Staff at three of America's biggest carmakers have gone on strike in an unprecedented coordinated action.
More than 10,000 workers are participating in the walkout, which targets three plants owned by General Motors (GM), Ford, and Stellantis.
The firms and the United Auto Workers union (UAW) are fighting over terms of new labor agreements.
The work stoppage threatens to trigger higher car prices and major disruption for the motor industry giants.
As the current contract expired on Thursday, the UAW's president Shawn Fain told the BBC it was now up to the companies to resolve the dispute.
"When they start taking care of their workers it will end," he said.
The strike started at midnight Eastern time (04:00 GMT) at GM's Wentzville, Missouri, mid-size truck plant, Ford's Bronco plant in Michigan and the Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Stellantis.
The plants are critical to the production of some of the "Detroit Three's" most profitable vehicles.
Other facilities will continue to operate, the UAW said but it did not rule out broadening the strikes beyond the initial three targets.
A strike against all
three companies at the same time is unprecedented in the union's history.
With the deadline looming on Thursday, the White House said that President Joe Biden had spoken on the phone with Mr Fain about the negotiations but provided no further details. Mr Biden will address the action in remarks on Friday.
The union had sought a 40% pay increase for its roughly 140,000 members over four years, noting a comparable rise in pay for company leaders.
Other demands included:
· A four-day working week
· The return of automatic pay increases tied to inflation
·
stricter limits on how long workers can be considered
"temporary" staff who do not receive union benefits
As of Wednesday, the three companies had improved their proposals, offering as much as a 20% pay rise.
The UAW's demands would more than double its US labor costs, Ford said in a statement.
Workers said the companies could afford to be more generous after years of record profits.
"In my opinion, we
are owed this," said Paul Raczka, who works in a Stellantis factory in
Michigan making Jeep Grand Cherokees.
The fourth generation in
his family to work in the industry, Mr Raczka said such jobs, which came with
good healthcare and secure pensions, had provided an "awesome living"
for his parents - a way of life that no longer feels possible today.
The 31-year-old said he
could not even afford to buy the car he makes.
"We are still sitting
on the back burner while these CEOs are making, you know, upwards of $20m a
year," he said.
Jim Farley, chief executive
of Ford, told reporters earlier this week that he hoped to avoid a strike but
there was a limit to what the company was willing to concede.
"We have to protect
the sustainability of the company," he said.
A 10-day strike by all
140,000 workers could cost the three firms nearly $1bn (£800m) and workers
almost $900m in lost wages, according to estimates by the Anderson Economic
Group. It said the total hit to the economy could amount to more than $5bn.
Tyler Theile, vice president at the firm, said a stoppage would have to be "pretty
lengthy to move the needle on national economic indicators", but warned
that the local impact will be significant.
Coming into the strike, the
supply of cars, which has been strained since the parts shortages of the
pandemic, remains far lower than it has been in the past.
Analysts said that could
also mean a prolonged walkout leads to higher prices for buyers.
Ford, GM, and Stellantis
together account for about 40% of US car sales, though their share has dropped
sharply over the last quarter of a century, as foreign firms such as Toyota
make inroads.
The last time the car
industry faced a strike was in 2019 when workers at GM walked off the job for
six weeks.
GM worker Jessie Kelly, who
participated in that walkout, said she had been trying to save up in
anticipation of another stoppage.
UAW participants are due to
receive $500 in weekly strike benefits from the union, but that would still be
significantly less than her wages, she said.
"My strike bills will
not cover my mortgage, let alone the grocery bills, let alone the lights and everything else. So it is gonna definitely be a struggle," she said.
Ms. Kelly, who lives near
Detroit, said she supported the fight, despite the costs, noting that her pay
has not kept pace with rising prices and is quickly eaten up by childcare and
housing expenses. The 33-year-old said she had just two weeks of holiday a year,
which she was typically forced to use for emergencies.
"At the end of the
day, we all want to work for a corporation that is making good money. We just
want our fair share of that," she said.
"The CEOs are gonna keep paying themselves more and more money and we're the only ones being left behind."
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