UAW expands strikes against Ford and GM, no new strikes at Stellantis

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told his membership via Facebook on Friday morning that the union's strike against Detroit's Big Three automakers will expand against Ford and General Motors, but there will be no additional Stellantis plants targeted at this time.

"Despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the table," Fain said. "To be clear, negotiations haven't broke down. We're still talking with all companies, and I'm still very hopeful that we can reach a deal that reflects the incredible sacrifices and contributions our members made over the last decade."

The union boss called on members at Ford's Chicago assembly plant and GM's Lansing, Michigan, assembly plant to walk out Friday at noon. The 7,000 workers at those two facilities bring the total striking members at the Big Three to around 25,000.

In response to Fain's message, GM executive vice president of global manufacturing and sustainability, Gerald Johnson, issued a statement saying, "We still have not received a comprehensive counteroffer from UAW leadership to our latest proposal made on September 21. Calling more strikes is just for the headlines, not real progress."

"Our current, record proposal that is on the table offers historic wage increases and job security while not jeopardizing our future," Johnson continued. "We’re here to reach an agreement so we can all get back to work, and that remains our 100% focus. Be safe."

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Ford CEO Jim Farley held a media briefing Friday afternoon, where he said, "We've stayed quiet and worked around the clock in an effort to reach a deal. But with today's strike expansion by the UAW, I think it's time to share some facts and provide an update on the talks before we get into details."

Farley offered three major points.

"First, Ford has offered an incredible contract that would change the lives of over 57,000 workers for the better, " he said. "Second, we believe the UAW is holding up the deal over battery plants that won't come online for another 2 to 3 years. And finally, we still have time to reach an agreement and avert a real disaster."

Stellantis also released a statement following Fain's announcement, saying, the company "has been intensely working with the UAW to find solutions to the issues that are of most concern to our employees while ensuring the Company can remain competitive given the market’s fierce competition."

"We have made progress in our discussions, but gaps remain," Stellantis' statement continued. "We are committed to continue working through these issues in an expeditious manner to reach a fair and responsible agreement that gets everyone back to work as soon as possible."

The UAW's plan is to ramp up its strike incrementally as negotiations drag on without agreements in place, but has not ruled out a national walkout by all 150,000 of its members across the Big Three. It's a strategy the union has said enables it more flexibility in the escalation and makes it more difficult for auto companies to predict its next move.

The union's first walkouts began Sept. 15 at a single plant each at Ford, GM and Stellantis after Fain's marching orders via a Facebook live video that morning. 

On Sept. 22, the union broadened its strike against GM and Stellantis by targeting 38 parts distribution plants between the two automakers. But it spared Ford from additional strike activity, saying progress had been made in talks with the company.

A union source told the Detroit Free Press earlier this week that "everything is on the table" with Fain's announcement Friday.

Following President Biden's visit to the picket lines Tuesday, Fain gave the outlet an update on how talks were going.

"We’re moving with all three companies still. It’s slower, but it’s bargaining," he said. "Some days, you feel like you make two steps forward, the next day you take a step back. Things are moving, but we just have to see.

"We may have to amp up the pressure."

The UAW president has also stepped up his rhetoric against the automakers this week. In a speech during Biden's visit, he likened the Big Three to the Axis powers of Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan in World War II.

On Thursday afternoon, Fain posted a video accusing GM and Stellantis of "enabling violence" against picketing workers. He pointed to an incident in which five UAW members were struck by a vehicle outside a GM factory in Michigan while reportedly blocking one of the exits. The driver was reportedly an employee at the plant.

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Fain said a member and a state senator were also hit by cars in Massachusetts while picketing at a Stellantis parts depot and flagged a report that UAW members had guns pulled on them by non-union contractors at another Stellantis parts depot in California.

"Shame on these companies for hiring violent scabs to try to break our strike," Fain said. "Together, let's stand up against corporate greed and corporate violence."

GM said in a statement earlier this week that the individual suspected of striking the five picketing employees in Michigan worked for a third-party housekeeping contractor, Malace.

"In response to this event, we have informed Malace that the suspected employee along with two other Malace employees who were in the vehicle at the time are no longer allowed on any GM property," GM said. "Additionally, we have conducted safety talks at all GM facilities with active picketing activity to reinforce the expectation and requirement that any employees who experience picketers blockading entry or exit to our property contact site security to help them safely proceed past the picketing employees."

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The company reiterated it has not hired any replacements for striking workers.

In response to Fain's video, GM said in a separate statement, "Safety is always our top priority under any circumstance, and we care deeply about the well-being of all our team members and the community. Shawn Fain’s false accusations regarding recent picketing safety incidents is just another example of prioritizing inflammatory rhetoric over serious efforts to reach an agreement."

"Safety is always our top priority under any circumstance, and we care deeply about the well-being of all our team members and the community. Shawn Fain’s false accusations regarding recent picketing safety incidents is just another example of prioritizing inflammatory rhetoric over serious efforts to reach an agreement."

- GM responds to UAW's Shawn Fain after accident

Stellantis said in a statement it is "appalled by the UAW’s characterization of the incidents occurring on the picket lines."

"Since the UAW expanded its strike to our parts distribution centers last Friday, we’ve witnessed an escalation of dangerous, and even violent, behavior by UAW picketers at several of those facilities, including slashing truck tires, jumping on vehicles, following people home and hurling racial slurs at dedicated Stellantis employees who are merely crossing the picket line to do their jobs," the company said. 

"The fact is, Stellantis has not hired any outside replacement workers, who Shawn Fain calls ‘scabs.' Only current employees who are protecting our business and third parties making pickups and deliveries as they normally would are entering our facilities."

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"The top levels of the UAW are aware of all this, yet Shawn Fain decided to make misleading and inflammatory statements, which will serve only to escalate the situation," the statement added. "Words matter. The deliberate use of inflammatory and violent rhetoric is dangerous and needs to stop. 

"The companies are not ‘the enemy’ and we are not at 'war.' We respect our employees’ right to advocate for their position, including their right to peacefully picket. But the violence must stop."