UAW members are being asked to give union leaders the OK to call for a strike as negotiators continue their work ahead of the expiration next month of contracts with the Detroit Three.
The strike authorization vote is considered something of formality during contract talks with Ford Motor Co., General Motors and Stellantis, which owns Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat, but this year’s heated rhetoric adds perhaps a bit more significance to the process. The vote, assuming it’s approved as widely expected, does not mean a strike will happen. Contracts are in effect until 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain was scheduled to host a Facebook Live session at 6 p.m. Tuesday to “address the slow pace of negotiations and announce preparations for strike authorization votes to be held next week by 150,000 UAW members at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis,” according to a union news release earlier in the day.
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“Whether or not there’s a strike next month is entirely up to the Big Three automakers,” Fain said in the news release. “Our priorities are clear, the companies can afford them, and there’s plenty of time for the Big Three to get serious about these negotiations. This is about economic justice for the autoworkers who make this industry run, and who have generated record profits for Ford, General Motors and Stellantis.”
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Fain and other union leaders have been outspoken for months in calling for the automakers to share more of the billions of dollars in profits they’ve made over the past decade with autoworkers, to ensure a “just transition” to electric vehicles and to resume benefits, such as cost-of-living adjustments, that were given up in past years. The auto companies contend they need to keep costs low in order to remain competitive during the expensive EV transition and against nonunion operations, including Tesla and foreign companies, and some officials have been quick to point to healthy profit-sharing checks as examples of how they say autoworkers are currently benefiting.
The talk has been particularly pointed so far during these negotiations, and has included significantly more direct outreach from both sides to union members. Various industry watchers have predicted a strike, although many also say a work stoppage is not inevitable.
This week, President Joe Biden weighed in, urging the sides to reach a fair contract.
Regarding the strike authorization vote, UAW Vice President Rich Boyer, who heads the union’s Stellantis department, sent a letter Monday to local union presidents and other officials calling on them to schedule a vote “as soon as your bylaws and practices permit,” with the results to be reported by the end of the day on Aug. 24.
Free Press staff writer Jamie L. LaReau contributed to this report.
Contact Eric D. Lawrence: elawrence@freepress.com. Become a subscriber.