The UAW strike and its implications for the future of the American labor movement

MSU Today with Russ White

Matt Grossmann and Arnold Weinfeld from Michigan State University’s Institute for Public Policy and Social Research (IPPSR) discuss the latest in Michigan and national politics, policy, and the economy on the State of the State podcast, a monthly round up of policy and research for the state of Michigan.

Peter Berg joins the conversation to talk about the UAW strike and its implications moving forward. Berg is a professor of employment relations and director of the School of Human Resources and Labor Relations at MSU.

Conversation Highlights:

(1:12) – “We don’t have a real working majority in the House of Representatives.”

(3:11) – “They have a very small majority. And anytime you have a small majority, you have a few members who can make a difference. And now that we’ve proven that a few members can take down the speaker, that incentivizes everyone else who has an agenda to step forward and disrupt the process.”

(7:57) – “A lot has already been done. This will be right up there with the most changes from the right to the left of any state legislative session of the last 50 years.”

(10:54) – “The vast majority of the folks who are here now, when given the theoretical opportunity to the leave for California or Texas or Chicago, want to stay in Michigan.”

(13:05) – “It is certainly true that young people are more liberal on social issues, but if you ask someone if this is going to make them stay in the state, it’s easy to say yes, this policy makes a difference to me. If you look at the 50-state data and try to associate any set of policy changes with actual migration from state to state, you find zilch, no relation whatsoever between policy of any kind and which way people are moving.”

(16:42) – “We’re closer to the end than the beginning, but it’s really hard to predict how long this will go on.”

(18:07) – “This targeted strike across the three companies was a new approach. I think it’s been effective.”

(20:09) – “The UAW is trying to raise the floor. And they’re trying to extend their reach within the future EV industry world.”

(21:17) – “The UAW needs to transition from this heavy adversarial approach to now that we’re in this, how are we going to work together to achieve those efficiencies so that we all survive? Because the threat is that EV employment is going to be less than internal combustion employment. And that means fewer UAW members. So, great we won all these big increases, but the long term may see membership decline if they don’t come together and work together after this agreement to find a way to make the industry successful for everyone.”

(24:24) – “We’re seeing a lot of labor activism. We’re seeing more strike action because workers right now are in a position of power and they’re exercising that.”

(27:31) – “The view of unions as fighting for social justice and civil rights is the view of a lot of young people…there is a sense that the public is seeing unions differently, and whether that leads to change in some way or more interest in voting for a union and for density numbers to really move, we’d need a change in labor law.”

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