US autoworkers may wage a historic strike against Detroit’s 3 biggest automakers – with wages at EV battery plants a key roadblock to agreement

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Marick Masters, Wayne State University

(THE CONVERSATION) The United Auto Workers union, which represents nearly 150,000 employees of companies that manufacture U.S.-made vehicles, kicked off in mid-July 2023 the labor negotiations it undergoes every four years with the three main unionized automakers.

It’s not clear that the UAW will agree upon a new contract with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – the automaker that manufactures Chrysler and 13 other vehicle brands – by their impending deadline. The contracts expire at 11:59 p.m. Sept. 14.

The union’s leaders skipped the traditional handshake ceremonies it usually holds with these automakers, which are often called the Big Three or Detroit Three. The union instead held grassroots photo-ops: UAW leaders greeted rank-and-file members at one Ford, one GM and one Stellantis factory.

I’m a labor scholar who has studied the history of UAW collective bargaining with the...