United Auto Workers Offers Slightly Lower Raise Demand to Detroit’s Automakers
- Now 36% instead of 40% for contract of nearly five years
- Bernie Sanders plans to go to Michigan if there’s a strike
UAW President Shawn Fain, center left, walks with demonstrators during a UAW practice picket in Detroit on Aug. 23.
Photographer: Jeff Kowalsky/BloombergThe United Auto Workers has lowered its pay increase demand to 36% from 40%, but Detroit’s automakers don’t think much of the offer, according to people familiar with the offer.
Over the weekend, the UAW made its first movement off its 40% raise request. It is now asking for a series of increases over nearly five years that would start with an 18% boost and then alternate between 5% and 4% annually over the subsequent years of the contract, said two of the people, who asked not to be identified revealing internal discussions. The companies still see the demand as boosting labor costs so high that it would threaten their viability, according to the sources.