To add this for posterity, there is an additional component to the U.S. autoworkers union striking. In 2008 during the global financial crisis (with things like robosigning foreclosures, predatory loans with ballooning interest rates, etc.), some U.S. automakers were asking for government bailouts, which eventually were granted. These bailouts were entirely taxpayer funded. Now the automakers are refusing to meet union contract negotiations. Automakers not paying employees cost-of-living, or frankly, just salary increases is upsetting, but the additional hypocrisy of U.S. tax-paying citizens bailing out these companies with their own money in 2008, and then not having the companies return some of the wealth in 2023 is enraging.

Edit:

Forgot to add that when the automakers were begging for government bailouts, the automakers had to take away worker pensions and some benefits to “protect the system”. In 2023, the U.S. autoworkers union is fighting to get those benefits back for the workers.