DETROIT – Stellantis on Friday is expected to provide its counter proposal to demands made by the United Auto Workers after the union called out the company for allegedly dragging its feet amid this year’s negotiations.
UPDATE: Stellantis announces UAW counter offer as deadline looms -- will the union accept?
Stellantis is expected to respond to the union’s economic demands, which were made to each of Detroit’s Big Three weeks ago, with less than one week until the current contract expires. The contract deadline for the UAW and General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis is at 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 14 -- and the union views that deadline as a hard stopping point, and doesn’t intend to extend any contracts.
So far, the UAW has received counter proposals to their economic demands from Ford and GM.
On Thursday, Sept. 7, GM announced its counter proposal to the UAW, including a 10% wage increase over the course of the contract, more paid holidays, and lump sum and inflation payments. The counter touches on some of the UAW’s aggressive demands, but doesn’t come anywhere near meeting them.
The union is requesting a more than 40% wage increase, an end to tiered wages, cost of living adjustments, reinstated pensions, and more. With counter offers distant from those goals, new UAW President Shawn Fain called GM’s proposal is “insulting,” which he also said about Ford’s offer days before.
“The auto workers and working people in this country know what’s really going on; we live it,” Fain said in a Facebook video posted Thursday night. “We know firsthand what it’s like to not be able to afford the cars we produce. We know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck while the companies we work for make out like bandits.”
Stellantis is expected to share its counter proposal on Friday, Sept. 8. While it’s unknown what exactly they’ll offer, it’s clear that the union isn’t afraid to turn it down if it doesn’t meet their expectations.
The UAW president is expected to address the new counter proposals Friday afternoon in a Facebook Live update.
Last week, Fain called out Stellantis and GM, accusing them of willfully refusing to bargain in good faith, and intentionally delaying the negotiation process. The union filed unfair labor practice complaints against the two companies, which both called the allegations surprising and untrue.
Though talks began in July, negotiations haven’t made much progress since. The threat of a strike was rumored before talks even began, but that threat has only grown in its legitimacy in the last several weeks.
With the conflict between the UAW and the Big Three, and less than a week until the deadline, a strike has become more and more likely. For the first time in history, the UAW could call a national strike at all three companies simultaneously -- which the union is threatening to do.
Since taking office in March, Fain has maintained an unwavering position in favor of improved pay, benefits and work-life balance for UAW workers. Both he and the automakers have expressed a desire to reach a deal, but Fain argues the companies have essentially waited “until the last eight days to start talking.”
“We’ve told all three of the companies up front, before this started, we weren’t going to do things the way we’ve always done them; that Sept. 14 is a deadline, not a reference point,” Fain said Wednesday night on CNBC. “... They chose to follow the same path they have in the past, which is delay, delay, delay.”
Over the last several months, the UAW president has expressed that the union’s goal is not to strike, but rather to come to an agreement with the Big Three by next week. But with talks moving slowly, Fain has threatened that auto workers will strike at any of the three companies that hasn’t reached a deal by the contract deadline.
Nearly all of the 146,000 auto workers represented by the UAW have voted to authorize a strike, should leaders decide to call one.