On one point they all agree: “We haven't seen a contract like this since the XNUMXs” the consultants of the four-wheeled world repeat in chorus. Yes, as rarely happens, this time the winners were Detroit blue suits, the working class overwhelmed by the 2008/09 crisis, forced to accept cuts and sacrifices in order to maintain jobs at risk, given the problems accumulated by the US auto industry. Stories from yesterday now. The three Bigs of the four wheels, Ford, GM and Stellantis (that presented the accounts today), heir to Chrysler, reorganized by Sergio Marchionne, in the USA, have been forced to accept agreements which not only lead tosalary increases in the order of 25 percent at least in four years' time (from 32 to 40 dollars an hourly wage) but they will largely redesign the labor market map, abolishing the weakest professional figures, and healthcare. As well as putting the union back at the center of American industrial policy after decades of defeats.
The resounding success of the auto union
A resounding success confirming that, 40 years after the affirmation of the principles of Reaganomics, America is turning the corner: from the struggles to introduce the Unions into Amazon and Starbucks, from the affirmation of the UPS truck drivers to the authors and actors of Hollywood, the examples of revolt in the world of work have multiplied. But, despite these precedents, not many people predicted that the very aggressive platform presented by the Uaw, the auto union, could bend the US auto giants. Indeed, there were very few experts who gave credit to Shawn Fain, 50 years old, electrician with little experience in the Union, who in March had prevailed by a handful of votes (no more than 500 against Ray Curry, a life in the union secretariat. An outsider without much experience. In Curry's words, someone who he knew very little about large factories.
A "light" opponent, the US auto giants thought in unison, for such a demanding challenge. Also because the union, weakened by the scandals of previous years which led to two of the leaders in prison in 2016/17, seemed destined at most to a slow internal reconstruction, also held back by the defeats suffered in the attempt to enter the US factories of Toyota and Volkswagen.
The young lions who brought the union to success
But, lost for lost, Fain played the clean sweep card, discarding all the old managers to rely on a trio of young lions arriving from the outside, without factory experience: Chris Brooks, a political communication specialist, already alongside Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the combative lead of the radical left; labor lawyer Ben Dictor (beaten by Donald Trump's bodyguards during a protest at Trump Tower) and Jonathan Furman, communications expert. a former journalist who already succeeded in making his colleagues at the New York Times go on strike. They were the ones who convinced Fain to adopt new tactics and strategies for trade union struggles.
In the past, the contract season opened with a public meeting of unions and company managers at the highest levels, amidst handshakes and laden tables. Then negotiations began with a pilot company which was followed, once the first agreement was reached, by talks with the other two. This time, however, Fain has refused the liturgy of handshakes, but immediately moved on to the strike phase. With a very sophisticated strategy, involving time after time the most profitable factories and warehouses of companies, including factories Ram and Jeep from Stellantis, taking care however to minimize the impact on employees.
Communication policy is fundamental
Even more radical is the communication policy. To Bill Ford, who had launched an appeal for harmony ("I will never treat one of my employees as an enemy") Fain opposed the salary of 21 million dollars by CEO Jim Farley. And so on, gaining the consensus of public opinion over the course of the dispute. In addition to the support of President Biden who thus hopes to win working-class America back to the democratic cause.
In front of this lineup the Big 3 ultimately decided to give in, before stock-outs affected car supply. “After all – he explains to New York Times Sun Narayan, car expert at Tbc Capital – the manufacturers have to face more complex problems than those presented by the Uaw: the market is struggling to accept the new models and the electric car for now it remains a puzzle." The union, then, could transform itself from enemy to ally if it manages to win the consensus of Tesla's factories, which produces at significantly lower costs.
It remains to be seen now whether the long wave of Detroit's young Turks will be able to cross the ocean.
