Detroit Three under pressure to progress UAW talks, avoid wider auto strikes

investing.com:

By Hyunjoo Jin

(Reuters) — The United Auto Workers (UAW) and the Detroit Three automakers were still at loggerheads with Friday's deadline looming for a threatened expansion of the union's U.S. strikes.

The seven-day standoff is fueling worries about prolonged industrial action that could disrupt production and ripple through the supply chain and dent U.S. economic growth.

The UAW last week launched unprecedented, simultaneous strikes at one assembly plant each of General Motors (NYSE:GM), Ford (NYSE:F) and Chrysler parent Stellantis (NYSE:STLA).

Approximately 12,700 workers are on strike as a result of the UAW's coordinated U.S. action out of the union's 146,000 members who work at the Big Three.

UAW President Shawn Fain said on Monday that he would announce an expansion of the strikes at 12 p.m. EDT on Friday (1600 GMT), barring «serious progress» in talks. On Thursday morning, Fain posted a video message on X, formerly known as Twitter, to UAW members about the Friday deadline, showing scenes from several Hollywood movies with the characters saying «tick tock.»

GM said it remained in talks with the UAW on Thursday, but a source close to the situation said a new proposal was more an update to one before. Ford said its negotiations continue. Stellantis said on Wednesday it made a fifth offer to the UAW on Tuesday dealing with subcommittee demands, and a source familiar with the talks said those talks continued on Thursday.

The White House declined to say on Thursday if President Joe Biden will visit a picket line but said he is «pro-UAW workers.» «We appreciate the fact that they still are at the negotiating table,» White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, saying the administration wants to see a «win-win