 Close to 13,000 members of the United Auto Workers, some of whom you can see on the screen behind me, are on strike since Friday this week trying to correct long-standing wrongs and demand fair wages and working conditions. How will this massive mobilisation impact the industry and the labour movement in the United States? And the G77 plus China grouping which represents over 130 countries and 80% of the world's population met in the Cuban capital Havana on Friday and Saturday. In the context of an increasingly multipolar world, will the grouping succeed in its push to restructure international financial architecture to meet the needs of the global south? These are the questions we are asking our reporters on this episode of The Daily Debrief coming to you from the People's Dispatch Studios here in New Delhi. Before we go any further, I'd like to take this chance to ask you to subscribe to our channel and of course like and share this show. First up over 12,000 workers of the United Auto Workers, a union that in total represents about 150,000 workers in the United States auto industry are on a phased and targeted strike action at plants belonging to auto giants General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. They have slowed the production of cars by the big three by as much as 15% already. The union's old contracts with the three manufacturers expired on Thursday and the strike is likely to expand with no agreement between the companies and the unions on the card so far. Reports from the ground indicate that there may be some movement over the weekend but with the gap in demands between what's being offered by the companies who have of course made record profits since being on the brink of disappearance following the financial crisis of 2007 and 2008, the gaps are still huge and it seems more likely than not that the strike will only gain momentum. This is the latest round of industrial action that also reflects the growing strength of the labor unions in the United States and the desperation faced by the working class which is precipitating increasingly militant labor actions. Let's go over to Anish to understand the factors that have brought the auto industry to this point and also the potential impact of this massive strike action. Anish, this is of course the big story we are covering today. Tell us first, quite a bit has been of course already covered on this subject in terms of how the strategy of the union this time is different. They're targeting three major manufacturers and also looking to phase the strike out to maximize its impact as well as reduce the burden on their own I suppose strike fund as well as the workers who will be striking. Yes so at the current moment you have about 13,000 workers of the about 146 or so thousand workers striking and that is a tactic that is not new obviously but it definitely is a warning sign to the big three automakers that they do not come to a conclusion the strike will expand and that will be about close to 150,000 people striking and completely stopping work and you know bringing pretty much more than half of the US automotive industry to a halt and that is something that is going to be quite serious. So this is definitely just a peek into what the automakers can actually expect in the coming weeks if they are not willing to engage with the union in a good faith bargaining. The major impact it is going to have is definitely there are multiple pressures on the big three and it's not just the market but also the fact that right now you have electronic vehicle industry being major player in the entire sector and these three are trying to catch up to it and obviously they're trying to make it seem as if like the unionized factories like Tesla are doing better because obviously they do not have unions but that is not the reason why they have competitive advantage I mean like that might be partly true but like a big part of that is a different thing altogether the fact that they have not invested or made timely investments in creating and manufacturing their own line of electric vehicles and instead in fact have a history of actually bringing down electric vehicles and sabotaging efforts towards that is a different fact that did not want to talk about but nevertheless the workers are bringing to question a lot of things that I've considered taken for granted in the industry especially how the workers are treated and the fact that the big three completely forgot about the actual real you know very generous concessions that workers made in 2008 when all three of them were in doldrums financially speaking and were facing something close to bankruptcy at the time and they had to and workers actually made concessions to allow for these companies to keep their competitive advantage and to you know to become you know one of the biggest profit making industries factories and companies in the world right now yeah which brings us to I guess quite naturally the next part of the conversation I was listening to a senior executive of General Motors talking about how they are frustrated by you know the breakdown in negotiations despite offering what they are saying is a landmark new contract but workers on the other hand Anisha saying that these companies like you were saying have had record profits and which should result in similar record contracts and the kind of increases they are asking are just in line with what executives or management positions have received anyway so how do you balance out these two arguments there is no need to balance out the fact is that the facts stand on the side of the workers at this point in time since 2008 and until last year CEOs and executives of these three companies have actually made close to 40% increase in their salaries that's a record margin hike at the time when workers who actually make and use these cars and you know instruments and all of that goes behind it all of the process that goes behind it they are pretty much actually saw a decline of nearly about 20% close to 20% not exactly that of their real wages primarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic but also because they actually gave up in 2008 we must remember that they actually gave up post-op living adjustments so that these companies could have you know start making profits and actually with the promise that they would actually give that back to the workers and prioritize their wage increases once they are you know they get back to being a profitable business and we must remember that during the pandemic the three big automakers actually made quite a lot of money they made record profits actually and it wasn't just Tesla that was making money at the time obviously and that is something that we do not want to talk about you know last financial year we had Ford and GM Motors making close to about 170 billion dollars in revenue and Stellantis making about 102 billion dollars in revenue that's a massive revenue and obviously profit margins are huge as well they have made about in the last 10 years about 250 billion dollars in profits alone and that clearly shows and obviously much of that went to servicing investors and you know dividend payments that went to about 65 billion dollars all of them put together so if they do