DETROIT – The leader of the United Auto Workers did not expand the auto strike during his weekly Friday update, but he did say the union is taking an even more aggressive approach and is prepared to ask more autoworkers to walk out “at any time.”
As of Friday, Oct. 13, about 34,000 of the UAW’s 146,000 autoworkers were striking at 44 facilities across the U.S. amid ongoing talks with General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Stellantis. The strike has grown almost every week since beginning at three facilities on Sept. 15, the day after the union’s contracts expired with the carmakers.
The strike at the Kentucky Truck Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant has impacted operations at several other facilities, including 306 employees at Sharonville Transmission Plant, 100 employees at Dearborn Stamping Plant, 65 employees at Dearborn Diversified Manufacturing Plant, 45 employees at Rawsonville Components Plant, 29 employees at Sterling Axle Plant and 12 employees at Chicago Stamping Plant.
UAW President Shawn Fain has typically announced new strike locations during his Friday social media updates, which he has held each week since the strike began. He did not announce any new strike locations on Friday, but did threaten that the union is “entering a new phase of this fight,” and that more strikes will come whenever leaders feel talks don’t progress enough.
“We’re done waiting until Fridays to escalate a strike,” Fain said. “We are prepared, at any time, to call on more locals to stand up and walk out.”
Fain made that point earlier this week, when he and other union leaders on Wednesday called for a strike at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant in Louisville, adding about 9,000 workers to the nationwide effort. Prior to Wednesday, the UAW had allowed the Big Three to continue producing pickup trucks and large SUVs, their most profitable vehicles, only shutting down facilities that make midsize pickup trucks, SUVs and commercial vans.
It now appears the union will be moving in on facilities that are more valuable to the carmakers in hopes of pushing the them closer to the union’s demands, and faster. Fain said Friday that Ford’s Kentucky plant -- which makes the Ford Super Duty line of pickups, Ford Expeditions and the Lincoln Navigator -- is the company’s largest plant, earning “$48,000 in revenue per minute.”
GM barely averted a similarly large strike last week at its Arlington Assembly plant in Texas, the company’s “largest money maker” that employs over 5,000 people. Just as Fain was preparing to announce a strike there, the company offered a last-minute, but major concession: GM agreed to include electric vehicle battery production in the UAW’s national contract, a major win for autoworkers who were concerned about their place in an EV-focused future.
---> UAW: GM to include EV battery production in US contract in huge win for autoworkers
The union appears ready to continue executing its pattern of threatening more and more strikes if it feels talks are moving too slowly. Both sides have been at these negotiations for months, originally beginning in July and continuing after the strike was first launched.
But the pattern of waiting until Fain’s Friday updates to announce additional strike locations is effectively over. Fain said the automakers were essentially waiting until Friday mornings to offer their best deal, and that talks had slowed down during the week.
The union’s decision to announce another strike at Ford came after the automaker reportedly made “the same economic offer” that it made to the union two weeks ago. Fain said Friday that talks have continued with GM and Stellantis this week, but no deals have been made with those companies, either.
It’s likely that Fain will continue to host weekly updates on Fridays for the membership, but it’s unknown if and when any additional strikes may be announced going forward. Fain said they’ve “changed the rules” and that the only rule now is to “pony up.”
Ford said Wednesday that the Kentucky strike “carries serious consequences for our workforce, suppliers, dealers and commercial customers.” Ford, GM and Stellantis have all announced layoffs amid the strike, citing complications that it has caused. Fain argues the Big Three has more than enough money to keep everyone on their payroll during the strike.