United Auto Workers on Strike, What Does This Mean For You?

The United Autoworkers have gone on strike against the Big Three auto makers in the United States. Today we will examine how this effects the car market, and the economy as a whole.

A man in California get's a DUI, but I bet you can't guess what he was driving.

Instagram: the.ethanbuchanan
X: _ethanbuchanan
'

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
As a Friday. The United AutoWorkers Union is on strike against the big
three automakers in America, so we'llexamine what their demands are, who's right,
who's wrong, and what this meansfor the consumer. Plus a drunk
man who decided not to drive hiscar gets a dui anyway in California.
Let's jump right in. In aworld that's constantly buzzing with updates, it's

(00:20):
easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheervolume of headlines and information. That's why
I'm here to help you navigate theendless waves of day to day updates.
I'm Ethan Buchanan and this is Newswave. Alrighty, how do y'all welcome back
into news Wave. Hope everybody hada great weekend. I just kind of

(00:41):
sat and relaxed all day. Igot to see my girlfriend, that was
always quite nice. But yeah,just kind of enjoyed taking it slow.
We finally got some rain here inHouston, which is what we've been waiting
on basically all summer. It hasbeen a very dry, very hot summer
here in Houston. So we hadsome big storms over the weekend and those
were those were very welcome storms overhere. Alrighty. The first thing I
kind of want to talk about hereis this United Auto Workers strike. So

(01:07):
this has been the big news.Well I don't want to say the big
news, but it's been kind oftalked about. It's been a secondary headline
really all of last week and thentowards the end of that of last week,
late Thursday going into Friday, thatwas their deadline for the Big three
automakers to reach a deal with theUnited Auto Workers, and they didn't,
so as of early Friday, theyare on strike. So why does that

(01:33):
matter? Who cares a union ina industry has gone on strike. Well,
it's a big industry. First ofall, it's the auto industry,
and it's the Big three. Mostof every car brand is owned by either
Ford General Motors or Stilantis, andall of the employees or I don't want
to say all of them, butmost of the employees for all three of

(01:53):
those companies, primarily in the manufacturingside of those three companies, all are
represented by this union, the UnitedAuto Workers or the UAW as it's as
it's more commonly called. So thisstrike is a pretty big deal, right
because it could completely halt the productionof just about every single car in the

(02:14):
United States. And if you've beenpaying attention at all, you know the
car market is still kind of hot. It's trying to recover from COVID.
Back when we kind of stopped gettingshipments of those micro chips from Taiwan,
the production of new cars basically halted, and that caused the used car market
to shoot way up, and thatin turn caused just cars in general to

(02:37):
get super super expensive. And nowwe've just recently kind of started to see
a little bit of recovery from that. We've been getting the micro chips in
from Taiwan again, and right asthey started coming back in, talks started
happening about China invading Taiwan, whichwould then cut the production of microschips again
and then cast car prices to skyrocketback up before they'd even fallen back down

(03:00):
from their high back during COVID.So this is kind of just the third
in a long series of things that'sreally just screwing up the price of cars
right now. I don't know ifyou've tried to buy a car recently.
I bought a car back in earlylast year, so probably April or May
of last year. I bought acar. I think I got a pretty
good deal on it. It wasnormally probably about a seventeen eighteen thousand dollars

(03:24):
car, and I ended up payingabout twenty thousand dollars for it. So
I'm I'm really glad that I gotmy car when I did, because this
United Autoworkers strike means that my carjust became an appreciating asset. The used
car market is going to skyrocket ifthis strike really ends up lasting a long
time, because nobody's going to bemaking cars anymore. But of course people

(03:47):
still need cars, which means theused car market, because those are the
only cars available, those become morehired demand, which means the price of
them skyrocket, which means I'm aboutto be a millionaire basically, if this
strike ends up blasting a long time. Sah real quick, Before we really
dive into this, let's take alisten to the president of the United Autoworkers
Union announcing this strike. That iswhy we are launching a new kind of

(04:12):
strike against four GM and Stalantis.This is our generation's answer to the sit
down strike of the nineteen thirties.We're calling it the stand up strike.
This is a strike that starts smalland builds over time. That's more and
more of a stand up and jointhe fight. This is a strike that

