United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that Ford, General Motors and Stellantis will all avert an expansion of the UAW’s work stoppages at this time, suggesting the unprecedented strikes against all three could be nearing an end.
Fain said the union made that decision after a major breakthrough in talks with GM on a key bargaining goal concerning the future of auto jobs, as the automakers shift from traditional gas-powered cars to a lineup of EVs.
GM agreed to have the workers at its future EV battery plants be covered by the national labor agreement governing other UAW members at GM, after Fain threated an expansion of the strike to a GM plant in Arlington, Texas that assembles the company’s full-sized SUVs.
The agreement is a major breakthrough on the union’s key demand that there be a “just transition” from gasoline powered cars to EVs, which are seen as a threat to union jobs.
GM did not immediately have a comment on Fain’s announcement. But it has insisted in the past that those workers are not GM employees, since the plants are run by joint ventures it has with Asian battery companies.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
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