I feel like Ford is certainly trying hard to avoid this. It is disconcerting that there does seem more emphasis on planning a strike than reaching an agreement.
In my job I don't work directly with unions but I see results of their bargaining and you would be surprised at how many value more time off than higher wages.
Yeah, I agree that all the topics being negotiated on are certainly important to people, I just don't think those are the areas that will end up being agreed to by the automakers. It is just easier and probably cheaper to just increase wages and retirement benefits more. I think right now UAW is at 36% and Ford is at 20%. I bet their next offer is in the middle of that at like 28-30%, and minimal increases on the other stuff. But who knows.
I am not sure Ford will offer up anything more at this point and probably won't until after strikes. I fully support the 4 day work week and am on the side of the workers here, but I understand Ford realistically can't afford that with how it's structured right now.
In the end the real losers are probably going to be the consumers once again. If there's an agreement, the increase in costs will get passed down to consumers. If there is a strike, it will increase prices of vehicles on the lot. If consumers want to avoid that and go to the foreign competition, well Toyota and and Honda have no inventory. It's just a perfect shit storm once again.
You're right. It is partly why the UAW is in a strong bargaining position right now and probably why they are trying to better their position given the market right now.
