(WWJ) – Sunday is day 17 of the UAW strike against the Detroit Three automakers.
As the strike expanded on Friday to include GM’s Lansing Delta Assembly Plant and Ford’s Chicago Assembly Plant, some 25,000 auto workers are now on strike across the country.
While Stellantis avoided any new walkouts in the latest expansion of the strike, UAW President Shawn Fain says the strike will keep growing if deals aren’t reached, as the union continues to fight for better wages, benefits and more.
“It’s the war of the working class vs. corporate greed,” Fain said. “We are the new arsenal of democracy. The workers are the liberators and our strike is the vehicle for liberation.”
As the union continues to threaten expansion of the strike, experts say Americans will likely continue to see more effects the longer it drags on.
And we could soon see those effects hit car prices.
“The marketplace determines car prices, but it’s also got a lot to do with supply. So if GM, Ford and Stellantis are building fewer vehicles at the plants that are shut down, that’s going to constrain supply, and yeah, that’s going to drive prices back up,” said WWJ Auto Analyst John McElroy.
The impact goes beyond just prices for cars, though. McElroy says independent repair garages already cannot get parts for GM or Stellantis vehicles, compounding the trouble the industry has been experiencing since the onset of the pandemic with a shortage of workers.
McElroy says he doesn’t see an end to the strike in sight.
“The concerning thing is that memo that says the union strategy is to damage these companies for months,” McElroy said. “That almost implies that they’re just not gonna take yes for an answer because they see that they’ve got a broad labor movement with incredible support. I mean, the President of the United States flew into town to support them.”
Fain has said negotiations are continuing around the clock with GM, Ford and Stellantis.