UAW ready to strike selected plants at all Detroit automakers, Fain says
Detroit — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Wednesday gave the clearest signal yet that the union is willing to strike all three Detroit automakers at once, an unprecedented move that appears more likely than ever with less than a day to go before the contract deadline.
Invoking his faith and quoting Scripture, Fain delivered an understated yet rousing appeal to autoworkers preparing to strike. He also laid out in the clearest detail yet what the union's strike strategy will be. He confirmed previous reports that the UAW will target specific plants at each of the Detroit automakers, rather than striking all of the facilities at once. More plants could be added over time depending on how the strike plays out, he said.
The union is calling it a "Stand-Up Strike," a nod to the legendary Sit-Down Strikes that won the UAW recognition by the auto companies in the 1930s as well as to the call that members be ready to "stand up" and go on strike when called to do so.
Fain, speaking during a livestreamed event late Wednesday afternoon, also provided an update on where bargaining stands with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., and Stellantis NV, indicating that movement has been made — but seemingly not enough.
"We're making progress at each of the three negotiating tables, but as you just heard, we're still very far apart on our key priorities. From job security to ending tiers, from cost-of-living allowance to wage increases, we do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifice and contributions our members have made to these companies," he said. "To win, we're likely going to have to take action."
Fain's comments came just over a day until the Detroit-based union's contracts with the Detroit Three expire at 11:59 p.m. Thursday. Fain has said the union will strike any company that doesn't have a tentative agreement by then.
The union has demanded double-digit wage increases as much as 46% over four years, cost-of-living adjustments, pensions and retiree health care for all workers and a 32-hour work week paid as 40 hours. Meanwhile, the automakers say they want to reward their workers while also preserving their competitiveness and ability to invest in electrification. Labor represents roughly 5% of the cost of a vehicle, according to analysts.
Ford CEO Jim Farley pushed back on the union's rhetoric Wednesday, noting that Ford has presented four proposals, and that this week, he and Executive Chair Bill Ford Jr. put on the table a "historically generous offer," which included wage increases, COLA and more paid time off.
At Huntington Center on Wednesday night, Farley said the two sides settled noneconomic issues weeks ago.
"We're here," he told reporters at the convention center, where the Detroit auto show opened Wednesday. "We're ready to negotiate. But it's sure hard to negotiate a contract when there's no one to negotiate with. The future of our industry is at stake; we want to build it together with the UAW."
And in a letter to Ford employees obtained by The Detroit News, Farley said the company continues "to implore the UAW to stay at the table, work together to reach an agreement, and avert a strike."
"I assure you our team is working day and night in an effort to reach a deal," he wrote. "A strike is certainly a possibility, and we are undertaking the necessary preparations to protect you and our business if the UAW calls a work stoppage at some or all of our manufacturing facilities."
In an email to Stellantis' employees on Wednesday, Tobin Williams, senior vice president of human resources in North America, said the automaker has continued to meet with the UAW's subcommittees to resolve outstanding issues. The automaker was awaiting a response from the UAW to Stellantis' third offer provided on Tuesday, but Williams didn't provide specifics on what it included.
"Our focus remains on bargaining in good faith to have a tentative agreement on the table before tomorrow’s deadline," he wrote. "The future for our represented employees and their families deserves nothing less."
“We continue to bargain directly and in good faith with the UAW and have presented additional strong offers," GM said in a statement. "We are making progress in key areas that we believe are most important to our represented team members. This includes historic guaranteed annual wage increases, investments in our U.S. manufacturing plants to provide opportunities for all, and shortening the time for in-progression employees to reach maximum wages.”
Bargaining updates
Fain provided an update on the offers the union currently has from each of the automakers on key issues such as wage increases, pathways to full-time employment for temporary workers and restoration of cost-of-living adjustments.
One of the biggest issues, for UAW leadership as well as many rank-and-file members, is the existence of a tier system under which newer workers make less money and have fewer benefits. "Equal pay for equal work" has been the union's rallying cry on this point; it has proposed a 90-day progression to the top wage rate.
Fain said Wednesday that all three companies had agreed to shorten the progression period to four years. All three have rejected the union's proposals to restore defined benefit pensions and post-retirement health care for all.
On wages, Fain said that Ford is now proposing a 20% raise over four and a half years, up from its initial offer of 9%. GM, he said, is offering an 18% raise over that period, up from 10%, while Stellantis now is proposing 17.5%.
"Altogether, we are seeing movement from the companies, but they’re still not willing to agree on the kinds of raises that will make up for inflation on top of decades of falling wages," he said. "And their proposals don’t reflect the massive profits that we’ve generated for these companies.”
The two sides also remain at odds over the union's proposal to restore COLA. Fain said Ford has agreed to return to the previous COLA formula, which would give workers raises based on the federal inflation index, "but with a diversion that is projected to provide less than $1 of wage protection over the next four years."
"We need a COLA that meaningfully protects against inflation," he added. "GM, they’re now where Ford was last week, offering what I call the Coke Zero formula: that’s a COLA formula that’s projected to provide zero in the way of actual raises. Stellantis is now offering us a choice: either the deficient COLA or lump sums that many workers won’t receive.”
He also criticized the automakers' proposals on profit-sharing, saying they all have proposed formulas that would reduce the checks autoworkers get based on North American profits.
