Why the United Auto Workers union is poised to strike major US car makers

DETROIT (AP) — Auto workers are poised to go on strike at a few targeted automotive factories unless General Motors, Ford and Stellantis grant big pay raises and restore concessions that the workers made years ago, when the companies were in financial trouble.

Shawn Fain, the combative president of the United Auto Workers union, has outlined a strategy of using what he calls stand-up strikes in which a small percentage of the union’s 146,000 members would walk off the job at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday.

Fain says the targeted strikes will give the union leverage in contract talks and keep the auto companies guessing about the UAW’s next move.

It could also make the union’s $825 million strike fund last much longer.

Both sides began exchanging wage and benefit proposals last week. Though some incremental progress appears to have been made — General Motors made a new, richer offer just hours before the strike deadline — a final agreement could come too late to avoid walkouts. Any strike is likely to cause significant disruptions to auto production in the United States.

Here’s a rundown of the issues standing in the way of new contract agreements and what consumers could face in a prolonged strike:

WHAT DO WORKERS WANT?

The union is asking for 36% raises in general pay over four years — a top-scale assembly plant worker gets about $32 an hour now. In addition, the UAW has demanded an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs; a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay; the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans; and a return of cost-of-living pay raises, among other benefits.

Perhaps most important to the union is that it be allowed to represent workers at 10 electric vehicle battery...