UAW Expands Stand Up Strike Against General Motors and Stellantis

DETROIT – UAW President Shawn Fain just announced on Facebook Live that the union, at noon today, will expand its Stand Up Strike against General Motors and Stellantis at 38 locations across 20 states. On Monday, Fain had announced that the union would expand its Stand Up Strike against automakers that did not make substantial progress toward a fair agreement. Neither company did. Approximately 5,600 Big Three workers will join the approximately 13,000 who are already on strike.

The union is continuing to strike Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Mich., but is not expanding its strike against the Dearborn-based automaker. The UAW and Ford did make substantial progress in bargaining over the last week.

Following is an excerpt from Fain’s prepared remarks describing the status of negotiations. You can view the remarks as delivered at the UAW’s Facebook and YouTube channels:

“As you know, we gave our Members Demands to the company two months ago. They wasted a whole month failing to respond. But there has been movement. In particular, we’ve made real progress at Ford. We’re not there yet, but I want you to see the direction that Ford is going, and what we think that means for our contract fight. 

At Ford, Rawsonville Components and Sterling Axle employees will now be on the same wage scale as assembly workers. We have eliminated that entire wage tier. At Ford, we have officially reinstated the COLA that was suspended in 2009.  

UAW family, many people said this couldn’t be done, but we just did it. We have also won, for the first time in our history, the right to strike over plant closures during the life of our agreement. I don’t have to tell you that this is an important victory in our fight to save our jobs, keep families together, and keep our communities from being gutted. 

At Ford we’ve also won additional job security for our members in the event of indefinite layoff. If that happens, our members, including temporary workers, will now receive income security for up to two years, with healthcare. 

We have moved Ford off of their concessionary formula to cut profit-sharing, and instead won an enhanced profit-sharing formula that would have resulted in a 13.3% increase for the average employee in payouts last year.  

We have won the immediate conversion of all current temps. And all temps will have profit-sharing after 90 days service. And there are no concessions on the table. 

All that represents serious movement on tiers, on COLA, on pay, and on job security. To be clear: we are NOT done at Ford. We still have serious issues to work through. But we do want to recognize that Ford is serious about reaching a deal. 

At GM and Stellantis, it’s a different story.  

We have won a serious victory at CCA and GMCH and have killed those two wage tiers. Those workers will now be on the same wage scale as assembly workers. Their first offer was a 0% raise for those workers. But without COLA and without strong Job Security, those gains are not protected. 

Both companies are still offering a deficient COLA that is projected to provide ZERO increases over the next four years. Both companies have rejected all of our job security proposals.  

Both companies have rejected our profit-sharing proposals. Both companies have rejected our proposals to convert temps.  

So today, at noon Eastern time, all of the parts distribution facilities of General Motors and Stellantis will Stand Up and Strike. We will strike 38 locations across 20 states, across all 9 regions of the UAW. 

At General Motors, we call on the CCAs at Pontiac, Willow Run, Ypsilanti, Davison Road, Flint, Lansing, Cincinnati, Denver, Hudson (Wisconsin), Chicago, Reno, Rancho Cucamonga, Fort Worth, Martinsburg, Jackson, Charlotte, Memphis, and Philadelphia to Stand Up and go on strike. 

At Stellantis, we call on the parts distribution centers at Marysville, Centerline Packaging, Centerline Warehouse, Sherwood, Warren Parts, Quality Engineering Center, Romulus, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Denver, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, Atlanta, Winchester, Orlando, Dallas, New York, and Boston to Stand Up and go on strike. 

The plants that are already on strike will remain on strike, Local 2250 at GM Wentzville, Local 900 at Ford Michigan Assembly, and Local 12 at Stellantis Toledo Assembly. We invite and encourage everyone who supports our cause to join us on the picket line, from our friends and families up to the President of the United States.  

The way you can help is to build our movement and show the companies that the public stands with us and stands with our elected national negotiators. 

As promised, we are expanding the Stand Up Strike in response to the lack of progress in bargaining with General Motors and Stellantis. We will shut down parts distribution until those two companies come to their senses and come to the table with a serious offer.”

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