Another area where the sides appear divided is on job security language the union is seeking; Fain said the companies have rejected the UAW's proposals and that Stellantis "now wants the right to close and sell 18 facilities."
Experts characterized the presentation as indicative of two parties still with a large gap to bridge on some core issues.
“At this point in time, they are far apart on the issues identified,” said Marick Masters, management professor at Wayne State University. “There still is a lot of territory to cover. Having a tentative agreement with all three is remote. One can always hold out hope there may be a breakthrough that would enable them to speed up the process, but that appears to be unlikely.”
With options to close facilities and tie profit sharing to absenteeism, Stellantis especially appears furthest from an agreement, while Ford — with its COLA formula, 20% wage increase and temporary employee commitment — appears to be leading the discussions, said Art Wheaton, an automotive industry specialist at Cornell University's Industrial and Labor Relations School.
'Stand-Up Strike'
Fain delivered a personal appeal to workers facing a possible strike, focusing on the themes of faith and fear.
Brandishing his grandmother's Bible, the UAW president went on to cite Scripture, including Matthew 17:20-21: “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”
“The strike plan we’re about to roll out is driven by faith," he said. "It’s driven by faith that together we can and will move mountains.”
Fain acknowledged that some members might prefer a walkout of all plants at once but said that union leaders decided the strategy of targeting certain plants and then adding others over time would give negotiators greater leverage and the union more flexibility.
“The Stand-Up Strike will keep the companies guessing. It’s going to rely on discipline, organization and creativity," he said. "The Stand-Up Strike begins with all of our locals, from parts distribution centers to assembly plants, maintaining a constant strike readiness.”
Workers who are not on strike would continue working under expired agreements. Fain plans to name the initial wave of plants targeted for a strike during a Facebook Live at 10 p.m. Thursday.
Stellantis worker Danny Campbell of UAW Local 1264 at the Sterling Stamping plant said the strike strategy to target specific facilities is “excellent.”
“Look at the bigger picture: If everybody goes out at one time, everything gets absorbed at one time,” he said. “This way, it can be tactfully put together.”
Campbell was not impressed by Stellantis’ 17.5% wage increase offer over the life of the agreement.
“That’s not a lot of money,” he said. “It’s not. It’s pennies on the dollar. … It's not enough to even compete with the cost of living.”
Rob Pacheco, a member of Local 31 out of GM's Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas City, Kansas, had similar feelings about GM’s 18% wage increase offer.
Pacheco has been with the automaker for 26 years and still has his pay stubs from 2006. Since then, he’s received only a $4.15-an-hour raise. Back then, he was making around $28 per hour. Today, GM’s top rate is $32.32.
“Somehow they feel that that's a good deal, but yet I look at my check stubs, how can I have 26 years in a plant and not get a raise in almost 20 of it,” he said.
Pacheco is on board with the strike strategy: “Honestly, I think this is great because now the companies don't know how to schedule around it,” he said. “If we did a great, big general strike, they just sit back and say, ‘OK, well … everybody's down.’ Now they have to plan each facility.”
Some workers, however, expressed concerns over the strategy on social media. Some feared the expired contract could make it easier for the automakers to fire them, put them on temporary layoff or otherwise retaliate. They expressed concerns that people who work with heavy machinery could be put in a vulnerable position, as well. Others wondered if not doing a national walkout would prolong the strike and undermine workers’ bargaining power. Some felt that continuing to build product for the Detroit Three would give the automakers power.
The union has walked out on individual plants before, though never at all three companies, and it hasn’t deliberately added locals as time goes on.
The strategy is a riskier one and potentially could create a turbulent legal scenario, Masters said. It maximizes the union’s flexibility and keeps the companies on their toes about what action they might take next, but it could prolong the strike without the immediate impact of a fully national walkout. It also conserves the union's Strike and Defense Fund, which sits at $825 million and would pay striking autoworkers $500 per week.
“If you don’t know what will happen and when, with just-in-time delivery, that is the kind of thing that drives management crazy,” Wheaton said. “It’s a whole lot of mental anguish trying to deal with that than shutting down and sitting for a while. It’s a lot different.”
Not extending the contracts could allow automakers to lock out employees where a strike isn’t happening, Masters said.
“The question is what the companies are going to respond to this with,” he said, “if they will be compelled to use some countermeasure to avoid putting themselves at the mercy of the union to determine which locals will go on strike.
“The companies are not just going to be sitting ducks. It remains to be seen how they’re going to respond to this. They’re facing pressure, too, to not be picked apart or intimidated into making concessions that aren’t in the best interest of the companies. We’re at a pivotal moment.”
Masters likened Fain’s employment of faith and Scripture to that seen by the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. during the Civil Rights Movement. Additionally, the reference of a “stand-up strike” to the sit-down strikers of the 1930s when the union spread across the country demonstrates Fain’s belief in the historic times of these negotiations and the struggle between the haves and have-nots.
“He’s asking the workers to put a lot of faith in their ability to go to the mat and in a strike strategy that is unproven at current times, but one that he thinks the times warrant, and obviously, he has to believe the membership is willing to do,” Masters said. “He views this as a pivotal moment in economic history and labor history and that it is about being willing to pay the ultimate price. I think he is saying we’re in the same position now. He views this as a class struggle.”