(04:32):
keeps the company's guessing as to whereand when the next local will walk out.
And just as importantly, we arestriking the Big three, all three.
We told them September fourteenth is adeadline, and we meant it.
So yeah, as of right now, as you might have picked up just
by listening to the clip there,they're not striking everywhere all at once,

(04:56):
which is it's an interesting strategy tosay the least. Now, I am
no means a labor market historian,so I don't know the history of all
the strikes and whatnot. I knowthey've been big strikes that make a big
deal. And of course I watchthe Disney musical The Newsies, so I'm
kind of an expert on this.If you didn't know, I've seen the
news these guys. I know howthese things play out. Trust me,
bro, trust me. But Ithink it's an interesting strategy. They know

(05:19):
the power that they hold in theirhands right now, which credit to them.
They're making a smart move. Whatthey're doing is rather than striking everywhere
all at once, they're going onstrike in specific places at specific times as
kind of like a demonstration of theirpower as a motivator to bring people to
the table, which is smart becausethat also gives you the ability to say,

(05:42):
listen, we know the effect thatthis will have on the economy.
We know what this will do topeople if we tank the economy and cause
a recession by going on strike everywhereall at once. So we're gonna be
nice and we're gonna give you thisolive branch by only being on striking two
or three factories at a time.And it's a smart strategy just from a

(06:08):
negotiating standpoint. And he's right,he says in the clip. It keeps
them guessing, they don't know what'snext, and yeah, it puts the
power in their hands. It's asmart move just the way I see it.
I could be completely wrong on that. I'm, like I said,
I'm by no means an expert.I don't understand how these labor negotiations work
because I've never been a part ofone, and I hope to God that

(06:29):
I never will be. But fromwhere I sit, it looks like an
interesting strategy. So props to themfor at least making me interested. Now.
I do think it's worthwhile to takea quick look at kind of what
their demands are, because I haven'tuntil just recently, until basically Friday,
when the strike was actually official,I didn't really pay any attention to this
or what was going on because I'vejust been so jaded with the news lately,

(06:53):
where people like hype up this thinghappening, this big current event,
it's about to happen, it's aboutto happen, it's about to happen,
and then it just it turns intoa nothing burger at the last minute they
work something out or whatever, andthen it ends up not being worth my
attention or effort, and not worthyours either. If it's not worth mine,
it's definitely not worth yours. SoI didn't pay attention to it until

(07:13):
Friday when it actually happened, andI started reading through some articles about what
their actual demands are, and Igotta say, I'm pretty fifty fifty on
this. You know, there's wheneverthere's a big news headline, it's always
you got to pick a side.Are you with the car companies or are
you with the unions or whatever.I'm kind of both. If I'm being
honest with you, because here's whyI'm reading through these headlines, and their

(07:36):
demands strike me as just wild insome ways, like completely out of the
boxing, ridiculous, and then inother ways, you know, they make
a good point. I can seewhy they would want this. In particular,
I was reading about their demands forlike what they want their hours and
work week to look like. That'swhat really struck me. According to CBS

(07:57):
News, United Auto Workers, theunion that represents workers at Big three automakers
in Detroit, on Friday, launcheda historic strike overstalled contract negotiations. One
of the changes the union wants tosee is a four day work week,
working thirty two hours for forty hoursof pay. So the thing that caught
my eye is not the shortened workweek, and a lot of people have

(08:18):
talked about that. I've seen inall kinds of commentators going off and off
and off about the thirty two hour, four day work week. That's not
what really hits me. I personally, I lean more towards I prefer the
traditional forty hour nine to five Mondaythrough Friday. That's just how I was
raised. I grew up with thatbeing the norm, and I've found just
personally, for me, that's justmy preference. I actually kind of enjoy

(08:43):
being in the office. I knowI'm not the only one out there,
but I do know that that's rare. There are those of us who actually
like being in the office and doingwork and getting productive things done. Now,
of course, I'll grant it thatthat's kind of a side effect of
doing something you love, which Ihave thee of being able to do.
But I know a lot of peopledon't feel that way, and that's why

