At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, when real inflation accounted for wages for the average worker are lower today than they were 50 years ago, the UAW has won an extraordinary victory not only for their own members but for all of us. They took on a particularly ugly form of corporate greed in their industry, and they won. The lesson here is clear. When we stand together there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
In a world where everything is connected to everything, it is often the struggles of the working class in one industry and community that ultimately determines the quality of wages, benefits, and the ability to retire with dignity in other seemingly unconnected industries and communities.
That is why the struggle of UAW workers standing up to corporate greed at the Big Three automakers is so important.
Because the fight UAW workers have waged is not just about decent wages, working conditions, and pensions in the automobile industry, it is a fight against a corporate culture of arrogance, cruelty, and selfishness causing massive and unnecessary pain for the majority of working families throughout the country.
And I am pleased to tell you today — it is a fight they have won.
Just this morning, the UAW announced they have reached a tentative agreement with the third of the Big Three automakers — a historic victory that is not just a win for these autoworkers, but a victory that will resonate all across the economy, impact millions of workers from coast to coast, and help create a more just and equitable economy.
What these workers have won is historic, and all of us should take note.
According to the UAW, their agreement with Ford is the most lucrative agreement per-member since Walter Reuther was president of the union decades ago.
Workers won a 25% wage increase over the life of the agreement, temporary workers will get raises of over 150%, there are increased retirement benefits, and they won the right to strike over future plant closures.
In other words, in addition to wage and benefit hikes, they sent a message to the Big Three that they can't keep closing plants and hurting our communities without consequences.
I want to congratulate the UAW, its leadership, and especially its members for their historic tentative agreements with the Big Three. When workers fight back against corporate greed, they win.
In 1937, the UAW played a historic role in American history. The autoworkers of that time had the extraordinary courage to take on the greed and power of the auto industry and formed their union. Their successful sit-down strike in Flint, Michigan, ignited a grassroots movement across the country that helped create an American middle class which became the envy of the world.
Now in the year 2023 — 86 years later — the UAW, once again, is helping to lead the effort to rebuild and grow a middle class that has been beaten down by their corporate bosses for far too long.
Everyone, in every state in this country, owes them our thanks.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
