of life decline for decades, while the automakers’ profits have skyrocketed. The UAW members’ core demands include double-digit pay increases, eliminating wage tiers, restoring cost of living adjustments, providing defined benefit pensions for all workers, re-establishing retiree medical benefits, the right to strike over plant closures, a working family protection program that would pay UAW members to do community service work if a plant is shut down, ending the abuse of temporary employees, more paid time off for workers to be with families, and a significant increase in retiree pay. In a Sept. 13 livestream, UAW President Shawn Fain said, “We fight not only for the good of our union or for the good of our members and our families. We fight for the good of the entire working class and the poor.” Below are excerpts from the livestream. See the full recording of Shawn Fain’s speech at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIzBH_Jqf2Q

Good evening UAW family. Tonight we’re going to cover a lot of ground. We’re going to review where we’re at in Big Three bargaining and we’re going to discuss some of our possible plans for the upcoming days….I am also going to share some personal reflections with you about what this moment means for me personally as your president. But before I get into all that, I want to start things off like we always do, by acknowledging our UAW family who are out there on strike.

When we say our union’s are back in the fight, we mean it. And it’s not just Big Three members taking action, it’s several other sectors. Just last night, 1400 UAW members at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan walked off the job. They tried to be heard at the bargaining table, but the CEO who made $17 million last year isn’t listening. So they’re taking it to the street to end tiers, to stop outsourcing and win fair pay. And our team and the Secretary Treasurer’s office and Regions 1 and 1D are giving them full support. In region 9, more than a hundred members at UAW Local 644 started their strike this week at Dometic Group in Royersford, Pennsylvania. Dometic made $4 billion in profit last year, but some of our members there don’t make a living wage. That’s going to end with this strike. Also in Region 9, the grossly overpaid CEO at WestRock Packaging, David Sewell, still hasn’t come to his senses. He raked in $22 million, but he still wants to slash the health benefits of all the members. Our members of Local 2326 in Dayton, New Jersey, are still standing strong, and we’re going to beat this bully. And then we have the Thombert strikers in Newton, Iowa, and they’re still standing strong in their fight. They’re going to win fair pay, quality time with their families, and decent sick leave that they deserve. As all these members will tell you, the UAW doesn’t back down from a fight. We’re willing to do what’s necessary to win justice by any means necessary.

So it’s not surprising that as we get closer and closer to the contract expiration at the Big Three, we’re seeing the companies and the corporate media increase their fear tactics. They want to say that our righteous fight for a higher quality of life for the working class would wreck the economy. They pretend that the sky will fall if we get our fair share of the quarter of a trillion dollars the Big Three has made over the past decade. But it’s not just the economy. When they talk about that and they say, we’ll wreck the economy, it’s not the economy that will wreck. It’s their economy, it’s the billionaire economy. That’s what they’re worried about.

So let’s talk facts. In this one chart, you can see the entire economic story of the Big Three. Over the past few years, in just four years, Big Three profits have shot up 65%. Business is booming. Over that same period. CEO pay has skyrocketed by 40%. They’re absolutely rolling in the money. Big Three spending on stock buybacks—money they lavish on Wall Street—is up a staggering 1500%. It’s literally off the charts. Average new car prices are up 34%. They’re price gouging the hell out of the American consumer. Inflation’s up 20%. So you better believe Big Three price gouging has a lot to do with that also. And auto workers’ wages are up a mere 6%. So we’ve continued to fall further behind. And finally, and this is key, the cost of labor for the Big Three is around 4 to 5% of the total operations. So think about that. They could double our wages and not raise car prices and still make billions of dollars in profit.

They spent more money enriching shareholders in a year than they spent on us in the entirety of the last contract cycle. They want to scare the American people into thinking that auto workers are the problem. We’re not the problem. That chart is the problem. Corporate greed is the problem and come tomorrow night, if they force us, we’re about to make it the Big Three’s problem. We said we’re going to do things differently this round of negotiations. And I think we can all agree that we’ve kept that promise. This summer we launched our union’s first Big Three contract campaign, and we’ve seen firsthand that our membership is fed up and fired up. Since August 17, there have been over a hundred actions that local unions organized across our union.

