BAC Stands in Solidarity with UAW Strikers

For six weeks in September and October, tens of thousands of autoworkers employed by the “Big Three” — Stellantis, General Motors, and Ford — walked off the job in a “stand-up strike” aimed at winning fair contracts for United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) members across the US. BAC members throughout the country, including International President Tim Driscoll, Local/ADC officers, and union staff, joined the picket lines in support. The solidarity of all unions at the picket lines helped the UAW achieve historic tentative agreements at all three companies.

One of the biggest issues UAW workers were fighting for was protection of their pensions. “Those of us in the trades are lucky enough to have defined-benefit pension plans. The UAW members deserve the same — all working people deserve them,” said BAC Local 3 MA/ME/NH/RI Vice President Jim Pimental while he walked the UAW Local 2250 picket line outside of St. Louis, MO. “Companies can’t make the profit they make without the workers who do the work. The workers deserve to be paid fairly, and that comes with good fringe benefits, so they can retire with dignity and take care of their families.”

Noah Carmichael, Director of Organizing for Local 23 OH/WV/ KY/MD, explained from the UAW picket line, “We [BAC members] build communities and the workers here build automobiles. Workers make the world go around. These companies need to learn that it’s time to share the wealth workers created and executives have hoarded for themselves. This fight is larger than just BAC, larger than just the UAW.”

“It’s for all the workers in this country and everywhere to set a precedence and say, ‘You’re going to share some of this wealth with us,’” Carmichael continued. “‘We build the nation, we build everything, so we deserve to get our fair share of what we’ve worked for.’”

UAW members and their allies were not alone on the picket lines, as the fight for a fair share of the wealth created by workers was also evident in strikes by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and more than 75,000 healthcare workers represented by the Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions. Likewise, the Writers Guild of America ratified a landmark agreement at the beginning of October, after nearly five months on strike. BAC will always stand with our union brothers and sisters in labor when they strike for workplace justice.