this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Work Reform
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A place to discuss positive changes that can make work more equitable, and to vent about current practices. We are NOT against work; we just want the fruits of our labor to be recognized better.
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- All workers must be paid a living wage for their labor.
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17% of union membership is on strike. They need to go full 100% and show who has the power and stand in solidarity as one.
They're trying a new strike strategy that plays the companies against one another. By rewarding companies when they play ball they can allow them to get a potential leg up on their compeition who maybe decided against a particular thing.
It allows the union to better pressure the companies and allows the union strike funds to go further. It's a novel approach, and is working so far. Hopefully it will bear fruit.
And it allows the strike fund to go a lot further too.
They have enough in their strike fund for an all out strike for 10 months. How long do you think these negotiations should be stretched out?
Until they get exactly what they ask for.
Could they hurt the corporations more? Sure. But it's pragmatic, really. If they're getting what they want, no need to make it a bigger, more expensive thing than it needs to be.
This kind of ridiculous black and white opinion that completely ignores the reality of the situation and the goals of the groups involved has become way too prevalent on here. All it says to me is that you have no legitimate experience working, losing money, or for that matter, striking. I'm so sick of lemmy and these attitudes. Just calm the fuck down and think before you speak. You are contributing to the dumbest echo chamber I have ever seen. You're out of touch with reality. Grow up.
My opinion are based on what works for labor rights. A pragmatic "lets not hurt the business" approach hasn't worked for the past 4 decades.
Having union members continue to work during this partial strike is only giving the big 3 more time to lay off workers. Fain has sold this as a positive, saying those laid off can claim unemployment instead of pulling from the strike fund. There are alot of problems with this, there is little support for laid of members to navigate claiming unemployment, with every state having different requirements it's left many confused on where they stand with the strike and union. Also UAW has one of the biggest strike coffers in the country, at this time of unprecedented labor support they need to use that and go all out. That's how the writers guild just got their unprecedented win last week, and most of those writers are still out on the picket lines in solidarity with the SAG, as a united front.
I've been hopeful of Fain's approach but it's doing more harm than good within the union, when members were ready to stand together they were instead left as confused as the big 3 were, which if you're just looking at dollars in the bank was a win I guess, but moral is more important. Again they are not hurting in their strike fund, this is not a newly formed union it's one of the oldest.
More righteous next time, comrade.
Do you know how long it would take to accumulate the same amount of funds?
$825,000,000 in the current strike fund. 400,000 current active members. I'm not sure what the contract length is so let's say 4 years, that's a minimun.
$825,000,000 ÷ 4 years ÷ 12 months ÷ 400,000 members = 42.96 per month per member to rebuild the fund for the next contract.
That is not to mention the current fight is an existential one for the union. As EV funding coming from the state has all gone to none union shops, it has hurt the unions strength. Part of this current fight is to demand expansion of the union to EV shops, growing that member number and preventing the union from becoming irrelevant.
Are you providing information from actual sources, or just speculating from your own calculations?
You asked for the math. I provided you the numbers, if you don't trust me go check. It's frustrating that I put time into looking up my response only to be met by skepticism.
I was asking for information that could be sourced. Math cannot tell you which decisions someone else has made or which practices have been adopted.
They don't have to spend it all, you know. If they can reward corporations for negotiating in good faith by limiting the damage of the strike, they're retaining leverage. They can still go full strike later, but it looks like it's not necessary.
I'm sure the UAW knows what they're doing.
Besides, if they were to hurt the corporations too much, they'll end up hurting sales of American cars, giving foreign competitors inroads. China's car workers aren't unionised, so importing those cars hurts unions everywhere.