Should Strike Pay Be $625?
Darin Gilley
UAW Local 2250
UAW strike pay is money designed to help members on strike replace a portion of their regular pay. Ideally, this will allow the member to cover their basic expenses while they fight for economic justice. Throughout labor history many strikes have been lost when workers without strike pay were “starved” into accepting a substandard agreement.
That is the reason I wrote the resolution to raise strike pay to $500 a week. It was a response to the $275 strike pay provided the last three weeks of the 2019 UAW strike against General Motors. As Financial Secretary of UAW Local 2250 it was my responsibility to manage the hall and strike operations on the night shift for those forty days. I was lucky to have a lot of dedicated help from fellow officers and members. This made the nightly calls and stories from members with financial problems even more frustrating. Many members told me they were ready to support any agreement and go back to work because they were in financial trouble.
“When well nourished, make him hungry” is a quote from The Art of War by Sun Tzu that means to weaken the enemy by making them hungry. Obviously, if we were to have a successful strike in 2023, we needed more strike pay. Let’s look at strike pay and the percentage of regular income it replaced.
In 2019, top production pay at GM was approximately $28.00 per hour which equates to $1,120 per week. Strike pay was $275 per week. That was 24% of regular pay. No wonder it was stressful.
In 2023, top production pay was $32.32 per hour which equates to $1,292,80 per week. Strike pay was $500 per week. That was 38.6% of regular weekly pay. While still challenging the financial stress for most members was reduced.
So, should strike pay be set at a percentage of regular pay or should it be kept at a flat rate? Let us look at what strike pay would be in 2028.
In 2028, top production pay will be $41.17 per hour. That equates to $1,646.80 per week. Using the current 38% we find that the weekly strike benefit would be $625.
Should the strike benefit go up by the same percentage as weekly pay? Give it some thought and if you have a different idea be sure to write a resolution for the next constitutional convention. I will be and you just read the basis for my resolution that strike pay be increased to $625 per week.
