A historic auto workers strike

This is an audio transcript of the FT News Briefing podcast episode: ‘A historic auto workers strike’

Sonja Hutson
Good morning from the Financial Times. Today is Monday, September 18th, and this is your FT News Briefing.

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A major auto union is calling on all workers to unite.

Shawn Fain
Either you’re with the billionaire class or are you with the working class. (Protesters cheering)

Sonja Hutson
And Instacart is pricing its initial public offering today. Plus, we’ll look at why the UK prime minister won’t be rubbing elbows with global leaders in New York this week. I’m Sonja Hutson, for Marc Filippino, and here’s the news you need to start your day.

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(Protesters chanting)

Negotiations between the United Auto Workers Union and Detroit automakers resumed over the weekend after thousands of workers walked off the job last Thursday at midnight. The union is striking against General Motors, Stellantis and Ford for higher pay, but also to protect workers against a larger existential crisis: the move to electric vehicles. I’m joined now by the FT’s Chicago correspondent Claire Bushey. She covers the auto industry. Hi, Claire.

Claire Bushey
Hi.

Sonja Hutson
So, Claire, tell me about this existential crisis that auto workers are worried about. What’s at stake for the UAW?

Claire Bushey
Well, there’s a lot at stake. I mean, auto wages, real auto wages, have been declining for a long time. But then there’s this looming issue that is in the backdrop that we really haven’t seen influence bargaining before, and that is electric vehicles. So quite simply, the UAW wants to ensure that the cars of the future are built with union labour. But, you know, the major player in electric vehicles, Tesla, which has most of the sales, extremely anti-union. And there’s a lot of concern that there will be job loss as this happens because an internal combustion engine has so many parts and they wear out. Batteries? Fewer parts, fewer parts in the power train. And so the UAW itself has estimated in the past that, you know, as many as 35,000 jobs could be lost as the shift happens.

Sonja Hutson
What’s the union’s strategy then to maximise pressure on automakers?

Claire Bushey
So UAW president Shawn Fain called for what the union has dubbed a “stand-up strike”.

Shawn Fain
We will call on select facilities, locals or units, to stand up and go on strike.

Claire Bushey
They are striking all three companies for the first time in their history. It allows them to really hit where it hurts. The plants that have been selected all make products that are popular with customers.

Shawn Fain
The locals that are not yet called to join the stand-up strike will continue working under an expired agreement.

Claire Bushey
And it also means that the union’s strike fund, where they pay out striking workers, they can make it last longer. That’s very important because a strike is sort of about endurance. Who can last longer? The union or the companies?

Sonja Hutson
So Claire, it’s been a summer of really intense labour activity. Where do you think things stand in the broader US labour movement?

Claire Bushey
One of the things that I think is really fascinating about the UAW strike is that I think Shawn Fain is doing a very good job of broadening this beyond auto workers. When you listen to him talk, he talks about this as a strike against the billionaire class.

Shawn Fain
The billionaire class has been taking everything, and the working class has been left scraping.

Claire Bushey
And while they certainly are talking about the chief executives of the Detroit Three, I think that those words resonate with more people than who build cars for a living, and I think he’s tapping into a wider sentiment.

Sonja Hutson
Claire Bushey is the FT’s Chicago correspondent. She covers the auto industry. Thanks, Claire.

Claire Bushey
Thanks so much.

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Sonja Hutson
Another week, another tech IPO. Instacart is set to announce its final pricing today, but we may already have a sneak peek of what’s to come. The online grocery delivery app boosted its price range on Friday by about 7 per cent. This all comes after Arm’s blockbuster listing last week. Investor demand for shares in the British chip designer has made people optimistic about a resurgence in the IPO market. It’s been a bit of a snoozer in recent years.

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World leaders are descending on New York this week for the annual United Nations General Assembly. It’s one of the biggest annual global forums. And this year, climate is definitely on the agenda. The UN secretary-general António Guterres is hosting a climate ambition summit at the General Assembly, and he’s invited leaders from the world’s major economies to attend. But not everyone has RSVP-ed “Yes”. UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has decided to sit this one out. FT political correspondent Anna Gross is here to explain what this means for the UK government’s battle against climate change. Hey, Anna.

Anna Gross
Hi. Thank you for having me.

Sonja Hutson
So what’s behind Sunak’s decision, and how big of a deal is it?

Anna Gross
So Sunak would actually be the first prime minister in a decade not to attend.

Sonja Hutson
Wow.

Anna Gross
The last time a British PM didn’t go was when the deputy prime minister Nick Clegg attended instead of David Cameron in 2013. But Cameron did attend in every other year. And so, I mean, in terms of why he’s not attending — that the official line we’re getting from Downing Street is that (a) he has a lot of domestic priorities that he’s dealing with and (b) he’s already got plans to meet international leaders at the COP28 summit in the UAE. But it does come at a time when Sunak’s government is being accused of watering down key environmental pledges to signal to the electorate that he’s not going to pander to the green lobby and make them pay more for these green policies at a time when, you know, we’re going through a cost of living crisis.

Sonja Hutson
Yeah. Can you talk a little more about which policies or plans Sunak has been backpedalling on?

Anna Gross
So one of the biggest issues that’s really concerned environmental groups is his approval of new oil and gas exploration and development projects, which basically runs counter to guidance from every major environmental policy group that says we need to stop exploring new oil and gas basically altogether. And then officials have over the past couple of months indicated that they’re now re-examining, re-scrutinising some of the goals that they’ve set themselves around — banning new petrol and diesel cars by 2030, for example, and phasing out gas boilers by 2035. But it’s not yet clear whether those policies are going to be abandoned or whether, as I say, it’s kind of a political signal that’s being sent.

Sonja Hutson
So given all this context, how should we be thinking about the UK’s place in the fight against climate change? I mean, the country has largely been seen as an important leader in this field.

Anna Gross
I think it’s definitely fair to say that the UK’s image as a world leader on climate issues is slipping. And for all the criticism that Boris Johnson has received, he did manage to uphold and even in some ways strengthen that position. So while Sunak might be courting some favour at home — and I do think the jury is out on that, given that there is a lot of cross-party support in Britain for moving to a net zero economy — he is likely frustrating leaders overseas that are taking global targets really seriously.

Sonja Hutson
Anna Gross is a political correspondent for the FT. Thanks, Anna.

Anna Gross
Thanks a lot.

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Sonja Hutson
Before we go, payments will restart next month for millions of people in the United States who still have student loans. If you’re one of those people, we want to hear from you. Tell us: how much will you have to pay each month? How are you feeling about it, and how is it going to impact your wallets? There’s a link in the show notes where you can record your response. And we may play your voice message in an upcoming episode of the Briefing.

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You can read more on all these stories at FT.com for free when you click the links in our show notes. This has been your daily FT News Briefing. Make sure you check back tomorrow for the latest business news.

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