The United Auto Workers reached a tentative labor contract with Stellantis Saturday to end a six-week strike. It comes days after Ford also reached a deal with UAW. General Motors is the only remaining one of the Big Three automakers without a deal.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
The United Auto Workers have reached a tentative contract agreement with Stellantis, the union announced Saturday, edging the labor union closer to ending a 6-week strike that has dented Detroit’s Big 3 automakers and idled thousands of their employees.
The deal with Stellantis — which owns Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with several foreign auto-brands — comes three days after the UAW came to terms with Ford, leaving only General Motors without a contract with the union.
“On day 44 of our stand-up strike, I am honored to announce that our union is again victorious,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video posted to social media.
The agreement with Stellantis, which must still be ratified by UAW members, could bring thousands of workers back to their posts at assembly plants in Michigan and Ohio, and at vehicle parts warehouses across the nation.
Talks between Stellantis and the union, which included Stellantis Chief Operating Officer Mark Stewart and UAW President Shawn Fain “went into the late evening” on Friday, sources close to the negotiations confirmed to CBS News.
Like workers at Ford, the strikers at Stellantis are expected to take down their picket lines and start returning to work in the coming days before their union members vote.
Acting Labor Secretary Julie A. Su in a statement congratulated “Stellantis and the UAW for their dedication and focus in coming together to reach” a deal.
“This tentative agreement includes a number of important provisions including a commitment to reopen the Belvidere plant in Illinois, which will bring good, union jobs back that community,” Su wrote. “The parties are also charting a future of good middle-class jobs in battery manufacturing, consistent with the President’s vision for a just transition where building a clean economy and creating good union jobs go hand-in-hand.”
But the UAW’s historic strike — the first time the labor group has targeted the Big Three simultaneously — began when thousands of workers walked off the job after their contracts with the automakers expired on Sept. 14. The union’s demands included a 36% wage hike over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; and a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers.
The dispute has also featured tough talk from Fain, who has called out the automaker CEOs for pinching pennies with workers while collecting lavish pay packages.
The aggressive tactics have yielded noteworthy breakthroughs for the UAW. Under their deal, Ford workers will receive a 25% pay bump over the 4.5-year life of the contract. Meanwhile, GM earlier this month agreed to place electric vehicle battery plants under a national contract with the UAW. Still, workers have also paid the price, with the automakers laying off thousands of employees.
Workers who participated in the strike have been paid through the union’s strike fund.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Thousands of United Auto Workers returned to work Thursday after their union and Ford reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract. The move now puts pressure on General Motors and Stellantis to also reach a deal with the UAW. The union has been striking against the Big Three automakers since last month.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain declared “a major victory” this week when union members reached a tentative agreement with Ford Motor that lifts most employees’ pay past $40 an hour.
The tentative deal is indeed a huge win for autoworkers, organized labor experts told CBS MoneyWatch.
The latest offer, announced Wednesday, includes a 25% wage increase across a four-and-a-half-year contract with restored cost-of-living adjustments and the elimination of a two-tiered wage system at two of Ford’s plants.
The proposed deal also shrinks the timeframe for when new employees are eligible to start earning top wages. Those specifics still need approval from the UAW’s national council and its general membership.
“This is tentative and there are more steps to take, but I see this as a good win for the employees and definitely for Shawn Fain and his team,” said Lynne Vincent, a business management professor at Syracuse University, who studies the psychological impacts of strikes.
UAW members began their historic strike last month when Ford, General Motors and Stellantis employees left their posts at factories in Wayne, Michigan, Wentzville, Missouri and Toledo, Ohio. The union decided not to strike at every factory those companies own and instead launched a so-called “stand up” strike involving strategic walkouts at three Big Three factories at first, which then expanded over the course of four weeks adding more pressure on automakers to give in to union demands. At the time, autoworkers were asking for a 40% pay raise, pension benefits to all employees and the return of cost-of-living adjustments that were eliminated in 2007, among other things.
The UAW didn’t get 40% and the union couldn’t get Ford to axe the two-tier system companywide, but “they won on their three main demands,” said Steven Greenhouse, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who studies labor organizing and workplace issues. A 25% wage increase combined with cost-of-lliving adjustments effectively gives UAW members at Ford a 33% raise.
“And by any measure, a 30% raise is a whole lot,” Greenhouse said.
Nevertheless, the Ford agreement signals a victory for UAW leaders who were able to energize and motivate thousands of workers to walk off the job, Greenhouse said. In doing so, the union managed to pressure Ford into upping wage increases to nearly triple its original 9% offer, Vincent said.