The whole world is watching, from local to national to international press, talking about our righteous fight and the public has taken notice. According to a recent Gallup poll, 75% of the public says they side with the UAW in our fight for justice. They could double our wages and not raise car prices and still make billions of dollars in profit.  And believe me when I say that the companies have taken notice. They wouldn’t be coming to the table right now unless they really believed that they are staring down a well-organized and pissed off workforce that’s ready to do what it takes to win a strong contract.

In bargaining, we’ve repeatedly told the companies from day one that September 14 is a deadline, not a reference point. We will not allow the Big Three to continue dragging out negotiations for months. The companies know what our priorities are and we’ve been very clear. They’ve made a quarter of a trillion dollars in North American profits over the last decade. They nickel and dime our members every day. They price gouge the American consumer and they squeeze the US taxpayer for every dime they can get. The Big Three can afford to immediately give us our fair share. If they choose not to, then they’re choosing to strike themselves, and we are not afraid to take action.

And we also shook things up at the bargaining table. We renamed our union’s economic demands, formerly called the President’s demands. And now we call them the member’s demands, because that’s what they are. And in another change from the past, we’ve bargained those demands in front of your full national negotiating team, not behind closed doors like has happened in the past. We want our elected negotiators to be there and hear firsthand what the companies say about our members and what these executives think we’re worth. We do that because we knew the companies like to delay, and because we had so many issues we wanted to address, we delivered our union’s economic demands to the Big Three far earlier than has been done in the past. Every step of the way we’ve been clear and we’ve been firm and timely in what we expect out of these negotiations.

Unfortunately, the companies chose to squander the time we gave them. It took more than a month to get a response from each of them. Two of the companies refused to even respond to our demands until we filed federal labor charges against them. And when they did finally respond, what they gave us wasn’t just outrageously unrealistic, it was an insult. Which brings me to another change we’ve made this round of negotiations. We’ve been transparent about the bargaining process with the membership. If we want to fight and we want to win like never before, we need to energize, inform and organize our members like never before.

…We’re making progress at each of the three negotiating tables, but we’re still very far apart on our key priorities, from job security to ending tiers, from cost of living allowance to wage increases. We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifice and contributions our members have made to these companies to win. We’re likely going to have to take action. And just as we have approached our negotiations differently than we have in the past, we are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.

Before I get into that, I want to get a little bit personal with all of you. I’ve been reflecting here recently and I’ve only been in this office as your president for five months. So many of you are still getting to know me and my approach to leadership, and I want you to understand where I’m coming from as we embark on this next phase of our fight. Those of you that don’t know me, one of the first things I do every day when I get up is I crack open my devotional for a daily reading and I pray. Earlier this week, I was struck with my daily reading, which seemed to speak directly to the moment we find ourselves in. And it was called “Fear and Faith.” And I found it interesting that that morning I was getting ready to head to Solidarity House to meet with the negotiating committees and review this plan with them. And under that fear and faith daily reading, the commentary I read talked about great acts of faith are seldom born out of calm calculation. It wasn’t logic that caused Moses to raise his staff on the bank of the Red Sea. It wasn’t a confident committee that prayed in a small room in Jerusalem for Peter’s release from prison.

It was a fearful, desperate band of believers that were backed into a corner. It was a church with no options, a congregation of the have-nots pleading for help. And never in those moments were they stronger. You know, at the beginning of every act of faith, there’s often a seed of fear. And I gotta tell you this, when I made the decision to run for president of our union, you know it became a real test of my faith, because I can tell you I sure as hell had doubts. Because I knew what I was taking on and, I knew what I was up against. So I had to look myself in the mirror and I had to tell myself, either you believe it’s possible to stand up and make a difference or you don’t. And if you don’t believe it, then shut up and stay on the sideline. I knew in my heart that the membership felt exactly like I did, that my union family was fed up with all the corrupt stuff that had went on in the past and they were fed up with the company union philosophy. I chose to have faith in our members, and that’s why I’m standing here today with all of you.

