The United Auto Workers strike has expanded from three facilities to 41, as contract negotiations continue to slog on. Ford and the UAW have come together to form a tentative agreement, and while there is still a lot of work to be done, the union has chosen not to expand its striking efforts against Ford facilities. General Motors and Stellantis, meanwhile, have provided lackluster offers and counteroffers, but have given no indication of working hand-in-hand with union representatives. With a deadline of Friday at noon, GM and Stellantis didn’t make any concessions and forced the union’s hand.
Union president Shawn Fain declared the first strike against all three of Detroit’s major automakers simultaneously in the union’s history on September 14th. That strike incorporated just Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Stellantis’ Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio, and GM’s Wentzville Assembly for the short term, but warned expansions would happen the longer negotiations stalled. Effective today at noon eastern, the auto worker strike expanded to 38 additional facilities in twenty states.
This expansion largely incorporates parts distribution and processing centers, rather than assembly plants. Fain issued a warning to all three automakers earlier this week that strikes would expand if significant progress wasn’t made. It sounds like Ford has stepped up and made that significant progress, while GM and Stellantis have not. Fain later said that GM and Stellantis only made serious offers after the union filed unfair labor charges against them with the national labor relations board. The NLRB is currently investigating these filed charges.
The original 13,000 workers from the original three striking facilities will remain on strike.
This revelation gives some hope that the union will find some common ground with Ford in short order, which will almost certainly force the other two of the big three to get serious about playing ball. Here’s hoping for a swift end to this strike with an equitable contract for all workers.