Ford was the first of Detroit’s Big Three automakers with which UAW leaders were looking to establish a new long-term labor contract, since their previous contract expired on September 14. The previous Ford contract gave workers a 6% pay increase every year for four years.
Ford’s tentative agreement with the UAW starts the clock ticking for GM and Stellantis to reach a deal, both Vincent and Greenhouse said. Vincent said she expects the remaining two automakers to offer the union a similar contract to Ford’s.
The UAW-Ford agreement is also a win for the union’s previously untested stand-up strike strategy which appears to have proved effective, said Vincent.
The tentative deal is an even bigger win for organized labor movements, she said.
“The right to strike over plant closures — that’s also a great part of this deal because the (auto) industry is changing so much with different types of technology and globalization, so having that right provides more power and protection to the workers,” Vincent said. “This is very much in line with what the employees wanted from the beginning.”
The success of the UAW’s unique strike strategy should motivate other unions to think about new ways to nudge employers into meeting worker demands, Vincent said. Workers fighting to unionize particularly at Amazon and Starbucks should dissect what happened in Detroit to come up with creative ways to further their own causes, she said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers reached a tentative contract agreement with Ford Wednesday evening, a move that could be critical to ending the union’s six-week-old strikes against Detroit’s Big Three automakers.
“Today we reached a tentative agreement with Ford,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a video posted to social media, while Ford also confirmed the deal in its own statement.
“We are pleased to have reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with the UAW covering our U.S. operations,” Ford CEO and President Jim Farley said.
The deal still needs to be approved by Ford’s approximately 57,000 UAW workers.
“I applaud the UAW and Ford for coming together after a hard fought, good faith negotiation and reaching a historic tentative agreement tonight,” President Biden said in a statement. “This tentative agreement is a testament to the power of employers and employees coming together to work out their differences at the bargaining table in a manner that helps businesses succeed while helping workers secure pay and benefits they can raise a family on and retire with dignity and respect.”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer congratulated the union and Ford for reaching a deal, saying she hoped “this momentum will help the UAW and the remaining companies reach an agreement so Michiganders can get back to doing what they do best.”
With a deal in place with Ford, the UAW would be able to use it to model similar contract settlements with GM and Stellantis. Typically, during past auto strikes, a UAW deal with one automaker has led the other companies to match it with their own settlements.
What’s in the deal?
The agreement includes a 25% general wage increase over the course of the four-year deal, said Chuck Browning, UAW vice president. That is 2% higher than Ford’s previous offer. Top wage earners will also now about $40 per hour, Browning said, and the agreement comes with an immediate 11% wage increase for all union members.
“UAW members at Ford will receive more and straight general wage increases over the next four-and-a-half years than we have over the last 22 years combined,” Browning said.
Temporary workers would also get wage increases of more than 150% over the life of the deal, while the union also won the right to strike over plant closures, Browning said.
“That means they can’t keep devastating our communities and closing plants with no consequences,” he said.
The tentative agreement also improves retirement benefits for current retirees, workers with pensions and those with 401(k) plans, Browning said.
What happens next?
Browning called on all Ford union members to go back to work, adding that they would “be receiving further instructions on the process of returning to work soon.” He called it “a strategic move to get the best deal possible,” saying it would keep the pressure on Stellantis and GM.
Fain said that the union’s national council for Ford would vote Sunday on whether to send the agreement to the membership for approval. More details on the deal would be announced on a Facebook Live that night should the agreement be approved. The union would then hold informational meetings on regional and local levels before the Ford membership would vote, Browning said.
What have been the effects of the strike?
The tentative deal comes roughly two weeks after 8,700 union members walked off the job at Ford’s largest factory in Kentucky. The factory in Louisville produces heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs.
Ford has laid off 3,167 employees because of the strike, which began last month. It’s unclear if those employees will immediately return to work.
“We are focused on restarting Kentucky Truck Plant, Michigan Assembly Plant and Chicago Assembly Plant, calling 20,000 Ford employees back to work and shipping our full lineup to our customers again,” Farley said.
Both GM and Stellantis released statements following news of the tentative agreement with Ford saying they were working with the union to reach deals soon.
Earlier this month, Ford Chairman Bill Ford called for the union to end its strike, arguing that the company his great-grandfather started in 1903 is not the enemy of UAW members.
The UAW strike began when thousands of workers left their posts after their contracts with automakers expired on Sept. 14. Since then, the automakers have laid off thousands of employees and blamed their moves on the prolonged work stoppage. GM has laid off about 2,350 employees across Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New York and Ohio due to the strike, according to the company.
