With the deadline approaching in bargaining with Detroit’s three vehicle manufacturers, the United Auto Workers union is on the verge of something unprecedented.
If there are no agreements to replace contracts that expire Thursday night, the UAW is laying plans for targeted strikes at any facilities operated by General Motors, Ford and Stellantis. It is the first time it has threatened walkouts at each of the Detroit Three.
The Chicago area is home to two manufacturing facilities for Ford. Union leaders at those plants said workers are resolved to strike if called to do so.
“It seems the labor movement is on the rise right now. We are certainly ready to strike,” said Eugene Rogers, vice president at UAW Local 588. He said the local represents about 1,100 workers at Ford’s stamping plant in Chicago Heights.
Rogers said workers have been drafting schedules for picket-line duty and alerting local police to potential demonstrations.
A strike also is possible at Ford’s 99-year-old assembly plant at 12600 S. Torrence Ave., home to about 5,500 workers. It could be targeted because it produces the popular and expensive Ford Explorer SUV.
UAW President Shawn Fain is expected to announce initial strike locations, if any, on Facebook Live at 9 p.m. CDT Thursday night. The union’s contracts with the companies expire at 10:59 p.m. CDT.
Bargaining continued Thursday, with GM increasing its wage offer and Ford looking for a counteroffer from the union. Ford CEO Jim Farley voiced frustration with what he called a lack of response from the union, saying his company has made four offers without getting a “genuine counteroffer.”
“It’s hard to negotiate a contract when there’s no one to negotiate with,” Farley said, wondering out loud whether Fain was too busy planning strikes or events aimed at getting publicity.
The UAW is demanding a 36% boost in pay over four years. GM, Ford and Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler, have countered with offers that are roughly half of that increase.
In its 88-year history, the UAW has never threatened to target all three companies at once. During contract years, it has always picked one as a strike target.
The last auto strike was against GM in 2019 and lasted 40 days. A report by researchers at the University of Michigan said the last UAW strike at Ford lasted 20 days in 1976. The longest strike since 1960 hit GM for 67 days in 1970, the report said.
Fain told members Wednesday on Facebook that the union’s approach for limited strikes that could expand anytime would keep the companies guessing and “turbocharge the power of our negotiators.” Fain cast the fight as between ingrained corporate greed and a working class whose wages have lost buying power.
“We do not yet have offers on the table that reflect the sacrifices and contributions our members have made to these companies,” he said. “To win we’re likely going to have to take action. We are preparing to strike these companies in a way they’ve never seen before.”
Automakers contend that they must make huge investments to develop and build electric vehicles while still building and engineering internal combustion vehicles. They say an expensive labor agreement could saddle them with costs that would force them to raise prices above their non-union foreign competitors.
Ford said that if the UAW’s wage and other demands had been in effect over the past four years, the company would have lost $14 billion.
The UAW has 146,000 members at the three companies.
Aside from wage hikes, the UAW is seeking restoration of cost-of-living pay raises, an end to varying tiers of wages for factory jobs, a 32-hour week with 40 hours of pay, the restoration of traditional defined-benefit pensions for new hires who now receive only 401(k)-style retirement plans, pension increases for retirees and other items.
With a wage hike it introduced Thursday, GM is offering 10% in the first year and 20% over four years. Fain said in a statement that the union is evaluating the GM offer and will respond. Stellantis’ last known offer was 17.5%, but the company has since made another offer.
“We know a strong GM is important to all of us,” GM CEO Mary Barra wrote in a letter to workers Thursday. “We are working with urgency and have proposed yet another increasingly strong offer with the goal of reaching an agreement tonight.”
The companies rejected pay raises for retirees who haven’t receive one in over a decade, Fain said, and they are seeking concessions in annual profit-sharing checks, which often are more than $10,000.
Thomas Kochan, a professor of work and employment at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said both sides must make big compromises quickly to settle the disputes before the Thursday deadline.
“It’ll go down to the wire, and there won’t be an agreement until the final moment, if there is one at all,” he said.
Contributing: Associated Press