Only two weeks have passed since the UAW called a strike on Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis, but the action has already had significant effect. Beyond the non-stop international media attention, the strike has spread to 38 new production facilities, been visited by one former and one current American president, and caused multiple auto suppliers to announce layoffs.
What Has Happened
The initial strike on September 15 called for roughly 13,000 UAW members to stop work at three plants. Ford’s Michigan Assembly in Wayne, Michigan, was the first, where the company currently builds the Bronco and Ranger. GM’s Wentzville Assembly in Wentzville, Missouri, was the second, which currently builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon, among others. Finally, the Stellantis Toledo Assembly Complex in Toledo, Ohio, was the third, which builds the Jeep Wrangler and Gladiator.
A week later, 5600 workers walked out of 38 General Motors and Stellantis facilities in 20 states. UAW president Shawn Fain said that Ford dodged additional stoppages because it is “serious about reaching a deal.” The other two, however, were “a different story,” and so were punished by a further wave of the UAW’s Stand Up Strike.
What’s Next
As the strike enters its third week of negotiations with the Big Three, the UAW’s scope of action looks set to expand, and we’re likely to see more action soon. On Tuesday, UAW president Shawn Fain pledged that, should negotiations not make any significant headway, he was ready to “amp up the pressure.” Fain is expected to announce an expansion of the UAW’s rolling Stand Up Strike via Facebook Live on Friday September 29 at 10 a.m. Eastern time.
This time, it seems unlikely that Ford will escape further escalation. “Ford will likely be pulled back into the strike escalation,” says Ambrose Conroy, an auto supply chain expert and founder of Seraph Consulting. “The UAW gave them some time to try and get a deal done, but it did not happen. We expect the pressure to be turned up on Ford.”
As to what will happen, that is unclear. “The UAW may lift the strike on the first plants and choose to impact the Big Three in other places,” Conroy says. “Bringing workers back to the original plants will restore their pay and allow UAW membership to share the suffering; taking down new plants will spread chaos and pain within the OEMs.”
Suppliers, however, are already affected. CIE Newcor, a manufacturer of components and subassemblies, and Dana, a supplier mainly focused on powertrains, have warned that hundreds of layoffs are coming in the wake of the ongoing strike.
Those impacts will only increase should this strike lingers. “This is a game of chicken where the participants may not have that much to gain,” Conroy says. “Hyundai, Tesla, Rivian, and Toyota all stand to gain while the Big 3 and union labor lose out on market share and jobs if this continues for too long.”
President Biden Visit
Fain took the initial strike expansion as an opportunity to invite President Biden to join the picket lines. Biden did just that on September 26. Speaking at GM’s Willow Run Redistribution Center in Belleville, Michigan, Biden said: “You saved the automobile industry back in 2008 and before, made a lot of sacrifices, gave up a lot, and the companies were in trouble. But now they’re doing incredibly well, and guess what, you should be doing incredibly well, too.”
This visit made Biden the first modern sitting U.S. president to join a picket line, according to the AP, a contrast to previous presidential union relations, like Ronald Reagan’s firing of 11,000 striking members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization in 1981.
Former president Donald Trump, on the campaign trail for the 2024 election, was quick to follow Biden. Trump spoke at Drake Enterprises in Clinton Township, Michigan, curiously a non-union outfit. But, rather than rally the UAW members against big corporations, he instead used the platform to decry the industry’s shift toward electric vehicles, saying: “It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference what you get because in two years you’re all going to be out of business.”
