United Auto Workers鈥� Strike Yields Win for 鈥淛ust Transition鈥�

Nov 1, 2023

Unionized auto workers appear to have reached a with the Big Three automakers based in Detroit. After weeks of creative strategizing around strikes and for their contract negotiations, manufacturers have , but not all, of United Auto Workers (UAW)鈥檚 demands, including hefty wage increases, cost of living adjustments, and the elimination of a two-tiered hiring system.

Part of the union鈥檚 victory includes an agreement secured with GM in early October to bring electric car battery facilities under UAW鈥檚 national contract. Labor analyst Les Leopold sees this as critical to what climate justice organizers have for years been calling a 鈥溾€� away from fossil fuels. Leopold is the executive director of the and author of the forthcoming book, .

He spoke with 大象传媒 Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about what UAW鈥檚 victory means for labor organizing and climate justice.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined 大象传媒 in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽大象传媒 Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.