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The United Auto Workers union plans to expand a strike against Detroit automakers on Friday unless the union makes “significant progress” at the bargaining table in a wage dispute, its leader said.
UAW President Shawn Fain said Monday that the automakers are to blame for delays in negotiations and that the union will not stand idly by “while they delay negotiations.”
“We’re not going to be idle, we’re not going to be idle,” he said.
The move would expand the strike to cover 13,000 workers at three plants run by Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, who went on strike last Friday. It marked the first time in its history that UAW workers walked out of all three automakers’ plants at the same time.
The UAW is demanding higher pay for the three companies’ nearly 150,000 members. The campaign is part of a wider fight to protect workers through the transition to clean energy and electric vehicles, which unions estimate could cost 35,000 jobs.
The threat of an escalation in the U.S. comes as Ford also faces the possibility of a strike in Canada, with 5,700 workers threatening to leave the company’s Canadian plants when their contracts expire at midnight.
Lana Payne, president of the Unifor union, which represents about 18,000 workers at Canada’s three largest automakers, said talks with Ford were “constructive” but had yet to be achieved on priorities such as pensions and wage increases. Enough progress.
“Our team will continue to negotiate with Ford Motor Company until the deadline,” she said. “By then, if this General Council cannot agree on a final solution… we will go on strike.”
Unifor’s members are spread across parts plants, Ford’s Ontario Assembly Plant, which makes the Edge crossover and the Lincoln Nautilus luxury sport utility vehicle, and two plants along the Detroit River that divides the United States and Canada, producing the Mustang and Ford engine. The company’s best-selling F-Series truck.
“This is serious,” Payne added. “Our footprint in Ford North America is small but significant, and that’s our leverage and we’re going to use it.”
Ford did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Unlike the UAW, which is taking on all three automakers simultaneously, Unifor has taken a more traditional approach to bargaining in the North American auto industry. Unifor chose Ford as its primary target company and, after signing a contract with it, plans to try to sign similar contracts with General Motors and Stellantis.
Payne said last month that members’ expectations were “very high” when the union began negotiations with Ford. The union wants to protect pensions, achieve “substantial” wage increases and secure more investment in Canadian factories.
“Profits have increased, the cost of living has increased,” she told reporters last month. “Workers have shown time and time again that they are ready to fight – and to strike if necessary – to meet their demands. This is the moment we are in. Nothing, no one should underestimate it. “
As the industry transitions to electric vehicles, unions are also demanding that companies provide support for workers, which is also a concern of the UAW.
Electric car sales leader Tesla laid off workers who tried to organize at its U.S. factories. The electric vehicle batteries that the Detroit automaker will produce will come from a joint venture with a South Korean manufacturer that employs non-union labor.
“We insist that every EV and EV-related job is a good union job, with the same rights and terms of employment as today’s autoworkers,” Payne said.
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