For the first time in its history, the United Auto Workers has launched a strike against all three of the Detroit-based auto makers.
And while there are number of nuanced reasons that negotiations have reached this point, it boils down to the fact that the auto industry's transition to electrification is changing the game for the auto makers and their workers.
And with that transition as the backdrop, the UAW is asking for what UAW President Shawn Fain has called an "audacious and ambitious" list of demands.
"We are seeing some of—I hate the word, it's overused—but unprecedented—because it really is—kind of demands coming from the UAW," Ted Morgan, a partner with Plante Moran told members of both the Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers and Manufacturers Association for Plastic Processors in a Sept. 19 webinar. "… Right now, we see a level of bravado and a strike strategy that has never been seen before."
As the negotiations continue and the union readies to strike at more of the auto maker's 90 U.S. plants, there are several issues at the core.
Here's a look at three key issues driving negotiations.