Rashida Tlaib joins auto workers' strike in Detroit as talks with firms fail

US Representative Rashida Tlaib has joined the United Auto Workers' strike in her home district in the Detroit area.

The strike, which the auto workers' union had already planned following failed negotiations with the "big three" auto manufacturers, started on Friday with around 150,000 picketing. It is already seeing widespread support from union members from other sectors, the public as well as left-leaning politicians.

"Proud to join @SenSanders on strike with the @UAW in Detroit. Their fight for economic justice and human dignity is the fight of the entire working class," wrote Tlaib on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday, after making clear her support for the auto workers before the strike.

"Mister Speaker, I am a proud daughter of the UAW," said Tlaib of the United Auto Workers, as she spoke on the House floor on the eve of the expected strike. "My family knew the power of being part of a union family." 

The Palestinian-American congresswoman said: "My dad, who came to the United States with only fourth-grade education, felt human dignity for the first time when he worked at the Ford Motor Company in Flat Rock on the assembly line and became a member of the UAW."

She went on to recognise the many workers who are advocating for more favourable contracts, with their most recent ones expiring at midnight on 14 September. She said that the right to strike is the most powerful took to fight corporate greed, noting that in the first six months of this year, the Big Three made over $20 billion in profits, with their CEOs receiving a 40 percent pay increase. 

Solidarity with the 150,000 @UAW members planning to strike for a fair contract.

In the first six months of this year, the Big Three: Ford, Stellantis and GM made a combined $20 billion in profits.

Record profits should mean record contracts. pic.twitter.com/A8Eep5ksl1

— Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (@RepRashida) September 13, 2023

She also noted that since 1948, auto workers have had a cost-of-living adjustment as part of their wages, but then gave it up in 2009 when the industry needed a bail-out following the 2008 financial crisis. 

"These are the same workers, Mister Speaker, who have scarified so much, and now the Big Three is refusing to have their back when they are struggling," she said, emphasising that the majority of UAW workers do not have a pension. 

"It's 2023. Auto workers should be able to retire with dignity. Every worker deserves guaranteed pension, healthcare when they retire," she said. "The Big Three needs to value their own workers more than they value their profits and their own CEO pay increases. They need to do what's right."