Why Did the Uaw Go on Strike, and Why Is It Significant?

Steven Greenhouse, Senior Fellow, the Century Foundation: the Uaw Went on Strike Because Its Contract Expired and It Has a New, Hard-Charging President, Shawn Fain, Who Ran on a Platform Of, “We’re Going to End Concessions, We’re Going to Take a Tougher Stance in Negotiations. We’re Going to Try to Claw Back Some of the Things We’ve Lost Previously. ” and This Also Comes After the Pandemic, When So Many Workers Felt Put Upon, That They Worked Hard and They Weren’t Properly Rewarded.

Beyond the Uaw and Automakers Failing to Reach an Agreement, Were There Larger Forces Leading the Union to Decide to Confront Automakers Now?

Lane Windham: After the Great Recession of 2008, 2009 … Workers Took Major Concessions in Order to Keep the Automakers Alive and Keep Them Running. the Way the Workers See It Is, the Automakers Got Bailed Out, and They Have Seen the Ceos Do Well While They Have Not Really Recovered.

We’ve Seen Several Major Unions Go on Strike or Threaten to Do So This Year. What Do They Have in Common, and What Does It Mean That This Is Happening Now?

Lane Windham: Every Strike Is Different. I Don’t Think We Can Have a Blanket Thing and Say, “Oh, Well, Everybody Just Wants More Wages. ” Every Contract Is Different. Every Industry Is Different. Every Group of Workers Is Different. Having Said That, You Do See Certain Very Interesting Commonalities. the Attempt to Control Technology Is Extremely Important, Both [With] Electric Vehicles and the Uaw Strike, the Artificial Intelligence Issue at Sag-Aftra. That Is Also an Issue Among the Amazon Workers Who Have Been Organizing, as Well as the Uber and Lyft Drivers Who Have Been Organizing. the Issue Is Not So Much Trying to Stop Technology, as Much as Workers Want to Be Able to Make Sure That They Continue to Have the Power as New Technology Is Rolled Out. Workers Want to Have a Say in Terms of How It Impacts Them.

A Lot of the Labor Activity This Year Has Been Among Workers Who Are Young or Who Have Not Historically Been Organized, for Example, Starbucks Workers. the Uaw Is, by Contrast, an Institution in Labor. What Should We Make of This, Particularly Knowing That Uaw Has Gone Through Some Structural and Leadership Changes?

Steven Greenhouse: the Uaw’s Changing. It’s True That the Workers Involved in the Uaw Strike Are Generally Older Than the Starbucks Workers, the Amazon Workers, the Trader Joe’s Workers, the Rei Workers Seeking to Unionize. but This Shows That Not Only Young Workers Are Jazzed and Think Unions Are an Important Tool to Fight for a Better Life for Them, but Older Workers Feel That Unions Are a Tool to Win a Better Life, Not Just for Them, but Maybe for Their Kids. Because They Think, If My Son or Daughter Is Going to Go to Work in an Auto Plant, I Don’t Want Them to Have a Two-Tier Contract Where They Have Worse Wages, Worse Pensions and Worse Health Coverage. So I Think, Yes, These Older Workers Are Fighting for Themselves Because They Feel They Haven’t Kept Up, but They Also Are Fighting for the Next Generation.

Last Week, the Uaw Announced It Was Expanding the Strike to 38 New Locations Affecting General Motors and Stellantis. for People Who Don’t Follow Strikes and Labor Closely, How Typical Is This? What Does It Say About the Strike and the Uaw Right Now?

Steven Greenhouse: the Uaw Is Seeking to Turn up the Pressure on Dealers That Do Repairs and on Consumers Who Need Their Cars Repaired. Union Leaders Evidently Hope This Tactic Will Get Dealers and Consumers to Press Gm and Stellantis to Do More to Reach a Contract. but by Making It Harder for Consumers to Get Their Cars Repaired, This Move Might Backfire Somewhat by Turning Some Consumers Against the Uaw.

To What Degree Are These Labor Actions Attributable to Worries over New Technology, New Business and Who Will Benefit – Whether It Be Workers or Shareholders?

Lane Windham: I Think That Is Absolutely Part of It; However, It’s Not Everything. There Are Some Reporters Who Make It out to Be Like, That Is the Whole Struggle. and Those Are the Same People Who Talk About the Future of Work as Though It’s Going to Be That We’re Not Going to Have Work, and That Technology Is the End-All and Be-All. and It’s Not; It Is One Absolutely Incredibly Important Part of What’s Happening. I Think It Is a Struggle About Some Very Fundamental Structures of Our Workplaces, Our Work Life and How Workers Are Compensated.

Union Membership Has Been Broadly Declining for the Past 40 or 50 Year's. There Are Also Generally Fewer Strikes Compared to 40 Year's Ago and the Number of Workers Who Go on Strike Have Been Falling for Decades. Are We Seeing a Change in Those Trends? or Is This an Isolated Hot Union Summer?

Lane Windham: Both These Things Can Be True: That Union Membership Is Declining, That the Number of Strikes Has Been Declining, and That We Are in an Incredible Upsurge of Interest in Labor Issues. and It’s Not Just This Summer, Like I Was Saying, We Had Big Strikes in 2018 and 2019. I Think That the Way That People Think About the Workplace, About Worker Issues Has Been Shifting Since the Great Recession. We Remember Occupy of 2013. Then We Had the #Metoo Movement, Right? I Mean, It’s Been Changing for a While, but the Pandemic Really Reset How We Think About Work and What Workers Are Willing to Accept. This Is the Question That I Think Is the Interesting One: Why Is It That So Many People Are Interested in Labor? Polling Shows That Half of Workers Say They Would Vote for a Union Tomorrow, Yet Union Membership Is at the Lowest Level It’s Been in 100 Year's. How Could That Be? That, to Me, Is the Fundamental Question, Because Then What It Takes You to Is a Discussion of How Labor Laws in Our Society Work; in Fact, How the Entire, You Might Call It, “Employment Regime” Works in This Country, Because Even When Workers Say That They Want to Be Part of Unions, That They Want to Engage in Collective Bargaining, They Find That It Is Very Difficult for Them to Effectively Form Unions, Effectively Build Power, Even When They Engage in Strike Activity.

3 Experts on the Uaw Strike and Why We’re Seeing an American Labor ‘Upsurge’

By Maya Lin-Takahashi

• Oct 8, 2026 • 16 min read

3 Experts on the Uaw Strike and Why We’re Seeing an American Labor ‘Upsurge’

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

More Than 17,000 Members of the United Auto Workers Have Put Down Their Tools in Recent Days, the First Time in 80 Year's They Face a Strike Against Detroit’s Big Three Auto Companies Together. but the Historic Labor Action Is About More Than Just This Contract, Experts Say. It Represents Year's of Pent up Demand and a Surge of the American Working Class Feeling Fed Up.

Maya Lin-Takahashi

Consumer Tech & Gadget Reviewer

Maya is a hardware enthusiast who tests and reviews smart home devices, smartphones, wearables, and audio gear. She focuses on practical consumer value and build quality.

Tags: what does the uaw strike have in common with this years wave of labor action 3 experts explain