The UAW-Detroit Automaker Strike Impacts Literally Everyone and Here’s What You Need To Know
In case you haven’t seen it a thousand times already, the United Auto Workers (UAW) are striking against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis. Auto workers insist on a pay increase of over 30%, and until that happens, they’re not returning to work.
The strike started with a few workers, and as the negotiations are delayed, more and more workers at select production facilities are walking out the door to show that they are serious about their demands.
It may be easy to ignore this strike if you’re not in the automotive industry, and you may think it doesn’t affect you. But the truth is that at this point, this strike is affecting us all, even if you’re just an average American citizen.
Disruption in Auto Production
If workers aren’t working, then cars aren’t getting built. And if cars aren’t getting made, then there will be potential delays in the availability of new vehicles. These shortages can result in price hikes or even gouging as demand surpasses supply. We’ve already seen the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on the automotive industry, and that is one thing that we never want to happen again.
Economic Impact
The last automotive strike happened in 2019 and lasted for 40 days. During that time, 3.6 billion dollars were lost, which significantly impacted the economics of Michigan. Anderson Economic Group reported that even a strike of just ten days of all three big automakers could result in a loss of $5 billion.
Supply Chain Disruptions
Covid-19 also taught us a thing or two about supply chain distribution. Remember the whole toilet paper fiasco? How could we forget? Take this same concept and apply it to the auto industry. If these suppliers are affected by the strike, then that will impact their ability to provide parts. This will not only create delays in car production but also in the time it takes for auto mechanics to complete repairs.
Potential Recession Trigger
The last thing we need in the middle of this economy is a recession, and if this UAW strike lasts much longer, we may begin to see signs of a recession. The last auto worker strike that happened in 2019 caused a recession in Michigan that affected businesses throughout the whole state.
Research journalist, Freelance writer, Managing Editor
- Expertise: automotive content, trending topics.
- Education: LeTourneau University, Bachelors of Science in Business Administration.
- Over 400 articles and short news pieces published across the web.
Experience: Madison Cates is a journalist located in the great state of Texas. She began writing over eight years ago. Her first major research piece was published by the Journal of Business and Economics in 2018. After growing up in a household of eight brothers and a dad who was always restoring old Camaros, she naturally pivoted her freelance career into the automotive industry. There, she found her passion.
Her experience paved the way for her to work with multiple large corporations in automotive news and trending topics. Now, she now finds her home at Wealth of Geeks where she proudly serves as Managing Editor of Autos. Madison is always down to geek out over the latest beautiful cars on the market, and she enjoys providing her readers with tips to make car ownership easier and more enjoyable.