(09:03):
I'm kind of open to shorter workweeks. I know that there's been studies
and stuff where they've tested shorter workweeks and they found that some people are
more productive in that. But youknow, it's whatever. That doesn't bother
me. What struck my attention herewas they're saying they want the thirty two
hour work week, but they wantforty hours of pay. So you're doing

(09:24):
thirty two hours of work, butyou're getting paid for forty. Now,
this might just be my radical traditionalism, but that doesn't seem right to me.
Like the from where I see it, you should get paid for the
work that you do, right,Like, on this particular account, I

(09:45):
have to side with the auto executiveshere, because why should you get paid
to just sit at home. Comein, do the work, go home.
You're gonna get paid for what youwork. You're gonna get paid for
the work that you're doing, notfor sitting at home twiddling your thumbs.
That doesn't make any sense. Soyeah, on that point, I do
have to kind of side with theBig Three. That's that's not a reasonable

(10:05):
to man to make in my opinion. I don't know, maybe we've just
entered a new age where it's notreasonable to not get paid for work that
you don't do. Now, Ido have to say an area where I
kind of feel for the UAW workers. Apparently the agreement that they've been working
on for the last several years wasone that was cut during like two thousand
and eight, two thousand and nine, back when all these automakers were getting

(10:28):
bailed out by the federal government afterthat two thousand and eight recession. So
this is kind of like ancient historypolitically speaking, because nobody's got a memory
that goes all the way back totwo thousand and eight. But if you
do remember that recession, then you'llremember that the Big Three autoworkers got bailed
out, and one of the terms, or one of the terms that was

(10:50):
not in there was cost of livingincreases. Because it was two thousand and
eight, there wasn't a whole lotof inflation back then, and there wasn't
for like twelve years. It wasn'treally something because when you're recovering from the
recession like that, inflation just isn'treally a factor. So that wasn't in
their labor contract that they negotiated.But now, of course, inflation is
way up. Real wages are waydown, and then you tack onto that

(11:13):
the price of gasoline, which ofcourse these workers have to drive I assume
to work, so they're spending moremoney just getting to and from work in
order to do their jobs, andthen their dollar is worthless. So they
end up real wages, according toBreitbart, down like five percent, and
so these workers are having to workmore time in order to make the same

(11:35):
amounts of money. And that's oneof the things that they're super upset about
in their contract agreements. And thatmakes perfect sense. I'm one hundred percent
on board with that. If youcan't get a company to sign on to
a better labor agreement for you becauseof that, by all means, go
on strike, knock yourself out.I am all about it, But isn't

(11:56):
that kind of more on the governmentthan the company, Like four is not
the ones jacking up inflation, neitheris Stolantis or GM. The problem here
is not the company. The problemhere is the politics. So focus that
energy in the right direction. Youknow, as much as you want to
sit and pick it, which,yeah, go for it. Bring that

(12:16):
same energy next November when the electionrolls around. Have that same anger and
that same passion that you're directing atthese companies. That's really something that should
be directed at. Honestly, thegovernment. That's this problem is not going
to be solved in Detroit with thesebig three automakers. It's going to be
solved in Washington, DC with Congressand the President. And of course the

(12:41):
industries and the people being hit hardestby this are kind of these factory workers,
these blue collar workers, those arethe people that are suffering the most.
And that's I think why the UAWhasn't announced that they're supporting Joe Biden.
They're one of the few major unionsthat hasn't. They know that their
workers are struggling and the Biden administrationis just whistling past the graveyard. Here's

(13:05):
Press Secretary Karan John Pierre, theas Ben Shapiro calls her the world's worst
press secretary, which that title washeld by Jen Zaki and then KJP came
in and just immediately took it fromher immediately. So here's here's her talking
about how no trust me, wethe economic plan is working. Joe Biden's

(13:26):
economic plan is working. Let's saythat what we have said many times is
that we believe that the President's thePresident's economic plan is indeed working and it's
giving people a little breathing room.You heard me say this at the top.
How the how we have seen youknow, how we have seen the

