Elon Musk Takes A Swipe At UAW Strike: 'Is Anyone Gonna Be Around To Make The Actual Cars!?'

Zinger Key Points
  • The UAW strike will likely lead to a structural long-term insolvency of legacy automakers.
  • The winners of the development are likely to be hyper-automated and non-unionized competitors, said Chamath Palihapitiya.

The United Auto Workers has begun a simultaneous strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers following a lack of agreement between the parties.

On Sunday, Tesla, Inc.’s TSLA CEO Elon Musk, whose company is non-unionized, weighed in on a post by Creative Planning’s Chief Market Strategist Charlie Bilello, who summarized the union’s demand.

The union is demanding a 40% increase in hourly pay over four years. Among the other demands are a reduced four-day, 32-hour workweek; a shift back to defined benefit pensions; cost of living adjustments; five-plus weeks of vacation; more paid holidays; and extended parental leave.

Commenting on the post on X, Musk asked, “Is anyone gonna be around to make the actual cars!?”

Bilello replied with a graphic showing automated manufacturing.

See Also: Best Auto Manufacturers Stocks

Similarly weighing in on the UAW strike, SPAC king Chamath Palihapitiya said two options before the automakers would be to automate and replace unionized people with robots or to de-unionize. But neither is possible, he said, apparently referring to the limited automation of processes by legacy automakers such as General Motors Corp. GM, Ford Motor Co. F and Stellantis N.V. STLA.

Hyper-automated and non-unionized competitors like Tesla can now completely run away with the car market because they will be able to aggressively lower prices, Palihapitiya said.

Check out more of Benzinga’s Future Of Mobility coverage by following this link.

Read Next: Tesla Big Winner Of UAW Strike, Rivian Stands Tall Among Startups, Nikola CEO Calms Nerves And More: Biggest EV Stories Of The Week

Photo: Shutterstock

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Posted In: Analyst ColorEquitiesNewsTop StoriesChamath PalihapitiyaCharlie Bilellocreative planningelectric vehiclesElon MuskEVsmobilityUAW
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