Stellantis — the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram — has laid off about 1,520 employees across Indiana, Michigan and Ohio due to the strike.
On Monday, about 6,800 employees at Stellantis walked off the job at the automaker’s largest plant in suburban Detroit while approximately 5,000 GM workers walked off the job Tuesday in Texas.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Teachers in Fresno, California, have authorized a strike, and to fill the temporary vacancies, the school district is sending out a state-wide call for substitute teachers with a lucrative offer– $500 per day to cross the picket line. That’s more than the average daily pay for a full-time teacher in Fresno Unified School District and more than double the normal daily rate for substitute teachers.
If someone accepts a job in the classroom while the teachers are on strike, it will be regarded as crossing the picket line, according to Fresno Teachers Association President Manuel Bonilla. Guest teachers are not a part of the association, and if they teach during the strike they won’t be blacklisted, but Bonilla said it will undoubtedly damage personal relationships with teachers fighting for a fair contract.
“It’s hard to see one group of people fighting and advocating for positive change and another person that is getting in the way of that progress,” said Bonilla.
The union has been negotiating with the school district for a new contract, but both sides have yet to come to an agreement about class size, special education caseloads, health care policies and salary. Similar to the striking United Auto Workers, the Fresno Teachers Association said members want the salary increases in line with inflation and the cost of living index. Chief Communications Officer for Fresno Unified School District Nikki Henry referred to that request as a “straw man argument.”
Henry says more than 95% of the district’s substitute teachers have agreed to continue teaching during the strike. But even with many willing to overlook the strike for a higher wage – substitutes in the district typically make $200 a day – the substitute teacher shortage plaguing schools nationwide leads Borillo to believe the district won’t be able to adequately fill the spots left temporarily open by striking teachers in California’s third-largest school district.
Substitute teachers will see higher pay for work done while teachers are on strike.
CBS News
“We hear of the number of vacancies that take place on any given day. And so we do not believe that they have the ability to fill those spaces, and definitely not to fill them with qualified folks,” said Borillo.
The district has more than 2,100 credentialed substitute teachers who previously agreed to continue working even in the case of a strike, Henry said. She said outreach about the higher pay has been successful, and about 200 additional substitute teachers joined the district this past weekend.
“At this point, we have more than enough folks to make sure that our kids are taken care of and the learning continues,” Henry said.
Josiah Mariano, who began substitute teaching in Fresno Unified School District last spring, plans to continue to do so during the strike. He told CBS News his friends who are full-time teachers in the district already expected he would keep teaching, and he might even cover their classes. Mariano said while he received very few details about the strike and contract negotiations, the district sent several messages highlighting the $500 daily pay if substitute teachers committed to teach during the strike.
“That’s awesome to get paid that, but I can’t imagine that we’ll be able to sustain that for super long,” said Mariano. “That’s kind of nuts, you know, for a daily rate.”
The school district explained the incentive funding comes directly from wages withheld from teachers on strike. Henry said that means they’re able to continue the additional pay as long as the teachers are striking.
Teachers in Fresno, California.
Courtesy: California Teachers Association
“Our average teacher makes about $490 a day, so we’re just diverting those funds over to the substitute teacher that would be in the classroom that day,” said Henry. “It’s not a big additional cost to the district.”
Executive Director of the National Education Association Kim Anderson said Fresno is the first district she has seen offer this for substitute teachers filling in for striking teachers. She hopes it doesn’t become a common practice.
“This move to pay substitutes, frankly, even more than the daily rate of a teacher sends a horrible message to what we think about the profession of teaching, and all the educators who provide support services to students,” said Anderson. “Instead of looking to our band-aid solutions, we need everybody to recognize that students need high quality, well trained, committed and well compensated professionals every day of the year.”
While the amount being offered by Fresno Unified School District is unprecedented, other school districts have opted to provide substitute teachers with bonus pay if they cross the picket line of a striking teachers union in the past. In 2017, Fresno Unified School District presented the same $500 proposal for substitute teachers in the case of a strike. It was never implemented as a contract agreement was reached before a walkout took place, but the idea laid the groundwork for the strategy being used now.
“It was very successful in recruiting the substitutes that we needed,” said Henry about the 2017 offer. “Based on that success, we wanted to be prepared this time around.”
About 5,000 factory workers for General Motors walked off the job in Texas on Tuesday to join the United Auto Workers strike, impacting a factory that produces some of GM’s most profitable vehicles, including the Chevrolet Tahoe and Chevrolet Suburban.