I chose to be sworn in, when I became president, on my grandmother’s bible, which I have here with me. I take this with me a lot of places. In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, my grandmother’s parents couldn’t provide for their children any longer. So they dropped her and her brothers and sisters off at an orphanage. That orphanage gave her this Bible. And in the front of this Bible, there’s an inscription that has my grandmother’s name and says, Christmas, 1933, Halston Orphanage. You know, years later, my grandparents were part of the millions of families who moved to the Midwest to work for auto companies and seek out a better life. Like my grandfather’s pay stub that I carry with me every day, I’m proud to have inherited my grandma’s Bible and her faith.

You know, I want to share with you another powerful verse from scripture that really speaks to me in this moment. And it’s Matthew 17:20-21 where it says, “For truly, I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible for you.”

For years, as a member of the UAW, and even during this current round of bargaining, I found it heartbreaking to read comments from members and retirees that have such low expectations. How many times have we’ve been told we’ll live to fight another day? I’ve read comments such as “you can’t get cost of living back. It’s gone forever.” I’ve heard comments about “you can’t bargain for retirees.” I’ve read comments about how “you’re asking for too much.” That’s company talk. And it comes from a mindset that’s a direct result of company unionism. It comes from the worst of our union’s history of setting expectations low and settling even lower. And for many of us who have yet to see our union fight hard and win big, it’s hard to imagine what that would look like.

Making bold demands and organizing to fight for them is an act of faith. It’s an act of faith in each other. And yes, these corporations are mountains, but together we can make these mountains move. I have always believed that UAW members serve a higher power. We have a mission and a calling. We fight not only for the good of our union or for the good of our members and our families. We fight for the good of the entire working class and the poor. And I believe great things are possible, but only if we’re able to shed our fear. The only limits we have to worry about are the limits we put on ourself. Only if we stop letting the billionaire class define what’s possible and what’s realistic. They have spent decades convincing us that we are weak, convincing us that it’s futile to fight, convincing us that we should be grateful for the scraps that they decide to give us. I’m here to tell you those days are behind us, and today we’re taking the next step in leaving that past behind.

But to do that, again, we got to have faith. We got to have faith in each other. I’m secure in every decision we’ve made because I have faith in our members. And I know, just like that mustard seed, if we have the faith of a mustard seed, we will move this mountain. The idea that an everyday auto worker can take on the loftiest billionaire, that if we work hard and we work together, we can move these mountains. So I have to ask all of you, do you have faith? Are you ready to stand up together and move that mountain? Nobody’s coming to save us. Nobody can win this fight for us. Our greatest hope, and our only hope, is with each other standing together. And I’ll tell you this, I’m at peace with the decision to strike if we have to because I know that we’re on the right side in this battle.

It’s a battle of the working class against the rich, the haves versus the have nots, the billionaire class against everybody else. And again, in talking about that, this class warfare, people accuse us and say, this is class warfare. There’s been class warfare going on in this country for the last 40 years. The billionaire class has been taking everything and leaving everybody else to fight for the scraps. And when I talk about that, there’s one more piece of scripture I like. It reminds me of in Matthew 19: 23-24, which states, “It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Why is it easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God? I have to believe that answer, at least in part, is because in the Kingdom of God, no one hoards all the wealth while everybody else suffers and starves. In the kingdom of God, no one puts themselves in a position of total domination over the entire community. In the kingdom of God, no one forces others to perform endless backbreaking work just to feed their families or put a roof over their heads.

