UAW organizing campaign seeks to double autoworker membership

The United Auto Workers' new organizing campaign aims to double its auto industry membership — seeking to realize President Shawn Fain's goal to get more automakers at the national bargaining table come contract talks in 2028.

A campaign that the union describes as an "unprecedented" effort, detailed Wednesday, targets autoworkers at more than a dozen non-union automakers, both foreign and domestic. That would encompass nearly 150,000 non-union autoworkers. The Detroit-based union counts 146,000 members among the Detroit Three and close to 400,000 active members overall.

The organizing push comes after UAW members at General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV went on a targeted strike for up to 46 days and then ratified new four-and-a-half-year contracts that include a 27% combined general wage increase, cost-of-living adjustments, billions of dollars in investments, a reduction in tiers, increased retirement contributions and pathways to organize members at battery plants under the master agreements.

The new contracts with the Detroit Three increase the labor cost gap between the Detroit Three and its competitors. Organizing their plants would help to level the playing field and begin to close the widening cost gap, benefitting the Detroit Three.

Fain's professed hope: to take the momentum of those gains to organize workers at foreign-owned transplants and employees at such domestic EV makers as Tesla Inc. Doing so would provide the union more influence, greater leverage at the bargaining table and more financial stability, but the UAW's efforts to bring these workers under its umbrella in the past have failed. Plants are often in southern and right-to-work states.

"There hasn’t been a better time probably in my lifetime to try to take on something of this scale," said Susan Schurman, distinguished professor in the Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "The labor market is tight, public support for unions is the highest it’s been in decades, you have these big wins, new leaders, a supportive White House. They have a lot going for them. Nonetheless, it’s going to be a real battle."

The union previously said it has received interest from thousands of unorganized workers.

“To all the autoworkers out there working without the benefits of a union: now it’s your turn,” Fain said in a video to promote the campaign. “Since we began our stand-up strike, the response from autoworkers at non-union companies has been overwhelming. Workers across the country, from the West to the Midwest and especially in the South, are reaching out to join our movement and to join the UAW.

"The money is there. The time is right. And the answer is simple: you don’t have to live paycheck to paycheck. You don’t have to worry about how you’re going to pay your rent or feed your family, while the company makes billions. A better life is out there.” 

At uaw.org/join, workers can learn more and sign an authorization card to organize their workplaces at Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. Ltd., Hyundai Motor Co., Tesla Inc., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz Group AG, Subaru Corp., Volkswagen AG, Mazda Motor Corp., Rivian Automotive Inc., Lucid Group Inc. and AB Volvo.

Once 30% of workers at a single plant sign an authorization card, an organizing committee of autoworkers at the plant would be announced publicly, according to a union flier. That's the threshold that is needed for a National Labor Relation Board election to be held to organize a workforce.

Once 50% of workers at a plant have signed an authorization card, the union says it would hold a rally with Fain, community leaders and supporters. After it reaches the 70% threshold, the union says it would demand voluntary recognition by the company. If that doesn't happen, it would file for an election with the NLRB that would allow workers to vote on whether to unionize.

"This is about the working-class workers and being industry-wide and wall-to-wall union representation," said Marick Masters, a management professor at Wayne State University, likening the effort to how the union chose not initially to target a single Detroit Three automaker in the recent talks but do a simultaneous strike instead. "They’re taking the approach that the broader they can cast the net, the greater the chance they can see what the points of real strength are."

A national effort compared to focusing on a single location, though, is costly. Masters said the union may have to get creative with funding, such as through crowdfunding or collaborating with other unions.

Still, organizing a critical mass of the non-union U.S. industry as the Detroit Three's share of the automotive market has shrunk is essential to achieving bargaining power, Schurman said.

Lynda Jackson, 37, of Detroit is the recording secretary for UAW Local 7 and a team leader at Stellantis NV's Jefferson North Assembly Plant. As a delegate to last year's constitutional convention, she supported a resolution for the union to make a standing organizing committee. During college, she worked in organizing for the Service Employees International Union.

Jackson said she's seen the union's organizing department grow in recent months and how it was integral to rallies and other publicity and morale-boosting events amid the contract negotiations.

"The number is the power," she said. "Our numbers have diminished as companies have taken products and things like that overseas. It takes away from our numbers. The more numbers, the more union dues, the more money and resources. I can’t see it being a bad thing so long as it's done tactfully."

