The Big Three automakers and the corporate media were effectively fooled by
the striking United Auto Workers.
So to understand how,
here's the background on everything you need to know on how this strike works.
So the unionized workers can basically strike at some plants while keeping
other plants open.
And this is actually a really great strategy because it helps
the United Auto Workers maintain and
save some of the resources in their strike fund, helps the strike fund last longer.
Now this tactic also allows the union strike fund to not only last longer,
but keep the Big Three auto companies guessing which plants and
which factories they're planning on striking at.
Obviously, they're not gonna know ahead of time unless they're going to be
dumb enough to just believe what is put out on social media ahead of time, and
that's exactly what happened.
The companies, meanwhile, according to Daniel Boguslaw over at The Intercept,
who has the best name I've ever read in a byline, the companies, meanwhile,
sought to anticipate precisely which plants would be struck and
reorganized production and distribution to minimize losses.
The Big Three guessed badly, so mostly because of the fact that the workers
cleverly tricked the employers with the use of social media.
So in the run up to the strike,
UAW members at auto plants from Georgia to Tennessee to Ohio took to Facebook and
Twitter to share accounts of partial plant closures and faulty information
from plant managers, leading to chaos on shop floors across the country.
I mean, it's amazing.
So the press, by the way, also ate it up.
Like, they see the posts on social media and they're like, these are our sources.
Our sources say that they're gonna shut down these plants.
So the industry aligned publication, Auto News published an article
describing plants that UAW members would likely target,
including Ford's Livonia Transmission Plant in Michigan,
its Lima Engine plant in Ohio, and the Cleveland Engine number one facility.
The article claimed Stellantis's engine and transmission plants in Indiana and
Michigan, as well as three GM plants across three states,
were also likely strike targets.
And it wasn't just auto news.
Okay, I don't wanna dunk on Auto News specifically
because CNBC deserves a lot of blowback for this segment.
Let's watch.
>> Speaker 2: We have received some information from a source familiar with
the UAW's plans for the plants that it will plan on striking come midnight
tonight if they do not reach an agreement with four GM and Stellantis.
And this is our understanding of the plants that will be announced tonight.
10 o'clock is when we will get the official announcement from the UAW.
Let's start first off with General Motors.
Romulus Powertrain, Toledo, Ohio, Propulsion and
the Marion Metal Plant in Indiana.
For Ford, it's our understanding that the UAW plans to strike at
the Lavonia Transmission Plant, Lima, Ohio engine plant, and
the Cleveland engine plant.
And finally for Stellantis, we understand that the UAW will walk out at
the Kokomo Transmission plant in Kokomo, Indiana, and the Dundee Engine plant.
We should stress we have reached out to the UAW for
confirmation that this in fact, is the plan.
We have not heard back from the UAW, but our source says this is the game plan for
the UAW in terms of the targeted strikes.
>> Speaker 1: Yeah, none of those were the targeted plants or facilities,
not a single one of them.
But it appears that the reporter received some faulty information from his source.
I just love the wording, I love the framing.
It really does shed light on the way media works when they talk about how they
received information from a source.
It could very well be a post on Facebook or Twitter that they came across that's
sure, I guess you could consider that a type of source.
But framing it in a way that makes one think that the reporter talked to
someone within the unionized workers is ridiculous because clearly
that's not what happened here.
Now, the actual targeted facilities included
GM's Wentzville Assembly Center just outside of St Louis, Stellantis's,
Toledo Assembly Complex in Ohio and two divisions of Ford's, Michigan plant.
And they're actually going to expand the number of plants that they are going to
strike out.
I'll give you the details on that and more in just a minute.
But did you all enjoy this as much as I did?
>> Speaker 3: It was fantastic, it was perfect.
It was almost as if one side, the stakes of which this strike are life and
death, and the other side that they're fighting against,
has people who's earned something in upwards of $200 million in
compensation over the last nine years on the other side, right.
It's like they expected to bulldoze the UAW like they have in previous years.
