UAW Responds to Record GM Revenue by Striking at Company's Most Profitable Plant

Roughly 5,000 United Auto Workers members walked off the job at General Motors' most profitable plant in North America on Tuesday shortly after the company posted earnings that surpassed Wall Street's expectations, reporting nearly $3.1 billion in third-quarter profits.

"It's time GM workers, and the whole working class, get their fair share," UAW president Shawn Fain said in response to the company's earnings report, which comes more than a month into the union's historic strike at the Big Three U.S. automakers.

Including the surprise walkout at GM's Arlington Assembly Plant in Texas—the production site of the company's Chevrolet Tahoe Cadillac Escalade—around 45,000 UAW members are currently on strike across GM, Ford, and Stellantis.

GM said the strike is costing the company roughly $200 million a week in profit. But as CNNnoted, the $8.9 billion in adjusted income the company has reported during the first nine months of 2023 is an increase of close to 11% compared to the same period last year.

The company's revenue rose to a record $44.1 billion for the third quarter, up 5% compared to last year.

"It is clear that GM can afford a record contract and do more to repair the harm done by years of falling real wages and declining standards across the Big Three."

Despite such strong earnings, GM's latest contract offer "fails to reward UAW members for the profits they've generated," the UAW said in a statement Tuesday.

"GM's offer lags behind Ford, with the company proposing a two-tier wage progression, the weakest 401(k) contribution offer on the table, a deficient COLA, and other shortcomings," the union said. "On the heels of their previous quarter, which set 'a post-bankruptcy record' in terms of revenue, it is clear that GM can afford a record contract and do more to repair the harm done by years of falling real wages and declining standards across the Big Three."

The UAW's labor action at the major GM plant comes a day after the union expanded its strike against Stellantis, calling on nearly 7,000 workers at the Chrysler parent company's Sterling Heights Assembly Plant in Michigan to walk off the job.

The union said GM, Ford, and Stellantis have each offered wage increases of 23%, a significant increase compared to their original 9% proposal but a far cry from the UAW's call for a 36% boost over four years.

"Ford, GM, and Stellantis made a quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits over the last decade," the union said Tuesday. "They made a combined $21 billion in total profits in just the first six months of this year. And yet all of them are still refusing to settle contracts that give workers a fair share of the record profits they've earned."