DETROIT – The United Auto Workers union is expanding its strike against Detroit’s Big Three to include 38 additional facilities nationwide in an effort to push General Motors and Stellantis to make more progress in their negotiations.
Workers at all GM and Stellantis parts and distribution centers are expected to walk out at noon on Friday, Sept. 22 to join the strike that began a week prior, the union president announced Friday. About 13,000 of the UAW’s 146,000 autoworkers were initially asked to begin striking at three facilities, one for each company, when the sides failed to reach a new agreement by their contract deadline.
The news comes after the UAW imposed a deadline of noon Friday on the automakers, threatening to strike at more locations if talks didn’t make “serious progress” by then.
Both sides have continued negotiations since the strike began, but union leadership has been mostly unsatisfied with the amount of progress being made. UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday that they will not “wait around forever” to make a deal with the carmakers.
Fain did say Friday that the union has made “real progress” in its talks with Ford Motor Company, which has agreed to several key demands proposed by the UAW. Ford has reportedly agreed to reinstate cost of living adjustments, additional job security in the event of layoffs, an enhanced profit-sharing formula, the immediate conversion of all temporary employees, and more.
The union still has some “serious issues” to work through with Ford, Fain said, but the company has shown it’s “serious about reaching a deal,” and the union responded favorably to that: As the UAW’s auto strike expands Friday, no additional Ford facilities or workers are being asked to join.
In a statement put out after Fain’s announcement Friday, Ford agreed that their talks aren’t quite over yet.
“We continue to negotiate with the UAW and we are bargaining issue by issue - just like we did with Unifor in Canada. Our focus is on negotiating a deal that rewards our employees, allows for the continuation of Ford’s unique position as the most American automaker and enables Ford to invest and grow. We have more work ahead of us before we can reach an agreement.”
Ford Motor Company
Talks with GM and Stellantis have reportedly not been going as well. Fain said the two companies have rejected most of their demands, and need some “pushing” to make more progress.
In an effort to nudge the two automakers, the UAW’s strike is expanding Friday to 38 GM and Stellantis facilities in 20 states -- this means about 5,600 autoworkers are being added to the strike. A list of the affected facilities can be found below.
The 13,000 autoworkers already striking will remain on strike as more workers join the effort. This group of workers have been striking at the GM Wentzville Assembly, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex, and the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant (final assembly and paint only).
As of Friday, a total of about 18,600 UAW autoworkers were expected to be actively striking.
UAW leadership has been particularly vocal about their dissatisfaction with GM and Stellantis during this year’s negotiations, filing unfair labor practice complaints against them prior to the strike. Both automakers called those claims surprising and untrue, but made counter proposals shortly after they were filed.
Fain argues the automakers delayed talks leading up to the Sept. 14 contract deadline, which prevented them from making much progress before their contracts expired and prompted the strike. The union is taking a targeted strike approach, opting to include more workers and facilities as they go to use the strikes as leverage.
Ford, GM and Stellantis have each proposed counter offers to the union’s aggressive list of demands, both before and during the strike. But so far, none of the counters have satisfied the union, which is seeking a significant wage increase, an end to tiered wages, pension restoration, cost of living adjustments, and other benefits.
Fain has indicated that the union is willing to be flexible on its demands in order to reach a deal. The UAW was initially demanding a more than 40% wage increase, and has since dropped it to a 36% increase. Automakers have upped their wage increase percentages following their initial counter proposals, but not close enough for the union to accept.
Tiers pic.twitter.com/WzFqBWUjUq
— UAW (@UAW) September 22, 2023
Amid the strike, all three automakers have already announced temporary layoffs, creating even more tension between them and the UAW.
“Let’s be clear: If the Big Three decide to lay people off who aren’t on strike, that’s them trying to put the squeeze on our members to settle for less,” Fain said last week. “With their record profits, they don’t have to lay off a single employee. In fact, they could double every autoworker’s pay, not raise car prices, and still rake in billions of dollars.”
The UAW calculates that the Big Three made a combined total of $21 billion in profit in the first half of 2023, and a combined $250 billion in American profits in the last 10 years. In comparison, Fain says employee wages have increased just 6% over the last four years.
Facilities affected by expanded UAW auto strike
The following GM facilities are being added to the UAW strike on Friday, Sept. 22:
- Davison Road Processing Center
- Flint Processing Center
- Lansing Redistribution
- Pontiac Redistribution
- Willow Run Redistribution
- Ypsilanti Processing Center
- Chicago Parts Distribution
- Cincinnati Parts Distribution
- Hudson, Wisconsin Parts Distribution
- Denver Parts Distribution
- Reno Parts Distribution Center
- Rancho Cucamonga Parts Distribution
- Fort Worth Parts Distribution
- Martinsburg, West Virginia Parts Distribution
- Jackson, Mississippi Parts Distribution
- Charlotte, North Carolina Parts Distribution
- Memphis AC Delco Parts Distribution
- Philadelphia Parts Distribution
The following Stellantis facilities are being added to the UAW strike on Friday, Sept. 22:
- Centerline Packaging
- Centerline Warehouse
- Marysville
- Sherwood (Warren)
- Warren Parts
- Quality Engineering Center (Auburn Hills)
- Romulus
- Chicago
- Cleveland
- Milwaukee
- Minneapolis
- Denver
- Los Angeles
- Portland, Oregon
- Atlanta
- Winchester, Virginia
- Orlando
- Dallas
- New York
- Boston