They expected a compliant pliable, very docile unit.
But no, they planned for this and
they wanted to demonstrate in the first blow that they meant business.
And that's what they did.
So it's incredible to see when one side has dire stakes and
the other side is living high on the hog they're caught slipping.
You shouldn't be surprised by this.
>> Speaker 4: It's one of those things.
Listen, so we talk about how media jumped on it and also, of course,
the companies jumped on it and made their moves.
The thing is, media, it's kind of easy to manipulate in these type of situations,
especially if you hold some piece of information.
So the way that he's talking about, at least that one particular reporter was
talking about, my sources, my sources, we're still in this media mindset
of got to get that first scoop, scoop, scoop, scoop.
In fact, it's probably even enhanced more because of the Internet and
how much information comes across.
Many times misinformation comes across because anybody can post.
So they're like, first got to get out there first.
You can give them a little crumb of something and mislead them very easily.
I mean, check out politicians who do it all the time, but
still that can be used very easily.
So it's just become the nature of the game.
But these hard nosed tactics or these tricks that they've been pulling on these
companies, this is some of those things that maybe politicians would be
complaining about, even the companies would be complaining about.
These unions are so tough, man.
Look at them breaking knees and all that.
If you think about the tactics of executives, lawyers,
corporations, they crack knees and they pump fear into people, and
they're supposed to whip them into this kind of shape.
When it comes to the Hollywood, the writer strike out here, these tactics are filthy
that they're trying to pull off, but they want that to fly under the radar and say,
look at these tactics, these dirty tactics from our opponents.
What are you doing, bro?
How much have you been putting your boot on the neck of people for years,
decades since forever.
The reasons why we even have to have these unions is because it's cutthroat.
And they're like, we're gonna take every dime we can from you and
get you to work as much as possible for little.
>> Well, to that point, after the economic collapse in 2008, the unions decided,
you know what, we know that it's a tough time for the Big Three.
These auto companies are literally taking bailouts from the federal government.
So in our contract, we will agree to concessions.
And they were significant concessions.
And now that these companies are doing real well, I mean,
to the point where they're paying their CEOs up to $29 million in a single year,
to the point where they're spending tens of millions of dollars in
a given quarter on stock buybacks or dividends.
>> Numbers as high as 5 billion in stock buybacks, Anna.
>> Insane, insane, so, like to turn around and
basically give the middle finger to the very employees who were
willing to take on those concessions in order to save your companies.
Tells you everything you need to know about why it is that you need
a real fighter like Sean Fain.
He's the head of the UAW.
He is not messing around, and I love it.
I mean, just read any of the quotes he's put out into the world over the last week,
and you'll get exactly what I'm talking about.
But real quick, let's go back to the topic at hand,
because the trick that the workers pulled led to quite a bit of chaos.
So I wanna read you some quotes from Scott Houldieson.
He's a worker over at the Ford Assembly plant in Chicago.
He spoke to the Intercept and said that the company bosses seemed to have no idea
where the plan strikes were gonna take place, but they decided to act on
the information they had, which, of course, was faulty information.
And so they made some moves that were ill-fated, to say the least.
He says that our local plant management started emptying out vehicles
from plant ovens and dip tanks.
If they leave cars in there, they get ruined.
So they start emptying those out and preparing to shut the ovens down.
So that's what was happening here because they thought that our plant was going to
be the one that was called out.
The plant chairman was telling me that ours was the one they
were going to strike.
He also says that the other automakers had transferred parts from plants
elsewhere in the country, including one in Tennessee,
saying that at GM in Spring Hill, they loaded engines to send
to Wentzville because they thought Spring Hill would be the target.
Turns out Wentzville was where they struck.
So there was a lot of disinformation out there that really put the company on
their heels.
In other words, the company moved product from one plant that they thought was
striking to one that actually did end up striking, and that did lead to some chaos.
But my favorite part about all of this is that I guess to try to save face
publicly and not appear to have egg on their faces.
