Paul Sancya/AP Photo
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain raises his fist at a rally in Detroit, on Sept. 15, 2023.
The UAW’s stunning victory with Ford, which will soon translate into similar terms as the other two large automakers settle, is not only a win for the union's audacious new leader Shawn Fain. It’s a win for union democracy.
Fain is already the first union leader maybe since Walter Reuther or Jimmy Hoffa whose name is a household word. He demonstrates both how a great union leader gives a rousing speech to rally the rank file and devises astute tactics to outplay management and build worker solidarity. This win will further energize a labor movement already on the upswing.
None of this would have been possible had not the previous corruption at the UAW led to a consent decree with the federal government in 2022 that provided, for the first time, that the union president be elected directly by the membership. It was this victory for union democracy that allowed rank-and-file reform caucus called United All Workers to elect a slate of officers led by the militant Fain.
Previously, the UAW establishment, known as the Administration Caucus, had always kept control. Its ability to trade favors with local leaders meant that the union establishment could always pick the president. The Administration Caucus was the successor to what was once the Reuther Caucus but became increasingly corrupted with time.
The new Ford contract, which still has to be ratified by the membership, ends the long era of concession bargaining. Its main features include a 25 percent wage increase over four-and-a-half years, plus plus a COLA, profit-sharing, and a ratification bonus. The two-tier system would be ended. A worker’s starting wage would increase by 68 percent, to more than $28 an hour.
Interestingly, some of the terms offered by the other two automakers are better than those in the Ford contract. GM, for instance, has offered the union organizing rights at battery and EV plants under the master contract. The right to strike over plant closing is also on the table at all three companies.
By astutely playing off the automakers against each other, Fain has created a race to the top. As the other manufacturers rush to settle because they don’t want their plants shut down while their rival Ford operates at full production, the likelihood is that the final contracts at each of the Big Three will include the best terms offered by any of them.
Fain has produced more than a victory for autoworkers. The UAW has demonstrated to the broad public what militant union leadership combined with rank-and-file democracy and solidarity can accomplish for working people in all occupations.
