Michael Hiltzik: Why an auto workers strike should have your support

A few aspects of the ongoing labor-management dispute in the automobile industry are different from previous negotiations.

Under the leadership of President Shawn Fain, the United Auto Workers union is negotiating simultaneously with all of the Big Three automakers — General Motors, Ford and Stellantis, maker of Chryslers and Jeeps, among other brands — instead of choosing one as the principal counterparty and letting it set the standard for the other two to follow.

Then there's the underlying issue of the industry's transition from gas-fueled to electric vehicles, and its clear intention to base the factories for the latter in nonunion states, posing a real threat to union membership.

But a few things haven't changed. For one thing, economic issues — wages, health and pension benefits, job security and so on — are at the center of the contract negotiations.

For another, the framing in the media and among politicians treats this contract negotiation as one in which the union is making outrageous demands and management is trying desperately to hold the line.

This is the