The employees at Arlington Assembly left their posts just hours after GM reported third-quarter earnings of more than $3 billion in profit. Revenue during the most recent quarter, which ran from July through September, rose 5.4% to $44.1 billion.
The Arlington Assembly plant also produces the GMC Yukon and Cadillac Escalade.
“Despite having made $10 billion in profits in the past nine months, breaking revenue records for another consecutive quarter, and beating Wall Street expectations, GM’s latest offer fails to reward UAW members for the profits they’ve generated,” the union said in a statement.
GM on Tuesday said it was disappointed that Arlington workers decided to leave, labeling the UAW’s action an “unnecessary and irresponsible strike.”
“It is harming our team members who are sacrificing their livelihoods and having negative ripple effects on our dealers, suppliers, and the communities that rely on us,” the company said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in for more features.
The weekslong United Auto Workers strike intensified Monday when 6,800 employees at Stellantis walked off the job at the automaker’s largest plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Stellantis’ Sterling Heights Assembly Plant produces the RAM 1500 trucks, the company’s best-selling vehicles, UAW leaders said Monday. With another 6,800 in the fold, the UAW now has more than 40,000 workers on strike.
Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM) didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the strike.
UAW leaders also said Monday that Stellantis has the weakest labor contract offer on the table among Detroit’s Big Three automakers. On Friday, UAW President Shawn Fain said Ford, General Motors and Stellantis are all offering a 23% wage increase across a four-year contract.
This is a breaking story that will be developed later.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in for more features.
The chairman of Ford is urging the United Auto Workers to end its strike against the company his great grandfather Henry Ford started in 1903, arguing that America’s future is tied to the success of the iconic car brand.
In his first public statement since the union strike began last month, Bill Ford on Monday said some UAW members are his long-time friends. But he also criticized the union, saying its leaders have tried to paint the Michigan automaker as the enemy.
“This should not be Ford versus the UAW,” the chair said during a press conference in Dearborn, Michigan. “It should be Ford and the UAW versus Toyota, Honda and Tesla — and all the Chinese companies that want to enter our home market.”
Ford’s comments land as his company is engaged in protracted negotiations with the UAW over a new labor contract. The union is asking Detroit’s Big Three automakers for wage increases, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers and a four-day work week.
The strike entered its fifth week on Monday, as both sides remain at odds over key concessions. UAW leaders tapped more Ford employees to strike last Thursday with 8,700 walking out of a truck factory in Kentucky.
Four weeks of a UAW strike has already created $7.7 billion in industry losses, according to Michigan consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $3.45 billion in losses for the Big Three, the firm estimates.
Responding to Ford’s comments, Fain on Monday said the chairman should “Call up Jim Farley, tell him to stop playing games and get a deal done.” Farly is CEO of Ford Motors.
The union leader went on to say that employees at Honda, Tesla, Toyota, and others are not the enemy, they’re future UAW members.
“It’s not the UAW and Ford against foreign automakers. It’s autoworkers everywhere against corporate greed,” Fain said. “If Ford wants to be the all-American auto company, they can pay all-American wages and benefits.
In line with past statements by top executives at all Big Three automakers, who have argued since before the strikes began that they have been engaged in “good faith” negotiations with the UAW, Ford blasted union leaders for targeting the automaker’s Kentucky plant, despite record offers having been made.
“We’ve offered a record contract which would have made our UAW employees among the best paid manufacturing workers in the world,” said Ford. “Despite this, the UAW leaders decided to escalate and strike our Kentucky truck plant last week.”
Ford Motors, in response to the Kentucky strike, laid off an additional 550 employees across plants in Illinois, Michigan and Ohio. To date, about 2,480 Ford workers have been laid off as a result of the strike.
General Motors and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) have also laid off workers across the U.S. due to the strike.
The strike at the truck plant that builds the Super Duty pickup, Lincoln Navigator and Ford Expedition large SUVs took the automaker by surprise, a particularly tough blow as the lineup represents the company’s most lucrative products, generating $25 billion a year in revenue.
The UAW is no longer notifying the Big Three automakers before calling additional walkouts amid the labor group’s ongoing strike, Fain said in a live webcast on Friday.
“We are prepared at any time to call on more locals to stand up and walk out,” Fain said. “Going forward, we will be calling out plants when we need to, with little notice.”
Ford Motor and the UAW must resolve contract negotiations because that’s what’s best for workers, the auto sector and the nation, the Ford’s chairman also said.
