Area could feel impact from UAW’s GM strike
The United Auto Workers’ GM employees are going on strike, and a long walkout could affect local auto parts suppliers.
The United Auto Workers union announced Sunday that its roughly 49,000 workers at General Motors plants in the U.S. would go on strike just before midnight because contentious talks on a new contract had broken down.
A long UAW walkout against GM could affect Dayton-area auto parts suppliers — and hundreds of area employees. Some big Dayton-area employers are suppliers of GM, including DMAX in Moraine, with more than 800 workers, and Fuyao Glass America, also in Moraine, with more than 2,000 workers.
But GM has enough inventory to weather a short walkout, according to at least one industry assessment.
Cox Automotive estimates that GM’s inventory of trucks and SUVs in total stands at about 80 days. Cox Automotive is part of Cox Enterprises, the parent company of this newspaper.
David Kudla, founder and chief executive of Mainstay Capital Management in Grand Blanc, Mich., said last week that a UAW strike against GM could have a real impact on the Moraine DMAX plant, which produces the Duramax diesel engine.
“It would have a very serious impact, because they’re making engines for the Chevy Silverado, heavy duty, and GMC Sierra,” Kudla had said. “Although they are not UAW locals, a UAW-represented plant, because they’re supplying UAW plants ... it would idle that plant at some point.”
The Duramax diesel is offered as an option for the GMC Sierra and GMC Canyon, as well as the 2020 Silverado 1500 heavy-duty trucks. The local DMAX plant is 60 percent owned by GM, but its workers are represented by the IUE-CWA union, not the UAW.
Any strike impact on Fuyao would be limited, Kudla had said.
On Saturday, UAW Vice President Terry Dittes said in a letter to GM members that after months of bargaining, both the union and GM were far apart on issues such as wages, health care, temporary employees, job security and profit-sharing.
The letter to members and another one to GM were aimed at turning up the pressure on GM negotiators.
“While we are fighting for better wages, affordable quality health care, and job security, GM refuses to put hard working Americans ahead of their record profits,” Dittes, the union’s chief bargainer with GM, said in a statement Saturday night.
In a statement, GM said it offered improved wages, benefits and additional U.S. jobs.
“It is disappointing that the UAW leadership has chosen to strike at midnight tonight. We have negotiated in good faith and with a sense of urgency. Our goal remains to build a strong future for our employees and our business,” the company said.
The strike would be the union’s first since a two-day work stoppage at GM in 2007.
On Friday, union leaders extended contracts with Ford and Fiat Chrysler indefinitely, but the pact with General Motors expired Saturday night.
The union picked GM, which is more profitable than Ford and Fiat Chrysler, as the target company, meaning it’s the focus of bargaining and would be the first company to face a walkout.
Talks between the union and GM were tense from the start, largely because GM plans to close four U.S. factories, including the one on the Detroit border with the enclave of Hamtramck, and Lordstown, Ohio. The union has promised to fight the closures.