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Almost There ….

10/30/2023
The famous quote by Garven “Dave” Dreis, commander of the Red Squadron as he flew his X-wing starfighter in the attack on the Death Star ….
Happy Monday Everyone.
The Automotive Industry is almost there …
Stellantis came to an agreement with the UAW over the weekend, and all that remains now is an agreement with General Motors.
GM and the UAW were at the bargaining table from Thursday evening, all the way up until 5am on Friday morning.
Confirmed reports say that Barra and Fain were part of the discussions on Thursday.
GM and the UAW then convened again later on Friday.
In spite of the progress, GM was peeved at the move of the UAW to strike the GM Propulsion Plant in TN on Saturday.
The use of temporary workers (and possibly retirement benefits) is a final point of contention in the negotiations.
A strategic UAW move to get the last ‘ask’ from GM?
Seems possible since there is no information of ‘additional demands’ on GM that weren’t placed on Ford or Stellantis.
Fain just didn’t get enough coffee on Saturday morning after the late Thursday night bargaining session?
Or maybe ….
GM is being just a bit stubborn now … unnecessarily?
As long as I can remember, the Detroit 3 usually end up in similar spots regarding all of the contract details so it is a bit surprising that GM and the UAW have yet to come to terms.
What is particularly peculiar about this stalemate … is that not much has changed at all structurally since the October 5th numbers that Ford put out as the ‘lead’ negotiating company (and the only thing Ford primarily changed since that time was the 2% extra wage bump).
This is why the onus is on GM now to make the deal … and it is perplexing that they haven’t already.
I’m on the side of getting the deals done … prevent as much collateral damage as possible for the industry.
GM was losing $200M per week … prior to the recent strike at the propulsion plant in TN … now it has to be more.
This time it’s on GM concede and quickly make the deal … not the UAW.
Why wouldn’t they?
I’m sure GM put an incredible presentation together for the UAW on all the reasons why they can’t budge anymore, and what it means for future investments, etc. … but they aren’t going to change what Ford and Stellantis have already agreed to.
It’s impossible to not see that the UAW isn’t going to back down on these final points … so why not just make the deal, and move on and get the troops back to work?
The famous ‘sit-down’ strike of 1936 between the workers and GM was 44 days.
This ‘stand-up’ strike against GM is now in its 46th day.
Not the kind of new record timeline that anyone was hoping for.
A few more final touches … likely from the brush stroke of a Barra Waterman Pen … and the strife … I mean strike … will be over.
We’re almost there …
39-42, clouds.
Make it a great Monday, everyone!
Author Info
Jim Guerrera
Jim Guerrera, Managing Director, founded SCN in 2000. Jim is primarily responsible for the development of the leaders at SCN, strategic planning, the hiring and development of company associates, culture leadership, core value leadership, sales le...
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