A year after the strike is the UAW still winning?

A close-up view of the signs used by the United Auto Workers members to picket outside a Jeep Plant in Toledo, Ohio last September.

Sarah Rice / Getty Images

A year ago at this time, members of the United Auto Workers Union were feeling powerful and optimistic. The group's new President Shawn Fain had called a historic strike. For the first time, the Union walked out on ALL three big automakers.

It was a bold move that by most measures worked. It ultimately brought Ford, GM and Stellantis much closer to the union's demands for historic raises and new job protections.

The strike's success had people predicting a bigger and more powerful union.

A year on the union is still staring down some major challenges.

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Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SQUAWK BOX")

SHAWN FAIN: We've been very consistent in our message that September 14 is a deadline, not a reference point, and we expect all three companies to have that agreement. If they don't, then there will be action.

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain was talking to CNBC's "Squawk Box" last year as a strike deadline closed in on the Big Three automakers - Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, formerly Chrysler.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Chanting) No deal, no wheels. Union strong.

(SOUNDBITE OF CAR HORNS HONKING)

CHANG: In a historic move, the UAW walked out on all three of the big automakers at the same time, targeting some of their most successful plants. The union asked for wage increases of 40% over four years, the return of pensions and retiree healthcare. Those demands were a long way from where the Big Three automakers were in those negotiations.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARY BARRA: I'm extremely frustrated and disappointed. We don't need to be on strike right now.

CHANG: That's GM's CEO Mary Barra talking to CNBC shortly after the strike was called.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BARRA: We put a historic offer on the table that not only has very significant gross wage increases total through the contract - over 20% that, compounded, is 21% - but we also have job security. We maintain world-class healthcare. There are so many aspects of this - of the offer we have on the table that I think really is going to resonate with our employees. So we didn't need to be here.

CHANG: The offer did not resonate with UAW members, and they stayed on the picket line for about six weeks, during which time more workers from more plants walked out.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting) No justice.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) No Jeeps.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Chanting) No justice.

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: (Chanting) No Jeeps.

CHANG: And then, in late October, tentative deals were finally reached.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FAIN: For months, we've said that record profits mean record contracts. And UAW family, our stand-up strike has delivered.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHANG: CONSIDER THIS - the strike by autoworkers in late 2023 seemed to signal better times for the autoworkers and the UAW. But a year later, for some, that future is in doubt.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHANG: From NPR, I'm Ailsa Chang.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHANG: It's CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. A year ago at this time, members of the United Auto Workers union were feeling powerful and optimistic. The group's new president, Shawn Fain, had called a historic strike. And for the first time, the union walked out on all three big automakers. It was a bold move that, by most measures, worked. It ultimately brought Ford, GM and Stellantis much closer to the union's demands for historic raises and new job protections. And the strike's success had people predicting a bigger and more powerful union.

A year on, the union is still staring down some major challenges. NPR labor reporter Andrea Hsu and Stephan Bisaha of the Gulf States Newsroom hit the road to find out why things are looking different, and they're here to talk about it. Hey to both of you.

ANDREA HSU, BYLINE: Hey, Ailsa.

STEPHAN BISAHA, BYLINE: Hey. Good to be with you.

CHANG: So Andrea, I want to start with you because you went back to a Stellantis plant in Ohio and talked to workers who, a year ago at this time, were on strike. What did they tell you about how they're feeling now?

HSU: Yeah, I went back to the Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio. That's where the Jeep Wrangler and the Jeep Gladiator - that's the big pickup truck - are made. And it was a really different scene from a year ago. You know, last year, people were fired up. They were happy with how the negotiations were going. And this year, they were not feeling good at all. They were not optimistic about the future of the company. Their schedules have gotten really chaotic.

They've told me that, even this week, both production lines have been temporarily halted for different reasons. There's a parts issue. Also, there's too much inventory on dealer lots. But these kind of work stoppages have been pretty frequent lately, and it's giving workers the feeling that their jobs aren't that secure.

CHANG: Well, how is Stellantis doing financially right now?

HSU: Well, you know, their vehicles just haven't been selling as well this year. They make - in addition to Jeeps, they make Ram Trucks and the Dodge Durango here in the U.S. And the company reported that the overall profits were down 45% in the first half of this year. That's a lot.

CHANG: Yeah.

HSU: Now, Stellantis is about to lay off a couple thousand workers outside Detroit next month, and it's also delayed the reopening of a plant in Belvidere, Ill., where a new midsize truck was going to be built. Now, this is a huge blow to the union, which had fought to get that plant reopened. Stellantis is pointing to changes in the market, changes in consumer demand, but workers are really blaming Stellantis for missteps on things like pricing.

In any event, this is all bad news for workers. I met up with Jim Cooper, an assembly worker at the Jeep plant, who I met last year on the picket line, and here's how he put it.

JIM COOPER: This is the lowest the morale has been in the 11 years since I've been here.

CHANG: Wait, I don't get it. Wouldn't someone like Jim Cooper be making more money now than when you met him a year ago?

HSU: Yeah, he is. And in fact, when I was in Ohio the other week, workers got another raise that very week. So most workers now are making more than $36 an hour. That's $5 more an hour than they were making before the strike.

CHANG: Oh, that's good.

HSU: But back then, they were also making a lot of overtime because there was so much demand for cars.

CHANG: Ah.

HSU: And now that sales are down, they're getting fewer hours. Now, a smaller number of workers have gotten even bigger pay bumps. I met this guy, Kevin Pinson, who had worked at the Jeep plant as a temp employee for six years. And under the new contract, Stellantis agreed to roll over a couple thousand of these temps to full-time, and he was among them. He went from making about $19 an hour to now more than 36, and that has been life-changing. Here's what he said.

