The use of temporary factory workers at the Detroit car companies has long rankled the United Auto Workers union, which wants fewer of them and a faster path to full-time status, the Wall Street Journal reported. Automakers say they need the flexibility that temp workers provide, especially as they manage a tricky and costly transition to electric vehicles and confront the ups and downs of factory production. The issue is a key point of debate at the bargaining table as the UAW’s strike against General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler’s parent, Stellantis, enters its seventh day. Negotiations center on new contracts for about 146,000 U.S. auto-factory workers at the three car companies. Union leaders have been vocal in their opposition to temporary staff, arguing that it creates inequality on the assembly line with one worker making a much higher wage than another for doing the same work. Temps, who are also UAW members, start at about $16 an hour. Full-time line workers start at about $18 an hour and can progress to roughly $32 an hour over eight years.
