UAW strike day 5: Fain gives 'quick bargaining update' via movie clip
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain on Tuesday had a special guest provide a "quick bargaining update" on the union's fifth day of striking all three of the Detroit automakers.
The president of the Detroit-based union with more than 400,000 active members, including 146,000 at General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis NV, took to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, to post that he had an update shortly after 5 p.m. He included a clip from the 2017 film "The Hitman's Bodyguard."
"Yo! You about done?" Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) says in the video to Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) after honking his vehicle's horn. "Tick tock, m-----f-----!"
UAW spokesperson Jonah Furman confirmed the @ShawnFainUAW account is Fain's. The post is the only one on his profile since the account was created in March 2019.
It comes after Fain late Monday night announced in a video shared by the UAW that if "significant progress" isn't made in negotiations by noon Friday, more locals will go on strike.
"Autoworkers have waited long enough to make things right at the Big Three," Fain said in the Monday video, which ran more than five minutes. "We're not waiting around. And we're not messing around. So noon on Friday, Sept. 22 is now a deadline. Either the Big Three get down to business and work with us to make progress in negotiations or more locals will be called on to stand up and go out to strike."
The additional walkouts would come one week after Fain called on 12,700 workers at three separate Detroit automaker facilities to strike. Those workers at Stellantis' Toledo Jeep plant, Ford's Michigan Assembly in Wayne and GM's Wentzville Assembly in Missouri have been walking picket lines while negotiations continue since their contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
Mark Stewart, Stellantis' chief operating officer in North America, told WWJ-AM (950) on Tuesday that the company is continuing to work with the union on 401(k) contributions, including annuity options, and finding a solution for the idled Jeep Cherokee plant in Belvidere, Illinois.
Stellantis' most recent offer included more than $1 billion toward retirement benefits for current employees and retirees. The union's position, however, has been to seek pensions and retirement health-care coverage for all workers.
"We feel it's a very, very competitive offer. That is an offer, as well, that allows us to be competitive in the market with our customers that will be cross-shopping others who have a different cost structure," Stewart said. "We're diligently at the table. We want solutions. We want to resolve this quickly."
Meanwhile, Unifor, the union representing Detroit Three autoworkers in Canada, has extended talks 24 hours after the expiration of its contract with Ford at 11:59 p.m. Monday. Unifor instructed Ford members to remain at work unless they receive alternate instructions from the union.
“Unifor is extending negotiations with Ford Motor Company for a 24-hour period," the union said in a statement sent about 1:40 a.m. Tuesday. "The union received a substantive offer from the employer minutes before the deadline."
Unifor President Lana Payne on Monday said if the union does strike Ford, all of its members at the Dearborn automaker would go on strike, potentially causing disruption of the company's production in the United States and of the supply chain.
The fallout from the UAW's strike already is being seen in the supply chain. Bruce Baumhower, president of Local 12 that represents the Stellantis workers in Toledo, said around 600 workers at Hyundai Mobis Co. Ltd. and Kuka AG were laid off when production halted at the Jeep plant. Those workers will receive $500 per week in strike pay, because those operations are within the confines of the Jeep plant complex.
The Hyundai Mobis workers build chassis for the Jeeps and Kuka workers build Gladiator bodies. "The two companies are inside the Jeep plant," he said. "Their employees are getting strike pay, but they are not allowed to strike."
More than 1,000 workers at another 10 suppliers, Baumhower said, also have been laid off and are expected to receive unemployment benefits, with the amount related to the number of dependents a person has.
Bill Teets, spokesperson for Ohio's Department of Job and Family Services, said in a statement that the department hasn't received Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notifications from those employers, but each unemployment claim will be decided based on its specific circumstances.
The ramifications from the UAW's strike have been felt among other suppliers. too. CIE Newcor, a contract manufacturer, last week notified the state of Michigan of plans to lay off temporarily 293 workers at facilities in Shiawassee and Lapeer counties.
Each job that Stellantis has represents four or five jobs in the supply base, Stewart said, plus more in the local communities. Stewart also addressed the inclusion of Stellantis' North American headquarters and technical center as a part of 18 sites it has requested the right to sell or close in an agreement with the UAW.
"One of the things we covered through that was a series of facilities that that we were looking to downsize or reconfigure as part of the process," he said. "And specifically here in Auburn Hills, this is our North America headquarters. It will be our North America headquarters. But like everyone, in the hybrid-working environment and looking at our overall footprint across across the region, and specifically in the U.S., we have a lot of the building here in Auburn Hills that we're not utilizing today.
"So, we're looking at other use cases for that. We're certainly not leaving this footprint in any shape, form or fashion, but the areas we're not using, we're looking at some different repurposing for those."
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