Editing General Motors (section)

==Labor conflicts==
General Motors' American workers are unionized generally under the [[United Auto Workers]] (UAW), which is the primary auto workers union in the United States.

===Flint sit-down strike===
{{Main|Flint sit-down strike}}
[[File:Flint Sit-Down Strike sleeping.jpg|thumb|Young striker off sentry duty sleeping on the assembly line of auto seats]]

The 1936–1937 [[Flint sit-down strike]] against General Motors changed the UAW from a collection of isolated [[local union]]s on the fringes of the industry into a major [[labor union]] and led to the unionization of the domestic United States [[automobile industry]].

After the first convention of UAW in 1936, the union decided that it could not survive by piecemeal [[organizing (management)|organizing]] campaigns at smaller plants, as it had in the past, but that it could organize the automobile industry only by going after its biggest and most powerful employer, General Motors, focusing on GM's production complex in Flint, Michigan.

Organizing in Flint was a difficult and dangerous plan. GM controlled city politics in Flint and kept a close eye on outsiders. According to [[Wyndham Mortimer]], the UAW officer put in charge of the organizing campaign in Flint, he received a death threat by an anonymous caller when he visited Flint in 1936. GM also maintained an extensive network of spies throughout its plants. This forced UAW members to keep the names of new members secret and meeting workers at their homes.

As the UAW studied its target, it discovered that GM had only two factories that produced the [[Die (manufacturing)|dies]] from which car body components were stamped: one in Flint that produced the parts for [[Buick]]s, [[Pontiac (automobile)|Pontiac]]s, and [[Oldsmobile]]s, and another in [[Cleveland, Ohio|Cleveland]] that produced [[Chevrolet]] parts.

[[File:Flint Sit-Down Strike National Guard.jpg|thumb|[[US National Guard|National Guardsmen]] with machine guns overlooking Chevrolet factories number nine and number four]]

While the UAW called for a sit-down strike in Flint, the police, armed with guns and tear gas, attempted to enter the Fisher Body 2 plant on January 11, 1937. The strikers inside the plant pelted them with hinges, bottles, and bolts. At the time, [[Vice President of the United States|Vice President]] [[John Nance Garner]] supported federal intervention to break up the Flint Strike, but this idea was rejected by [[President of the United States|President]] [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. The president urged GM to distinguish a union so the plants could re-open. The strike ended after 44 days.

That development forced GM to bargain with the union. [[John L. Lewis]], President of the [[United Mine Workers]] and founder and leader of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, spoke for the UAW in those negotiations; UAW President [[Homer Martin (labor leader)|Homer Martin]] was sent on a speaking tour to keep him out of the way. GM's representatives refused to be in the same room as the UAW, so Governor [[Frank Murphy]] acted as a courier and [[mediation|intermediary]] between the two groups. Governor Murphy sent in the [[U.S. National Guard]] not to evict the strikers but rather to protect them from the police and corporate [[strike-breaker]]s. The two parties finally reached an agreement on February 11, 1937, on a one-page agreement that recognized the UAW as the exclusive bargaining representative for GM's employees, who were union members for the next six months.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.hourdetroit.com/community/frank-murphys-law/ | last1=Bak | first1=Richard | title=(Frank) Murphy's Law | work=[[Hour Detroit]] | date=September 2008 | archive-date=July 23, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120723065533/http://www.hourdetroit.com/Hour-Detroit/September-2008/Frank-Murpheys-Law/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Tool and die strike of 1939===
{{Main|Tool and die strike of 1939}}

The [[tool and die strike of 1939]], also known as the "strategy strike", was an ultimately successful attempt by the UAW to be recognized as the sole representative for General Motors workers. In addition to representation rights, the UAW, working jointly with the [[Congress of Industrial Organizations]] (CIO), sought to resolve existing grievances of skilled workers.

=== United Auto Workers (UAW) strike of 1945–1946 ===
{{Main|1945-46 United Auto Workers strike}}

From November 21, 1945, until March 13, 1946, (113 days) the UAW organized "320,000 hourly workers" to form a US-wide strike against the [[General Motors Corporation]], workers used the tactic of the [[sit down strike]].<ref name="Barnard">{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=81th3H56WzEC | first=John | last=Barnard | title=American Vanguard: The United Auto Workers During the Reuther Years, 1935-1970 | publisher=Wayne State University Press | year=2004 | page=212| isbn=9780814329474 }}</ref> It was "the longest strike against a major manufacturer" that the UAW had yet seen, and it was also "the longest national GM strike in its history".<ref name="Barnard" /> As director of the UAW's General Motors Department (coordinator of union relations with GM),<ref>Kevin Boyle. ''The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism 1945–1968''. Cornell University Press, 1995, pp. 21–22. {{ISBN?}}</ref> [[Walter Reuther]] suggested to his colleagues the idea of striking the GM manufacturing plants with a 'one-at-a-time' strategy, which was "intended to maximize pressure on the target company".<ref name="Barnard" /> Reuther also put forth the demands of the strikers: a 30 percent increase in wages and a hold on product prices. However, the strike ended with the dissatisfaction of Walter Reuther and the UAW, and the workers received only a 17.5-percent increase in wages.

