The head of the United Auto Workers union called off expanding the ongoing strikes against Detroit’s Big Three car companies after extracting major concessions from General Motors and Stellantis.
“Our strike is working but we’re not there yet,” UAW President Shawn Fain told union members in a livestream Friday as the strike enters its fourth week..
Fain touted an agreement with GM to put plant workers who manufacture batteries for electric vehicles under the union’s “master agreement.”
“GM has agreed to lay the foundation for a just transition,” Fain said in his live broadcast, adding the company had “leapfrogged” the pack in negotiations with the UAW.
Some 25,000 UAW members walked off the job at plants belonging to GM, Ford and Stellantis, the parent company of Chrysler and Jeep.
GM’s concession could be critical if rivals follow suit. More consumers are buying electric vehicles, and the union wants those workers to get the same protections as others as EV production expands and automakers benefit from federal subsidies to transition the United States to lower carbon emissions.
“This defines the transition to EVs,” said Harley Shaiken, labor professor at the University of California, Berkeley. “Clearly, GM’s concession on the master agreement will positively be matched by Ford and Stellantis.”
According to Fain, GM agreed to the concession in response to his threat to escalate the labor stoppage and extend the strike to some of the company’s more profitable plants.
This week, the UAW considered a strike against GM’s highly profitable Arlington, Texas, plant that makes SUVs.
“We’ve been told for months that this is impossible … and now we’ve called their bluff,” he said.
Stellantis, meanwhile, agreed to cost-of-living adjustments, he said.
Stellantis is making progress in the talks, “but there are gaps that still need to be closed,” North American Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart said in a letter. Ford declined to comment and GM did not immediately respond.
Fain has put off further escalation of labor strife given the progress made in negotiations – though he warned that failure to address union concerns would prompt a response.
So far, the union has ordered walkouts at five assembly plants and 38 parts depots operated by GM and Stellantis since the strike began on Sept. 15.
The fate of the battery plants was seen as a major sticking point in the talks. On Sept. 29, Ford CEO Jim Farley said Fain was holding a deal hostage to the battery plants.
The pressure is rising on the three automakers as EV market leader Tesla cut US prices of its Model 3 sedan and Model Y SUV, intensifying its price war and further pressuring profit on all EV models that are forced to match CEO Elon Musk’s aggressiveness.
On his X account, Fain posted a meme from “The Bachelorette” which superimposed the company names on the faces of three men waiting to be selected in the rose ceremony.
He urged people to tune in to Friday’s livestream to “see who gets the rose!”
Ford and GM have both submitted proposals to the union in recent days.
The two sides have been haggling over retirement benefits and cost-of-living adjustments, among other issues.
On Friday, ahead of the updates, Fain said the fight for better contracts was about more than autoworkers.
“This is the entire working class,” he said at an economic event in Detroit, decrying the lack of benefits for many workers.
“It’s shameful where we are as a nation.”
With Post wires
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