ARE 'STRIKES' AS A BARGAINING TOOL MAKING A COMEBACK?

TWO mass labour strikes are rattling economic planners and lawmakers in the US. In an era when unified action by labour is considered passe, the United Auto Workers (UAW) have launched strikes in several Detroit plants of the three big automobile companies – General Motors, Ford and Chrysler parent Stellantis from 15 September.

- GURBIR SINGH

A new hardline leadership of the UAW has been gunning for the ‘greed’ of the Big Three. Stagnant wages and a tiered salary system that underpays new employees are the issues. Other demands include a 4-day week, and protection against plant closures as electric vehicle production rises.

US President Joe Biden has lent a hand to the protestors, but planners are worried if the strikes escalate to cover the entire 150,000 unionized auto workforce, it could disrupt supply chains and dent US growth. The 3 auto companies account for as much as 50% of US’ car production. Meanwhile, Hollywood has been more or less paralyzed since May this year after screenwriters, banded under the Writers Guild of America, have stopped work. The studios, streaming services and production companies have been brought to their knees as original content has virtually stopped flowing, leading to a worldwide entertainment drought. The conflict is over perceived poor pay, the size of writing staffs on shows and the fear of becoming redundant due to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the creation of scripts. According to the WGA’s calculations, the entertainment industry profits have ballooned from $5 billion in 2000 to $28-$30 billion from 2017-2021. Spending on original streaming content grew from $5 billion in 2019 to $19 billion in 2023 — the lion’s share of it by Netflix, which reported $6 billion in operating profits in 2021 and $5.6 billion in 2022.