New UAW leader has issues with Detroit automakers

To say that the new president of the United Auto Workers union is unhappy with Detroit’s three automakers would be an understatement.

Shawn Fain, who took office in March after workers voted to sweep out most of the union’s old leadership, listed grievances with Stellantis, General Motors and Ford in a wide- ranging talk Friday with reporters.

The disputes surely will become part of national contract talks between the union and the auto companies that will begin this summer. Agreements with all three expire on Sept. 14, and bargaining is expected to be contentious.

Speaking to the Automotive Press Association in Detroit, Fain said members are demanding that the union win back cost- of- living pay raises and pensions they lost, and the elimination of tiers of workers who are paid differently but do the same jobs. They also want assurances that good- paying union jobs will be preserved as the companies transition from gasoline- powered vehicles to those that run on electricity.

Auto companies, he said, have made billions over the last decade but workers haven’t gotten their fair share since the companies got into financial trouble in 2009.

“I want to work with the companies. I want to have a good relationship,” Fain said. “But if they’re not going to treat our members with respect and not give them their due, then we’re going to have issues.”

His biggest beef, though, seemed to be with Stellantis, which is moving to close a factory in Belvidere, Illinois. The company also failed to include the union when it announced a joint-venture electric vehicle battery factory in Kokomo, Indiana, Fain said.