they did have the money they just may prioritize their own salaries their executive salaries and the dividend payments for investors rather than actually you know hiking you know pay and testing conditions exactly investing in their own workers or for that matter investing in new technology as well they are now trying to invest in technology because there are competitive edge being taken over by somebody else and not because there is a need to they feel they felt they need to actually create one so this is something these are facts that the strike is actually bringing out and that's something that the automakers do not really want to talk about do not want the public to actually engage it but this is definitely not going to work right now at this point in time because of the you know the massiveness of the strike itself and how it is going to impact pretty much everybody including you know the wider economy the market supply chains everything yeah which is the point on which we I suppose can conclude this little conversation Anish Sean Fain of the UAW saying that this is a kind of defining moment for our generation and we've also seen over the past couple of years an increasing sort of willingness participation in organized labor movements more militant labor movements in the United States how do you see that the impact of this strike continuing that kind of that momentum that pressure on employers to actually share these record profits that mega companies are making across sectors not just in the United States it is difficult to say how things are going to move from here but definitely the fact that labor militancy is on the rise is a welcome thing because we must remember that obviously US had a long history of labor movement but you know the post neoliberal era the you know the one world order and also the unipolar order sorry and also the fact that the 2008 crisis happened created a situation where labor movement actually took a backseat and primarily because traditional labor groups did not really you know put their efforts into actually mobilizing you know actions that could actually help their workers and that is now changing because there are no pressures from workers workers who have faced significant difficulty we're talking about like automate automotive workers are some of the better paid of the blue collar workers in the United States and if they had had to go through about 20% in real wage loss we can only imagine what is happening to you know the the lower end of the organized workers forget the unorganized workers in say the food the fast food industry or the retail industry so this is a very different situation that the US workers and the working class have found themselves in many of them obviously coming from different racial minorities and national minorities who also have to you know who stay in that poverty levels in some ways because they really can't make enough to make ends meet and this is something that is reflected in also the demands we look the 40% demand might seem quite drastic and it would it would look like to you know an average bystander who may not have any idea of what's happening that a 20% as suggested by the companies is generous but it is not you know you consider the fact that the CEOs themselves have given themselves about 40% of an increase very generously they can do the same with workers so this is not something that is up to debate for the workers or for the trade unions the fact that they need to make if they have to keep their competitive edge they have to actually start investing in the workers to start giving them overtime start giving them enough rest leaves with something all of which were completely forsaken by these workers so that these companies could stay afloat and that generosity needs to be repaid that cannot be you know replaced at any level no matter what it is we could say and that is something that the workers want to really highlight at the moment. Alright thanks Anish for that update on a strike that is just about starting off gathering momentum we'll of course ask you to keep tracking developments in the US as things proceed and of course like with everything else this will also connect back to the 2024 presidential election so we'll also wait and see what the impact is on that and our second story on the show today is that in the Cuban capital Havana the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez while addressing delegates from over 130 nations of the global south admitted to the failings of the post-world war multi-racial institutions to address the developmental issues of many of these nations he was speaking of course at the summit of the g77 plus china grouping which is being hosted by Cuba and also said that the international financial architecture and Bretton Woods institutions represented a bygone era with the need for restructuring more urgent than ever before the grouping is the largest of its kind representative of 80% of the world's population and in some ways the antithesis or antidote depending on how you look at it to the g7 grouping of the world's most advanced industrialized nations the idea behind the summit is to push forward a new economic order and create a diplomatic as well as a negotiating bloc to increase south-south cooperation and pressure on the north particularly western countries to relinquish power take accountability and put their money where their mouths are let's go over to Prashant for more. Prashant, good to have you on debrief with us this afternoon. Tell us a bit about what's happening in Cuba. Prashant some pretty clear language looking at the international financial architecture how the Bretton Woods institutions function and how the interests of the global south are not being addressed adequately as is clearly visible around the world so tell us what kind of conversations are going on and what sort of movement is expected from the g77 plus summit summit. That's right as we record of course the summit is not concluded yet so we haven't yet got the final resolution but the indications like you said look like there's a lot of conversations around some of these subjects about equity about the role of the global south and the global north and how development has not really sort of you know the kind of development the global south should have had has not really been obtained and that is basically due to the architecture of some of these institutions but just to take a step back I think we've been in a season of summit so to speak we saw bricks taking place and we saw g20 taking place and now we have the g77 plus China meeting taking place and this is a very interesting platform because you have although the name says g77 there are actually about 130 countries that are part of this block so to speak and you know about 80% of the world's population actually is as is part of this block so it's actually in some senses maybe the biggest grouping because global grouping of them all if you look at it in that sense and while of course a couple of things that are important to notice that of course this block sometimes does not necessarily get the kind of importance it gets but this year especially since Cuba has taken over the presidency there's been a there's been a much more stronger