Although naturally, I’m a cynic, I’m crossing my fingers that the United Auto Workers strike against Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis will make a positive and lasting impact on labor laws. It’s no secret that our nation is held captive by Wall Street, corporate profit margins, and big paychecks for CEOs. 

For example, GM’s CEO Mary Barra made $29 million in compensation last year, Ford’s Jim Farley made $24.8 million for Stallantis, and over the last 10 years, these and other car maker CEOs enjoyed a 40% increase in compensation. However, auto workers experienced a 30% decline in hourly wages since 2003 (adjusting for inflation), and a big part of that was due to those same autoworkers and taxpayers baling out GM in 2008 as it went bankrupt due to the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis.

We all know what caused the subprime mortgage crisis: Lenders were greedy and handed out interest-only and adjustable-rate mortgages that borrowers weren’t able to repay.

Autoworkers have had enough. The union wants to end CEO concessions and is demanding a 40% wage increase over the next four years to match the 40% compensation increases received by those Big Three CEO executives since 2019. The UAW has said that if contract negotiations don’t improve by Friday, it will expand the strike to other manufacturing sights.

Now, you might ask, don’t auto workers make a lot? Not necessarily. Not all autoworkers at the Detroit plants make $32 an hour, and temporary /supplemental workers make a lot less. For example, Stellantis proposed during contract talks to raise the starting wage for supplemental workers from $15.78 per hour to $20 per hour. A far cry from $32 an hour. Also, Stellantis employs supplemental workers in the thousands. Unfortunately (and perhaps not surprising), the percentage of temporary/supplemental autoworkers employed by the Big Three is not available to the public.

In addition to low wages, the UAW has also had enough with a decadelong wage freeze for those hired before 2007. The union is also protesting consistently low pay, meager benefits for new hires, the elimination of pensions, and corporate healthcare benefit funds that go into corporate coffers.

Will the strike make a difference? I thought the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 would gain ground, but it fizzled out under the weight of corporate greed and little to no support in Washington. However, we can have hope and look at other countries where union efforts and grass-roots movements succeeded in nonviolently bringing about not only economic justice but a boost to Democracy as well.

Cases in point are Sweden and Norway. In the 1930s both countries experienced a major power shift in economics and politics. Prior to 1930, thousands of people emigrated to other parts of the globe to avoid poverty and substandard living conditions in both nations. After a long (and nonviolent) struggle against the 1%, the people ousted the oligarchs and their enablers in government. As unions and labor parties gained support among the populace and legislative candidates, these groups succeeded in creating more democratic governments with successful economies that reduced poverty, expanded free education, and offered universal health care and a higher standard of living. 

Changes in Sweden and Norway didn’t happen overnight, and labor unions and their allies fought hard and long for what they have now. The UAW strike, and other strikes among Starbucks and Amazon workers is a sign that American workers are tired of economic inequality, which is correlated with other forms of inequality, which in turn limit the democratic process.

The UAW strike isn’t just about wages, benefits, and compensation, it’s about preserving democracy.