Our View: Casualties not worth the risk in UAW-Detroit 3 fight

The auto industry supply chain is battered.

It has taken hit after hit from COVID, inflation, rising materials costs, labor shortages, increased labor costs, upheaval from war in Ukraine, and the volatile demand that followed microchip shortages.

And while all of that helps to make the timing of the United Auto Workers' strike against the Detroit 3 appropriate for union leverage, it is very inconvenient for the thousands of auto industry workers who will be impacted.

Stuck in the center of the strike is an intricate supply chain. One comprising thousands of employees who face the very real possibility of layoffs or furloughs as a result of lingering auto production stoppages.

In the middle are Tier 2 and 3 suppliers wondering how—after surviving the chaos and uncertainties that arose post-COVID—they are going to find their footing again if this strike lingers. Because in this Darwinian capitalist landscape we're in, it is the little guys—the niche suppliers—that are least likely to survive this perfect storm.

That's not to say that the union's fight isn't righteous. It is.

Unions are critical to the middle class. They hold companies accountable. They set the bar for wages and benefits. And yes, as companies' profits rise along with executive salaries and bonuses, workers at every level should reap the rewards of that success.

But this fight must have concessions. Somewhere. On both sides. Because the automotive market is far too competitive and the cost of living is far too high to let this linger.

Automotive News data shows that in 1999, the Detroit 3 held 68 percent of the North American market share and had estimated labor costs around $45 per hour. The top hourly wage for workers in 1999 was $26 per hour.

Through June 30 of this year, the Detroit 3 held just 40 percent of the North American market share, and the transition to EVs is pulling even more of that from them as companies like Tesla stake their claims.

And as they lost market share, the OEMs' hourly labor costs rose by $22.

For workers, though, the hourly wage rose by just $6.

So it's easy to see why they're frustrated, why they want to stick it to the CEOs and their "record profits." Especially as the costs of groceries, mortgages, college educations and the vehicles they make rise.

But both sides in this fight must know where to draw the line because a quick resolution is absolutely necessary.

There are thousands of others whose livelihoods are counting on that. And they don't get a say in this strike.

Losing sight of them amid the political pageantry and pompous grandstanding at the heart of this fight would be an egregious error.