1 year ago
The United Auto Workers will go on strike at a limited number of plants across all three major Detroit car manufacturers if a contract deal isn't reached by Thursday night, union President Shawn Fain said Wednesday.
“We’re preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before,” Fain said on Facebook Live.
The move would make good on Fain’s threats to stop work at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis upon the expiration of UAW’s contracts with the automakers at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, as the union remains dissatisfied with the state of negotiations toward a new deal.
"We will not strike all of our facilities at once. We will strike all three companies, a historic first, initially at a limited number of targeted locations," Fain said, then add more plants as needed.
The plan will create confusion for the companies, Fain said, without naming the union's specific targets.
However, the plan stops short of a full-scale strike of all the nearly 150,000 workers covered by the contract. That significantly limits the immediate economic hit to both the region and the overall economy while giving the union the ability to ratchet up the pressure on the car companies.
The White House has stepped delicately during the tense negotiations, closely monitoring developments in recent weeks and urging a deal, while not directly intervening in the process.
Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su and other top members of the Biden administration have repeatedly expressed confidence in the talks and vowed not to step in unless requested by one or both sides. And liberal lawmakers have become increasingly vocal in their support of the UAW’s stance against the big car companies as the standoff has come down to the wire.
English (US)