“We are winning, we are making progress, and we are heading in the right direction,” UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday in a live stream on Facebook, wearing a union T-shirt that read, “Eat the rich.” “Strikes, and the threat of strikes by a unified membership, are what deliver.”
He said GM “has now agreed in writing to place their electric battery manufacturing under our national master agreement,” a step he called a major win. Fain said GM’s decision was prompted by the union’s threat to expand the strike to an additional GM factory in Arlington, Tex., that makes some of the company’s most popular and profitable SUVs, including the Chevy Tahoe and Suburban, and Cadillac Escalade.
The union has been worried that future battery factories will offer lower wages and less job security than current factories do, and has pushed the Big Three Detroit automakers — Ford, GM and Jeep-maker Stellantis — to commit to including those new facilities in the overall union contract. Ford’s chief executive Jim Farley has publicly balked at committing to that, saying the factories aren’t yet built or organized by the union. Stellantis hasn’t publicly commented on that point.
After Fain’s address, GM issued a statement that did not mention a battery concession.
“Negotiations remain ongoing, and we will continue to work toward finding solutions to address outstanding issues. Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows GM to be successful into the future,” the statement said.
Asked to confirm the battery details, GM spokesman David Barnas said the company had no further comment. GM and its joint-venture partner, South Korea’s LG, are running one battery factory near Lordstown, Ohio, where workers recently joined the UAW and made some progress bargaining for a wage increase, though they remain below traditional UAW pay levels. The partners are building additional plants in Michigan and Tennessee.
Ford on Friday largely repeated what it said earlier this week: that it is “open to the possibility of working with the UAW on future battery plants in the U.S.” but that “these are multibillion-dollar investments and have to operate at sustainably competitive levels.”
Three of the four battery plants the company is planning to build are joint ventures with South Korea’s SK On, Ford added: “Workers for none of the four have been hired and won’t be for a while. When they are, they can choose union representation and enter into collective bargaining.”
After Fain’s Facebook address, Stellantis circulated a letter it sent employees saying that there is “good momentum at the bargaining table” but that “gaps” remain.
The UAW is holding a large rally outside a striking Ford plant in Chicago on Saturday afternoon, with Fain and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) scheduled to speak.
The union in recent weeks has been seeking a 36 percent wage increase over four years. GM and Stellantis are still offering roughly 20 percent, with Ford slightly higher, Fain said. Ford has also cut the time it will take workers to reach the top wage to three years, from eight in the just-expired contract. GM and Stellantis are offering a four-year progression to top wage, Fain said.
The strike to date includes only about 17 percent of the UAW’s 150,000 autoworker members, with the union ordering the rest to continue working for now. The walkout involves two Ford factories, two at GM and one at Stellantis, along with dozens of auto-parts warehouses owned by Stellantis and GM.
With its current offer, Stellantis employees will reach an hourly wage of $38.58, or $80,000 a year, by the end of the new contract, the company said.
Full-time UAW workers at the Big Three today earn about $18 to $32 an hour, depending on seniority — wages that have lagged far behind inflation. They also get annual profit-sharing bonuses that have totaled tens of thousands of dollars per worker over the last four years.
Temporary workers today earn $16 to $19 an hour and don’t get profit-sharing payments or other bonuses. All of the companies are offering to boost the temp starting wage — GM and Stellantis to $20 an hour and Ford to $21 an hour. Ford has also said it will convert all current temps with three months of service to permanent positions, and give future temps profit-sharing payments.
The strike has been spilling over to affect thousands of nonstriking workers, too. The Big Three have temporarily laid off thousands of nonstriking workers, saying that their plants can’t operate as normal because they depend on items produced at striking facilities. Ford late Friday laid off an additional 500 workers in Ohio and Michigan, bringing the Big Three total to more than 4,000.
The work stoppage is also rippling out to hit automotive suppliers across the country, with some firms in Michigan and Ohio resorting to temporary layoffs and warning that bankruptcy looms if the strike carries on much longer.
Ford on Thursday said that its suppliers have laid off more than 9,500 workers as a result of the strike. A Washington Post tally showed at least 3,000 supplier employees have been temporarily laid off so far, while an industry association says nearly 30 percent of its supplier members have resorted to layoffs.
Beyond the auto sector, U.S. Steel blamed the strike and the prospect of weaker orders for its decision to idle a blast furnace in Granite City, Ill., and temporarily lay off 300 workers.
Shares of all three companies rebounded after Fain’s address, with Stellantis rising by 3 percent, GM by 2 percent and Ford by 1 percent.
Fain on Thursday tried to raise suspense for what the union planned to announce Friday, sharing a meme on the social platform X, formerly Twitter, with an image from The Bachelor, with the three companies’ logos pasted over the contestants’ faces.
“Tune into @UAW’s Facebook page at 2pm on Friday, October 6th to see who gets the rose!” Fain wrote. Ford’s top communications executive, Mark Truby, shared the post with a critical comment about the joking tone, adding a link to a Detroit Free Press column about potential job losses related to the strike.
GM chief executive Mary Barra last week accused Fain of engaging in “theatrics” instead of seriously pursuing a deal, while Ford chief executive Farley criticized Fain for appearing on TV “more than Jake at State Farm” without addressing how the UAW can boost Ford’s competitiveness.
Fain on Friday railed against that criticism. “We’re loud and we’re proud … it’s not about theatrics, it’s about power,” he said, adding that “theatrics don’t cause companies to agree to double-digit pay increases.”