Again and again, UAW President Shawn Fain has scheduled updates for his members on Facebook Live to discuss contract negotiations and sometimes even skewer an automaker.
Thousands of viewers have tuned in to watch and submit questions via chat that he addresses in real time. They submit thumbs-up and heart emojis as he speaks. Other members, who usually list their local union affiliation when commenting online, scold him for being too negative. Fain acknowledges by name the members, their local offices, their priorities and responds to them.
“The audience for our Facebook Lives keeps getting bigger every time,” Fain told the Detroit Free Press on Tuesday. “Being the first (UAW) president directly elected by the members, I wanted to have that direct connection with folks all across the union.”
Gone are the days of UAW communication by news release only via email. This is a different kind of labor organization than the union that negotiated the four-year contract in 2019 with General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis, which owns the Jeep, Ram, Chrysler, Dodge and Fiat brands.
Only Stellantis has pushed back publicly on the UAW demands. Fain, who worked as an electrician at the Stellantis automotive parts plant in Kokomo, Indiana, has longtime family connections to Chrysler.
Fain, after hosting a Facebook Live update Tuesday asking union members to vote to officially authorize a strike if needed, responded to strategy questions from the Free Press. These are his responses, unedited:
- Is the UAW member demand list so ambitious that any potential deal will have trouble winning ratification? Are expectations too great? “It’s the Big Three’s massive profits that are setting expectations. Members are right to demand that record profits mean record contracts,” Fain said.
- Does transparency impede negotiations? Does it back automakers into a corner and not allow them to save face by brokering concessions? “Transparency makes us stronger,” Fain said. “When I was a national negotiator, it was incredibly frustrating to see the president go behind closed doors and cut a backroom deal. It’s not the power of the president that wins a strong contract. It’s the power of a mobilized membership. Because the members have been driving these negotiations from day one, our position at the bargaining table is so much stronger.”
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- Some UAW members say they cannot afford to strike and they’re worried. What do you say to them? “In my opinion, as wages and conditions have regressed in the most profitable time in the history of these companies, we can’t afford not to strike if the occasion calls for it,” Fain said. “If there is a strike, it’s the Big Three who’ll be striking themselves. Their profits have been astronomical. They can afford our demands. But if the companies do force a strike, we have been preparing. We have increased strike pay substantially. Our locals have been getting ready to assist members who need it. We will make sure every member has what they need to win.”
The UAW contract with the Detroit Three automakers ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sept. 14. The UAW led a 40-day strike on GM four years ago. This year, the union voted to increase strike pay to $500 for workers on the picket line.
Mike Booth, UAW vice president for the GM Department, told the Free Press in May that about 80% of the union members employed at GM have indicated they would not oppose a strike if that’s what it takes to get a fair contract. In fact, Booth said the UAW strike pay of $500 a week is almost as much as entry-level plant workers earn now making $16.67 an hour for a 40-hour workweek.
Note: The UAW uses the term “Big Three” and the Free Press uses the term “Detroit Three,” because Detroit automakers are no longer the largest. Toyota, which has had a research and development presence in Ann Arbor for more than 40 years, is the top-selling automaker globally.
Free Press staff writer Jamie L. Lareau contributed to this report.
Contact Phoebe Wall Howard: 313-618-1034 or phoward@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @phoebesaid.