Shawn Fain used to wire up a Chrysler plant in Kokomo, Ind. On Friday, Oct. 9 he claimed a second term running the United Auto Workers. His campaign's count put him at about 68% of the vote. The Journal's Christopher Otts lays out what the win is for. In 2028 the union sits down with Ford (F), General Motors (GM) and Stellantis (STLA). One ask on its list is the old-fashioned pension.
Official results weren't in as of Friday afternoon, Otts reports. Even a vice president from the opposing ticket told the paper the result isn't in question. Five people ran against Fain. He first won in 2023, in a runoff, the first time members voted directly for their president after a scandal sent two past presidents to federal prison. His targeted strikes that year, including at Ford's most profitable truck plant in Kentucky, won big raises. Next came union representation at Volkswagen's plant in Chattanooga, Tenn.
What a traditional pension means
Newer autoworkers, like most private workers now, save in a 401(k). The company puts money in, the worker picks the funds, and whatever's there at 65 is what there is. If the market has a bad decade, that's your problem. A traditional pension flips it. The company promises a monthly check for life, set by a formula, usually years worked times a slice of your pay. The market risk sits with the employer. So does the risk that you live to 100. That promise is expensive, which is a big reason companies dropped it, and why workers want it back.
The union also wants rules on artificial intelligence and automation replacing factory jobs. Put the two asks together and the worry is plain. Keeping the job, and keeping a paycheck after the job ends.
Our read
This is Retirement, M10, in its purest form. Many of our readers already have what the autoworkers are fighting for. A CalSTRS or CalPERS pension, a county plan, a union plan. It's easy to forget what that's worth when the statement comes once a year and you never see the money move. A promised check for life, with no market risk, is often the most valuable thing in a teacher's plan. People with only a 401(k) have to buy that kind of income themselves, and it isn't cheap.
Here's the check this week. If you have a pension, pull up your latest benefit statement and find one number, the monthly amount at the age you actually plan to stop. Then look at what it assumes. A specific retirement date, a survivor option, a final pay figure that may be out of date. If you only have a 401(k), do the opposite. Take the balance and ask what monthly check for life it would buy. The gap between those two numbers is the whole 2028 fight, in your own handwriting. If you want a second set of eyes on it, that's what a review is for. It's a lot easier to plan for that gap in a calm October than to meet it the month you retire.