WYOMING, Mich. — The United Auto Workers (UAW) union continues its strike. Friday’s targets were GM and Stellantis as workers from 38 parts and distribution centers across 20 states walked out. However, it was business as usual for the GM plant in Wyoming.
Associate Dean Paul Isley from Grand Valley State University’s Seidman College of Business says that’s all because of strategy. The union is tactically choosing plants that they know will apply more pressure on manufacturers.
“They're treating this like a war. And so they're using strategy to try and keep the adversary — in this case, the manufacturers — off base,” Isley told FOX 17.
Part of the tactic is not striking everything. Isley says they’re choosing plants that will cause stress for the manufacturers without having to pay all the workers.
While work continues here in Wyoming, that doesn't mean it will stay that way.
“The number of plants that they struck against GM and Stellantis is broad enough that there's going to be cascading effects over the next week, where plants that weren't being struck have to shut down.”
Isley says that those cascading effects will eventually impact the west side of the state — not the strike.
The vast majority of automotive manufacturing on this side are second- and third-tier manufacturers that are supplying them. So as final factories shut down, the need for non-union plants to build parts will drop. If this continues, West Michigan could see the effect in the next two weeks.
“We'll be looking at $100–$250 million a week in economic impact because of the need to stop manufacturing items that are no longer necessary because the factories aren't running,” he said.
If the strike goes longer than another week or two weeks, we could have permanent effects that will be hard to get past.
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