Fighting for COLA

Bills go up; our paychecks don’t.

Workers need COLA (Cost-of-Living Adjustments) now. Let’s get back in the fight for good auto jobs, for our families, for our communities, and for working people everywhere.

#UAW

Inflation is hammering the American people. We see it in the cost of eggs, and the price of milk. We feel the squeeze at the gas pump and when paying rent. 

Bills go up, and our paychecks don’t. Working people can’t keep up. That’s why we’re fighting for Cost-of-Living Adjustments, also known as “COLA.”

In 1946, the UAW went on strike against General Motors and, two years later, was the first union to secure a COLA in a union contract. The clause meant wages would be tied to inflation, so workers wouldn’t be left behind economically. When inflation took off in the 1970s, the UAW won COLA across all our employers to ensure we could keep up.

Like so many other important gains autoworkers made over the decades, we lost COLA in 2009 as a result of the auto bankruptcies during the Great Recession. 

Now, the auto industry is back, and then some. In the past decade, the Big Three automakers have made a quarter of a trillion dollars in profits in North America. Meanwhile, autoworkers' real wages have stayed flat, or worse.

In 2019, we won 6.1 percent wage increases after 40 days on strike at GM. Inflation is triple that in three and a half years, at 18.3 percent. Inflation has wiped out those gains and then some. That’s unacceptable and unsustainable.

If we had COLA, autoworkers would now make up to $7,700 more annually. That’s money we’re leaving on the table while the employers pocket billions. Autoworkers need COLA now. Let’s get back in the fight for good auto jobs. For our families, for our communities, and for working people everywhere.

#UAW #BackInTheFight