That world’s not the kingdom of God. That world is hell. Living paycheck to paycheck scraping to get by, that’s hell. Choosing between medicine and rent is hell. Working seven days a week for 12 hours a day for months on end is hell. Having your plant closed down and your family scattered across the country is hell. Being made to work during a pandemic and not knowing if you might get sick and die, or spread the disease to your family, is hell. And enough is enough. It’s time to decide what kind of world we want to live in. And it’s time to decide what we’re willing to do to get it.

The strike plan we’re about to roll out is driven by faith. It’s driven by the faith that together we can and will move mountains. It’s driven by the belief that being at our best, when our best is needed, will get us there. And I want to start by saying, this strategy, it isn’t just my idea. This is a culmination of the work of your international executive board leadership and a lot of staff reps and a lot of our bargaining committees, a lot of our staff and a lot of our teams such as our amazing legal team, our research team, our organizing team, our communication team, our political team, the secretary treasurer’s office, and many other staff.

So let’s get into it. Like I said, we’re going to be doing things differently this time around. First of all, for the first time in our history, we may strike all three of the Big Three at once. Our message to the companies was clear, if we don’t have a fair contract by midnight on Thursday night [Sept. 14], we will strike. The second big difference is the way we’re going to strike will be very different. In fact, we’re inventing a whole new way to strike and we’re calling it the Stand Up Strike. The name Stand Up Strike of course recalls the movement that built our great union, the Sit Down Strike of 1937. Just as in the 1930s, we’re living in a time of stunning inequality throughout our society.

We’re living in a time where our industry is undergoing massive transformations, and we’re living in a time where our labor movement is redefining itself. In the spirit of the Sit Down Strike, the Stand Up Strike will keep the company’s guessing. It’s going to rely on discipline, organization and creativity. The Stand Up strike begins with all of our locals from parts distribution centers to assembly plants, maintaining a constant strike readiness. It’s really important that we’re clear on this point.

We will not strike all of our facilities at once. We will strike all three companies, a historic first, initially at a limited number of targeted locations that we will be announcing. Then, based on what’s happening in bargaining, we’re gonna announce more locals that are gonna be called to Stand Up and strike. These locals will join those that are already on strike so that our strike at each company will continue to grow over time. And again, I want to be clear, our goal is not to strike. Our goal is to reach a fair agreement. But if the companies continue to bargain in bad faith or continue to stall or continue to give us insulting offers, then our strike’s going to continue to grow.

At the beginning, a select few are going to strike. And then as needed more and more will join in. We’re going to hit where we need to hit and when we need to hit, we’re going to hit to move mountains. If your local is not named, then you are not yet on strike. We will communicate with regional directors and local leadership who will walk their membership out if, and only if, they’re called to do so. So the plan now is that this Thursday at 10 p.m. Eastern time, I’m going to be hosting a Facebook Live and announcing which locals are being called on to stand pp and go out on strike starting at midnight if we don’t have a deal. As soon as those locals are named, all locals will be notified about whether they are to stand up and strike or to maintain strike readiness through rallies supporting active picket lines, red shirt days, and organizing our communities. If your local is called to go on strike, you will walk your members out according to your local leadership’s directions. If your local is not called to go on strike, you’ll continue working while continuing to organize actions. And I want to be clear about this point, these are strikes over the national agreement, not local agreements.

After the first round of locals going out on strike, we will be calling on other locals to go on strike based on what is happening in bargaining. We are maintaining maximum flexibility to make the decision on who all is going out next, which gives us a lot of options. We can call on multiple locals to stand up and go out on strike all at once, or we can call on locals one at a time. And we can do this multiple times a week or only once a week. This is going to provide your national negotiators with incredible leverage at the bargaining table. If the companies give us an insulting offer, if they keep playing games, if they refuse to bargain in good faith, then we have the power to keep escalating and keep taking plants out.

To prepare, we’re going to be lining up several possible locals at once. Local leaders will receive notification ahead of time that they are one of the locals in the queue that may soon be asked to stand up and go on strike. But the final decision won’t be made until soon before the announcement. Your local will only strike if you are called by national leadership to do so, and this will be explicit and clear. Local leadership will walk members out if they’re called to stand up and go on strike. And again, if your local is not called, you are to keep working.

