Summary
The event I chose is the United Auto Workers current strike against Stellantis, Ford, and General Motor Company. On Friday September 15th, 2023, strikes at the three different plants began. General Motor Company’s plant in Missouri, Stellantis’s plant in Ohio and Ford’s plant in Michigan. The Union wants a forty percent general pay raise for their members over the next four years. One fact that was included in all articles was that the strike started because two of the three automakers couldn’t come to a unanimous decision. Another fact was that this strike was historic because it’s the first time all the automakers have been involved. In all the articles different facts were presented. In the Fox Business article, the wages of the workers were stated and a chart showing how the change will impact them. ‘Full-time assembly plant workers at Ford and GM earn $32.32 an hour, while part-timers currently make about $17 an hour. Full-time employees at Stellantis earn $31.77 an hour, and part-time workers earn close to $16 an hour”. In the Detroit News article, it mentions the type of production the workers do. “The plants struck by the union produce popular midsize trucks, off-roading SUVs and commercial vans. Workers in the final assembly and paint shop only walked out at Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant. It makes the Ranger midsize pickup and the Bronco off-roading SUV and employs about 4,600 hourly workers, according to Ford's website”. In the NRP article, the profits of the automakers are highlighted. I think that the articles took different approaches because they were trying to reach different audiences. As for the language there were negative emotive words used. The words sad and scared were used and this is leading language to favor the workers because it shows how it’s impacting their lives. A bias that I detected when reading the articles was confirmation bias. A few workers who may have been iffy of the idea of striking, felt more comfortable to do so with the confirmation from their peers.
