Members of United Auto Workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike against General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, union leaders said on Friday.
The union’s contracts with the automakers expire on September 14.
Roughly 97% of members voted to authorize strike action if a deal is not reached, UAW President Shawn Fain announced, according to The Detroit News.
A “strike authorization vote” is typically seen as a procedural step in labor negotiations. The vote does not mean there will or will not be a strike, CNBC reported. A UAW strike could result in billions of dollars of losses for the U.S. economy within the first two weeks.
“The Big Three is our strike target. And whether or not there’s a strike — it’s up to Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, because they know what our priorities are. We’ve been clear,” Fain previously told CNBC.
Union members gathered in Warren, Michigan, on Sunday for a rally to demand higher wages.
“I’ve been told throughout this thing that we’ve set expectations too high. … You’re damn right we have because our members have high expectations, and record profits demand record contracts,” said Fain, the Detroit Free Press reported.
In addition to increasing wages to match profits, the UAW is demanding more time off, 32-hour work weeks, and the end of wage tiers, according to WXYZ Detroit.
A study by Anderson Economic Group (AEG), a Michigan-based think tank, found that the U.S. economy could lose more than $5.5 billion if a strike were to go on for 10 days.
An estimated $859 million would be lost in wages for roughly 143,000 workers, with additional manufacturer losses of $989 million.
The most recent strike by UAW members came in 2019 when 48,000 workers walked out, resulting in the temporary closure of 34 General Motors plants, according to The Guardian.
Tyler Theile, vice president of AEG, said in the study that this year’s potential strike is different since there is only “about one-fifth of the inventory that was on-hand in 2019, so a strike in current conditions would likely affect dealers and customers much sooner.”
“Consumer and dealer losses are typically somewhat insulated in the event of a very short strike,” said Theile.
He added that with “current inventories hovering around only 55 days, the industry looks different than it did … during the last UAW strike.”
Patrick Anderson, principal and CEO of AEG, said, “Michigan experienced a single quarter recession” during the last strike, and it could be much worse in 2023.
“If that happens, even a short strike would impact economies throughout Michigan and across the nation,” said Anderson.