And this is extremely important—you’re going to be working under an expired agreement, not an extension. We will not be extending the contracts. This is also a first. We have resources available on our website explaining what it means to work under an expired agreement. And I know this is new for us, but there are lots of unions that follow this tactic. But this plan only works if the locals who are called to strike do so, and if the locals who are not yet called do not strike and keep working. This is going to create confusion for the companies. It’s going to keep them guessing on what might happen next. And it’s going to turbocharge the power of our negotiators.

To be as effective as possible, it’s important that the locals that are not on strike keep organizing actions. Keep organizing red shirt days, parking lot rallies, protests and community events. Show the companies that you are ready to go on a moment’s notice. So if we don’t have an agreement at each of the Big Three by midnight on Thursday night, your local will do one of two things. If and only if you are called directly by national UAW leadership, you will walk your local out on strike and maintain the picket line. If you are not called to strike, your members will keep working, and you’ll continue to organize rallies, sticker days and red shirt days. You’ll do everything you can without stopping work to show the company and the public that you are ready. But you’ll not strike until called. So we’ll continue working with expired agreements, and we’ll discuss that in a moment.

So just to recap, at midnight on Thursday, tomorrow night, we will be prepared to strike the Big Three using a new tactic we’re calling the Stand Up Strike. The Stand Up Strike is our generation’s answer to the Sit Down Strike of the 1930s. And it is time, it is long past time to stand up for the working class, to stand up for our communities and to stand up against unchecked corporate greed. Like the Sit Down Strike, this strike requires us to be very disciplined. Again, that means if your local is not called then you are not to go on strike. But just because you keep working doesn’t mean you stop organizing. We do want you to organize flying squadrons and turn out members to picket lines at striking plants. We do want you to talk to the media and connect your own personal stories to our fight to end tiers, to win COLA and stop plant closures. But don’t stop working unless you are explicitly called on to stop.

And I want to make one other point about this strategy very clear. I know there’s a hunger out there among some of you to go on strike in every plant and facility all at once, at all three of these companies. And believe me when I tell you, I completely understand that desire. If there’s one part of me, you know, that says do something and don’t do something, there’s a part of me that really wants to do that. But I do believe the beauty of the Stand Up Strike is that it provides us the maximum flexibility moving forward to have the most effective means of striking that we can put forth to get the best result we need for our membership. We are keeping all of our options open as we continue to bargain with the companies. And I want to be clear about this. An all out strike is still a possibility. We’re keeping all of our options open. We’re not going to just stand by as corporate executives and the rich continue to make extraordinary profits while the rest of us continue to get left further and further behind at the Big Three and beyond.

Instead, we’re going to stand up and make history together. In the event we go on strike at midnight on Thursday night [Sept. 14], something else we’re going to do differently, we will not be bargaining on the 15th. Your international executive board, myself, your vice presidents, national negotiators, will be joining you in action. For those of you that want to come to Detroit, we’re going to be holding a mass rally on Friday [Sept. 15] at the UAW Ford Joint Trust building right downtown. We selected this site because it’s one of the many locations that the Big Three have proposed to close during negotiations. And we’ve been clear with Ford, we won’t accept any concessions in this round of negotiations. Our jobs are off limits. So we’re asking everyone to plan to be in downtown Detroit if you can at four o’clock and the rally will start at five. Again, that’s this Friday, September 15th.

Whether your local is on strike or on notice, we need all hands on deck. And tonight I just want you all to reflect on how far we’ve come. I want you to talk to your families, talk to your friends, and to your union family. I want you to talk about what this fight means for you, for your future, and for your community. And tomorrow night, I want you to be ready to stand up. I want you to be ready to stand up for your family. I want you to be ready to stand up for your community. I want you to be ready to stand up for future generations, and I want you to be ready to stand up against corporate greed. So let’s stand up and make history together.