(13:46):
plan actually working. We see we'reseeing inflation moderate just a bit, as
we've seen the last couple of months, and that is important and the way
that we see things moving forward.We believe that it is that is important
to continue to work, finish,to finish the work that the president has
started. That they we believe thatthe wages that are okay. If I

(14:07):
had a dollar for every time shestumbled over her words, she does it
worse than Biden. I think shemaybe not worse than Biden. Let me,
let me rescind that statement, butshe's definitely up there. She's she's
at least in a close second toBiden in terms of just her inability to
get a sentence out. Bless herheart, But she says, we believe
that the plan is working. Whythat's my honest question. Why do you

(14:30):
think that? Because this strike isa very clear result of the plan not
working. This this is like exhibitA of Hey, lady, your plan's
not working. You know how weknow it's not working because this labor union
is going on strike because their wagesaren't worth what they used to be.

(14:50):
They're going on strike because they're notgetting paid enough. And the reason they're
not getting paid enough is because youhave devalued their dollar. Y'all did that.
And of course there's been talk recentlythat this might be the straw that
breaks the camel's back and finally sendsus into like a full on recession.
There's been a lot of talking aboutare we going to hit a recession?

(15:11):
Are we not? When is itcoming? At this point, it's almost
guaranteed we're going to hit a recession. It's just a matter of when and
if this auto strike goes for asignificant amount of time, we're definitely going
to hit it. And I'm fascinatedto see how they try to spend that
one. It's it's definitely gonna bea doozy. This is my prediction.

(15:31):
I'm calling it now. At somepoint they're gonna try to blame this one
on Donald Trump. At some point, Karen JOm Pierre is going to say,
listen, this sucks that this ishappening, but we're working with the
broken whatever that was handed down fromit, because that's been their argument.
Anytime Biden's plan isn't working the wayhe thought it would and he gets just

(15:52):
about close to crashing the economy orscrewing something up majorly, they always find
any excuse to blame it on DonaldTrump. So keep your eyes and ears
people for that. That's what's goingto happen next. I guaranteeing to you
that is going to be what happens. All right, that's gonna do it
for the news for you today.I just want to kind of give you
an update on what's going on withthat, just kind of where that sits,
how that's going to start affecting stuff. So with that out of the

(16:15):
way, let's go ahead and jumpnow into stuff that I saw online.
Alrighty, stuff I saw online today. We have got a wild one,
but it's a fun one. Thisis from Good Morning America, says man
gets duy for allegedly riding a horsewhile drunk with an open container of alcohol.
All right, first things first,free my man. He has done

(16:36):
nothing wrong. All right. Hewasn't driving. The horse was driving itself.
All right. It's not a crime, bro, it's not a crime.
Let him go, Let him go, says A man has been arrested
for driving under the influence while ridinghis horse with an open container of alcohol.
Police said Officer Bracket of the CaliforniaHighway Patrol in Merced, California,

(16:57):
approximately one hundred and ten miles eastof San Jose, was on duty when
he noticed a horseback rider carrying anopen container of alcohol, said HP Merced
and a post on social media.Officer Brackett approached the rider and after a
short investigation which led the police tosuspect the individual was impaired by alcohol,

(17:18):
he arrested the suspected driver for ad u y. All right, is
it really driving. Let's dig intothe technicalities here. Was he driving the
horse or was he just on thehorse and letting the horse mosey? Because
we have to remember the same rulesdon't apply here. All right, This
isn't a car. This thing cancontrol itself. It has its own brain,

(17:40):
has its own eyes, It cansee where it's going. I would,
personally, I trust the horse toget me home. There's stories going
back thousands of years of men beingincapacitated, be that injuries in battle,
or maybe they've been hitting the saucea little bit too much. But the
horse, really and truly, farmore than the dog, is man's best

(18:02):
friend. Because ever since there havebeen a saloon for a cowboy to over
indulge in, there has been ahorse parked outside the saloon to carry him
back to his tent, or hiscamp, or his wherever cowboys sleep at
night. I, for one,if I was the cop, I'd let
him go. I'd let the mango. I would have a stern conversation
with the horse, like, listen, you're responsible for this man, all

