DETROIT — The UAW, which is gathering this week to set bargaining strategy and priorities for upcoming Detroit 3 contract negotiations, said it boosted its weekly strike pay by $50 and will raise it another $25 in January.
The pay UAW members receive if on strike is now $250, up from $200, effective immediately, and will reach $275 in January, UAW President Gary Jones on Monday told hundreds of delegates gathered at the union’s 2019 special bargaining convention at Cobo Center here. Striking members would also receive continuing health care coverage.
Jones made the announcement as he trumpeted a “We Are One” message to workers.
“The stakes are real, brother and sisters. The stakes are high,” Jones said.
Jones reiterated that members rise and fall together and management at companies it bargains with need to understand they are one.
“When you take from one of us, you take from all of us,” Jones said.
Some industry insiders have said a strike or strikes are a possibility in the upcoming contract talks with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles amid plans to close plants and restructure manufacturing operations.
Around the hall at Cobo — also the home to the Detroit auto show — lights are highlighting messages that read “job security” and “stop outsourcing and privatization.”
The UAW strike fund totaled more than $721 million in 2018.
Jones told delegates they are setting the bargaining agenda for the next four years.
“We are setting the tone, we are setting the bar and we are setting it high,” he said.
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