Nearly 13,000 hourly workers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (Chrysler) assembly plants began a strike on Sept. 15.
The targeted strike by United Auto Workers employees at the "big three" auto companies came after the contracts for nearly 150,000 UAW workers expired on Sept. 14.
Among the UAW's demands is the reopening of the defined benefit plans at all three automakers in addition to the re-establishment of retiree healthcare and cost-of-living adjustments, according to its website.
"Our members' expectations are high because Big Three profits are so high. The Big Three made a combined $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of this year. That's on top of the quarter-trillion dollars in North American profits they made over the last decade," said Shawn Fain, UAW president, in an Aug. 15 news release. "While Big Three executives and shareholders got rich, UAW members got left behind. Our message to the Big Three is simple: record profits mean record contracts."
All the defined benefit plans for represented employees of the three automakers have been closed for well over a decade.
The Ford Motor Co. UAW Retirement Plan was closed to hourly employees on Nov. 19, 2007, and closed to direct hire skilled trade employees on Oct. 24, 2011. As of Dec. 31, 2021, the plan had $25.7 billion in assets, according to its most recent Form 5500 filing.
The General Motors Hourly-Rate Employees Pension Plan for collectively bargained employees has been closed since Oct. 1, 2007. As of Dec. 31, 2021, the plan had $44.5 billion in assets, according to its most recent Form 5500 filing.
Information on the Stellantis pension plan was not immediately available.
