WYOMING, Mich. — United Auto Workers are on strike against the Big Three automakers.
Workers contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, and the strike began at midnight on Friday.
It's a historic moment, as this is the first time in the history of the United Auto Workers (UAW) it has struck all three of the nation's unionized automakers at the same time.
For this strike, the UAW is taking a different approach, calling this a "stand up strike".
It begins with three initial strike targets. Those have been announced as the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, the GM Wentzville Assembly Plant in Missouri and the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio.
UAW President Shawn Fain said the strategy will, in his words "keep companies guessing". He said more plant strikes may be announced.
The GM plant in West Michigan in Wyoming is not on the list, but could be affected.
On Friday morning, it was business as usual, but we could end up seeing effects locally.
That's because the plant in Wyoming makes axles for trucks, and the plant in Missouri makes trucks.
A sociology professor at Grand Valley State University told us some plants cannot run without parts made at others.
Even if the union doesn't strike at those facilities, the lack of work may create layoffs.
If that happens, the Big Three would be responsible for unemployment benefits.
"If they're going to selectively strike different plants, and perhaps have rotating strikes, and people in and out, they can cause chaos for a very long time, before they would use up their strike fund and it's also potentially a way of relieving some of the pressure on the workers," said Jeffrey Rothstein, a sociology professor at Grand Valley State University who studies labor.
Rothstein said this targeted approach minimizes the cost of the UAW and maximizes the effects on the automakers.
He added the UAW traditionally picks one automaker during a work stoppage, but this strategy to go after all three for the first time projects a more union-friendly attitude developed by people over the last few years.
The potential for a prolonged strike is a concern for businesses that neighbor the plant here in West Michigan. If workers are laid off, they likely won't be spending as much money until they could get back on the job.
“You're going to see workers laid off, hours cut, declines in spending, and that's going to ripple outwards,” said Matthew Daley, Professor of History at Grand Valley State University.
“It could be at least as long as potentially 40 days," said Daley. "And it also really sort of raises the issue of will there be political intervention, courts intervene, is the gap between them so big it cannot be bridged.”
