This is the Libertarian Podcast from the Hoover Institution.

Today we're talking about labor strikes across the United States.

I'm your host Tom Church, and the Libertarian is Professor Richard Epstein.

Richard is the Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow

here at the Hoover Institution.

He's the Lawrence A Tish Professor of Law at NYU,

and is a senior lecturer at the University of Chicago.

Now Richard, today I'd like to talk about the UAW strike, partly because, as a person who grew up in Michigan,

I was never far away from issues surrounding automakers, but also because you did write a column on it and there are a few things I want to get into with you.

Okay. So, Richard, first thing, let's actually talk about the demands here and who are we talking about here?

We're talking about the UAW

represents 150,000 workers there are 13,000 selectively striking across three

automakers for GM Stellandis in Michigan, Ohio, and Missouri. So they're demanding things like pay that would

equivalent that would work out for a four day work week. They have a tiered system right now for pay where younger workers aren't paid as much as perhaps the older ones. And then the one that I really want to get in with you on as we go through this is higher pay. They're asking for a 40% pay increase over 4.5 years and the automakers are well not

willing to offer that right now. So take me through this strike here and what you think, you we just started it's selective it's not completely

completely motion just yet what are the what's the likelihood that the UAW gets the auto workers

to the auto companies to agree to it.

Well, I don't think they will be able to do it,

but I think it's important to go very far back.

They've got themselves a very radical new leadership, right?

And when you start having new leadership,

which is very aggressive, what they try to do

...