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Can someone explain like I'm 5?
I get the jist of it. Like the managers thinking their factory was going to get pummeled by strikers moved the inventory, but then it didn't happen and they wasted money hiring truckers or something?
That sums it up. That wasted time and money,
Managers are trying to get completed cars out the door. There's multiple locals involved in building each car. By random locals striking, managers waste money trying to work around broken bits of the supply chain.
Why not just shut it all down? Is damage the goal? I'm sure it's far more complex and complicated than I know the half of
Union dues partially build up "Strike funds," which pay union members salaries while they are on strike. These let strikers hold out agaisnt economic hardship, giving the union strength. The "per month" amount per union menber going into these funds is tiny, likely in the $10/month range, so building these up takes years, and they generally wont last long if every union member is on strike.
Whats genius on the unions part is that they realize how interconnected the manufacturing chain is, and that it doesnt matter if you have 90% of a car ready if you cant get that last 10%. So they had just a few plants strike at once, meaning the strike fund can last for months/years ihstead of days/weeks, and still no cars will be built, which puts tye companies into economic hardship, which adds shareholder pressure to negotiate with the union.
They were also extra devious in "accidentally" leaking a list of what plants were going to go on strike, so management hustled to get those 10% parts stored to use to keep the cars coming. Then the union revealed it was completely different plants, so management just ended up spending tons of money on last minute freight to fuck up the supply chain even more by trying to out maneuver the union.
Fucking brilliant.
Also this let's the union put different plants on strike every day/week/month/ etc to further expand damage/paranoia and adjust the strike to wherever the big 3 are moving their supply chain pinch points.
Oh that is glorious.
Because if they shut it all down, none of their members get paid. This way, the car companies are still paying employees to make parts, they have to pay more to move parts around, and may eventually have to pay for storage for parts that can't be assembled into cars.
Damage is indeed the goal but they're balancing the amount of damage they do to the car companies against the damage they do to their own members.