UAW to significantly ramp up strikes against GM and Stellantis — but not Ford

Updated September 22, 2023 at 10:41 AM ET

The United Auto Workers union said it's expanding its historic strike against the Big Three automakers to all parts distribution facilities at General Motors and Stellantis across the country, ramping up pressure on the two companies to reach deals on new contracts.

Workers at 38 GM and Stellantis parts distributions centers, spread across 20 states, are poised to walk off the job at 12 p.m. ET today.

"This expansion will also take our fight nationwide. We will be everywhere from California to Massachusetts, from Oregon to Florida," Fain said. "Across the country, people are going to know that the UAW is ready to stand up for our communities, and ready to stand up against corporate greed."

However, the union will not immediately broaden its strike against Ford, UAW President Shawn Fain said in a Facebook Live announcement, citing progress with Ford on key demands including wage tiers and job security provisions. The existing strike at part of a Ford plant in Wayne, Mich., will continue.

These workers will join the roughly 13,000 workers at three Midwest auto plants who were the first to walk off the job last week, when the union's contracts with the automakers expired.

Fain's so-called "stand up" strike strategy is intended to keep Ford, General Motors and Stellantis on their toes with sudden, targeted strikes at strategic locations, rather than having all of the nearly 150,000 UAW auto workers walk off their jobs at once.

The UAW is demanding substantial improvements in the new contract, including a 40% wage increase, saying the union accepted significant concessions in 2007, just when the global financial crisis was starting to take shape.

Fain also invited President Biden to join workers on the picket line.

Automakers lay off workers

The automakers have responded with temporary layoffs, blaming the supply disruptions caused by the strikes.

General Motors has temporarily laid off most of the approximately 2,000 unionized workers at its Fairfax assembly plant in Kansas as a result of the ongoing UAW strikes. The other two companies have also announced temporary layoffs at a smaller scale.

So far, the companies have failed to present wage offers that the union sees as adequate, though the automakers say they've put generous offers on the table.

The UAW has rejected the companies' offers so far, saying the automakers can do more after earning record profits in recent years. The union has also cited the big pay earned by CEOs, including GM leader Mary Barra who made nearly $29 million in 2022 — 362 times the median GM employee's paycheck, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

The two sides also remain at odds over other key economic issues, including the restoration of pension and retiree health care and cost of living adjustments — all benefits that the UAW gave up before and during the Great Recession.

"We haven't had a raise in years, a real raise," said Gil Ramsey, a Ford employee who's on strike in Wayne, Mich. "And everything that we gave up when the company was down on the ropes — we haven't even got that back yet."

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