The United Auto Workers will expand its strike to 38 General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution centers at 38 locations in 20 states at Noon on Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain announced Friday morning during a Facebook livestream.
Fain said the union had made “real progress” negotiating a new contract with Ford, but Stellantis and General Motors “need some serious pushing.”
The expanded strike will affect Stellantis parts distribution centers in Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, Illinois, California, Oregon, Georgia, Virginia, Florida, Texas, New York and Massachusetts. Struck General Motors parts distribution centers are located in Michigan, Ohio, Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Nevada, California, Texas, West Virginia, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.
Almost 13,000 UAW workers walked out at a GM assembly facility in Wentzville, Mo.; a Ford assembly plant in Wayne, Mich.; and a Stellantis factory in Toledo, Ohio, last Friday after its four-year-old contract expired.
Since then, the three companies have temporarily laid off workers and many auto parts suppliers have also announced layoffs.
In July, Fain presented each of the car companies with a list of 10 demands, including a 40% wage increase, cost-of-living adjustments, defined pension benefits for all workers, the right to strike over plant closures and more paid time off to be with families.
Fain said Friday that the companies “wasted a month failing to respond” to those demands, but over the past week “there has been some movement.”
He said Ford had agreed to reinstate the cost-of-living formula it had suspended in 2009 and also granted union members the right to strike over plant closures. The union also won additional job security in the event of layoffs, with both full-time and temporary workers receiving income security for up to two years including healthcare.
Ford has also granted UAW members profit-sharing and the immediate conversion of current temporary workers to join in profit sharing after 90 days of employment.
“All of that is serious movement, but to be clear, we’re not done at Ford,” Fain said. “We stll have serious issues to work through, but we do want to recognize that Ford is serious about meeting a deal. At General Motors and Stellantis, it’s a different story.”
While Ford, General Motors and Stellantis have offered 20% wage increase and GM and Stellantis have agreed to kill wage tiers that paid workers differently for doing the same job, “without cost of living adjustments and job security gains, those gains aren’t protected.”
He said GM and Stellantis had rejected all of the union’s job security and profit-sharing proposals as well as the proposal to convert temporary workers to full employment.
As part of the union’s stand up strike strategy, Fain has asked the UAW’s 150,000 members to be ready to strike if called to do so. On Friday, tens of thousands of members will join that call.