KEVIN PINSON: Before the raise and everything, I actually had to donate plasma and stuff to make extra income just for bills and stuff because my hours were not steady.

CHANG: Jeez.

HSU: Yeah. So Ailsa, he's no longer donating plasma.

CHANG: Good.

HSU: But even for him, things haven't been easy. Because there's less work at the Jeep plant, for six months, he was assigned to work in a warehouse outside Detroit, which for him was a three-hour round-trip commute. So the money has been good, but he's also not feeling great about where things are.

CHANG: Hmm. Well, Stephan, you're based in Birmingham, Ala., and I understand that you've been traveling through the South to meet with workers who've been the target of the UAW's efforts to organize nonunion auto plants. Before you tell me what you found, can you just give us a little more context on why those efforts are even happening?

BISAHA: Well, yeah. It's because the South actually has this booming auto manufacturing industry. You might normally think about Detroit when we think about American cars. But really, foreign carmakers, like Mercedes and Toyota - since, like, the '80s, they've been really building this giant industry in the South. Like, Alabama alone has five major assembly plants, and none of them have a union. So while auto jobs, in many cases, have been shrinking for decades in the North, if the UAW wants to grow, it has to look South because that's where the workers are. And a year ago, when UAW won that big, new contract, it finally had something to sell to these workers and say, hey, this is what we could give you if you join us.

CHANG: Well, now I'm going to steal a line from your reporting where you said that Southern hospitality was replaced by Southern hostility. Can you just explain what that means here?

BISAHA: Well, yeah. The South - it certainly can be a welcoming place, but not for everyone and not when it comes to union. There's practically, like, a New York level of, like, bluntness. Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, for example, had said a couple of times Alabama is no sweet home for the UAW. And this is a message that's been shared and put out by business leaders, too, and other politicians. I mean, I've even heard of preachers in Southern states going to these different manufacturing plants to tell workers not to join a union.

And this is really all driven by a fear that unions will cost the South good auto jobs. Like, take this video. It's one of several that's been played on loop inside the Hyundai assembly plant in Montgomery.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: We don't need no outside sources come and tell us what to do, like as a union.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: But we have to try to make sure we keep these companies here because it feeds our small business.

BISAHA: Now, industry experts say it's unlikely a union would cause a plant to shut down. But those fears - they played a large part in why workers at a Mercedes assembly plant in the state voted against unionizing back in May.

CHANG: But wait, there has been some hopeful news for the UAW in the South, right?

BISAHA: Yeah. I mean, Tennessee - that's really their big success story. In April, you had around 4,000 workers at a Volkswagen assembly plant. They voted to join the UAW. And the advantage that they had there, though, is that they've been trying for a decade to get an election at this - or they had three elections at this plant over a decade. They had seen Volkswagen break promises from previous elections. So they were extra motivated, unlike other Southern workers, to be like, OK, we definitely want a union this time.

And the UAW really wants to use this plant to set an example. It's noteworthy that, when they had their anniversary on Sunday of the big strike - the Big Three strike - UAW President Shawn Fain - he came down and held a rally for these workers in Tennessee because negotiations are also starting this week for their first contract with the union at the plant. Now, this is a chance for the UAW to show other Southern workers that they can deliver in the South 'cause, at least for now, Tennessee's success is really the exception to the rule.

CHANG: It's the exception. OK. Well, a question for both of you. Did either of you expect these headwinds a year ago, like, when the UAW seemed to be so strong?

BISAHA: Well, organizing the South - it was never going to be easy. I mean, this did feel like their best shot in a very long time, but the UAW has been trying for decades to unionize down here. Again, that Tennessee plant - the Volkswagen one - it took three votes to finally get one to make it to that point. Most of these plants, even like the Mercedes ones that voted against it - that was the first time that plant ever even had a chance to vote. And even beyond the South, union fights are really a slog. It could take years. And while the headlines can make it seem like these strikes and union elections - they kind of come out of nowhere overnight - it often takes years of painful work.

HSU: Yeah. And Ailsa, you know, people who closely follow the auto industry have told me, you know, it's a very cyclical industry. We saw car sales go through the roof during the pandemic, when people - when Americans were flush with cash. That was never going to last forever. And now the automakers are also in the middle of this really messy and costly transition to EVs. The UAW is really fighting for its place in that transition. It did make some progress in the last contract negotiations - for example, getting GM battery workers under the National Labor Agreement.

BISAHA: Yeah. And along those lines, earlier this month, we had a thousand battery workers at a GM joint venture battery plant in Tennessee. They joined the UAW, too.

HSU: Yeah. That was a big win for the UAW. But, you know, as for Stellantis, this week, the union filed federal labor charges against the company, really in an attempt to get Stellantis to follow through on its investment promises, including reopening that plant in Belvidere. You know, this is just not going to be an easy fight, and it's one that I expect will probably end up in court.

CHANG: That was NPR labor reporter Andrea Hsu and Stephan Bisaha from the Gulf States Newsroom. Thank you to both of you.

BISAHA: Yeah. Thanks for having us.

HSU: Thank you.

CHANG: This episode was produced by Brianna Scott, Christine Arrasmith, Gabe O'Connor and Gustavo Contreras. It was edited by Courtney Dorning, Pallavi Gogoi, Ed McNulty and Emily Kopp. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

And one more thing before we go - you can now enjoy the CONSIDER THIS newsletter. We still help you break down a major story of the day, but you'll also get to know our producers and hosts and some moments of joy from the All Things Considered team. You can sign up at npr.org/considerthisnewsletter.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

CHANG: It's CONSIDER THIS FROM NPR. I'm Ailsa Chang. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.