UAW #StandUpStrike Coverage Round Up

A helpful resource for readers.

Hello hello, folks. A very happy Wednesday to you—this and last week’s labor news cycle has been quite a whirlwind, and a larger headline roundup will land in your inbox at the end of the week, but the situation with the UAW Stand Up Strike of the Big 3 Automakers maintains a pretty tight above-the-fold presence in the nation’s major newspapers.

For the folks who might need a chance to get a full rundown on the Big 3 negotiations, the Stand Up Strike, and President Biden’s visit to a Michigan picket line yesterday, here are some headlines to help you out.

Just a note: the headlines included here represent a more working class, worker-focused perspective. If there are headlines that you’ve seen personally that you think are important to include and I haven’t added it here, my apologies. Feel free to send me a message with a link or share the link alongside this one so folks get a good breadth of information about this important struggle in the American labor movement.

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The Big Three Contract Negotiations So Far

To get a sense of the stakes of these negotiations, and the contract campaign leading up to the strike, there are a number of good breakdowns and podcasts that will help you get yourself situated.

• The Upsurge Podcast, “BONUS: Renewed Militancy at the United Auto Workers”
• The Upsurge Podcast, “Autoworkers Prepare to Strike the Big 3”
• UAW Negotiations FAQ.
• LaborNotes, “‘The Cost of Doing Nothing Is Much Higher’: Big Three Auto Workers Prepare to Strike”
• Working People, “Autoworkers Are Fighting for the Future of the Industry”

What is a Stand Up Strike? Important Info for the Uninitiated

If you’re unfamiliar with exactly how a Stand Up Strike works, I’ve included some resources for the curious—these include videos and articles directly from the UAW, as well as a number of analyses that’ll help you understand the power that workers have when using this strategy.

UAW, “What is a Stand Up Strike?”

• Jacobin, “The UAW Strike May Be a Watershed for the US Labor Movement”
• The Real News, “‘This is for the future’: Is the UAW strike a watershed moment for worker militancy?”

Stand Up Strike, Week One

The first week of the strike featured an absolute explosion of extremely good, important coverage from a number of great outlets. As always, I’m trying to look for coverage that centers the workers themselves, just as I do with my own reporting. Here are some links to help you cover that ground.

• LaborNotes, “Auto Workers Strike Plants at All three of the Big 3”
• LaborNotes, “‘No Justice, No Jeeps!’ Scenes from the Auto Workers Strike
• In These Times, “UAW’s “Element of Surprise” Strike Appears to Be Working”

Stand Up Strike Expansion (Week Two)—where, and why?

Last Friday, Sept. 22, UAW President Shawn Fain announced an expansion of the strike to 38 parts distribution facilities owned and operated by GM and Stellantis. Those pickets have been going strong since then. Here’s some coverage on some of those pickets, as well as statements from the union on why, exactly, Ford’s plants weren’t included on that list.

• The Real News Network, “UAW strike update: More auto plants to join ‘stand-up’ strike”
• In These Times, “Record Profits, Paltry Contracts Fire Up Chicago-Area Autoworkers to Strike”
• In These Times, “The Autoworkers Strike Just Spread to Facilities Across the Country”

Biden Visits the Picket Line—why does this matter?

Yesterday, Sept. 26, President Joe Biden became the first sitting US president to walk an active picket line in the history of this country. To give some context on why that’s significant, I’ve included some coverage for you here. However, as noted labor historian Jeff Schuhrke notes in In These Times, the bar really is near the floor. Anyway, here are those headlines.

• Jacobin, “The Militancy of the UAW Strike Forced Joe Biden to Take a Side and Walk to Picket Line”
• The American Prospect, “Biden on the Picket Line, Trump in the Wings”
• The Nation, “My President Joined a Picket Line”
• Jacobin, “Joe Biden’s Trip to Michigan Shows Why You Push Democrats, Not Capitulate to Them”

Conditions out on the Picket Line, and how to support your local picket

As many strike veterans know, picket lines can be centers of heated confrontation between striking workers and the scabs that are hired on to keep capital flowing. In the last week, there have been multiple confrontations between striking workers and scab drivers, anti-union folks, and others. I have chosen links that illustrate this sort of violence, and offer perspective about what striking workers are facing as they walk out on strike. I’m also posting other resources and analysis that will give readers a sense of what’s going on at the strike locations, as well as ways to support the various pickets, if they want.

• New York Times, “UAW Strike Map: Where Autoworkers Are Walking Out”

• LaborNotes, “When Auto Workers Stand Up, Here’s how to Stand with Them”

• The American Prospect, “UAW Workers in California Stand Up as Strike Expands”

  • Featuring a link to my on-the-ground reporting of the MOPAR picket lines in Ontario and Rancho Cucomonga, CA.

    

• Jacobin, “General Motors is Sending Scabs to Parts Distribution Centers”

• In These Times, “Wisconsin Autoworkers Are Bundling Firewood for a Winter Picket Line”

• Workers holding off scabs at the GM UAW picket line in Michigan.

That’s it for now, folks.

Thanks again for taking the time to check out this digest. It’s been a chaotic summer full of plenty of work, and I apologize for not staying on top of a regular posting schedule. We’re working our way back to that. If you like what I do and you would like to support this project monetarily, there is an option to become a paid subscriber. Regardless of your subscriber status, your support means so much to me. I hope you’ll stick around as the labor movement continues to get more and more exciting in the coming years. I’ll see everyone this weekend for the big weekly headline dump.

In solidarity,

Mel

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