The United Auto Workers union is preparing to announce a possible expansion of its strike against General Motors, Stellantis and maybe Ford this Friday if there isn’t more progress in talks, a union source familiar with plans said Wednesday.
UAW President Shawn Fain is set to update members on the state of the negotiations at 10 am Friday. If the union decides there has not been enough progress in the talks, it will announce new targets for the strike at that time, and UAW members at those facilities would join the strike at noon on Friday, according to the union source.
The union went on strike against the three automakers on September 15, the first time it ever struck all three automakers at the same time. But it struck only one assembly plant for each company at that time, having 12,700 members go on strike rather than all 145,000 who work at the three companies.
A week ago, Fain announced that there had been progress at Ford toward a settlement, and that it would not expand the strike there. But he said the lack of progress at GM and Stellatis meant that the union would expand the strike to 38 parts distribution centers at those two companies. The parts shipped from those locations go to dealerships to allow them to make repairs on customers’ vehicles.
“We do want to recognize that Ford is serious about reaching a deal,” Fain said at that time. “Stellantis and GM in particular are going to need some serious pushing.”
The announcement comes the day after President Joe Biden became the first sitting president to ever visit a picket line in support of strikers. Biden told members of the picket line they and other strikers deserved much more than they are currently being paid.
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