Defenses up

Companies like Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Subaru have announced pay increases, reduced timelines to get to the top wages and other new benefits since the UAW reached tentative agreements with the Detroit automakers.

The automakers have to be careful with how they approach this, though, too, Masters said: "One thing they don’t want to be charged of doing is changing their workforce conditions to prevent them from organizing."

It didn't take long after the announcement for automakers like Honda to question what such organizing efforts would achieve.

"Over the past 40 years, no automaker has been more successful in growing its U.S. production operations than Honda, something we have done based on our approach of teamwork, respect and open communication, in addition to maintaining competitive wages and benefits," according to a Honda statement sent by spokesperson Chris Abbruzzese. "We do not believe an outside party would enhance the excellent employment experience of our associates, nor would it improve upon the outstanding track record of success and employment stability Honda manufacturing associates in America have achieved."

Subaru spokesperson Craig Koven referred to the company's statement from last week announcing the largest production wage increase in the company's history, which wasn't detailed except that wages will have increased seven times and more than 24% since 2019. The company cited a semi-annual wage review and industry conditions. Subaru also provides premium-free health care and company-matching contributions to flexible spending accounts.

Hyundai in a statement sent by spokesperson Michael Stewart said it's investing more than $12 billion in Alabama and Georgia to expand U.S. manufacturing.

"Hyundai provides excellent wages and benefits and maintains a strong culture of safety, quality and continuous improvement in all our operations," the statement said. "During Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama’s 18-year manufacturing history in the U.S., our team members have not shown an interest in union representation."

Toyota, VW and Volvo declined to comment.

It's not just the UAW that has faced challenges organizing, particularly in the South, said Calvin Schermerhorn, a history professor at Arizona State University. It's long ingrained in the Southern culture. In the late 19th century and early 20th, efforts to unite Black and White workers proved difficult, and anti-communist sentiment in the 1940s and '50s also held back the labor movement.

"Many of the national leaders in AFL-CIO weren't terribly interested in fighting those fights down South," Schermerhorn said. "Many union organizers chose to send their capital to more liberal politicians in the Midwest and other northern states rather than break into the South."

That opened the way, he said, for automakers in the latter half of the century to open factories in places like Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee, where they were almost guaranteed not to be disturbed by the UAW or union-sympathetic politicians.

'Only way'

Fain has made a show since taking office in March of running the union differently than in the past to break from a years-long corruption scandal that opened the way for the direct election of UAW leaders and Fain's administration.

Expect during these organizing drives similar use of social media, videos and other creative ways of communication that the union leverages during negotiations, Masters said. The UAW's website highlights for each of the companies profit and revenue increases, executive compensation, increases in vehicle prices, stock buybacks and wealthy investors. Flyers also seek to inform workers on what their bosses cannot do legally when it comes to surveilling organizing efforts, making promises to prevent organizing, interfering with drives or making threats.

If the union is unsuccessful and the cost gap remains, it could jeopardize U.S. investments by the Detroit Three or accelerate automation. GM on Wednesday said the new contract with the UAW, as well as a three-year agreement with Canadian autoworkers union Unifor, will cost it $9.3 billion over their terms.

"If companies see you are going to drive your hourly costs from $55 (per hour) to over $90, they are seriously going to think about where they locate their facilities," Masters said. "They'll substitute technology where they can. They'll be looking at where their operations are, particularly a company like Stellantis. Ford is proud that it's the No. 1 employer among the UAW, but even it has limitations."

Masters said if plants aren't starting to hit the 50% threshold by the spring, "you have to question whether they had sufficient support to bring it there to begin with."

The union identified efforts at Toyota's plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, that builds the Camry, RAV 4 and Lexus ES as one of its "strongest campaigns."

"We’ve lost so much since I started here, and the raise won’t make up for that,” Jeff Allen, a 29-year employee at the Georgetown plant who has had two work-related surgeries, said in a statement provided by the UAW “It won’t make up for the health benefits we’ve lost, it won’t make up for the wear and tear on our bodies. We still build a quality vehicle. People take pride in that, but morale is at an all-time low. They can give you a raise today and jack up your health benefits tomorrow. A union contract is the only way to win what’s fair.” 

bnoble@detroitnews.com

@BreanaCNoble