UAW's Fain Calls No New Strikes, But Says Still No Deals With 'Big Three'

“The bottom line is, we’ve got cards left to play, and they’ve got money left to spend. That’s the hardest part of a strike.”

UAW President Shaw Fain

“The bottom line is, we’ve got cards left to play, and they’ve got money left to spend. That’s the hardest part of a strike,” Fain said in a Facebook Live stream on Friday afternoon, Oct. 20.

“Right before a deal is when there is the most aggressive push for that last mile. They just want to wait us out,” he added.

The UAW leader in addition said that the union would use contracts negotiated at the Big Three in a bid to organize non-union workers. He said “thousands” of non-union workers have approached the UAW after seeing the gains it the union has achieved for its members.

GM, Stellantis Sweeten Offers

Fain said the unexpected strike against Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant, the biggest auto plant in the US and among Ford’s most profitable facilities, had compelled General Motors and Stellantis to improve their offers to the UAW.

“This week GM and Stellantis got the message loud and clear, they hurried to catch up with Ford,” Fain said.

All three automakers are now offering to increase wages by 23%, up from 20% just a few days earlier, and up from 9% in their initial offers to the UAW. But sticking points remain, Fain said.

GM, for example, won’t grant workers the right to strike over future plant closures – something he said Ford and Stellantis had agreed to.

“I wonder how members of Arlington and Flint Truck feel about that,” Fain said, a veiled threat to its profitable SUV and pickup truck plants.

GM’s Arlington, Texas, assembly plant makes the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban SUVs, the GM Yukon and Yukon XL SUVs, and the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V SUVs.

The Flint, Mich., plant makes certain models of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups.

Stellantis, meanwhile, is offering $20 per hour for temp workers compared to $21 per hour at GM and Ford. The company has also refused to increase retiree pay, Fain said.

“I know plenty of members at Sterling Heights assembly plants and in Kokomo, Ind., who aren’t going to like that,” Fain said.

Stellantis makes the Ram 1500 pickup truck at its Sterling Heights, Mich., assembly plant and engines at its plant in Kokomo, Ind.

UAW Targets Non-Union Workers

Fain also blasted Ford, which he said had not improved its offer and had also threatened to close “the Rouge” – a reference to Ford’s assembly plant in Dearborn, Mich., near the Rouge River. It makes the F-150 pickup, the best-selling passenger vehicle in the US.

“The days of the UAW and Ford being a team to fight other companies are over,” Fain said. “Non-union autoworkers are not the enemy. Those are our future union family.”

“Right now, we are striking the ‘Big Three’ like we’ve never struck before,” he added. “Next, we’re going to organize non-union auto companies like we’ve never organized before.”

Recall that the UAW’s strike against the Big Three began on Sept. 15. Most steel industry market participants did not expect it to last for as long as it has.