Important Takeaways:

• ‘We’re in the abyss’: How the UAW strike could hit the economy
• While the current economic impact of a targeted strike by the United Auto Workers (UAW) is limited, the threat of a full walkout looms over contract negotiations with auto giants Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.
• Right now, that threat is hard to quantify — any estimate will depend on the length of the strike and how many more workers are called to the picket line.
• Even so, the economic impact of a full-fledged 10-day strike against the Big Three could top $5 billion, the Anderson Economic Group estimated in an August report.
• A months-long work stoppage could also eat into the Big Three’s cash holdings, Fitch Ratings warned Friday, particularly if the targeted strikes balloon to a widespread shutdown.
• And autoworkers are already being laid off by some companies, as thousands more UAW members brace for making just $500 per week on the picket line.
• “Nobody knows now. We’re in the abyss,” Pete DeVito Jr., and automotive director of the United Service Workers Union, told The Hill in a phone interview.
• Automakers and suppliers are already planning to lay off nonstriking workers and are ringing alarm bells about the potential long-term impacts.
• Ford temporarily laid off 600 workers Friday, citing “knock-on effects” from the strike, and General Motors said it would likely lay off around 2,000 employees, the Detroit Free Press reported.
• DeVito also warned that consumers could bear the brunt of higher car prices, which had just begun to fall from historic highs during the pandemic.

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