Striking members of the United Auto Staff (UAW) picket outside the GM’s Willow Run Distribution Center, in Bellville, Wayne County, Michigan, U.S., September 26, 2023.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
DETROIT – Tensions are rising and accusations are flying between the Detroit automakers and United Auto Staff, as the union threatens to expand U.S. plant strikes – marking two weeks of labor stoppages and the dwindling likelihood of an imminent breakthrough.
The UAW is predicted to announce additional strike targets at 10 a.m. ET Friday, barring substantial progress by in negotiations with General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis for contracts covering some 146,000 autoworkers. UAW President Shawn Fain will host a Facebook Live event then to update members on the talks and discover additional strike locations, a source accustomed to the talks said.
Within the run-up, frustrations remain around key economic demands and what some see as a scarcity of urgency by the union to succeed in a deal, in line with people accustomed to the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity since the talks are private.
Specifically, GM and Stellantis have grown increasingly frustrated by a scarcity of participation from Fain and what they are saying are delays in receiving counter proposals from the union, sources said.
The union set a new Friday deadline before holding any high-level meetings between Fain and the businesses, the people said, raising questions on the union’s commitment to reaching a deal and ending the strikes. As of the Wednesday announcement, the UAW also hadn’t put forth counter proposals to offers made by the automakers roughly every week earlier, the people said.
The primary high-level, “principal table” talks between the union with Fain and the 2 automakers got here only after that Wednesday announcement, in a late-afternoon meeting the identical day with GM, without CEO Mary Barra, and a midday Thursday meeting with Stellantis, the sources said.
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The union Thursday afternoon confirmed it submitted a counter offer to Stellantis through the meeting – giving the corporate lower than 24 hours to reply ahead of the fresh deadline.
The shortage of urgency is increasingly frustrating company negotiators, lots of whom are more accustomed to across the clock bargaining to get a deal as soon as possible, the sources said. Such talks have been few and much between as Fain attempts to barter with all three firms without delay, they said.
Fain has consistently said the union is out there to barter 24/7, nevertheless the automakers have questioned his availability and the union’s tactics broadly, particularly in light of leaked private messages through which UAW communications director Jonah Furman described keeping the businesses “wounded for months.”
A UAW spokesman declined to comment on the strategy, including on the union waiting every week to counter and giving Stellantis lower than 24 hours to reply.
Concerns across the pace of talks follow similar claims by Fain and the union. Prior to initiating strikes on Sept. 15, Fain heavily criticized the automakers for failing to supply counter offers to the union’s proposals, which were first delivered to the businesses in early August.
All three automakers say they’ve made substantial offers to the union. The deals on the table include hourly wage increases of roughly 20%, hundreds of dollars in bonuses, and enhancements to the employees already-substantial advantages packages. Ford, for its part, has offered to reinstate prior cost-of-living adjustments to offset inflation.
However the UAW has demanded more, including 40% wage increases, an end to the “tier” system under which new hires spend several years working as much as full wages, a 32-hour workweek, and advantages including additional time without work and insurances about electric vehicles.
About 18,300 staff, or roughly 12.5% of the UAW members covered by its contracts with the Detroit automakers, are currently on strike.
On the picket lines
In recent days, union members on the picket lines have reported confrontations, intimidations with guns, hit-and-run vehicle accidents and vandalism of vehicles and company property.
Five people suffered minor injuries once they were hit by a vehicle that drove through the UAW’s picket line while leaving a GM parts facility in Flint, Michigan, on Wednesday. The vehicle was driven by a third-party contractor doing work for GM at the power.
UAW members and staff on the Mopar Parts Center Line, a Stellantis Parts Distribution Center in Center Line, Michigan, picket outside the power after walking off their jobs at noon on September 22, 2023.
Matthew Hatcher | AFP | Getty Images
GM issued an announcement saying that three contractors, including the driving force, had been banned from its properties. It urged its other contractors and salaried employees to follow established safety procedures when crossing a UAW picket line.
Individually, Stellantis released an announcement on Thursday accusing the UAW of mischaracterizing other incidents that didn’t – contrary to statements by Fain – involve alternative staff, or so-called “scabs.”
“For the reason that UAW expanded its strike to our parts distribution centers last Friday, we have witnessed an escalation of dangerous, and even violent, behavior by UAW picketers at several of those facilities, including slashing truck tires, jumping on vehicles, following people home and hurling racial slurs at dedicated Stellantis employees who’re merely crossing the picket line to do their jobs,” the statement said.
The corporate said it has not hired any outside staff to interchange striking UAW members: “Only current employees who’re protecting our business and third parties making pick-ups and deliveries as they normally would are entering our facilities.”
The corporate called on Fain and other UAW leaders to assist ensure the security of all Stellantis employees, including those on the picket line.