The United Auto Workers union has decided not to expand its strikes against Detroit's three automakers after General Motors made a breakthrough concession on unionizing electric vehicle battery plants.
Union President Shawn Fain told workers in a video appearance Friday that additional plants could be added later. The delay came shortly after GM agreed to bring electric vehicle battery plants into the UAW's national contract, essentially assuring that they will be unionized.
Fain said GM's move will change the future of the union and the auto industry.
He said GM made the change after the union threatened to strike at a GM plant in Arlington, Texas, which makes highly profitable large SUVs.
“Today, under the threat of a major financial hit, they leapfrogged the pack in terms of a just transition” from combustion engines to electric vehicles, he said. “Our strike is working, but we’re not there yet.”
You can watch the update in the video player below:
During last week's Facebook Live, he announced two more plants would join the strike: the GM Lansing Delta Township assembly plant and Ford's Chicago assembly plant. No local plants were impacted by the latest decision.
Last month, the union announced that the Stellantis distribution center in Streetsboro was joining strike efforts. Workers at the Jeep plant in Toledo are also striking.
UAW Local 573 represents 114 members at the Stellantis facility in Streetsboro, according to Unionfacts.com.
The UAW’s contract with the automakers expired at midnight on Sept. 14, and workers walked out of a Ford assembly plant near Detroit, a GM factory in Wentzville, Missouri, and a Jeep plant run by Stellantis in Toledo, Ohio. The initial strike has involved about 13,000 of the union’s 146,000 members
The union is pointing to the companies’ huge recent profits as it seeks wage increases of 36% over four years. The companies have offered a little over half that amount. The UAW has other demands, including a 32-hour work week for 40 hours of pay and a restoration of traditional pension plans for newer workers.
The companies say they can’t afford to meet the union’s demands because they need to invest profits in a costly transition from gas-powered cars to electric vehicles.
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