Can President Fain Save The Stand-Up Strike and Wentzville Weekends? YES!
Darin Gilley
UAW Local 2250
UAW Local 2250 was one of the original Stand-Up Strike locals. Local 2250 hit the picket line for 46 days and was proud to helped lead the innovative Stand-Up Strike.
Pride has its limits. The loss of income, picket line challenges and strike related stress were all expected. What was not expected was the reality of mandatory overtime to recover vans and trucks “lost” during the strike. This reality means that with production scheduled every Saturday, members will be working every weekend for the entire 4+ years of the agreement.
GM claims over 39,000 units were “lost” during the strike. The strike ended October 30, 2023. In the 9 months since then, working every Saturday has reduced that number by approximately 6,000 units leaving 33,000 units. At this rate, the units lost will not be made up until August 2028! That is three months past the May 2028 expiration of the UAW/GM National Agreement. Keep in mind, during this period the plant will produce five different model years of “lost” vehicles.
GM has made this claim under the EMERGENCIES clause of the Memorandum of Understanding included in the national agreement. This language has been in force since 1973. Here’s the exact language…
Emergencies
The provisions of this Memorandum of Understanding that limit or restrict the right of Management to require employees to work daily overtime or Saturdays or Sundays shall be suspended in any plant whose operations are interrupted by emergency situations, such as single breakdowns of four hours or more, government mandated work, power shortages, strike, fire, tornado, flood or Acts of God, for a period of time necessary to overcome such emergencies.
Since words are important, what is the meaning of “Emergency”? Oxford Languages defines Emergency as “a serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.” Only one type of strike meets those criteria – a wildcat strike, which is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a strike that is started by a group of workers without the approval of their union.” A wildcat strike is like the other examples listed such as power shortages, fire, tornado, and Acts of God because it would be unexpected. Obviously, none of the examples listed have the approval of the union.
However, there is more than one type of strike. As opposed to a wildcat strike a contract expiration strike does not meet the criteria of an emergency. The national agreement between GM and the UAW had an expiration date of September 15, 2023. In the past and as recently as 2019 a strike has taken place at expiration or shortly thereafter. This weakens any claim that the 2023 strike was unexpected. In fact, both parties were fully aware of the expiration when they officially kicked off negotiations with a ceremony at the GM Technical Center of July 17, 2023, a full two months prior to expiration. To further highlight the possibility of a strike, all GM locals began Strike Authorization voting on August 24, 2023. GM was made aware that 97% of members had authorized a strike at contract expiration.
President Fain Sets Expectations
UAW President Shawn Fain was explicit that the contract expiration was a deadline. So much so that the Detroit News reported that GM increased its wage boost from 18% to 20% the day before expiration in an attempt to avoid a strike. It is clear that GM knew a strike was a possibility and makes any claim that lost units are due to an emergency suspect.
Another problem with the claim that these units must be “recovered” is the units themselves. To accept that these units are being made up four and a half years later relies on the premise that vehicles from the 2028 model year are being “recovered” from a strike in 2023. This will be an interesting discussion when GM and the UAW meet with the umpire at arbitration to resolve this dubious claim.
What Must Be Done
This is where the International UAW must do their job and represent the members at Wentzville. As mentioned at the June union meeting a grievance on this issue has been filed by the UAW Local 2250 Bargaining Committee. Integrated into this grievance is a request to see the bargaining notes from the 1973 contract negotiations. Considering the MOU on Overtime was new language in that cycle there was likely much discussion regarding what would be included as an emergency. It is also likely that a distinction was made between a “wildcat” strike and a contract expiration strike. If there is such a distinction, then mandatory overtime to recover units lost during the 2023 Stand-Up strike is in violation of the national agreement and should cease immediately. President Fain and Vice-President Booth must pursue this grievance through the steps and all the way to arbitration if needed. Fighting this fight will save the Stand-Up Strike as no local will want to go first in the future if they must work years to make up units “lost” during a future strike.
More importantly, the members of UAW Local 2250 should not be punished for leading the way in 2023. Taking this fight through the entire grievance process will show that when President Fain and Vice-President Booth asked members to be on the front lines that leadership will watch their back.
(Graphic by Haer Afandi,Istock)
