Getting sick of TV “coverage” of the pending United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against the three U.S. auto makers due to happen on Sept. 14. It seems the contracts with GM, Ford and Stellantis (Chrysler is now part of this corporate giant) expire at the same time. In normal times, this timing would give the union leverage in negotiations. However, mainstream media is missing the underdog story.
News readers, relying on business TV readers, frame the strike negatively. A strike will be costly to the poor corporate auto makers and its impact on future car availability for consumers. Balderdash.
Let me propose some alternative approaches to coverage of the story — both the background to the strike and then the strike itself:
– Showcase how Shawn Fain, the recently elected UAW president challenged former UAW rules & entrenched “leaders” that never allowed one member/one vote to democratize his union (for decades, the UAW had its own version of the corrupt Electoral College to retain power in the hands of the few) and wrested control from the old guard who had done nothing but make concessions to the corporations in prior contracts.
– Have union people on as guests (Labor Day was not just a shopping holiday). Has traditional media helped perpetuate the “union thugs” stereotype? Show real people and their modest expectations about how a job is often the centerpiece of a life. It’s called populism — just not of the radical right-wing variety.
– Visit restaurants where union families go to dine. Interview them as is so frequently done with Trump voters across the country. Make the minority (and union members are rare in contemporary America – around only 6.2% of private sector workers) appear to be more representative than they statistically are.
– Find and interview as guests labor economists who support unions, not just stock shareholders. Maybe they can shed light on the history of unions and their difficulties across the years. Stiglitz and Krugman come to mind, not Summers.
– Treat UAW’s flexing its muscle as part of the larger movement of Americans embracing unions (unless broadcasters are anti-SAG/AFTRA, the union to which their TV news celebrities belong) by younger people (see Starbucks & Amazon employee examples). Celebrate the trend of worker awareness and activism and the generational enthusiasm fueling the drive to reclaim worker power.
– Tell anecdotal stories about workers who are powerless to effect change in their workplaces without unions to balance the power held by corporate masters. Personalize it. Do this from a human-interest perspective and not simply labor vs. management.
– Research and report the salaries required to match what it costs working families to live. Focus on wage stagnation in recent years. Contrast with 40% increase in automakers’ CEO pay. By comparison, is the raise requested for workers really so high? Drill down to discover how UAW members can be employed for years and work for half the pay of coworkers without benefits if the corporations call them “temps.” Elimination of this Tiered system is one of the union’s contract goals.
– Detail the profits of auto makers since emerging from the 2008 financial crisis. Each of the three CEOs is compensated at over $21 million annually. At some point profit margins have to be branded obscene & unconscionable. Don’t count on the networks’ financial channel hosts to criticize the companies they are paid to valorize.
– Critique the threat to move more jobs to Mexico by the auto makers as blackmail and anti-American. UAW has complained to the NLRB that the automakers are not bargaining in good faith. Of course, they aren’t. They’ve stockpiled inventory in warehouses in towns where they have laid off union workers. Non-union workers were hired.
– Didn’t automakers get huge non-repayable federal PPP funds during COVID? Talk about obligations to the country (meaning its workers). Appeal to the b.s. concept of “corporate social responsibility.” Corporations use philanthropic donations to whitewash their reputations (CSR). If they say they care about human rights internationally, why not confront their lack of concern for the rights of their domestic workers?
– If the strike happens, visit the picket lines. Don’t just yelp about traffic snarls. Interview strikers. Ask about hardships they have to endure just to get treated fairly by, and with respect from, their employers.
I’m not naive. I know TV networks are massive corporations. I know anti-pharmaceutical industry coverage is taboo, given that it seems that over half of all advertising is for new drugs. And that is why serious investigations of that industry do not happen on regular TV networks.
But union workers are good Americans who just want a piece of the profit pie that they create for the C-suite. Tell their stories.
Why is it so hard to say that corporate greed is NOT good? Inept TV coverage of the strike is yet another indicator of dismal conditions in America.
And while we’re at it, Democratic Party, see the above list to recruit enthusiastic voters. Too many Dems seem to have forgotten they should be the side that sticks up for workers.
