DETROIT – United Auto Employees members overwhelmingly granted union leaders authorization to strike throughout ongoing contract negotiations with Basic Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis, if warranted.

The union on Friday mentioned a mean of 97% of mixed members on the automakers accepted the motion, nonetheless closing votes are nonetheless being tallied. That is in step with help throughout negotiations 4 years in the past, when 96% of staff who voted supported authorization for a strike.

The “strike authorization vote” is a part of the union’s structure and considered as a procedural step within the negotiations. The voting outcomes are traditionally excessive in help of the authorization. The vote doesn’t imply there’ll or won’t be a strike.

“Our purpose is to not strike. I wish to make that very clear. Our purpose is to cut price good agreements for our members,” UAW President Shawn Fain mentioned Friday throughout a Fb Stay. “However all we have tried to do with that is put together all people within the occasion that we now have to take motion to get a good and simply contract.”

Nevertheless, Fain has been much more vocal than previous union leaders about its capability to make use of hanging as a weapon in its arsenal towards the businesses throughout the negotiations.

“The Large Three is our strike goal. And whether or not or not there is a strike — it is as much as Ford, Basic Motors and Stellantis, as a result of they know what our priorities are. We have been clear,” Fain has mentioned.

These priorities are far richer than throughout prior contract negotiations between the 2 sides. The union’s calls for embrace a 46% wage enhance, restoration of conventional pensions, cost-of-living will increase, lowering the workweek to 32 hours from 40 and growing retiree advantages.

The UAW mentioned 98% of hourly staff and 99% of salaried staff at Ford voted in favor of the strike authorization. GM handed by 96%, whereas the motion was accepted at Stellantis by 95%. Voter turnout and what number of votes nonetheless wanted to be counted was not instantly out there.

Strikes might take numerous types, together with a nationwide strike, the place all staff below the contract stop working, or focused work stoppages at sure crops over native contract points. A strike towards all three automakers, as Fain has alluded to, can be probably the most impactful but in addition the riskiest and most expensive for the union.

The UAW has greater than $825 million in its strike fund, which it makes use of to pay eligible members who’re on strike. The strike pay is $500 per week for every member — up from $275 per week final 12 months.

Assuming 150,000 or so UAW members coated by the contracts, strike pay would price the union about $75 million per week. A fund of $825 million, then, would cowl about 11 weeks. One caveat: that does not embrace health-care prices that the union would cowl, resembling momentary COBRA plans, that might probably drain the fund much more shortly.

Nationwide or focused strikes at any of the automakers might be detrimental to enterprise. A 40-day strike towards GM over the last spherical of negotiations in 2019 led to a manufacturing lack of 300,000 autos, the corporate mentioned on the time. It additionally price the automaker $3.6 billion in earnings, GM mentioned.