ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the financial performance of the Detroit 3 and the post-2009 collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated. It shows that the companies’ financial performance had improved considerably since the depths of the auto industry downturn, as the companies substantially reduced their hourly and salaried workforces and shrunk capacity. Nonetheless, while the auto sales rose, the US market seems to have plateaued in size. In late 2018 and early 2019, Ford and GM had announced downsizing due to changing market conditions. The stage was set for tension negotiations in 2019. While the union had negotiated gains in 2015, rank-and-file demands for more improvements in wages and hiring practices (more full-time as opposed to temporary workers) rose. The UAW had adopted a major dues hike in 2014 to shore up its strike fund and general financial position. In 2018, it elected new leadership, selected Gary Jones, who was director of Region 5 (and an accountant by training). As 2019 got underway in the summer, revelations of scandal implicating Jones and his predecessor Dennis Williams mounted. Evidence of wrongdoing piled up as negotiations got underway in September, which provided a cloudy background against which the 40-day strike launched against GM occurred. GM and the UAW eventually reached an agreement, with both sides incurring significant financial costs. The UAW won what appeared to be a cash-rich contract but did not receive the assurances it had sought in terms of future product commitments.
