In previous union contracts, GM sought to elimi-
nate jobs gradually through attrition while installing
more automated equipment. Both sides had settled
for quick compromises, avoiding a nationwide show-
down. The UAW was able to slow, but not stop, GM’s
push to cut jobs. Although GM could not fire union-
ized workers outright, it failed to replace them when
they retired. Between 1993 and 1996, 30,000 GM
workers retired but only 5,000 were hired. GM also
delayed investments in its American factories.
In 1998, GM took a harder stance and at first re-
fused to compromise. Serious negotiations did not
begin until well into the fourth week of the strike.
Initially, the company sought (unsuccessfully) to
block unemployment benefits received by laid-off
workers and sued the UAW for the first time in fifty
years, claiming it was engaged in an illegal strike.
The unprecedented fifty-four-day strike quickly de-
veloped into a “war of wills.”
Impact Each side suffered significant losses. The
work stoppage cost GM $12 billion in lost produc-
tion and an estimated $3 billion in profits, while the
UAW’s 200,000 members lost paychecks totaling
$1 billion (1998 dollars). Never had a local strike
shut down so much of an auto company for so long.
Neither side emerged a clear victor. GM agreed to
make investments it had previously promised in
Flint (including $180,000 at the metal stamping
plant) and not to sell any factories there before
- The union agreed to help raise productivity by
accepting some changes in work rules. Both sides
agreed to meet regularly to avert future strikes.
The agreement focused on local grievances at
the two striking factories but did not directly address
the underlying national issues: job security, disin-
vestment, outsourcing overseas, the shift to non-
union suppliers, or GM’s efforts to shrink its U.S.
workforce. The following month, GM announced
its decision to “spin off” its Delphi parts division,
and the next year GM closed its last assembly plant
in Flint. A depressed city with masses of unem-
ployed, Flint remained best known as the subject
of Michael Moore’s 1989 documentary about GM,
Roger and Me.
General Motors, once the nation’s premier auto-
mobile manufacturer, continued its long-term de-
cline, losing market share to its competitors. For la-
bor, although the strike failed to result in a victory of
national significance, it did reflect an upturn in the
labor movement. After losing nearly all major strikes
in the 1980’s, unions began a slight rebound, win-
ning several key strikes in the 1990’s. The ability of
two factories to paralyze one of the largest U.S. cor-
porations demonstrated the power that strategically
placed workers continued to wield.Further Reading
Babson, Steve.The Unfinished Struggle: Turning Points
in American Labor, 1877-Present. Lanham, Md.:
Rowman & Littlefield, 1999. Chapter 5, “At the
Crossroads,” offers a thoughtful examination of
the crisis of unions in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Dubofsky, Melvyn, and Foster Rhea Dulles.Labor in
America: A Histor y.7th ed. Wheeling, Ill.: Harlan
Davidson Press, 2004. This vividly written survey
concludes with an excellent chapter on the
1990’s, aptly titled “Hope and Despair.”
Milkman, Ruth.Farewell to the Factor y: Auto Workers in
the Late Twentieth Centur y. Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1997. Exposes the human side
of the decline of the U.S. auto industry by allow-
ing workers at a GM factory to speak for them-
selves.
Murolo, Priscilla, and A. B. Chitty.From the Folks Who
Brought You the Weekend: A Short, Illustrated Histor y
of Labor in the United States. New York: New Press,- This popular survey devotes a lengthy chap-
ter to the 1990’s titled “Brave New World.”
L. Mara Dodge
See also Automobile industry; Downsizing and re-
structuring; Income and wages in the United States;
North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA);
Outsourcing. Generation Y
Definition Group designation for those born
between 1982 and 2000
Children born during the last two decades of the twentieth
centur y exhibit characteristics markedly different from the
two generations preceding them.
By the mid-1990’s, sociologists and demographers
were beginning to notice a shift in values and behav-
ior emerging between the children born during the
1980’s and those of preceding generations. Since
children born between 1964 and 1982 had been358 Generation Y The Nineties in America