DETROIT – The strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers entered its third week on Monday as the companies continue negotiations with the United Auto Workers union, though it doesn’t appear much progress was made over the weekend.
Talks that began between the union and the carmakers in July continued into the first week of October, more than three weeks after the UAW initiated a strike against all three companies. Though both sides hadn’t reached a new deal by their Sept. 14 contract deadline or in the weeks after, the bargaining has progressed -- though more so at some companies than others, according to the UAW.
Here’s a breakdown of what we know so far this week.
25,000 autoworkers on strike
About 25,000 UAW-represented autoworkers were striking at General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis as of Monday, Oct. 2. On the Friday prior, the union opted to expand its strike to include two additional plants, incorporating 7,000 more workers into the strike.
The UAW began its first-ever simultaneous strike against each of the Big Three on Sept. 15 with about 13,000 workers striking at three facilities, one for each company. One week later, on Sept. 22, UAW President Shawn Fain expanded the strike to include 5,000 more workers at 38 parts distribution facilities nationwide.
Only GM and Stellantis were targeted by the first strike expansion, since talks with those companies were progressing slower than the union’s talks with Ford at that time. UAW leadership has decided to take a targeted approach to striking to create leverage with automakers in hopes of pushing them closer to the union’s demands.
In the week that followed, talks between the union and the carmakers continued, but not enough to keep the union from expanding its strike on Friday, Sept. 29. On that day, the union added two plants -- one belonging to GM and one to Ford -- to the strike.
As of Monday, about 25,000 of the UAW’s 146,000 autoworkers were striking across the U.S.
Here’s a map of the UAW’s auto strike locations:
You can see a complete list of Big Three facilities included in the strike down below.
It was not clear as of Monday if the union would again impose a Friday deadline on the automakers and threaten to expand strikes for a third time. However, if Fain is following a pattern, it’s possible the strike could expand again on Oct. 6.
Talks progress slowly (still)
Despite the strike, negotiations between the union and the automakers have persisted. After the union first launched the historic strike, both sides agreed to resume negotiations and have been talking since.
UAW President Fain said talks progressed significantly with Ford during the week of Sept. 18, and with Stellantis during the week of Sept. 25.
Still, the union decided to expand the strikes on Sept. 29, though Stellantis was excluded from that expansion due to their progress. The UAW is expected to continue targeting strikes at companies that don’t meet the union’s bargaining expectations.
The carmakers have moved closer to the UAW’s aggressive list of demands as talks continue, offering larger wage increases than they initially did, as well as other benefits. Still, the union has not yet reached an agreement with any of the three companies as of Monday.
There weren’t many bargaining updates provided over the weekend after the union’s second strike expansion. Ford was the only company to address the talks, saying that “negotiations continue.”
Carmakers have been critical of Fain’s approach to negotiations and striking this year, arguing that he is more concerned with being political than reaching a deal. The union argues that its autoworkers are poorly compensated through wages and benefits compared to the companies’ “record profits” made in recent years.
Two top aides from the Biden administration have been asked to assist with talks wherever they are needed to ensure negotiations progress.
Endorsement thoughts after Biden, Trump visits
The UAW has not yet endorsed anyone for the 2024 presidential election -- which makes sense, since the election is still a ways away.
Still, the union’s endorsement has been a topic of conversation, particularly amid President Joe Biden’s and former President Donald Trump’s Michigan visits last week.
Trump is currently the Republican frontrunner for the 2024 election, while Biden, his Democratic successor, is also running for reelection next year. Both Trump and Biden have been publicly addressing the auto strike and related industry issues as the election year grows near.
On Tuesday, Sept. 26, Biden visited the UAW picket lines in Wayne County, becoming the first-ever sitting U.S. president to join the picket lines of an active labor strike. There, Biden shared the union’s sentiment that the Big Three’s billions of dollars in profit should translate to better pay and benefits for autoworkers.
Biden’s visit came as the president maintains his position as a pro-labor leader, arguing that middle-class, everyday working Americans are responsible for building the country and should be better compensated. UAW President Fain responded favorably to Biden’s visit, saying it was a big deal to have the support of the president on the picket lines, and that he hopes Biden’s visit would reinvigorate negotiations.
However, the UAW has not explicitly said it is endorsing Biden for a second term, though unions are often associated with the Democratic Party. While supporting unions and workers amid multiple labor strikes across the country, Biden has also had to balance his support with his relationship with carmakers, who he has encouraged to make a massive shift to electric vehicle production. The move is part of Biden’s effort to establish clean energy policies and practices.
It’s that EV effort that Trump has continuously criticized, arguing that Biden is “ruining” the automotive industry by pushing for more EVs. Trump made the same assertions during his visit to Michigan on Sept. 27, where he delivered remarks at a non-unionized auto facility in Macomb County.
Trump has been attempting to establish himself as pro-labor, though not pro-union, at a time when labor strikes have become more frequent and prominent throughout the U.S. The former president has long sought to establish himself as a leader for the working class, and has been trying to capitalize on the UAW’s auto strike in hopes of driving a wedge between Biden and union workers -- a tactic that helped him win over some Democratic voters in 2016, though Biden won those voters back in 2020.
This year, the UAW’s Fain has been publicly critical of Trump, who he said is the exact type of person who benefits from the lower wages and unfavorable working conditions that autoworkers are actively fighting against. Fain has criticized Trump’s track record when it comes to unions, and previously said that a second Trump presidency would be a “disaster.”
During his speech in Macomb County, Trump called on the UAW several times saying union leaders should endorse him -- and that if they do, he would “not say a bad thing about them again.”
But UAW President Fain showed no interest in Trump’s attempts to appear sympathetic to autoworkers.
“I don’t think he cares about working-class people. I think he cares about the billionaire class, he cares about the corporate interests. I think he’s just trying to pander to people and say what they want to hear, and it’s a shame,” Fain said of Trump before his visit last week.
---> Trump says he always had autoworkers’ backs. Union leaders say his first-term record shows otherwise
Facilities on strike
Below are the GM, Ford and Stellantis facilities included in the UAW’s strike as of Oct. 2.
GM
- Wentzville Assembly
- 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
- Lansing Delta Township plant
Stellantis
- Toledo Assembly Complex
- 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
Ford
- Michigan Assembly Plant (final assembly and paint only)
- Chicago Assembly Plant