(New York) The UAW automobile union decided on Monday to shut down a second major factory, a Stellantis site in Michigan, as part of the strike which has affected the three major American automobile manufacturers since mid-September .
“On Monday morning, 6,800 UAW members at the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant (SHAP) joined the strike, halting production at the largest and most lucrative Stellantis plant” in the United States, the United Auto Workers union, in a press release.
This brings the total of strikers for almost six weeks at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis to more than 40,000, out of their 146,000 employees employed by the UAW. This is the first time that the “Big Three”, the three historic American manufacturers, have been targeted at the same time.
Contacted by AFP, Stellantis did not immediately react.
The SHAP factory, covering more than 460,000 m2, produces one of the group’s best-selling vehicles: the Ram 1500 pickup truck.
According to the specialist site Kelley Blue Book, the base 2024 model is sold from $38,750 but can go up to more than $65,000 depending on the version.
The list of sites on strike grew or did not grow as discussions progressed, affecting secondary factories, but the UAW had already struck a major blow on October 11 by shutting down the Kentucky Truck Plant ( KTP), Ford’s largest plant. It generates $25 billion in revenue per year.
The ax fell this week on Stellantis (which brings together the brands Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Dodge, Peugeot, etc.) due to persistent “gaps” in its latest proposal to the union.
“Despite having the highest revenues, the highest profits [in North America and worldwide], the largest operating margins and the most cash in reserve, Stellantis still lags behind at both Ford and General Motors in its approach to UAW employee demands,” the union wrote Monday.
The group presented the “worst offer” concerning in particular salary increases, the remuneration of temporary workers and even cost of living adjustment measures (COLA).
Officials from the SHAP union office were busy Monday morning at the factory to set up the logistics linked to the work stoppage, in particular for the registration of employees in the union’s aid fund.
According to Michael Spencer, vice-president of this union branch, around 500 employees will be mobilized every day at the entrances to the site.
The movement “is intended to help us get a fair and equitable collective agreement,” he said. “They’re going in the right direction but they’re not there yet.”
“It’s time for them to get serious around the negotiating table,” he argued.
Since negotiations began in July, builders have revised their proposals upwards – now calling them “record” – but not enough for the union.
Mr. Fain acknowledged Friday that the offers, including a 23% wage increase over the four-year term of the collective agreement, were unprecedented.
But “they come after decades of record declines,” he said.
Kumar Galhotra, a Ford executive, said on October 12 that the group had “reached the limit.” He touted an “incredibly positive” offer that would lift Ford staff into the top 25 percent of U.S. jobs in terms of hourly wages and benefits.
