UAW will strike at more U.S. auto plants if serious progress isn’t made

DETROIT – United Auto Workers to announce additional strikes General Motors, Ford and star UAW President Shawn Fain announced late Monday that the plant would be closed if the two sides failed to make “substantial progress” in talks by noon ET on Friday.

Just over a week ago, the union announced a targeted strike at the “Big Three” automaker’s assembly plants in Detroit, resulting in about 12,700 workers taking to the picket lines.

“Auto workers have waited long enough for the Big Three to get things done. We’re not going to wait and we’re not going to mess around. So, Friday, September 22 at noon is the new deadline,” Fein said in posted videos By Union Online.

Fein previously said the union planned to increase the number of work stoppages based on the progress of negotiations with the company. The announcement comes after unions held meetings with various automakers since the targeted strikes began on Friday.

Unlike the original length of the contract, Fein did not say the company needed to reach a tentative agreement to avoid further strikes, saying only that “significant progress has been made.” A union spokesman did not immediately respond for comment beyond the tentative agreement.

Currently on strike are workers at GM’s midsize truck and full-size van plant in Wentzville, Missouri; Ford’s Ranger midsize pickup and Bronco SUV plant in Wayne, Michigan; and Stellantis’ Jeep Wrangler plant in Toledo, Ohio. and Gladiator Factory.

The union selected the plants as part of a targeted strike program, with Fein and UAW leaders taking the unconventional step of negotiating with all three automakers at the same time. It called the stoppage a “stand-up strike,” a nod to the UAW’s historic “sit-down” strikes in the 1930s.

“‘Stand Up’ is a new way of striking. Instead of striking all factories at once, we are calling on selected locals to ‘Stand Up’

And strike. If the automakers fail to make progress in negotiations and bargain in good faith, more locals will be called upon to stand up and join the strike,” Fein said on Monday.

Targeted strikes often focus on key factories, which can then cause other factories to halt production due to a lack of parts. They are not unprecedented, but the way unions conduct these activities is not typical.

Ford and Strantis did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the new deadline. GM issued a general statement about the negotiations: “We will continue to negotiate in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible to the benefit of our team members, customers, suppliers and communities across the United States.”

Additional strike plans continue despite the automakers’ record-breaking offer to the union, which includes hourly wage increases of about 20%, thousands of dollars in bonuses, retention of the union’s platinum health care and other sweet benefits.

The union’s main demands include a 40% increase in hourly wages, a 32-hour reduction in workweeks, the restoration of traditional pensions, the elimination of pay grades and the reinstatement of cost-of-living adjustments.