As part of the UAW’s contract agreement with the Big 3 automakers, autoworkers have strategically set their contract to expire on May 1, 2028, International Workers’ Day. Now UAW President Shawn Fain is encouraging union workers everywhere to align their contracts to expire on the same day to set up a major battle with US corporations in four-and-a-half years.
“This allows us to strike on May Day or International Workers’ Day,” President Fain said. “It’s more than just a day of commemoration. It’s a call to action. We invite unions around the country to align your contract expirations with our own, so that together we can begin to flex our collective muscles. If we’re going to truly take on the billionaire class and rebuild the economy so that it starts to work for the benefit of the many and not the few, then it’s important that we not only strike, but that we strike together.
As Dan DiMaggio writes in Labor Notes, the looming threat of a general strike could be very powerful in pushing for key demands like the end of forced overtime, the restoration of the eight-hour day and a shorter work week. It would also put pressure on politicians to back policies to help working people during a presidential election year.
“Sure, it’s hard enough to even get a union to coordinate its contracts with the same employer: the Communications Workers have multiple expiration dates at AT&T; the Food and Commercial Workers have more than 100 different contracts with Kroger that expire at different times; and on and on,” wrote DiMaggio. “But maybe this bold idea is the push the labor movement needs.”