UAW strike day 22: Fain says 'our strike is working' upon gains in bargaining
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain proclaimed Friday that "our strike is working," after the Detroit Three automakers made concessions at the bargaining table this week, including General Motors Co. agreeing to include battery plant workers under its master agreement with the union.
"We are making significant progress," Fain, wearing an "Eat the rich" T-shirt, said during an afternoon Facebook livestream. "In just three weeks, we have moved these companies further than anyone thought was possible."
There are 25,300 UAW members on strike across the country of the approximately 146,000 employed by GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV. The union on Friday was preparing to send out its members at GM's full-size SUV plant in Arlington, Texas — the Detroit automaker's most profitable — until the company agreed to the union's battery plant demand at the last minute, Fain said.
The strike is affecting thousands of workers more. Ford Motor Co. on Friday said it has asked almost 500 more workers not to report to work as a result of the union's strike that began Sept. 29 at its Explorer, Lincoln Aviator and Police Interceptor plant in Chicago. That includes 25 employees at Sterling Axle Plant effective between Thursday and Sunday and 372 workers at Cleveland Engine Plant and 94 employees at Lima Engine Plant effective Monday.
"While we are doing what we can to avoid layoffs, we have no choice but to reduce production of parts that would be destined for a plant that is on strike,” Bryce Currie, vice president of Americas manufacturing and labor affairs for Ford Blue, said in a statement. “Strike-related layoffs are an unfortunate result of the UAW’s strategy.”
That brings Ford's laid-off workers total to approximately 1,800 employees. At GM, that figure is 2,175 employees. Stellantis also has laid off several hundred workers. UAW members on strike and those laid off by the Detroit Three are receiving a $500 per week stipend from the union.
In a statement after Fain's announcement, GM said: “Negotiations remain ongoing, and we will continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues. Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows GM to be successful into the future.”
In a letter to employees following the livestream, Mark Stewart, Stellantis' chief operating officer in North America, wrote: "We continue to have good momentum at the bargaining table and have been working diligently with the UAW over the last week to build on that. We are making progress, but there are gaps that still need to be closed."
The automakers have said they are putting forth "record" and "historic" proposals. The top wage increase offer now is 23% not compounded by April 2028 from Ford Motor Co., up from the 9% increase alongside lump-sum payments included in the Dearborn automaker's original proposal provided at the end of August — the first of any of the Detroit Three.
"It's not where we need to be," said Fain, whose original request to the automakers was a 40% not-compounded raise, "but it's a h--- of a lot further along."
GM and Stellantis still are both "around 20%," Fain said. In a letter to workers on Friday, Mark Stewart, Stellantis' chief operating officer in North America, said the offer is 21.4% compounded through 2027, including an immediate 10% raise upon ratification. That would bring full-time workers to a top wage of $38.58 per hour by the end of the contract, approximately $80,000 annual pay, and Mopar employees to $38.34 per hour with the elimination of tiers within its parts distribution center. That's about $79,700 annually.
To get to the top wage, Ford has offered workers to get there in three years instead of the current eight-year progression, Fain said. GM and Stellantis remain at four years.
On cost-of-living adjustments, Ford and Stellantis have agreed to reinstate the traditional formula that was suspended in 2009. GM isn't far behind, Fain said. Stellantis' Stewart said COLA would be calculated every quarter, added to every hour earned and included in weekly paychecks.
For temporary and supplemental workers who are used to fill in for absences, Ford is offering a wage of $21 per hour, while GM and Stellantis stand at $20 per hour, Fain said. All three, he added, have made commitments to converting those workers to full-time, though he didn't share details. Ford has said it has agreed to convert current temps with at least three months of experience to full time.
Still, Fain says there's "still a lot of work to be done both on the wages and the conversions."
Details on profit sharing weren't provided. Fain said the union has beaten back requests for "concessionary" formulas from all three and that there are "enhancements" to Ford's. The Blue Oval said it has agreed to extend profit sharing to temps who previously had not received the checks.
'Lays the foundation'
GM's decision to include battery-plant workers in the master agreement "lays the foundation for a just transition" to electric vehicles, Fain said.
