Eric Mullins: Putting a Hand in the Work: Helping the GM, Stellantis, Ford, and the Ford Workers
Ford, GM and Stellantis have all been highly profitable for the last few years, and the union is arguing that much more of that wealth can and should flow to the people who build the vehicles.
“There’s money there,” Mullins says. I understand that we can’t have everything we asked for. You gotta start somewhere.”
The union’s push is personal for him. It’s about securing the kind of retirement his dad and grandfather would have, as well as the kind of pay his coworker Rob already has.
“We have to make a statement for something”, Mullins says, with determination and resignation. “This should have happened years ago, when everybody else gave up their stuff and never got it back.”
Eric Mullins, a third-generation UAW worker picketing outside the massive Michigan Assembly Plant near Detroit, wasn’t itching to strike. The night before the strike began, some of his colleagues were sleepless and eager to make history. He would prefer to be working.
As he stands near one of his factory’s gates, holding a sign, most of the drivers that pass by honk in support. But the occasional heckler drives by, too, and then Mullins would remember wrestling with those very same tires.
Mullins has worked at Ford for over three years. He remembers his first day vividly. He only had one minute per car to keep up, as he flung heavy wheels and tires onto vehicles.
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The person will have a retirement fund in the form of a 401k. That’s commonplace in today’s workforce, but it used to be different for UAW workers. Mullins’ dad was also a union member — and he has a far sweeter deal waiting for him when he retires.
The pay of workers who have been with the company for a long time is the same as those who were hired before 2007. The union wants that time period to be quicker.
The United auto workers strike is entering its third week and there is one thing for certain. The union is ready for the long battle against the Big Three.
“Rob has been here since ’88 and Sofus has been here just as long,” he says. “They make double what I do, double. I also do the same job. I work with Rob often. The job and the skill set are the same.
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The UAW has an advantage due to the gradual strike expansions. The strike fund was over a billion dollars when the strike began.
Kumar Galhotra, who leads the internal combustion business at Ford, says the strike has had a significant impact on the company. Galhotra, in a call with reporters, declined to share exactly how much the company is losing each week.
So far, the UAW has refrained from targeting the most profitable sectors of the companies’ production – a strategy that, if maintained, positions the companies to withstand an ongoing strike for many months.
Sam Fiorani of Auto Forecast Solutions said that they weren’t hitting at the heart of the companies. “They’re allowing the companies to still stay in business – and just giving them enough pain to stay at the table.”
Pick-up trucks and large SUVs are the “bread and butter” of the Detroit 3, said Michelle Krebs, executive analyst at Cox Automotive, adding that this is the time of year – leading up to the winter months – when sales go up for these highly-profitable vehicles.
More than 3000 workers were laid off by the Big Three as a result of the strike. The company will lay off more than 400 workers from two plants.
The strike is still relatively small and the UAW has made clear that it will continue to tighten its screws as it looks to pressure the automakers to reach agreements sooner than later.