The United Auto Workers (UAW) is expanding strikes against American corporations Ford and General Motors (GM).
The union will go on strike at the Ford SUV assembly plant in Chicago and at the GM SUV plant in Lansing -Delta Township, Michigan, bringing the total number of striking workers to 25,000 of the nearly 150,000 UAW auto workers represented by the union.
The nearby Lansing stamping plant will not strike, the UAW president said today. Sean Fein at a Facebook Live event.
“Unfortunately, despite our willingness to bargain, Ford and GM have refused to make meaningful progress at the negotiating table,” Fein said. “To be clear, negotiations have not broken down. We are still in discussions with all three companies, and I remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement."
GM Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing Gerald Johnson said that "a comprehensive counteroffer from UAW management " was not received after the company's Sept. 21 contract offer.
"Calls for more strikes are for headlines, not real progress," Johnson said. "The number of people negatively impacted by these strikes is growing, including our customers who buy and love the products we create."
In a statement this afternoon, Ford said the UAW was delaying the contract for future battery factories that will come online in the next two to three years.
"If the UAW's goal is a record contract, they've already achieved that," Ford chief executive Jim Farley said. "It is highly irresponsible to escalate these strikes and harm thousands of families."
On September 15, the UAW struck three assembly plants - one each at Ford, GM and Stellantis - hitting all three for the first time in the union's history. companies at the same time. The company then extended the strike to 36 parts distribution centers at GM and Stellantis on Sept. 22, saying that enough progress had been made with Ford at that point to exclude the company from further action.
The initial strike resulted in GM shut down its Fairfax, Kansas, plant due to a parts shortage, while Stellantis curtailed production and laid off workers at one of its parts plants in Ohio and then at two plants in Kokomo, Indiana. Ford also had to lay off workers at its Wayne, Michigan, plant, which was one of the original targets of the strike.
US Steel responded to the strike by shutting down the remaining blast furnace at its Granite City steel plant. State of Illinois.
