United Auto Workers strikes spread to 2 more plants
The United Auto Workers union expanded its strikes against Detroit automakers Friday, ordering 7,000 more workers to walk off the job in Illinois and Michigan to put more pressure on the companies to improve their offers.
It was the second time the union has widened the walkout, which started two weeks ago at three assembly plants before the most recent addition of a Ford plant in Chicago and a General Motors assembly factory near Lansing.
Union President Shawn Fain told workers in a video appearance that the strikes were escalated because Ford and GM refused “to make meaningful progress” in ongoing contract talks. Jeep maker Stellantis was spared from the third round of strikes.
Ford and GM shot back as a war of words with the
union also intensified. Ford accused the UAW of holding up a deal mainly over union representation at electric vehicle battery plants, most of which are joint ventures with a Korean manufacturer.
“There is still time to
reach an agreement and avert disaster,” Ford said in a statement, adding that the strikes are starting to affect fragile companies that make parts for factories affected by the walkouts.
GM's manufacturing
chief said the union was calling more strikes “just for the headlines, not real progress.”
The GM plant in Delta Township, near Lansing, makes large crossover SUVs such as the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. A nearby metal parts stamping plant with 300 workers will remain open, Fain said.
The Chicago Ford plant makes the Ford Explorer and Explorer Police Interceptors, as well as the Lincoln Aviator SUV. The Explorer Interceptor is the nation's top-selling police vehicle.
Fain said union bargainers are still talking to all three companies, and he was hopeful they could reach deals.
Stellantis, he said, made significant progress moments before his appearance on Facebook Live by agreeing to unspecified cost-of-living raises, the right not to cross a picket line and the right to strike over plant closures.
Ranael Edwards, a longtime GM employee who works at the Lansingarea factory, said she was “shocked but happy” to hear that her plant would join the strike.
“I feel like they don't understand that this is about more than wages,” Edwards said. “It's about having security at our jobs.”
Edwards said she believes the UAW's strategy of slowly adding more plants will work. “I love it because it keeps us on our toes. No one knows what's next,” she said.
But in a note to workers Friday, Edwards' boss, GM manufacturing chief Gerald Johnson, said the company has yet to receive a counteroffer from union leaders to a Sept. 21 economic proposal.
“We continue to stand ready and willing to negotiate in good faith to reach an agreement that benefits you and doesn't let the nonunion manufacturers win,” Johnson wrote. He called the counteroffer a record proposal with historic wage increases and job security.
Ford CEO Jim Farley said in a statement that it was “grossly irresponsible” for the union to add to the strikes and hurt families.