Just when it is becoming easier to find a car, along comes another potential supply shock: a United Auto Workers strike. Labor Day this year comes at an unusually tense point in relations between U.S. vehicle assemblers and General Motors, Ford and Chrysler-owner Stellantis. The current four-year contract negotiated by the UAW union on behalf of factory employees at the Detroit Three expires on Sept. 14. Meanwhile, manufacturers are focused on the gap between their labor costs and those of nonunionized competitors, which any settlement will only widen. Inventories have improved this year, but they are still much lower today than they were when GM workers went on strike in 2019.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 04, 2023 18:23 UTC