“I call on my great UAW colleagues — some of whom I’ve known for decades,” Ford said, advising company negotiators to ignore the name-calling and accusatory rhetoric that often comes with hammering out a new labor agreement. “We need to come together to bring an end to this acrimonious round of talks.” Ford said he has been involved in negotiating every UAW contract since 1982 and the key is to not take the heated discussions personally.
“When this ends, we have to all work together again and, not just work together, but become a family and continue on and we will,” he said. “So that’s why I think it’s really important I keep urging restraint in terms of any kind of rhetoric, because it’s not helpful.”
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers union is raising the stakes against Detroit’s Three automakers, shutting down Ford’s largest factory and threatening Jeep maker Stellantis.
In a surprise move Wednesday night, 8,700 members left their jobs at Ford’s Kentucky truck plant in Louisville. Union President Shawn Fain said in a video on X (formerly known as Twitter) that the automaker “isn’t taking us serious” and blaming Ford for failing to resolve the impasse.
“They made it happen — this is on them, Fain said.
Ford’s truck plant makes heavy-duty F-Series pickup trucks and large Ford and Lincoln SUVs, hitting the company’s most lucrative products. The vehicles made at the plant generate $25 billion per year in revenue, the company said in a statement.
The Stand Up Strike just hit Ford’s biggest plant. Here’s how it went down, and why 8,700 members at Kentucky Truck Plant took action.#StandUpUAWpic.twitter.com/mzO0AZGMKS
Fain on Thursday also hinted at further action against Stellantis, which also owns Chrysler, Dodge and Ram, along with several foreign car brands. “Here’s to hoping talks at Stellantis today are more productive than Ford yesterday,” he wrote on X, without saying what might happen.
The strike came nearly four weeks after the union began its walkouts against General Motors, Ford and Stellantis on Sept. 15, with one assembly plant from each company.
“Painful aftershocks”
Ford called the UAW’s move to widen the strike on Wednesday “grossly irresponsible” and said it has made strong wage and benefit offers to the union. It said the move puts about a dozen other Ford facilities at risk, as well as parts supply plants.
“In addition to affecting approximately 9,000 direct employees at the plant, this work stoppage will generate painful aftershocks – including putting at risk approximately a dozen additional Ford operations and many more supplier operations that together employ well over 100,000 people,” the company said.
A Ford executive said the union called a meeting at the company’s Dearborn, Michigan, headquarters Wednesday afternoon where Fain asked if the company had another offer.
High-ranking Ford executives responded that they are working on possibly bringing electric vehicle battery plants into the UAW national contract, essentially making them unionized. But they didn’t have a significantly different economic offer, the executive said. Fain was told the company put a strong offer on the table, but there wasn’t a lot of room to increase it and keep it affordable for the business, the executive said.
Fain responded by saying, if that’s the company’s best offer, “You just lost Kentucky Truck Plant,” said the executive. The meeting only lasted about 15 minutes, he said.
The escalation against Ford shows that Fain is trying to increase pressure on the company, said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.
But Ford and the other automakers have made concessions and raised wage offers, he said. The companies, he said, “may have reached their resistance points to varying degrees.” Executives, he said, have bottom line positions they can’t cross in terms of staying competitive with other automakers.
Fain, Masters said, likely is testing how far he needs to push Ford before going to “full throttle,” by taking all 57,000 Ford members out on strike.
The union’s move doesn’t leave him optimistic for a quick end to the strikes, Masters said. “I think the issues that remain on the table are quite thorny,” he said, pointing to union demands that all workers get defined benefit pensions and health insurance when they retire.
The UAW expanded its strikes on Sept. 22, adding 38 GM and Stellantis parts warehouses. Assembly plants from Ford and GM were added the week after that. The Kentucky strike brings to 33,700 the number of workers on strike against the three automakers.
Thus far, the union has decided to target a small number of plants from each company rather than have all 146,000 UAW members at the automakers go on strike at the same time.
Mounting layoffs
The Big Three automakers have furloughed or laid off roughly 5,000 workers since the strike began. GM on Monday idled a total of 155 workers at plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. Ford let go 537 workers in Michigan and Ohio, according to the latest numbers posted on X. Stellantis laid off 570 workers at plants in Indiana and Michigan as recently as October 6, the company confirmed Monday.
Striking workers are receiving $500 a week from the union’s strike pay fund. In some states, laid-off workers could qualify for state unemployment aid, which, depending on a variety of circumstances, could be less or more than $500 a week.
Fiorani said that as the strikes widen, more workers will likely be laid off at non-striking plants.
