United Auto Workers’ strike against the Big Three—Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis—is expanding as contract negotiations failed between the parties earlier this month. The union wants to claw back some of its concessions during the 2008 financial crisis. They also want a wage increase of about 40 percent over four years. The automakers claim they want to use their record profits to re-invest in electric vehicles, which carries heavy costs. The union isn’t buying it. Funny how Joe Biden’s pet project is one of the major roadblocks to a new deal.
At midnight on September 15, the UAW went on strike. What is notable about this dispute is that the UAW opted to negotiate with all three companies at once instead of focusing their efforts on one manufacturer. The work stoppage is now expanding, though Ford isn’t on the list (via NBC News):
The ongoing United Auto Workers strike is expanding.
UAW President Shawn Fain called for union members to strike at noon ET Friday at 38 General Motors and Stellantis facilities across 20 states. He said the strike call covers all of GM and Stellantis' parts distribution facilities.
The strike call notably excludes Ford, the third member of Detroit's Big Three, suggesting the UAW is more satisfied with the progress it has made on a new contract with that company.
Fain also invited President Joe Biden to join workers on the picket line.
The Stellantis facilities going on strike are in Marysville, Center Line, Warren, Auburn Hills, Romulus and Streetsboro, Michigan; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Plymouth, Minnesota; Commerce City, Colorado; Naperville, Illinois; Ontario, California; Beaverton, Oregon; Morrow, Georgia; Winchester, Virginia; Carrollton, Texas; Tappan, New York; and Mansfield, Massachusetts.
The strike will include two facilities each in Center Line and Warren.
General Motors plants being told to strike are in Pontiac, Belleville, Ypsilanti, Burton, Swartz Creek and Lansing, Michigan; West Chester, Ohio; Aurora, Colorado; Hudson, Wisconsin; Bolingbrook, Illinois; Reno, Nevada; Rancho Cucamonga, California; Roanoke, Texas; Martinsburg, West Virginia; Brandon, Mississippi; Charlotte, North Carolina; Memphis, Tennessee; and Lang Horne, Pennsylvania.
The UAW is employing a strategy of announcing targeted strikes with short notice, focusing on key plants that cause other facilities to stop production because of a lack of parts.
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And the lack of auto parts is starting to hit customers (via Reuters):
Selling and installing parts is one of the most profitable parts of the auto business, but it is also one of the most vulnerable, because the industry relies on just-in-time shipments. The strategy of choking parts delivery increases problems for some dealers who say it already had been difficult to source some components.
"It's going to become near impossible to get a lot of these parts," said Richard Fasulo, a diagnostic technician from Wappinger, New York, who works for a Cadillac franchise dealer and used car dealers. The broader strike, which targets 38 parts distribution centers owned by GM and Stellantis, "is going to have these shops telling their customers 'We don't know when we can fix your vehicle. It might be indefinitely.'"
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National Association of Auto Dealers President and CEO Mike Stanton said: "Dealers don't want to see anything to limit our potential to serve customers, so we certainly hope automakers and the UAW can reach an agreement quickly and amicably."
The UAW had been expected to expand their strike by shutting down plants that made the highest-profit vehicles, such as pickup trucks. But automakers have built up vehicle inventory and for many dealers problems with repairs will start soon.
"It's definitely going to impact customers," said Thomas Morris, 60, who went on strike on Friday at a General Motors parts distribution center in the suburbs of Philadelphia.
The UAW has a strike fund of $825 million. They have the resources for their members to sit around for a bit.
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