The inclusion of the battery plant workers is a significant win for the union. It had been held that these employees, whose top wages are less than those at vehicle assembly plants, couldn't be included in the master agreement, because the employers mostly are joint ventures the automakers operate with Korean battery manufacturers.
It wasn't immediately clear if the workers' inclusion in the master agreement would mean those employees would receive the same compensation and benefits. Under the contract that expired Sept. 15, top-scale GM assembly workers make $32.32 an hour.
GM is building three battery plants with LG Energy Solution under Ultium Cells LLC. The only one constructed and operating is in Warren in northeast Ohio,, near where GM closed its Lordstown Assembly Plant in 2019. Workers at the Ultium plant overwhelmingly voted in favor of organizing with the UAW in December 2022 with their biggest concerns being wage increases and health/safety issues at the plant. As of August, Ultium Cells in Warren had 1,095 hourly employees.
A deal struck in August between Ultium and the UAW raised the starting rate for production operators to $20 per hour from $16.50. The UAW and Ultium still were negotiating an inaugural contract during Friday's announcement.
An Ultium Cells plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, will open later this year. A third plant is under construction in Delta Township near Lansing and will open in 2024. GM is also planning a joint-venture battery plant with Samsung SDI in New Carlisle, Indiana. That facility is slated to open in 2026.
Movement on other issues
On other matters of job security, Ford agreed to allow the union to strike over plant closures, and it has said it has made product commitments for all of its UAW-organized plants for the length of the contract. Stellantis, at the last minute last week, to stave off a strike expansion, agreed to give workers the right not to cross a picket line and to strike in the event of a plant closure, as well.
Stellantis' Stewart said the company will "invest billions in the U.S. to provide job security." There also have been discussions around job-security solutions for all workers, including at the Belvidere Assembly Plant in Illinois that was idled in February.
Providing an update on skilled trades employees, a subject on which the union has shared little until now, Fain said the union was seeking a $2 per hour tool allowance. Ford has agreed to $1.50 per hour. Stellantis is at $1 per hour.
"GM is still refusing to budge," Fain said.
Fain added the union continues to fight for improved pension benefits for those with pensions, as well as the expansion of pensions and post-retirement health care to workers hired after the ratification of the 2007 agreements. Those workers receive 401(k) contributions and don't have company-provided health care into retirement.
Stellantis has said it's offered more than $1 billion in contributions to retirement funding and "significant improvements" to its 401(k) contribution. Ford said it has increased 401(k) contributions. Previous GM offers included payments to active and retired UAW members.
Fain added the talks are on track to address all subcommittee issues as well, including work rules, discipline, scheduling and more.
"This strike is about righting the wrongs of the past and winning justice for all of our members," Fain said.
He alluded to comments from GM CEO Mary Barra last week that criticized the union's actions and strategy: "Theatrics don't cause companies to agree to double-digit pay increases. Theatrics don't result in a right to strike over plant closures. Theatrics don't win cost of living allowance. Theatrics don't result in GM battery cell manufacturing to be under our national agreement. Strikes and the threat of strikes by a unified membership are what delivers."
The union's targeted "stand-up strike" of all three Detroit automakers began on Sept. 15 with walkouts at GM's Wentzville midsize truck and commercial van plant in Missouri, Ford Motor Co.'s Bronco and Ranger Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, and the Stellantis NV Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator plant in Toledo, Ohio. It has since expanded the walkout to 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers across the country, and most recently to Ford's Explorer and Lincoln Aviator plant in Chicago and GM's Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave plant in Delta Township outside Lansing.
Hitting GM's Arlington plant would've been a key escalation. It builds the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade. There are more than 5,300 hourly and salaried employees who work there, according to GM’s website.
"GM leads the market in full-size sport utilities and this is the plant that builds them,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions. "Arlington is close to the heart of GM's profits. The vehicles built at Arlington make tens of thousands of dollars in profit per vehicle."
GM earlier this week disclosed that through the end of September, the strike has cost it $200 million.
UAW leaders can call on more workers to join the strike if sufficient progress hasn't been made at the bargaining table, a tactic the union has said enables greater flexibility and leverage at the bargaining table.
More:Where UAW, Detroit Three automakers stand on key issues
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