LIVONIA, Mich. (WXYZ) — Data being released from the Anderson Economic Group estimates that in the first two weeks of the UAW's stand-up strike has resulted in $3.95 billion in economic loss.
It states that the second week of the strike hit suppliers particularly hard - an unfortunate fact that engineering and product development-based manufacturer Alpha USA is on the receiving end of.
President and COO of Alpha USA, Chuck Dardas told 7 Action News; "The pressure on the suppliers is enormous right now, we haven’t recovered from COVID."
Dardas said that every Friday morning at 10 all eyes at his facility are on a screen waiting to see what possible strike locations the UAW may announce next.
"There’s a lot of tension and they wanna know what’s going to happen," said Dardas.
Alpha USA is a Tier One supplier that makes about 250 million assembly parts a year for Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis.
When the plants that they distribute to shut down his nearly 200 employees lose their customers, their work.
"I think that it’s really overlooked what the impact is on the supply community," said Dardas. "The supply base could be made more and more fragile as this goes on and that fragility is not good for our economy in Michigan, or in our country."
The Anderson Group breaks the $3.95 billion loss into the following categories:
- Direct Wages Lost - $325 million
- Detroit 3 Manufacturer Losses - $1.12 billion
- Supplier Losses - $1.29 billion
- Dealer and Customer Losses - $1.2 billion
When asked how long the strike needs to continue for Michigan to reach some sort of recession, Patrick Anderson Principal and CEO of the Anderson Economic Group LLC. said, "Pretty soon, we’ll see income drop overall in Michigan."
At Alpha USA Dardas said they're doing everything possible to not make any layoffs.
However every day employees walk into work wondering "What's next?"
Dardas' dream is that the answer to that question is the end to the strike.
"These aren’t just employees," said Dardas. "These are families that are out here and we want to have a little impact on the families of our companies as possible."
The Anderson Group report also estimates that the third week of strikes will be significantly more costly for Ford as the company was largely spared in the second week.
It estimates that Ford dealerships and customers will be hit hard.
