Thousands of workers at the General Motors assembley plant in Arlington are waiting to learn if they'll soon be on strike.
There are about 5,000 people who work at the plant and workers NBC 5 spoke with on Thursday all said they expect the strike to happen.
The union is threatening to strike after contract talks with General Motors, Ford and Stellantis have failed to produce an agreement. If no agreement is reached by 11:59 p.m. CT Thursday, union leaders on the plant floor will pull out whistles, sound the figurative alarm, and the union workers will walk out, shutting down production.
The union president said it is still possible that all 146,000 UAW members could walk out, but the union will begin by striking at a limited number of plants. It would be the first time in the union's 80-plus-year history that it struck all three companies at the same time.
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Dr. Ashish Sedai, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Arlington, estimated the UAW has reserves of about $800 million, enough to pay union workers $500 a week for about 11 weeks, without covering health insurance.
The UAW started out demanding 40% raises over the life of a four-year contract, or 46% when compounded annually. Initial offers from the companies fell far short of those figures. The UAW later lowered its demand to around 36%.
In addition to general wage increases, the union is seeking restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans, pension increases for retirees and other items.
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If there’s no deal by the end of Thursday, union officials will not bargain on Friday and instead will join workers on picket lines, he said.
