Wednesday, October 25, 2023

UAW and Auto Industry Reach Tentative Agreement

The strike has been going on for at least six weeks and has been a battle of economic pain both for companies and for workers on the picket line. There appears to be some increases with wages, benefits and likely hours adjustments based on some prior UAW comments.  Once a deal is made it will also likely influence heavily and flip negotiations with the other two auto companies as the standard has been set. Generally, one agreement indicates they obtain a certain goal and companies don't want to fall behind their competitors so they often sign quickly similar agreements.

Furthermore, both car company executives and union leaders feel the industry is growing or they would not have made such a deal. There was lift to wages because in one way or another manufacturing is returning back to the U.S., skilled labor supply is limited, and inflation contributed to worker positions creating decisive negotiation points. The current unique domestic and global market made the iron hot and that is likely why the strategy was to expand strikes so quickly to other plants to create pressure.

In negotiations different sides start with initial suggestions/positions and negotiators work their way through and request information and clarification/documentation until a final deal is made. One might experience lots of brow beating and temper tantrums. Now that a tentative deal has been reached UAW members will vote on the tentative deal and members likely will follow suit with union leadership sentiments. 

This is a whole field of study so you can read about some of the general strategies. I'm sure no one slept much during the process and coffee was on the flow.  Negotiation Process and Structures (2015)

An important human capital question one may ask is, How does the agreement manage and deal with new technology implementation and individual/collective initiative?

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