“The ongoing social-ecological conflict in the American auto industry foreshadows countless other conflicts around the transition”

2023-10-14 05:30:08

While the French head of state’s declaration of love for “car” hits the headlines in France, a historic social movement is taking place in the United States in the automobile industry. What is at stake is the future of this industry, and at the same time the fate of the energy transition across the Atlantic.

Because the question asked by the strikers of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union can be summarized as follows: how to share the wealth in the sectors of ecological transition?

The American transport sector alone emits 1.6 gigatons of carbon dioxide per year, more than all French and German emissions from all sectors combined. If emissions per kilometer traveled have fallen since the 1970s, the distances traveled have increased more, so that emissions from the sector have increased by 50% in fifty years. The weight of cars has also increased, by almost a quarter since 1980, with SUVs [sport utility vehicle – littéralement « véhicule utilitaire sportif »] which can weigh up to 2.5 tonnes today.

Increases of 40% over four years

Obviously, the electrification of the American automobile fleet will not be enough to resolve the ecological crisis, and we can deplore the absence of significant reform to reduce American dependence on the car. In the United States, even more than in Europe, a rationalization of uses and a shock in the supply of public transport are necessary.

Read also: United States: 8,700 additional employees stop working at Ford on instructions from the UAW union

But it is clear that electrification is a necessary condition for the American, and therefore global, energy transition. It is in this context that UAW unionists begin their fifth week of a targeted and simultaneous strike against the three major automobile manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis – a first in the history of American unionism. The position of unionists is clear: electrification cannot be done for the benefit of shareholders against workers. The t-shirt worn during a conference by Shawn Fain, the union leader, has the merit of clarity: « Eat the rich » (“eat the rich”).

The central union, with its 390,000 members and nearly 600,000 former members, is demanding in particular the end of a two-tier pay and benefits system, where workers who arrived after the 2008 financial crisis are paid almost half as many as those who arrived before. The unions are also demanding wage increases for workers of around 40% over four years.

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