On September 15, 2023, United Auto Workers members attended a rally held in Detroit, Michigan. This was the first time the UAW started a strike against the three main automakers in the United States as workers decided for all members to participate in a walkout and strike until they were granted their new deal. Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis employ about 145,000 UAW members and make more than 50 percent of the vehicles in the United States. The initiative for this strike was due to UAW members unable to reach a deal in the three automakers companies’ new labor contract. United Auto Workers want to reach an agreement with this labor contract to grant employees with increased wages due to inflation and a launch of a four-day workweek. United Auto Worker members want to reach to an end of a tiered employment system that underpays first-time employees, with a return of overtime pay and retirement benefits that were once cut during the 2007–2008 financial crisis. Lastly, UAW members want improved worker protections against plant closures as the production of electric cars rises.
The strike caused an estimated $4.2 billion in losses to the three main automakers in the U.S and lasted around six-weeks. United Auto Worker members finally reached a deal with the automakers with many UAW workers returning to their job ending the 46-day labor strike on October 30th, 2023. The UAW members were granted a new and improved contract all having similar deals.
