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UAW Chief Shawn Fain disrupts Detroit's labor tradition

He's known to quote the Bible and Nation of Islam civil rights leader Malcolm X. He's a social media fanatic who keeps the pay stubs of his union member grandfather in his wallet. And now, Shawn Fain is representing nearly 150,000 auto workers in one of the biggest labor strikes in decades. In taking action against all three Detroit carmakers, Fain, the head of the United Auto Workers, has remade the strategy of the union he leads, choosing a bolder, much riskier path than his predecessors after he won office by a narrow margin in a first-ever direct election earlier this year. The strike started as the clock hit midnight on Friday, and followed Fain's decision to open negotiations with Ford Motor, General Motors and Stellantis simultaneously and eschew public niceties involving choreographed handshakes that famously kicked off previous negotiating efforts. The strategy is not without risk. A weeks-long strike would hit workers who live paycheck to paycheck, while the Detroit Three automakers have billions in cash to withstand the walkout. Fain, 54, has made creative use of social media, appearances on network and cable news programs and alliances with high-profile progressive politicians such as U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, to reframe the UAW's contract bargaining as a battle to re-set the balance of power between workers and global corporations. He has rebutted automakers' concerns about labor costs by pointing out that they have poured billions into share buybacks to benefit investors. "If they’ve got money for Wall Street they sure as hell have money for the workers making the product," he said. “We fight for the good of the entire working class and the poor." In lengthy social media talks to UAW members, Fain alternates quoting Bible verses with the use of charts and graphs to dissect wage and benefit offers from the automakers - details his predecessors kept behind closed doors during bargaining crunch time. Fain, in his unorthodox approach, ran what amounted to a public auction among the companies to push each one to top the other to avoid a costly walkout. Prior UAW presidents picked just one automaker to set a pattern for the other two. Over and over, Fain has told UAW members at the Detroit Three that they can reverse 20 years of wage and retiree benefit concessions, stop further plant closures and end a seniority-based, tiered compensation system that pays new hires as much as 44% less than veteran workers.

2019 GMC Sierra CarbonPro Edition pricing starts above $65,000

GMC is hard at work building carbon fiber beds for its CarbonPro trucks, so it's fitting that the company has finally released pricing for the 2019 GMC Sierra CarbonPro Edition. It's not cheap by any measure. The most "affordable" for 2019 is the AT4 version starting at $66,635. It's also available in Denali trim, and that version starts at $70,020. Both represent an increase of $8,000 to $9,000 more over the base AT4 and Denali models. That may seem like a lot to go from a steel bed to a carbon fiber one, but you're getting more than the bed for that money. GMC also includes unique badging, a Bluetooth bed speaker, rear-camera mirror, surround vision cameras, automatic emergency braking, lane-keep assist, automatic headlights, power side steps, a sunroof, trailer tire pressure monitoring and a color heads-up display to both models. The AT4 specifically gets a Bose sound system, navigation, parking sensors and a cat-back exhaust, too. The Denali adds unique 22-inch wheels. Both only come with the 6.2-liter V8 and 10-speed automatic. To equip a regular GMC Sierra AT4 similarly to the CarbonPro Edition, the price comes out to $64,110. The Denali comparably equipped to the CarbonPro is $67,940. So the bed itself is about $2,000 to $3,000. The 2019 GMC Sierra CarbonPro Edition trucks should be reaching dealers very soon. They will soon be supplanted by the 2020 version, which will add the new 3.0-liter diesel inline-six as an engine option. The AT4 CarbonPro will get some extra black accents for 2020, too.

GMC Canyon next generation previewed with off-road AT4X trim

GMC is preparing to give the Canyon, its smallest and most affordable pickup, a complete makeover. While we won't see the truck for a few months, the company released a preview image to give us an idea of what to expect and confirmed the lineup will include an AT4X model. Although the teaser keeps most of the sheetmetal hidden, the truck appears to receive a more chiseled hood and concave door skins that should make it look less slab-sided. The fenders are eye-catching as well: They're more punched-out that the current-generation model's. Keep in mind that we're looking at the AT4X trim, which will be positioned as the off-road champion of the range and should consequently get a brawnier-looking design. Other off-road goodies include big Goodyear Wrangler tires wrapped around 17-inch beadlock-capable wheels, plastic wheel arch flares, and rock rails. GMC is keeping additional details under wraps, but we're guessing suspension tweaks are part of the package as well. After all, the current-generation AT4 benefits from a one-inch suspension lift and skid plates, among other upgrades. This isn't the first time we've seen or heard of the Canyon AT4X. Our spy photographers caught a camouflaged prototype that looks taller and considerably more rugged than the AT4 in July 2021, and the Canyon AT4 OVRLANDX concept introduced in August 2021 seemingly previewed some of the features that will trickle down to the production model, including the rock rails and wheel arches. GMC will unveil the next-generation Canyon this summer, and we expect to hear more about it in the coming weeks. And, if a new Canyon is around the corner, that likely means that the next Chevrolet Colorado isn't far behind. Both will compete directly against the new Ford Ranger, which has only been unveiled for overseas markets as of writing and which will spawn a range-topping, V6-powered Raptor. Another competitor the duo will need to fend off is the Nissan Frontier, which got its first update since the 2005 model year for 2022. Already offered on the 2022 Sierra, the outdoorsy AT4X trim will spread across the GMC range in the coming years. Nothing is official yet, but earlier spy shots strongly suggest that the Sierra Heavy Duty will be treated to the AT4X treatment in the not-too-distant future. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.