Those "20%" raises are spread over 4 years which averages to ~5%/year, barely keeping ahead of inflation. The media throwing that out without quantifying it is a blatant attempt by the corporate press to breed animosity towards the unions and paint them as greedy.

Remember everyone: Unions and strikes are cool, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

The automakers made around 5 BILLION USD in stock buybacks this last year alone.

i can here it now, more cries of "nobody wants to work anymore"

The limited strikes will help to preserve the union’s $825 million strike fund, which would run dry in about 11 weeks if all workers walked out. But Fain said more plants could be added if the companies don’t make better offers.

Even Fain has called the union’s demands audacious, but he maintains the automakers are raking in billions and can afford them. He scoffed at company statements that costly settlements would force them to raise vehicle prices, saying labor accounts for only 4% to 5% of vehicle costs.

Smart idea: ask for a lot and strike immediately. Don't wait and strike all at once. Pull more workers off the job if they refuse to negotiate, but start out slow.

That allows time for the board to ask management wtf is going on, because they are slowly losing money.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The strike will likely chart the future of the union and of America’s homegrown auto industry at a time when U.S. labor is flexing its might and the companies face a historic transition from building internal combustion automobiles to making electric vehicles.

Instead, the UAW targeted a handful of factories to prod company negotiators to raise their offers, which were far lower than union demands of 36% wage increases over four years.

Starting in 2007, workers gave up cost-of-living raises, defined benefit pensions for new hires, and wage tiers were created as the UAW tried to help the companies avoid financial trouble ahead of and during the Great Recession.

“We’re the ones for the last 20 years who have been kind of hoping things would change and we would get back some of the stuff that we lost with the bankruptcy,” said Tommy Wolikow, who delivers parts to an assembly line at GM’s pickup truck plant in Flint, Michigan.

The automakers, however, say they’re facing unprecedented demands on capital as they develop and build new electric vehicles while at the same time making gas-powered cars, SUVs and trucks to pay the bills.

GM CEO Mary Barra told workers in a letter Thursday that the company is offering historic wage increases and new vehicle commitments at U.S. factories.

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This is great news. The wage gap has gotten ridiculous.