push from the side of the Cubans to actually make the voice heard and it's very important that this summit is also being held in Havana because the 30 heads of state are taking part also it's a very direct message to the United States which is imposed these unilateral sanctions and blockade on Cuba which is really really you know affected the economic situation in the country so in some senses we're talking about financial architecture but we're also talking about the geopolitical architecture so to speak of which Cuba has been the number one victim for the past many decades so it's very significant that the summit is being held in Havana that you know we have leaders from across the world including BRICS leaders for instance both Lula and Ramaphosa are there I believe taking part in this summit leaders from Latin America taking part in this summit in that way reiterating their solidarity with the Cubans and even all the others taking place so that's I think a very important context in which the summit is being held another important thing I think to note is that the themes also have to do with science technology and innovation that's a very important theme at the summit which again means that you know the key where you know these are not neutral terms so to speak because science and technology especially as we saw with COVID are aspects which the global south has been denied access for the longest time due to patents regimes due to other kinds of discrimination and the fact that the countries of the global south are actually highlighting this is a very important step to be considered and now also coming to the question of financial institutions we've had a lot of talk about this in recent times and I think this is a sign of a shift that is taking place now the important question is whether the shift will take place fast enough considering the realities that that existed today's world the kind of hunger that exists the kind of electricity and poverty that exists and the impact of climate change which is taking which you're seeing across the world in almost every single country is there enough will on the part of the you know is there enough will globally to force this kind of change in institutions which are patiently unfair or will these calls for reform just be restricted to paper or small steps which will take a long time to be established so to speak because it is very it is very clear that there is a very very urgent need for reform countries in the global south cannot be dealing with this kind of debt you're seeing crisis in countries across the global south you're talking about Pakistan we're talking about Argentina we're talking about for that matter say country like Tunisia we're talking about so many countries struggling under the stranglehold of institutions like the international monitoring fund and the world bank you know we're seeing basically human development indicators declining in many countries because of issues like this and issues like climate change for instance make it much much worse so I think this is very high on the agenda it's no and for that matter you even have leaders of the global not now paying lip service to many of these themes but I think the fundamental question is that will this reform take place fast enough considering the urgent requirement there is right Prashant the Secretary General of the United Nations is also attending this conference and had some pretty clear words for or along the same lines of reform that you were talking about including his own organization the United Nations Security Council is one of the hopes that this block this massive block of 130 plus countries will be able to kind of band together and and put forward a united voice on many of these major issues that will also come up at the United Nations in the coming week right so that's a very important question I think one place where we have seen these countries work together quite effectively is in the various scope summits we know that the pressure exerted by these countries played a huge role in the loss and damage fund that was approved last year but nonetheless again this is still needs to be enacted in practice the practical details are still to be decided and I think that is where a lot of these issues finally come up the key question of you know when it comes to the exact that the point of enacting reform in concrete terms how you know what is the position of the countries in the global north which still have enormous leverage on many of these countries you know will they try to divide will they try to exert pressure or will they try to cooperate considering the situation of the world right now and as of now we have actually not seen too many positive signs from the global north when it comes to many of these issues so I think it's a very tough question right now because you know we are seeing a consolidation in the global south there's no question of it there is a very strong anti for lack of better word anti-colonial anti-neocolonial mood that has seized many of the countries of the global south even countries of the global south which are which are close to the west are realizing that are recalibrating the strategies at various points of time you know the question of when it comes to question of sanctions when it comes to question of debt when it comes to the question of climate change funding in all of these issues countries the global south are banding together much much more than before but many of these are fora it is not enough just to have the numbers there is a need for consensus and there is also a need ultimately for you know funding to be provided there's also a need for finances to be shared so to speak and that that I think is really where all this talk that where all this talk gets exposed or where all where the reality check comes in so I think and in the coming weeks as we see these UN meetings it's very important to see how much of this is a vague declaration saying that we are all on the same team we are all for the future of this planet and how much of it is concrete and structural changes let's be clear we're not just talking only about money or you know one time infusion of funds for a certain project or something of that sort we are talking about the possibility the question of structural change itself to various institutions will the United States continue to have the kind of veto power it has over the international monetary fund you know will the IMF for instance continue the same kind of policies which are not countless countries into doing will the United Nations become more representative of the kind of global you know the kind of global order that is today all of these are I think very maybe medium to long-term questions as well but I think each each of these summits provides an interesting signpost in that direction all right thanks Prashant we'll leave it there for today and that wraps up our coverage of the news beyond the headlines on Daily DB for this week we'll be back with another episode on Monday until then we take the opportunity to invite you to head to our website peoplesdispatch.org and also remind you to follow us on the social media platform of your choice thank you very much for watching we'll see you next week goodbye