AutosAutomotive industry strikes: car drove into picketing union members. There are injuries

Automotive industry strikes: car drove into picketing union members. There are injuries

The automotive industry strikes in the USA are still gaining strength.
The automotive industry strikes in the USA are still gaining strength.
Images source: © GETTY | Scott Olson

10:26 AM EDT, September 29, 2023, updated: 9:10 AM EDT, October 5, 2023

Nothing indicates that the strikes at the Big Three plants, which have been going on for several days, are coming to an end. To make matters worse, the situation is becoming increasingly tense, and recent events are not stabilizing it.

We are slowly entering the third week of strikes at the plants of the Detroit Big Three, namely Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, which is currently under the wings of Stellantis. The UAW labor union has been negotiating new contracts with the corporations for many weeks, and in the face of lack of agreements, it has initiated a strike, the scope of which has already been expanded once.

The ongoing protests are slowly starting to paralyze the American automotive industry, and the union admits that only in the case of talks with Ford have significant progress been made. UAW is therefore threatening another expansion of the strike, but rumbling emotions are also starting to emerge in the background, which almost led to a tragedy.

According to information provided by the Associated Press, on September 26, an employee reportedly drove into striking workers at a General Motors parts distribution center in Flint, Michigan, and then fled the scene. Five people were injured, but their lives are not in danger.

UAW President Shawn Fain did not leave GM untouched. - Attacks on our members, who are exercising their constitutional right to strike and picket, will not be tolerated. Companies should be ashamed of hiring brutal strikebreakers, who are trying to break our determination.

We didn't have to wait long for General Motors' response. In a statement presented by the "Automotive News" portal, GM assures that the attack was carried out by an employee of the cleaning company, which was hired by the corporation. Of course, they have no control over who the cleaning company employs.