(18:25):
right, glad we understand each other. You get him home safe, all
right? You're the horse is thedesignated driver. That's why horse the greatest
tragedy of the Industrial Revolution was thecoming about and mainstreaming of automobiles, because
the horse is the og designated driver. Imagine if your car was the designated

(18:48):
driver. And what sort of precedentdoes this set? How long till people
are arrested for drunk driving, forsitting in their tesla's and not driving because
test drive themselves. We have selfdriving cars now, And if we set
the precedents with this horse that youcan't just take a nap in your car
while you drive home, then whatkind of world are we going to be

(19:11):
living in? This? Really,this brings me back to that old video.
It's a clip from a news reportthat's been running around the internet for
a while. If people reacting todui laws back when they first became a
thing back in the eighties. I'mgonna go ahead and play that clip for
you just so you can understand kindof where I'm coming from. Reacting to
a man getting arrested for just ridingon his horse while he's drunk. Any

(19:33):
attempt to restrict drinking and driving hereis viewed by some as downright undemocratic.
He's kind of getting common as onefella king and I put in a hard
day's work, but in eleven twelvehours a day, and then getting your
druck and the lace running one ortwo beers. They're making it laws where
you can't drink when you want to, can't you have to wear a seatbelt
when you're driving, and pray,say we're gonna become this country. And

(19:56):
again I say, this is aperfect solution. Horse travel is the perfect
solution for libertarians who have been atodds for so long with the government because
they want to drink and drive ontheir way home. Now I'm with you.
I don't think people should be drinkingand driving. That's dangerous because you
don't have control over yourself and youcan't control your vehicle. And you know,

(20:21):
a car doesn't have self preservation instincts, but a horse does. A
horse isn't gonna go get itself ranover, at least not intentionally. The
way I see it, there shouldbe nothing wrong with this whatsoever as long
as and this is the stipulation,as long as the horse is sober,
because the horse is the one incontrol, right, So if the horse
is sober, go for it.And if you don't want to wear a

(20:44):
seat belt if you want to drinkand drive, that's the perfect solution.
You wear the horse. There's noseat belt on a horse. I don't
know if you've ever been on one. They don't have any seat belts built
into them. So I don't seethe problem with this at all. I
guess that's why I am not alaw maker. I'm not a legislature probably
because I would totally allow people towithin the bounds of reason, of course,

(21:07):
But yeah, drink and ride ahorse. Why not let natural selection
run its course. Yeah. Igot a real kick out of that article,
so I just wanted to share itwith you. I'm honestly surprised that
it was in California. This seemsexactly like the type of thing that you
would see happen in Texas. Butno, it's the Californians that are doing
this wild stuff. But I knowthere are pretty rural parts of California where
you would expect something like that.But like when I saw that headline before

(21:30):
I clicked on the article, Iwas like, this had to be something
that happened in like El Paso orWaco or something that's exactly the type of
place where Shinnang is like the cigar. And if you think for one second
that over in the Panhandle in Texaspeople aren't doing this, you're dead wrong.
I guarantee you you spend twenty minutesdriving around the Panhandle in Texas,
you can find somebody on specifically ona Friday night who's not necessarily all there

(21:52):
riding around on a horse. Iguarantee it, alrighty, and that is
gonna do it for today's episode ofNews, I hope you all enjoyed this
episode. I hope you guys havebeen enjoying the show. I've been having
a huge amount of fun just recordingthis, just even just digging in and
doing the research before I start recordingthe episode, as I find enjoyable.
So it's just a huge blessing tome to be able to actually get to

(22:15):
do this that I enjoy it quitea bit. So I hope you also
enjoy listening to it. I hopeit's as much fun for you as it
is for me. And of coursewe are on Spotify, Apple Music bears
repeating, definitely, go give usa review, give us a follow on
there, let me know what youthink about the show. Of course,
you can always reach out to meon social media. That'll be in the
description as per the norm, andwe will be back right here on Wednesday

(22:36):
for more of Newswave