UAW Strike News Roundup

With the United Auto Workers (UAW) still striking, there have been some minor updates. Though nothing that’s likely to result in any major changes.

The union has submitted a response to a General Motors offer as picketing continues against all three Detroit-based automakers, Ford is laying off an additional 300 employees due to supply chain complications created by the strike, and the UAW has successfully negotiated a tentative deal on its 5-year contract with Mack Trucks.

Starting at the top, General Motors has confirmed that a meeting was held on Monday between itself and UAW leadership. The union has issued a counter offer and GM doesn't seem wholly enamored with the proposal. The company has said it would be assessing the deal, noting that there's some distance to go before anyone shakes hands.

However, the automaker previously stated that the union had not yet presented any counter-offers to its earlier proposals.

CEO Mary Barra (and other automotive executives) have become much more critical of the strike as it has continued. Expanding the strike last week to include 25,300 union members and factories that are undoubtedly more important to the automakers’ bottom line seems to have been the tipping point. Barra accused the UAW of having no real intent of making a deal with the industry, adding that GM hadn’t received what she considered a “comprehensive” counteroffer in over a week.

Executives from the other automotive brands weren’t really any kinder and UAW President Shawn Fain has called any claims that the union is negotiating in bad faith utterly ridiculous.

"We've been countering back and forth daily,” he said on Friday. “The entire thing they're talking about is misinformation.”

Meanwhile, Ford has asked 330 employees not to come into its Chicago Stamping Plant and Lima Engine Plant. According to a release issued by Ford spokesman Dan Barbossa, formal layoffs are scheduled to commence this weekend.

"Our production system is highly interconnected, which means the UAW’s targeted strike strategy has knock-on effects for facilities that are not directly targeted for a work stoppage," Barbossa explained.

"These are not lockouts," he continued. "These layoffs are a consequence of the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant, because these three facilities must reduce production of parts that would normally be shipped to Chicago Assembly Plant."

Ford has already started dumping an estimated 600 employees from the Michigan Assembly Plant responsible for the Ford Bronco and Ranger. Those job cuts are also supposed to be related to complications stemming from the labor strike.

Lastly, the UAW appears to have cut a deal with Mack Trucks (currently owned by Volvo Group). While the contract agreement is said to be tentative, it’s further than the union has managed to get with Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors. Assuming the deal goes through, the agreement will cover roughly 4,000 workers spread across three states.

"The terms of this tentative agreement would deliver significantly increased wages and continue first-class benefits for Mack employees and their families," Mack President Stephen Roy stated. "At the same time, it would allow the company to successfully compete in the market, and continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products."

The union celebrated its victory in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida (UAW Regions 8 and 9), adding that terms of the deal had not yet been reviewed and ratified by members. Those terms have not yet been made public.

[Image: UAW]

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