Separate companies that manufacture parts for the automakers are likely to have laid off workers but might not report them publicly, said Patrick Anderson, CEO of the Anderson Economic Group in Lansing, Michigan.
A survey of parts supply companies by a trade association called MEMA Original Equipment Suppliers found that 30% of members have laid off workers and that more than 60% expect to start layoffs in mid-October.
The Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood studios resumed bargaining talks on Wednesday. It’s a sign of progress as the strike nears the three-month mark. CBS News correspondent Elise Preston reports.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers continue to lay off hundreds of factory workers as the United Auto Workers strike reaches its fourth week.
General Motors on Monday idled a total of 155 workers at plants in Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, the company confirmed. Ford let go 537 workers in Michigan and Ohio, according to the latest numbers posted on X. Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) laid off 570 workers at plants in Indiana and Michigan as recently as October 6, the company confirmed Monday. To date, Ford has laid off a total 1,865 non-union workers while GM has let go of 2,330 and Stellantis has released 640 — bringing the combined total of strike-related layoffs by the Big Three to roughly 4,835.
Automakers say they are forced to lay off those workers because their job tasks are tied to factories the UAW has called on to strike. Ford, GM and Stellantis have not disclosed if they plan to rehire those workers once the strike ends.
“While we are doing what we can to avoid layoffs, we have no choice but to reduce production of parts that would be destined for a plant that is on strike,” Bryce Currie, Ford’s vice president for Americas Manufacturing and Labor Affairs, said in a statement Monday. “Strike-related layoffs are an unfortunate result of the UAW’s strategy.”
The UAW launched its “stand-up strike” last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers halted work at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers; and a four-day work week. Automakers have responded by laying off thousands of non-union workers.
The layoffs are separate from the hundreds of workers let go by companies that supply parts to Ford, GM and Stellantis. LM Manufacturing, a Michigan company that makes seats for the Ford Bronco, temporarily laid off about 650 workers last month because of the UAW strike, CBS Detroit reported. Another supplier, Sodecia Automotive, said last week that it will temporarily lay off about 140 workers until late November, according to a company notice.
GM reaches agreement in Canada
The strike bug stretched north of Michigan on Tuesday as GM workers in Ontario, Canada, walked off the job. Hours later, both sides reached an agreement with GM saying in a statement that work will resume at the company’s facilities Tuesday afternoon.
Lana Payne, president of the Unifor union, which represents more than 20,000 Canadian autoworkers at the Big Three said GM agreed to all items that it members fought for such as pensions, retiree income and converting temporary workers into permanent employees during the agreement.
The new agreement covers about 4,300 autoworkers at three GM facilities in Ontario.
Automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers. GM on Monday brought to the negotiating table a 20% wage increase, an 8% company contribution to employee retirement accounts and increasing temporary worker wages to $20 an hour.
Negotiations are continuing this week but neither side has signaled an end in sight. The longer the strike lasts, the deeper it hurts the nation, economists have said.
Three weeks of the UAW strike has so far cost the U.S. economy $5.5 billion, according to Anderson Economic Group, a Michigan consultancy firm. That figure includes Big Three losses at around $2.68 billion and $1.6 billion in losses for parts suppliers.
— The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Union workers at Mack Trucks have voted down a tentative five-year contract agreement reached with the company and plan to strike at 7 a.m. Monday, the United Auto Workers union says.
Union President Shawn Fain said in a letter to Mack parent company Volvo Trucks that 73% of workers voted against the deal in results counted on Sunday.
“As you are aware, UAW members and workers across the economy are mobilizing to demand their fair share,” Fain wrote. “Over the last three months, we have met with Company representatives in an effort to address issues raised by our members. The Union remains open to exploring all options for reaching an agreement, but clearly we are not there yet.”
The UAW represents about 4,000 Mack workers in three states. Union leaders had reached a tentative agreement on the deal on Oct. 1.
The deal included a 19% pay raise over the life of the contract.
“We are surprised and disappointed that the UAW has chosen to strike, which we feel is unnecessary,” Mack president Stephen Roy said in a statement Sunday.
“We are committed to the collective bargaining process, and remain confident that we will be able to arrive at an agreement that delivers competitive wages and benefits for our employees and their families, while safeguarding our future as a competitive company and stable long-term employer,” Roy added. “We look forward to returning to negotiations as soon as possible.”
Fain said in his letter to Volvo Trucks’ head of labor relations that employees working early Monday will exit the factories after performing tasks needed to prevent damage to company equipment.
The workers are in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida.
