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The union and companies remain far apart on pay and benefits in their weeks-long contract negotiations, with the union demanding a 36 percent wage increase over four years. On Saturday, Stellantis, the parent company of Jeep and Chrysler, said it is offering a 21 percent cumulative wage increase over the course of the contract. Ford and GM have offered raises of 20 percent.
The UAW continues to keep its strike plans secret. When asked Friday night whether it might strike at more plants, UAW President Shawn Fain said that depended on the outcome of negotiations.
He said the union planned to meet with Ford “first thing” Saturday. The union also is meeting with GM on Saturday.
“As things progress or don’t progress, we’ll make decisions as a board or as a union, and we’ll take the next step,” Fain said after a rally in Detroit late Friday. “It could be in a day, it could be in week. It just depends on how things progress.”
He added that laid-off employees would be “taken care of” by the union, although he didn’t elaborate on whether they’d be eligible for strike pay. The UAW pays striking workers $500 a week.
In a statement Saturday morning, Fain said the union will make sure laid-off workers “will not go without an income.” He accused the companies of trying to “put the squeeze on our members to settle for less.”
GM and Ford said the layoffs were a direct consequence of the strike, which is depriving nonstriking plants of materials. The laid-off workers won’t be eligible for the usual unemployment benefits the companies pay when they idle a plant, both companies said.
“We have said, repeatedly, that nobody wins in a strike, and that effects go well beyond our employees on the plant floor and negatively impact our customers, suppliers and the communities where we do business,” GM said in a statement Friday.
It’s the first time the union has launched a strike of any size on all three companies at the same time. The last national auto strike was against General Motors in 2019.
The Stellantis plant in Toledo makes Jeep Wranglers and Gladiators. GM’s Wentzville plant makes Chevrolet Colorado trucks and Express vans as well as GMC Canyon trucks and Savana vans. Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne makes Ranger trucks and Bronco SUVs.
Fain has called the companies’ offers inadequate after years of sharp inflation and fat corporate profits and executive pay. Full-time UAW workers earn between $18 and $32 an hour, along with profit-sharing payments and other bonuses. Temporary workers earn less.
The automakers argue that they are offering better wage hikes and benefits than they have in decades. Ford calls its offer the best in 80 years. GM Chief Executive Mary Barra on Friday told CBS News the company’s offer is “a record from a gross-wage perspective in our 115-year history.”
But she said GM can’t meet all of the union’s demands while remaining profitable. Those demands include a 32-hour workweek, defined-benefit pensions for all workers instead of 401(k) accounts, and company-financed health care in retirement.
Lauren K. Gurley contributed reporting from Detroit.
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