United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain expresses solidarity with striking workers during a rally at UAW Local 551 on Saturday, October 7, 2023, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
DETROIT (FOX 2) – For the first time in a week, UAW President Shawn Fain spoke about negotiations with the Big Three in Detroit as Friday marks the 36th day of the union’s stand-up strike.
Fain announced an update from the UAW’s Solidarity House in Detroit at 4 p.m. ET. According to the UAW statement, Fail will announce current negotiations between the union and the union ford, StellantisAnd General Motors.
The announcement began with an opening video from the UAW discussing sick leave from work for members. About 15 minutes later, Fain came live in front of the camera.
Fain said that in the past 24 hours, two of Detroit’s Big Three have submitted new offers, but there is “still room for improvement.”
He then first discussed the UAW members’ strikes against other organizations outside of the Big Three in Detroit – including Mack Truck and General Dynamics – as well as the casino union members who went on strike against the Detroit casino.
“At a time when there is endless money for war, somehow there is still no money for the working class,” Fain said.
The union president then turned to the strike against the Big Three in Detroit and urged members to continue the strike.
“Our ability to persevere, to beat the companies economically and to retain our workforce, that is our leverage and that is our path to victory,” he said.
Fain then said that Detroit’s Big Three are trying to raise doubts among members in their speeches, and that members will vote if the leadership and council believe they have gotten every dollar they can from the automakers.
“There’s more to gain,” he said. “One thing we kept hearing from these companies is how they offered us record deals. By the way, they stole this sentence from us, and we agree – these are record contracts, but they come at the end. “A record decline.”
Fain said last week’s strike against the Ford plant in Kentucky sent a message to all three automakers in Detroit and that Stellantis and GM were listening carefully.
“In the last 24 hours we have seen serious moves at both Stellantis and GM,” he said.
Fain then launched a blistering attack on Ford, denouncing CEO Bill Ford over his comments about how the UAW and Ford should work together, not against each other.
The days when the UAW and Ford formed a team to fight other companies are over. We will not be taken advantage of in this false competition. “We will always and forever stand with working people around the world,” he said. “We will not partner with Ford in a race to the bottom.”
Fain said he plans to organize non-union auto companies everywhere after the UAW movement.
Both Stellantis and General Motors “put a lot more money on the table” this week, but there is room for growth.
“As we saw with Ford, we tore down their largest plant and they came back with nothing new,” he said. “This week, GM and Stellantis sent the message loud and clear to catch up with Ford.”
Fain said GM is worried, saying they need a two-tier wage increase because “they expect to have to do a lot of hiring” while at the same time threatening products and refusing to give workers the right to vote because of plant closures strike.
Fain showed that all three Detroit automakers have agreed to a 23% wage increase over the next four years. All three companies also eliminated pay scales, while Ford shortened the pay increase to three years. GM is at three years, Stellantis at four. Both terms are less than the contract term of eight years.
For more information on what the big three have to offer, check out the slideshow here. It includes all three companies that recognize June 19 as a federal holiday, as well as two weeks of paid parental leave.
For the first six weeks of the strike, Fain has spoken on Friday mornings to announce new UAW strike locations. That changed last week with the surprise strike at the Ford F-Series plant in Kentucky. Fain said this change was because automakers waited until Friday morning to make significant changes to their offerings because they knew the announcement was coming.
“We changed the rules and now there’s only one rule: pony up,” he said.
Read more about the UAW’s strike coverage here.
Fain’s updates come just hours after General Motors’ latest offer, which included 25% wage increases and the reinstatement of Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA). The offer was made public just hours before the UAW president was expected to release an update on the negotiations. Not included in the offer is GM’s earlier inclusion of its future battery factories in the UAW’s national framework agreement, which prevented an escalation of strike targets.
For more details on GM’s offer, see the live player below.
FOX 2 will stream Fain’s updated remarks in full in the live player below and at fox2detroit.com/live
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What does GM’s offer to the UAW include?
Details of the offer for most employees include:
- 25% across-the-board wage increase. Workers can earn up to $84,000 per year
- The reintroduction of COLA for experienced team members
- Ratification bonus for all employees
- Health premiums and $0 deductibles for senior team members
- Five weeks of vacation, Juneteenth, and two weeks of paid parental leave
For temporary workers the offer includes:
- Faster route to top pay
- Full-time temporary employees with one year of employment will automatically convert to seniority upon ratification.
- Wage increases of 26%
- Profit sharing for temporary workers who have worked at least 1,000 hours
Retirement provision:
- Company contributions increased by 8% of annual wages
- Company contributions for retirement health care up to $1.25 per hour worked
- An increase in the basic security rate by 5%
UAW members are beginning to tire
Fain largely received the vocal support of UAW members when he called on select members to resign from their jobs. However, the tide may be starting to turn against the union leader.
FOX 2 spoke with Darvin Fletcher, who works for Ford, this week. He said he was growing increasingly tired of picketing the Michigan Assembly in Wayne – the first facility targeted by the UAW in September.
“Mr. Fain, get us back to work! Enough is enough,” Fletcher said. “Morale is down. In the first week everyone was full of energy.”
He said the workers would go bankrupt financially. “We haven’t even had a full 40 hours a week since about May, and now we’re making $500 a week before taxes?! This is killing us.”
In addition, tensions remain between workers and non-union workers affected by the strike, despite not negotiating a new contract. A video posted on Facebook shows a truck driver threatening to run over protesters in front of Local Road 1248 in Warren.