===2007 General Motors strike===
{{Main|2007 General Motors strike}}

The [[2007 General Motors strike]] was a strike from September 24 to 26, 2007, by the UAW against General Motors.

On September 24, 2007, General Motors workers represented by the UAW union went on strike against the company. The first US-wide strike against GM since 1970 was expected to idle 59 plants and facilities for an indefinite period of time. Talks broke down after more than 20 straight days of bargaining failed to produce a new contract. Major issues that proved to be stumbling blocks for an agreement included wages, benefits, job security and investments in US facilities.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/news/companies/gm_uaw_strikedeadline/ | title=73,000 workers walk in nationwide GM strike | last=Isidore | first=Chris | work=[[CNN]] | date=September 24, 2007 | archive-date=March 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085621/https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/24/news/companies/gm_uaw_strikedeadline/?postversion=2007092412 | url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/25/business/25auto.html | title=73,000 U.A.W. Members Go on Strike Against G.M. | first=Micheline | last=Maynard | work=[[The New York Times]] | date=September 25, 2007 | url-access=limited}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14720112 | title=Time Warp: The GM Strike, Then and Now | first=Eric | last=Weiner  | work=[[NPR]] | date=September 26, 2007}}</ref>

Two car assembly plants in [[Oshawa, Ontario]] and a transmission facility in [[Windsor, Ontario|Windsor]] closed on September 25. However, on September 26, a tentative agreement was reached, and the strike's end was announced by UAW officials in a news conference at 4 a.m.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/26/news/companies/uaw_gm_deal/index.htm | title=GM-UAW reach deal to end strike | date=September 26, 2007 | last=Isidore | first=Chris | work=[[CNN]] |archive-date=August 24, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190824041648/https://money.cnn.com/2007/09/26/news/companies/uaw_gm_deal/index.htm?postversion=2007092604 |url-status=live}}</ref> By the following day, all GM workers in both countries were back to work.

=== 2019 General Motors strike ===
{{Main|2019 General Motors strike}}
On September 15, 2019, after talks broke down to renew their contract, which expired earlier that day, the UAW announced that GM employees would begin striking at 11:59 pm.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/business/uaw-gm-strike-general-motors/index.html | title=UAW workers go on strike against GM | last=Isidore | first=Chris | work=[[CNN]] |date=September 16, 2019 | archive-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916090131/https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/16/business/uaw-gm-strike-general-motors/index.html | url-status=live}}</ref> This strike shut down operations in nine states, including 33 manufacturing plants and 22 parts distribution warehouses.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://apnews.com/c54f47d7569c44d382995a3c3992eb53 |title=No Deal: Auto workers strike against GM in contract dispute |last1=Krisher |first1=Tom | last2=Householder | first2=Mike | work=[[Associated Press]] |date=September 16, 2019 | archive-date=September 16, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190916094746/https://www.apnews.com/c54f47d7569c44d382995a3c3992eb53 |url-status=live}}</ref> After 40 days, on October 25, 2019, the "longest strike by autoworkers in a decade" and the longest against GM since 1970 came to an end when United Auto Workers members voted to approve a new contract with GM. Striking [[Labor Union|labor union]] members received a $275 a week strike pay salary for the duration of the strike.<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Perkins |first1=Tom |last2=Rushe |first2=Dominic |date=October 25, 2019 |title=GM strike ends after 40 days with 48,000 staff to return to work |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/oct/25/uaw-united-auto-workers-general-motors-strike-deal |access-date=August 12, 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The strike cost GM more than $2 billion.

=== 2023 United Auto Workers strike ===
{{Main|2023 United Auto Workers strike}}
The 2023 strike launched by the UAW was the first strike against all three major American automakers in history. Then-recently elected UAW president [[Shawn Fain]] stated that he was "fed up" with the current situation between workers and automakers; Fain specifically blasted the tiered workers system at automakers, failure for automakers to keep wages up with inflation, pensions, as well as the introduction of a [[four-day workweek]] as opposed to the five-day workweek. GM CEO [[Mary Barra]] protested that her company offered an "unprecedented deal" which gave workers 20% raises as well as "world-class" healthcare. Barra further stated that meeting all 1,000 plus demands would bankrupt the company and cost over $100 billion.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 15, 2023 |title=GM CEO Mary Barra defends position amid UAW strike, says company put 4 offers on the table  |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/uaw-strike-gm-ceo-mary-barra-defends-company-position-4-offers-on-the-table/ |access-date=September 19, 2023 |website=CBS News |first1=Analisa |last1=Novak |editor-first1=Sarah |editor-last1=Lynch Baldwin |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=White |first1=Joseph |last2=Shepardson |first2=David |date=March 27, 2023 |title=New UAW leader tells automakers: 'Our membership is fed up' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-auto-union-leader-promises-fight-get-workers-fair-share-2023-03-27/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230822032911/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-auto-union-leader-promises-fight-get-workers-fair-share-2023-03-27/ |archive-date=August 22, 2023 |access-date=September 13, 2023 |publisher=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>