DETROIT--The chief executives of GM and Ford blasted United Auto Workers leaders on Friday, and UAW chief Shawn Fain responded in kind, hours after the union escalated the strike that is now in its third week. Fain on Friday expanded the first-ever simultaneous strike against the Detroit Three, ordering workers to walk off the job at Ford's Chicago assembly plant and GM's Lansing, Michigan, assembly plant.
He said Stellantis was spared after last-minute concessions by the Chrysler parent. "It’s clear that there is no real intent to get to an agreement," GM CEO Mary Barra said late Friday, while Ford CEO Jim Farley said the union was holding a deal "hostage" over a dispute over future electric vehicle battery plants. The UAW responded on social media that neither CEO had attended bargaining this week. “And yet, Barra and Farley made a combined $50 million dollars last year,” the union added. The harshly worded personal statements showed increasing frustration with the pace of negotiations that are entering their third week. Farley said the UAW demands "could have a devastating impact on our business." He said the dispute centered around wages and benefits at new electric vehicle battery plants that have yet to start production.
“I don’t know why Jim Farley is lying about the state of negotiations," Fain said in response. "It could be because he failed to show up for bargaining this week, as he has for most of the past 10 weeks." The union and the companies remain far apart on key economic issues and the CEO statements suggested they are not close to resolving many sticking points. Fain has stuck with a demand for 40% pay hikes over a four-year contract, a position supported this week by President Joe Biden. The companies have offered pay hikes of about 20%. Barra accused Fain of dragging workers into a long, unnecessary strike and trying to "make history for himself" with the action. "Jeopardizing our future is something I will not do," Barra added. The union continued its deliberate approach to the strike, choosing to walk out of just two additional assembly plants - rather than the sweeping impact of a walkout at the Detroit Three's most profitable plants that make pickup trucks. In addition, the union is trying to conserve a limited strike fund that may be strained by additional strikes at Mack Trucks facilities and Detroit-area casinos that are also represented by the UAW.
"The strike costs the union a lot of money. It's $500 per worker per week. With the additional 7,000 (workers walking out) we are talking about over $12 million a week out of the strike fund," said Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions.
