Unions, Labor, and the American Working Class: A Conversation with Nelson Lichtenstein

On September 15, 2023, workers from the United Auto Workers union went on strike at Ford Motor Company, General Motors, and Stellantis simultaneously, quickly expanding to include tens of thousands of workers at automobile factories throughout the United States. Founded by visionary and then UAW president Walter Reuther, At its founding, the union focused on better wages and conditions for all working-class Americans, not just union members. Current UAW president Shawn Fain has channeled much of founding UAW president Walter Reuther’s rhetoric in championing benefits for all workers and pushing for government support of electric car manufacturing jobs. In what has been a historic year for unions and labor movements throughout the United States, we sit down with Dr. Nelson Lichtenstein to discuss the history of the UAW and what this strike means for the American working class. What does this strike reveal about current relations between the working and elite classes, and how will the UAW strike and demands play into political and labor discourse in the coming years?

Nelson Lichtenstein is a Research Professor in the Department of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also serves as the director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor, and Democracy.  He is the author of numerous books, including “State of the Union: A Century of American Labor” (published in 2002 and revised in 2013). His most recent book, “A Fabulous Failure: The Clinton Presidency and the Transformation of American Capitalism” which he co-authored with the late Judith Stein, was published in 2023 by Princeton University Press.