A GM spokesperson said that there's been no work interruption at
Spring Hill as a result of the Wentzville strike, and Stellantis was really
the only one that was willing to admit that they were caught off guard.
With a Stellantis spokesperson saying the following strike preparation and
contingency planning is part of our normal process in a contract negotiation year.
As a responsible business, we have to do that.
They made it very clear that a strike was possible, and
we did everything we needed to do to protect the business, but
obviously they didn't end up protecting the business.
I think a good way to protect the business is to treat your workers well so
the strike doesn't happen in the first place, but can't have that.
You got to maximize profits for shareholders and
the executives as much as possible.
But going back to what I said earlier, guys,
Ford apparently has been engaging in good faith negotiations, and
they're actually getting rewarded for that to some extent.
So the auto workers union began strikes at noon on Friday against
38 part distribution centers across United States at GM and
Stellantis, extending its unprecedented simultaneous strikes
that began with one assembly plant in each of the Detroit Three.
The additional facilities added about 5600 workers to the 12,700 already on strike.
So they're expanding the number of plants, but
they're focusing specifically on GM and Stellantis, not Ford.
And the reason why is because Sean Fain says that Ford has basically been
engaging in good faith negotiations, they've made some progress.
So he also said that they have more work to do at Ford, but, quote, we do
want to recognize that Ford is showing they're serious about reaching a deal.
Fain said Ford had improved its contract offer, including boosting
profit sharing and agreeing to let workers strike over plant closures, but
said the union still has serious issues with Ford.
Ford also agreed to convert temporary employees with at least 60 days
employment to full time upon ratification of a deal, he said.
So that's already a pretty significant concession.
What do you all think about that?
>> Speaker 3: So, again, it's to point out to the folks at home, we don't just bring
this up because this was some cutesy trick that they played on them.
No, these folks lost money, immediately, and Ford was smart enough
to come to the table and meet them closer to what their demands are.
So these strikes are having a tangible, actual impact on the bottom line.
And what are we talking about ultimately,
when we talk about worker militancy in these strikes?
The big three has seen a 65% increase in profits over the last four years.
Obviously, the workers have seen none of that excess in profits, and
that's ultimately what they're fighting for.
What share of the pie do the workers who generate all of this damn wealth get to
keep, to feed their families, to pay their rents, to send their kids to college?
And what share of the pie do the shareholder class and
the CEOs get to keep?
It's actually really heartening to see.
>> It's one of those things, my last thought really fast on this, Anna.
So if you think about the amount of money they spent shipping
engines across different plants and then trying to prep for that, move this,
move that, and change that, and take the cars out of the bake tank,
whatever it is that they're called, that's probably a cost.
And they said a responsible business would do that, so
they incur those costs to move it.
It's probably not to the degree that the workers are demanding over whatever kind
of time spent that these negotiations are taking place in, but
they're spending money on it.
But still somehow spending money on your workers and your employees,
that's gonna bankrupt the company.
They've got money set aside to continue holding on to the way that they do things,
but they don't have money to spend on the workers because, by the way,
we don't care about them.
And they also point out we're protecting the business,
if you're protecting the business, and your way of protecting the business
is to go against the employees, the business is against the employees.
But when the employees are giving you these negotiations and
concessions, somehow the workers are supposed to have this
loyalty to the business when the loyalty to them.
Why is that the case?
We're supposed to be working together.
>> Speaker 3: Jayar just anecdotally if I could jump in.
I bought a Ford last December.
Business is booming I tell you, man, these cars ain't cheap.
They're making money hand over fist.
And also, I read somewhere that as it stands right now,
an estimated 5% of profits go to worker wages.
Think about that, think about that.
5% of profits are going to worker wages right now.
>> Speaker 4: So when they say that's gonna bankrupt them.
>> It's nonsense, we know it's nonsense.
>> Speaker 1: It is nonsense.
So more power to them, solidarity with the striking UAW workers.
I love the leadership that they have and that they had to fight for
better leadership and they got it.
And I'm happy to share that all with.