DETROIT (WXYZ) — A new data analysis published out of East Lansing shows that if UAW workers from all three automakers strike for 10 days, it could result in an economic loss of more than $5 billion.
The report was published by the Anderson Economic Group. The group's vice president, Tyler Theile told 7 Action News; "Those lost wages are definitely going to have a ripple effect throughout the economy. While they’re going unpaid they don’t have that spending power in your local economy."
The last strike was in 2019, 48,000 workers went on strike for six weeks. Theile said it caused a single quarter recession in Michigan.
Now we're at risk of nearly three times that amount of workers striking.
The top three categories of loss are wages to workers, lost earnings for the Big Three, and auto industry losses.
Theile said suppliers and dealers stand to lose a lot.
"For example in the 2019 strike we saw suppliers in the Flint area that had to completely lay off all of their workers and shut down because the vast majority, if not all of their business, was with GM," he said.
Even a short strike would impact not only Michigan's economy this time, but the nation's.
On a local scale, auto towns will be impacted.
Emmanuel Hanna is the store manager at the Sterling Heights Boost Mobile store across the street from a Chrysler plant.
He told us he gets about three UAW workers inside his store a day, if not more.
He said the workers account for 30% of store business. Losing that clientele, Hanna said, "Is a big deal."
The loss in foot traffic would likely affect all businesses surrounding auto-plants.
UAW leadership has repeatedly stated that they are prepared to strike.
No matter what happens, Hanna told us he hopes UAW workers get what they deserve.
"I think it’s very crucial, there are accidents always happening, people are always buying new cars and we need somebody on the front line, right?," Hanna said.
