UAW breaks pattern of adding factories to strikes on Fridays, says more plants could come any time
The United Auto Workers union isn’t adding any factories to those that are now on strike, but its president says more walkouts could begin at any moment
DETROIT — The United Auto Workers union isn't adding any factories to those that are now on strike, but its president says more walkouts could begin at any moment.
Until this week the union had been announcing additional factories on Fridays. But UAW President Shawn Fain told workers in a live video appearance that the companies started gaming the system, waiting until Fridays to make progress in bargaining.
“We will be calling out plants when we need to, where we need to, with little notice,” Fain said on Friday morning. “We're not sticking to one pattern or one system of giving these companies an extra hour or an extra day. They know what needs to happen and they know how to get it done.”
Fain said the union is still bargaining hard with General Motors and Jeep maker Stellantis. But he criticized Ford, which said Thursday that it had reached the limit of how much money it will spend to settle the strike.
“I found a pathetic irony in that statement,” Fain said, adding that it's workers who have reached their limits by not getting raises for a decade and giving up what he called retirement security.
His statements came four weeks after the union began its walkouts against the Detroit automakers on Sept. 15.
The strikes started with one assembly plant from each company. The union later added 38 parts warehouses at GM and Stellantis, and then one assembly factory each from Ford and GM. The UAW then made a surprise move on Wednesday, escalating the strikes by adding a huge Ford pickup truck and SUV plant in Kentucky.
About 33,700 workers are on strike against the
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