New UAW Video Marks Anniversary of Historic “Stand Up” Strike Against Big Three Automakers and Significant Victories Since
Today, the UAW released a new video marking the one-year anniversary of one of the most consequential union campaigns in recent history. At midnight on September 15, 2023, thousands of workers walked out at plants at each of the Big Three automakers, launching the historic “Stand Up” strike.
The video can be accessed here, and the media is invited to use the footage.
“When we went on strike on September 15, the Big Three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union,” narrates UAW President Shawn Fain. “By the end of our Stand Up strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.”
The video highlights the success of the “Stand Up” strike, from ending wage tiers, to winning COLA and significant raises, to security protection from plant closures.
“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance,” Fain continues. “They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers, or a permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.”
The strike also led to the automakers agreeing to fold electric vehicle battery plants into the master agreement. Months later, Ultium workers ratified an industry-setting, first-ever union contract at a battery plant in Lordstown, OH.
The video’s full transcript via President Shawn Fain is available below:
“The best thing we can do for one another is show each other how to be brave, how to be creative, and how to stand up for economic and social justice. That’s what our Stand Up Strike was all about.
“2023 was the first time the UAW President has refused to shake hands with the company CEOs, and instead shook hands with the members. It was the first time we updated our members directly on the company’s proposals throughout negotiations.
“It was our first time using a Stand Up Strike strategy. We ran the longest national contract strike at the Big Three since 1973. This was the first time in UAW history that we hit all three companies at once.
“We had doubters, but we also had champions. We had leaders and we had organizers. And I don’t mean people like me, I mean, you, the workers. The members who really run this union. People who take the word solidarity and make it mean something.
“If you’d have told me 30 years ago we could take on all three of the Big Three at one time, and win more in one contract than we have in decades, and if you told me that the vast majority of American public from my next door neighbors to the President of the United States would stand with us, I probably wouldn’t have believed it.
“When we went on strike on September 15th, the big three had a combined $12 billion in new gains on the table for our union. By the end of our Stand Up Strike, that amount had grown to over $23 billion. The Big Three nearly doubled the money on the table.
“They told us we would never win back cost of living allowance. They told us we would never win the right to strike over plant closures. They told us we would never put an end to wage tiers or permanent underclass of temporary workers. But we did.
“They said you can’t win a commitment to reopen Belvidere. And now of course the company’s trying to say you can’t enforce a contract. So we intend to fight like hell to make this company keep their promise.
“We managed to bring thousands of EV and battery jobs under our national agreements with a pathway for some of the Lordstown GM members to finally return home.
“We won $1.25 billion for current retirees, which is easily a billion more than we’ve won the last four contracts combined.
“And after we won these historic contracts at Ford, GM and Stellantis, nonunion employers were tripping over themselves to hand out raises in an obvious attempt to discourage employees from organizing. We called those raises the UAW Bump.
“This movement won a historic victory at Volkswagen in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where workers overwhelmingly voted to unionize. 73%, that’s not just a victory, that’s a blowout.
“But I also want to make sure we remember we won something else too. We won back our dignity as auto workers. What we won in these agreements is a new muscle, a new chapter in the story of the UAW. Ordinary people did extraordinary things. Our solidarity is our strength. Our strength is the hope of working-class people everywhere. For ourselves, for our families, for our communities, for our country, and for our future.”
