The new president of the United Auto Workers gave his strongest warning yet Friday that the union is preparing for strikes against Detroit's three automakers when contracts expire in September.
In a Facebook Live appearance to address members, Shawn Fain said the union is in a strong position to make major gains in talks with Stellantis, Ford, and General Motors, “but only if our members get organized and are ready to strike.”
Fain repeated the union's goals of winning back cost-of-living pay raises and pensions lost as the industry faced financial peril in 2009. They also want general pay raises and elimination of tiers of workers who are paid different wage rates, many for doing the same jobs. The union also wants to represent workers at joint-venture electric vehicle battery plants and get them top wages.
Whether there are strikes depends on how the companies react, Fain said, repeating that the automakers have made billions in the past 10 years but haven't rewarded workers. “We have to be able to do whatever we have to do if you want to have these gains. The companies aren’t going to freely give it,” he said.
GM and Ford declined comment on the statements, and a message was left seeking comment from Stellantis, formerly Fiat Chrysler.
Fain campaigned on a platform of taking on the companies to restore concessions made in the past. He narrowly unseated incumbent Ray Curry in the first direct election of officers in the union's history. The election was part of reforms enacted after a wide-ranging bribery and embezzlement scandal.
Contracts with the three automakers, which together employ about 150,000 auto workers, expire on Sept. 14. Negotiations are to start sometime in mid-July but no specific dates have been released.
Fain's statements come as unions try to make wage and organizing gains at a time of low unemployment and even worker shortages in some areas, and they've shown more of a willingness to strike. He spoke the same day as unionized UPS workers voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike, setting the stage for a potential work stoppage when a Teamsters contract expires next month.
Even before Fain was elected, UAW members walked picket lines against several companies, in some cases rejecting contract deals reached by their leaders.