Thousands of UAW members across at least 20 states were already striking as the union attempted to reach a deal with the Big Three automakers.
Thanks for reading CBS NEWS.
Create your free account or log in for more features.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain said Friday that the union’s ongoing strike against Detroit’s Big Three automakers is securing vital concessions, mooting the need to expand the work stoppage — at least for now.
“We are winning, we are making progress and we are headed in the right direction,” the union leader said in a broadcast on Facebook.
As evidence of that momentum, Fain said General Motors has agreed to fold employees at its forthcoming electric vehicle battery plant in Indiana into the UAW contract. “Today we made GM say yes when they’d rather say no,” he said.
Yet while Fain said negotiations are progressing, he also emphasized that Ford, GM and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with several foreign car brands) still need to meet union demands on issues including retirement benefits.
“Our strike is working but we’re not there yet,” he said. “Everything we’ve done has been [with] one goal in mind: record contract that reflects Big Three record profits.”
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years; annual cost-of-living adjustments; pension benefits for all employees; greater job security; a faster path to full-time status for temporary workers; and a four-day work week. Along with a pay hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted in 2007 as the companies were struggling financially.
The automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers, arguing that the UAW’s wage and other demands would make it hard to compete with other car manufacturers.
Automakers said this week they’re still negotiating in good faith, with Ford saying Thursday it would “continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues.”
“Negotiations remain ongoing, and we will continue to work towards finding solutions to address outstanding issues,” GM said Friday. “Our goal remains to reach an agreement that rewards our employees and allows GM to be successful into the future.”
“Transformative win”
Fain said the UAW was set to announce an additional strike at GM’s plant in Arlington, Texas, but union leaders changed course upon receiving a written agreement from the automaker that it would add its EV battery manufacturing to the UAW contract. The agreement was a “transformative win,” for the union’s membership said Fain, who sported a white T-shirt with the words “EAT THE RICH” in large bold letters for the livestream.
Workers at GM’s Arlington plant produce the Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban, the GMC Yukon and Yukon XL as well as the Cadillac Escalade and Escalade-V, CBS News Detroit reported.
GM adding the EV plants is “a monumental development,” said Marick Masters, a business professor at Wayne State University.
“GM went far beyond and gave them this,” he said. “And I think GM is thinking they may get something in return for this on the economic items.”
Battery plants are key to the union’s survival as the auto industry makes a generational transition from internal combustion engines to vehicles that run on electricity. Fain has long wanted to pull the battery factories into the national contracts with the intent of winning top union wages for workers.
If electric battery plants are nonunion and pay less than UAW-represented assembly plants for gas cars, workers who might eventually lose their jobs at gasoline engine and transmission plants would have no place to go to get the same wages and benefits.
The auto companies have said the plants, mostly joint ventures with South Korean battery makers, had to be bargained separately.
Fain also used Friday’s address to mention other concessions made by the Big Three: Ford began its negotiations by offering a 9% wage increase and that has more than doubled to 23%. Stellantis and GM meanwhile have current offers of 20% increases.
Fain said Ford and Stellantis have agreed to restore cost-of-living adjustments to worker wages, which were eliminated in 2007. The automakers have also agreed to reduce the time it takes for workers to reach top wages, which is currently eight years, to three years at Ford and four years at GM and Stellantis, he said.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain is scheduled to give an update Friday on the union’s labor contract negotiations with Detroit’s Big Three automakers, with some signs the sides are narrowing their differences as the strike inflicts an increasingly heavy financial toll.
Fain could yet call for additional targeted strikes at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis facilities, where about 25,000 workers at five vehicle assembly plants and 38 parts warehouses have walked off the job since the work stoppage began on Sept. 15. But UAW and automaker representatives made meaningful progress during talks Wednesday, the Associated Press reported, raising hopes of a possible thaw in the contentious negotiations. A source with the UAW also told CBS News that the sides are engaged in “active talks.”
What automakers are offering
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, a faster path to full-time jobs for temporary workers and a four-day work week.
Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted in 2007 as the companies were struggling financially.
Ford said in a statement that it sweetened its proposal to the union this week, offering a general wage increase of more than 20% over four years. The company also said it offered to increase retirement plan contributions and include temporary workers in profit-sharing.
GM made its latest offer to the UAW on Sept. 21, the details of which neither side has made public. The automaker’s previous offer included a 20% wage increase “over the life of the agreement” and cost-of-living adjustments.
