WYOMING, Mich. — A local professor says that a targeted strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) could still cause Detroit’s automakers to shut down all of their plants.
“This is sort of a novel strategy,” said Jeffrey Rothstein, a sociology professor at Grand Valley State University who studies labor.
Rothstein explains the approach to stop work at a limited number of targeted locations minimizes the cost to the UAW and maximizes the effects on General Motors, Ford and Stellantis.
“If they're going to selectively strike different plants [or] perhaps have rotating strikes with people in and out, they can cause chaos for a very long time before they would use up their strike fund,” said Rothstein. “It’s also potentially a way of relieving some of the pressure on the workers.”
Rothstein adds some plants cannot run without parts made at others, so even if the union does not strike at those facilities, the lack of work may create layoffs in which the automakers would be responsible for unemployment benefits too.
“The fact that they are engaging in something new and different, I think is significant,” said Rothstein. “It’s designed to both appeal, I think, to the workers, and let them see that we're doing something new and different, but also to put the automakers on notice, and, maybe, get them back on their heels a little.”
Rothstein says traditionally, the UAW picks one automakers during a work stoppage. He believes the strategy to go after all three for the first time reflects a more union-friendly attitude that has developed by people over the past few years. If successful, he says it could force unions in other industries to try other approaches too.
“More unions might be looking to say, ‘Well, how can we be creative? How can we do something different than what we're accustomed to doing in this new era of labor militancy?’” said Rothstein.
