TONAWANDA, N.Y. — There is a developing story which could greatly impact the Western New York economy.
It involves the ongoing labor negotiations underway between the United Auto Workers union, with nearly 150,00 members, and the Big Three Automakers — GM, Ford, and Stellantis, which makes Chrysler vehicles in the United States.
2 On Your Side sat down Wednesday with local UAW leaders as the drive for a new contract goes down to the wire with a possible strike.
Ray Jensen Junior is the Assistant Director of UAW Region 9. He puts it this way in regards to the negotiations: "If the companies can't come to their senses , then we're definitely going to go on strike."
That's a grim but possible reality come next week for over 3,000 United Auto Workers union members at plants in Tonawanda, Lockport, Hamburg, and Rochester.
Company spokespeople have characterized the situation for NBC News. GM says it is working through 1,000 hard to resolve union demands. Stellantis says there are constructive, collaborative discussions. And Ford offers a 9 percent pay hike with extra bonuses.
But the union representing GM and Ford workers regionally follows the lead of their fiery, determined national president, Shawn Fain, in seeking self described "audacious" contract demands of a 46 percent pay boost, a 32-hour workweek with 40-hour pay, and full pension restoration.
Jensen noted: "Last thing we want to do is go on strike. It's nerve-wracking for everybody to be on strike, but it's something that, you know, it's the strongest action that we have, it's to withhold our labor from these corporations that are making billions of dollars on our backs."
GM Powertrain in Tonawanda is skirting concerns over its internal combustion gas engine production in an electric vehicle transition push. The did go through the 2019 six week strike with lingering distrust over management bonuses.
So now with another strike authorization vote Local 774 President Teddy Maldonado said: "We voted 97 percent yes, but in reality, we hope that GM would come to their senses and come to a solid ground to benefit both parties. The company is making 40 percent more, and we're not. I mean, that's the frustrating part."
Then we shift over to Lockport's GM Components Holding, which was formerly known as Delphi and is now back to GM after bankruptcy. Local 688 Mike DeLucas says those corporate moves really set them back.
"We lost 60 percent of wages, benefits and everything else that went along with that," DeLucas said.
So was that because of the Delphi?
"The Delphi spinoff. October 18th, 1999 was the spinoff," DeLucas said.
He added: "They do need to eliminate the tiers. We work for the same company and the same industry, doing like work for the same union. We should get paid the same in wages and benefits."
Then there is the Ford Hamburg Stamping plant, which is really a hollowed-out facility, according to Local 897 President and Chairman Patrick Radtke.
"When I started in 1992 there was 2,600 employees in the plant," Radtke said. "Today there are 750. We produce the same amount of parts in 1992 that we do today, so automation has taken three-quarters of the workforce out of my building."
Radtke says the company really profited, but he claims workers have not shared in that bounty.
"My pay has been stagnant for 20 years, right? The price of cars hasn't been stagnant for 20 years, right? It's triple," he said.
We also spoke with President Dan Maloney of UAW Local 1097, who represents some 700 employees at Rochester Products, which is also a GM holding that had been spun off with Delphi. The plant supplies parts and assemblies for the GM Powertrain Engine Plant in Tonawanda.
"Cut the pay around half. We lost pensions. And I know some say that after 2009 they lost pensions," he said. "Nobody in our plant after 1997-98 had a pension any longer, so our pensions were stolen, the pay was cut , benefits cut, and the corporations made that quarter of a trillion dollars over the last decade."
The contract deadline is Thursday night of next week, on Sept. 14, at 11:59 p.m.