Leaders of the United Auto Workers union initiated a strike Sunday against General Motors as contract negotiations went beyond a weekend deadline.
On Tuesday, GM moved all striking union members to COBRA health insurance coverage.
- Rod Meloni and Jason Colthorp hosted a live discussion Thursday morning -- watch above.
Here are the key points:
UAW-GM strike
- The United Auto Workers announced a national strike against General Motors that began Sunday at 11:59 p.m.
- Nearly 50,000 workers at GM plants across the country are involved.
- GM is expected to lose $250 million a day.
- UAW members who show up at the picket line will get $250 a week.
- It is the UAW’s first nationwide strike since 2007.
- As of Thursday, union workers had shut down 33 manufacturing plants in nine states and 22 parts distribution warehouses.
Union demands
- Workers are on strike to secure:
- Fair wages
- Affordable healthcare
- Their share of profits
- Job security
- A defined path to permanent seniority for temps
- Representatives from GM and UAW have been meeting for contract negotiations since July. GM workers’ contracts expired at midnight on Saturday with no agreement reached.
- UAW said the strike is a “last resort.”
- UAW Vice President Terry Dittes: “We are standing up for fair wages, we are standing up for affordable quality health care, we are standing up for our share of the profits. We are standing up for job security for our members and their families.”
- GM released a statement Sunday morning saying it offered the union more than $7 billion in investments, including the creation of 5,400 jobs and increased base wages and benefits.
- “We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency. Our goal remains to build a strong future for our employees and our business.”
GM moves striking UAW members to COBRA healthcare coverage [article]
- On Tuesday, GM moved all striking union members to COBRA health insurance coverage.
- COBRA stands for "Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act." It is available under a federal law that may allow you to temporarily keep health coverage after your employment ends, you lose coverage as a dependent of the covered employee, or another qualifying event.
A record number of US workers went on strike in 2018 [article]
- 485,000 employees were involved in major work stoppages last year, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics .
- This is the highest number since 1986.
- Public school teachers were behind the year’s largest walkouts.
- Teachers in Arizona, Oklahoma and West Virginia protested cuts to education funding.
- West Virginia and Oklahoma ranked 48th and 49th, respectively, for average teacher salary in the US.
- Marriott employees in four states refused to work until the company agreed to give them a raise and increase their benefits, in the largest hotel strike in US history.
Local 4 and ClickOnDetroit will be following this developing story -- follow live updates on the strike here: