United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that the union’s auto strike is “entering a new phase” that “demands a new approach” as the unprecedented simultaneous action against all three Detroit automakers enters its second month.
Fain said Friday the union isn’t immediately launching any additional walkouts against Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV in its strike against selected plants, adding that the union is changing its strategy and can send workers out at any time.
The strike now includes three Ford assembly plants; one Stellantis assembly plant; two GM assembly plants; and 38 GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers.
“We’re done waiting until Fridays to escalate our strike. Today we’re not announcing an expansion of our strike, but we are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out,” Fain, wearing a red sweatshirt with the logo of the Italian Federation of Metalworkers. “Moving forward, we will be calling out plants when we need, where we need to, with little notice. So stay ready.”
Fain also invited all UAW members and union allies to join the picket lines on Saturday to mark a full month on strike for the initial wave of Detroit Three autoworkers at three assembly plants who went out on Sept. 15.
Fain did not provide any significant updates on where bargaining stands. The union was at the bargaining table with Stellantis NV Thursday, and negotiations with all three companies continue.
The latest update, which follows a pattern of Friday livestreamed events hosted by Fain, came on the 29th day of the strike. It also comes after the union significantly expanded and altered the dynamics of its targeted “Stand Up Strike” by ordering a walkout Wednesday at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, the Dearborn automaker’s largest and most profitable plant in the world.
Fain used Friday’s remarks to highlight the plant’s massive profitability, to once again point out the pay disparity between auto executives and workers, and to touch on the theme of income equality in the United States that’s been central to the union’s messaging during the strike.
“The Kentucky Truck Plant we just shut down in Louisville generates $48,000 in revenue per minute. That’s vastly more than the lowest-paid Ford workers make in a year,” he said. “Meanwhile (Ford CEO )Jim Farley took in $21 million last year. We need him to do two things right now: Look in the mirror, and look in Ford’s bank account. Go get the big paycheck. The one Ford uses when it wants to spend millions on company executives or on Wall Street giveaways.”
Kentucky Truck Plant strike
In a major escalation of the strike, union leaders called 8,700 UAW Local 862 members at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant on strike at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday — bringing the total number of autoworkers on picket lines to about 34,000 and taking down the Blue Oval’s largest and most profitable plant.
Kentucky Truck produces F-Series Super Duty trucks, which are at the center of the company’s profitability, as well as the Ford Expedition and Lincoln Navigator SUVs. Ford has warned that the strike could impact production at as many as 13 other Ford plants, including five in Metro Detroit, and at some 600 supplier locations that support KTP.
Ford has called the move to strike KTP “grossly irresponsible” and pointed to its most recent offer to the union. The offer includes a 23% wage increase over the length of the contract, a three-year progression to the top of the wage scale, restoration of the cost-of-living adjustment formula that was suspended in 2009, and conversion within 90 days of temporary workers to permanent status, among other contract improvements.
Executives said Thursday that talks in the last two weeks have centered on pensions and Ford’s planned electric-vehicle battery plants. The union demanded a new economic offer from Ford on Wednesday.
“On economics, we have reached our limit. We actually stretched ourselves to get to this point,” said Kumar Galhotra, president of Ford’s internal combustion engine and hybrid vehicle business.
Fain criticized that statement on Friday, and cited lack of progress on economic issues for the decision to strike KTP. He also pointed to Ford in explaining the decision to shake up the union’s strike strategy: “They thought they figured out the so-called rules of the game, so we changed the rules. And now there’s only one rule: Pony up. We’re at the point in this process where we are looking for one thing only: A deal.”
The walkout at Kentucky Truck also served to quickly change the dynamics of the strike, which up until that point had been more limited in scope and directed at less financially impactful targets. With some $25 billion in annual revenue, KTP is one of the single most important plants the union could have targeted.
Industry observers and stakeholders have expressed hope that the escalation of the strike could prompt enough movement to bring it to an end.
“UAW leadership likely needs to strike Ford’s most profitable plant to show the rank-and-file that they are extracting the most from the automaker,” Wells Fargo analysts wrote in a research note this week. “Consequently, we think this escalation is a sign that the UAW could be close to a contract proposal with Ford in the next 1-2 weeks.”
And on Friday, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office urged a swift end to the strike.
“While we aren’t part of the negotiations, we know the offers on the table are historic and will put more money into the pockets of auto workers in Michigan,” Zack Pohl, the governor’s deputy chief of staff, said in a statement. “We hope whatever final details are left after nearly a month into this strike can be sorted out quickly so that Michiganders can get back to doing what they do best.”
Sandy Baruah, CEO of the Detroit Regional Chamber, said the shutdown at KTP “has dealt another blow to the state’s economy and the hundreds of Michigan-based suppliers connected to that facility” and warned that “the longer these shutdowns continue, and we go without a resolution, the more rapid and irreparable the economic damage to Michigan becomes.”
jgrzelewski@detroitnews.com
