UAW Poised to Expand Strike to More Auto Factories

livemint.com:

The United Auto Workers union on Friday is set to expand its strike against Detroit automakers, barring any last-minute signs of significant movement in labor-contract negotiations. UAW President Shawn Fain has said he would instruct workers to walk out of more factories unless “serious progress" is made in talks with General Motors, Ford Motor and Jeep-maker Stellantis. About 12,700 factory workers have been on strike for a week at three plants, one for each automaker.

Negotiators have been meeting all week, but publicly, the sides have reported little progress toward bridging what they have described as a significant gap in proposals on wage increases and other issues. The latest counteroffers from the companies settled at around 20% wage increases over four years, among other benefits, proposals that auto executives have called the most generous in decades. The union has called these offers insufficient, and it has recently pushed for a mid-30% wage increase, down from an initial 40%.

This week, Fain has posted memes on the social-media platform X, counting down to the likely Friday morning announcement of further walkouts, including a video mashup of several scenes from “The Hunger Games" and other popular movies. He plans to reveal which additional plants the union will target for strikes on a Facebook livestream at 10 a.m. ET.

The walkouts would start at noon, if talks remain stalled. GM President Mark Reuss wrote an opinion piece in the Detroit Free Press accusing Fain’s team of misrepresenting the company’s ability to afford the union’s demands. He said 85% of GM’s unionized workers earn a base wage of about $82,000 annually under a recent GM proposal.