How the FBI caused the Autoworkers’ Strike

Strangely, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the US Justice Department could be responsible for the US autoworkers’ strike.

On 15 September 2023, United Autoworkers (UAW) members struck at America’s Big Three automakers. Observers blame the UAW’s militant President Shawn Fain for the strike.

To explain, negotiations between the UAW and automakers broke down because management rejected Fain’s demands. Those demands include a 40% pay increase, one pay-scale for all workers, a 32-hour work week, and a return to defined benefit pensions.

Weirdly, Fain is only UAW president because of changes federal prosecutors forced on the union. The UAW agreed to those changes to end a federal prosecution prompted by an FBI investigation. Thus, the FBI, one of the most conservative federal agencies, pushed one of America’s largest unions far to the left and onto the picket lines.

The Strange History of the UAW

Interestingly, Fain is taking the United Automobile, Aerospace, and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) back to its roots.

Historically, the UAW was one of America’s most radical and activist unions. They founded the UAW in 1935, at the height of the Depression-era labor wars.