UAW Calls Out Slow Progress on Talks With Detroit Automakers

The United Auto Workers said Tuesday labor negotiations with the Detroit automakers have been sluggish and the union would hold a strike authorization vote next week, a procedural step needed for its leadership to call a work stoppage.

“Today marks 30 days until the union’s contract with the Big Three expires, but bargaining at all three tables has yet to progress beyond noneconomic issues,” the union said.

The UAW is negotiating new four-year labor agreements for about 146,000 U.S. hourly workers at General Motors, Ford Motor and Jeep-maker Stellantis. The existing contracts expire on Sept. 14.

A strike authorization vote is an action that typically takes place before the labor agreements expire and gives the union the option of calling a strike if leaders see fit. The union requires at least two-thirds of voting members to back the authorization to move forward, a bar that it has easily passed in the past.

UAW officials say this doesn’t guarantee a strike will happen and it will depend on how negotiations unfold in the coming weeks.

UAW President Shawn Fain, during a livestream event Tuesday evening, said he doesn’t plan to extend the contracts past the expiration date, a move that the union has sometimes allowed in the past to continue talks without a strike.

“The choice is yours about what happens next,” Fain said, addressing the Detroit companies. “Either stop dragging your feet in negotiations, or be prepared to strike.”

GM takes its responsibility to support employees seriously, and is bargaining in good faith to reach an agreement with the UAW, a GM spokesman said Tuesday evening. Ford declined to comment on the union’s remarks regarding the pace of negotiations. Stellantis didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Analysts have warned the probability of a walkout is higher this year in part because the union has struck a more militant tone and entered into talks with a list of demands that are far more aggressive than in previous rounds of bargaining.

The UAW’s strike fund, which provides members on walkout with a $500-per-week payment, currently sits at more than $825 million, the union stated Tuesday.

Fain told The Wall Street Journal on Friday that if a strike were to occur, it would most likely happen after current contracts expire.

The negotiations this time around have led to more public clashes between the two sides, with Fain vocal about his frustration with the companies and the automakers speaking openly about their intentions and gripes.

The reform-minded UAW leader was elected in March and quickly threw out the traditional union playbook. He ditched the typical handshake with automotive executives to kick off labor talks, and instead, shook hands with members while visiting unionized plants.

As negotiations have progressed, he has bashed specific proposals from the companies in a more public way than past union presidents have. Last week, Fain threw a copy of the proposals Stellantis made in a trash can, slamming its demands as concessionary.

The UAW has historically focused on one automaker as a so-called strike target to negotiate with first and then picket if a deal can’t be reached. While Fain has been particularly vocal about Stellantis during the past month of bargaining, he hasn’t yet spotlighted one company as the strike target.

Instead, his team aims to negotiate with all three companies simultaneously, he said.

The union’s leadership team, many of whom were newly elected along with Fain, are making some of the most ambitious demands in recent memory. Among them: a more than 40% pay hike for workers, the return of cost-of-living adjustments and increased benefits for retirees.

The union has argued that the companies are recording healthy profits and members should share in the gains. Fain has repeatedly pointed to the salaries of top executives at Ford, GM and Stellantis as being excessively high.

Some auto executives have called out the union’s demands as unreasonable and potentially harmful to the future of their companies. A GM spokesman said earlier this month that the union’s proposals “would threaten our ability to do what’s right for the long-term benefit of the team.”

In a letter to workers last week, Stellantis’s Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart pushed back on Fain’s response to the auto maker’s proposals.

“The theatrics and personal insults will not help us reach an agreement that continues our proud history of providing good wages and benefits to our employees,” Stewart said.

Analysts have offered varying estimates on how much the union’s demands, if unchanged, would cost the auto companies.

Wells Fargo analyst Colin Langan estimated the proposal would cost each company about $6 billion to $8 billion each year, calling the negotiations “ the most imminent risk,” to the Detroit automakers.

Write to Nora Eckert at [email protected]