The strike action in the US auto industry has entered its third week and shows no sign of ending.
Local time on Friday (September 29), due to the failure to make progress in negotiations with the labor side, the United Auto Workers (UAW) announced the expansion of the scope of the strike.
On September 15, the UAW launched a strike against three automakers, General Motors, Ford Motor and Stellantis. The UAW started the strike at one assembly plant at each of the three automakers and last week extended the action to another 38 GM and Stellantis plants.
UAW President Sean Fine said Friday that the strike would be extended to a Ford plant in Chicago that builds the Explorer and a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan, that builds the Chevrolet Traverse. The new target strike plant involved about 7,000 workers.
The UAW is one of the largest workers' associations in the United States, with 146,000 members at GM, Ford and Stellantis, accounting for about 56 percent of all workers in the U.S. auto manufacturing industry. With the addition of two more factories, the total number of workers involved in the strike action has reached about 25,000.
The escalated strike action did not extend to Stellantis because the company had made progress in negotiations with the union.
"We're excited about this momentum at Stellantis and expect it to continue," Fein said at the briefing. "While we are willing to bargain, Ford and GM continue to refuse to make meaningful progress," he added.
Fein said talks with the three automakers were continuing. "To be clear, the talks have not broken down," he said. I'm still very hopeful that we can make a deal."
One of the union's main initial demands was a 40 per cent pay rise by 2027, which was later reduced to 36 per cent in negotiations. In addition, the union demands include more paid vacation time, defined-benefit pensions for all workers, and retirement security.
Media reports on Thursday said the UAW was hoping to extract a raise of at least 30 percent from the strike, a figure that takes into account cost-of-living allowances and overall wage increases, which the union believes would satisfy its members' demands and is expected to help increase membership by attracting non-unionized workers.
However, the three automakers have publicly offered wage increases of about 20 percent, which is still below the union's target.