The union strikes back: UAW ramps up walkouts at GM and Stellantis with 38 more plants grinding to a halt ‘until car giants come to their senses’ as talks collapse – while Ford cedes ground to union following contract negotiations
The union strikes back: UAW steps up strikes at GM and Stellantis, bringing 38 more plants to a standstill ‘until auto giants come to their senses’ as talks collapse β while Ford cedes ground to union after contract negotiations
- Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, called on 38 factories to join the strike
- He said Ford has made progress, but General Motors and Stellantis need to be boosted
United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain has called on workers to strike at all General Motors and Stellantis distribution centers, with no additional strikes for Ford.
Members of 38 parts distribution plants for General Motors and Stellantis in 20 states will join the strike.
Fain said Ford has made progress in contract negotiations, while Stellantis and General Motors have not yet come to the table.
Ford negotiators have agreed to eliminate tiered employment, reinstate cost-of-living adjustments, guarantee the right to strike over plant closures, job security in the event of layoffs, improve the profit-sharing formula and immediately transition all temporary employees.
βTo be clear, we are not done yet at Ford. “We still have serious issues to solve, but we want to recognize that Ford is showing that they are serious about reaching a deal,” Fain said.
United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain is expected to call for more strikes on Friday
The historic strike began last week after automakers and union members failed to reach an agreement in contract negotiations
βWe invite and encourage anyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line. From our friends and families to the President of the United States.β
Mike Hayes, a member of the UAW bargaining committee, said in an interview outside Stellantis’ North American headquarters: βWe have to keep jobs in this country. They receive billions in tax breaks, but when it comes to keeping jobs here, they can’t guarantee anything.β
Automakers have responded with about half of what the union is demanding, saying they have made record offers.
General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told salaried employees that the UAW’s latest counteroffer was still too expensive, reported Bloomberg.
The union strategy is to call on selected locations to strike so that the companies can guess which factories might be hit next.
Last week, 13,000 UAW members went on strike at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis plants in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio.
Automakers have responded by announcing factory closures and hundreds of layoffs.
Stellantis has temporarily laid off 68 employees at its Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, due to storage restrictions caused by the strike. The company estimated that 300 employees in Kokomo, Indiana, will also be laid off.
General Motors announced 2,000 layoffs and closed its Kansas plant because there was “no work” due to a strike at another plant. Ford also laid off 600 employees when the strike began.
United Auto Workers members are asking for a 40 percent pay increase, better working conditions and a four-day work week. Automakers say the requirements are too expensive
The first round of strikes targeted factories that produce smaller trucks, but factories that produce the best-selling full-size pickup trucks could be next
While the UAW strike shows no end in sight, the Writer’s Guild of America’s strike is nearing an end.
Negotiators for the WGA and Hollywood studios are nearing an agreement to end the strike after an “encouraging” face-to-face meeting.
Anderson Economic Group predicts that a full 10-day strike in the auto sector could result in a total economic loss of more than $5 billion. ensuring that car suppliers and car dealers will suffer losses in both the long and short term.
They say car dealers only have about 55 days’ worth of stock and that the circumstances of a strike will affect dealers and customers much sooner rather than later.
S&P Global Mobility estimated that the combined impact on automakers could be about 3,200 units per day.
The first attacks targeted factories that make SUVs and trucks. Now there is speculation that the company’s most profitable vehicles, its full-size pickup trucks, could be the next target.
A recent Barclays report states that North American-built pickups are the “profit engines” that “drive substantially all of GM and Ford’s profits.”