GM on Wednesday announced it has lined up a line of credit of up to $6 billion in light of the possibility of a longer strike. The company said it is “being prudent in the face of uncertainty.” GM also said it estimates the strike will cost the company about $200 million in lost production in the third quarter.
The most recent offer from Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram) also includes a 20% wage increase through 2027 for full-time employees, and a 6% company match for retirement contributions.
Layoffs piling up
The UAW launched a coordinated strike last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers walked off the job in Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. Since then, the automakers have furloughed or laid off thousands of non-union workers at plants in five states.
Ford this week expanded its layoffs to 350 workers at a transmission plant in Livonia, Michigan, and 50 workers at an axle plant in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Those workers were officially laid off Thursday, bringing Ford’s total layoffs to 1,330, the company said in a statement.
“These are not lockouts,” Ford said. “These layoffs are a consequence of the strike at Chicago Assembly Plant, because these two facilities must reduce production of parts that would normally be shipped to Chicago Assembly Plant.”
GM has laid off more than 2,100 workers across four states, while Stellantis has idled nearly 370 workers, Reuters reported.
So far, the strike has cost the auto industry about $3.9 billion, according to an estimate from Michigan-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $325 million in worker wages, $1.12 billion in losses for the automakers, $1.29 billion in losses for parts suppliers, and $1.2 billion in dealer and customer losses.
The UAW so far has avoided strikes at factories that manufacture large pickup truck and SUVs, which account for much of the automakers’ profits.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
Detroit’s Big Three automakers are furloughing or laying off thousands of non-union employees amid a bitter standoff with striking members of the United Auto Workers.
The UAW on Oct. 29 expanded its nearly three-week-old strike to target GM’s Lansing Delta Township Assembly plant in Delta, Michigan, which manufactures the Chevrolet Traverse and Buick Enclave. Ford workers at the Chicago plant make the Explorer and Lincoln Aviator.
Automakers say the furloughs and layoffs are a result of the UAW strike, which has now entered its third week.
“It is unfortunate the UAW’s decision to call a strike at GM Lansing Delta Township Assembly continues to have negative ripple effects,” GM said in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday that confirmed the furloughs. “The impacted team members are not expected to return until the strike has been resolved. Since we are working under an expired labor agreement, there are no provisions for company-provided sub-pay in this circumstance.”
The automakers also said that a lengthy strike will lead to more layoffs for people who work at auto parts suppliers.
“We understand to date there are about 2,400 supplier employees that have been laid off,” Liz Door, Ford’s chief supply chain officer, said last week, adding that if the strike is prolonged, there could be “anywhere between 325,000 to 500,000 employees that could be laid off.”
The UAW has criticized the automakers’ moves to lay people off, with union chief Shawn Fain saying last month that the Big Three are using the layoffs as a tactic “to put the squeeze on our members to settle for less.”
The UAW launched a coordinated strike last month when nearly 13,000 autoworkers walked off the job at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio — the first time union members at the companies had simultaneously stopped work. Another 5,600 workers at 38 GM and Stellantis-owned parts distribution centers in 20 states walked off the job last month.
So far, the strike has cost the auto industry about $3.9 billion, according to an estimate from Michigan-based consulting firm Anderson Economic Group. That includes $325 million in worker wages, $1.12 billion in losses for the automakers, $1.29 billion in losses for parts suppliers, and $1.2 billion in dealer and customer losses.
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase over four years, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, restrictions on the use of temporary workers and a four-day work week. Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system the companies adopted after the 2008 financial crisis.
For their part, the automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers, while arguing that the UAW’s wage and other demands would make it hard to compete with other car manufacturers. Both sides have said they’re open to further negotiations.
“We can confirm there was a meeting today between the GM and UAW leadership teams,” GM spokesman David Barnas said in a statement to CBS News on Tuesday. “The union did present a counter to our proposal from Sept. 21. We are assessing, but significant gaps remain.”
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
The United Auto Workers union has reached a tentative contract agreement with Mack Trucks that covers about 4,000 workers in three states.
Mack Trucks confirmed a tentative agreement on a five-year contract early Monday after the UAW announced the deal just before midnight Sunday.
“The terms of this tentative agreement would deliver significantly increased wages and continue first-class benefits for Mack employees and their families,” Mack President Stephen Roy said. “At the same time, it would allow the company to successfully compete in the market, and continue making the necessary investments in our people, plants and products.”
“Nearly 4,000 UAW members at Mack Truck in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Florida (UAW Region 8 & Region 9) have a tentative agreement!,” the union said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
The UAW said that more details would become available as members review the tentative deal with Mack, which is owned by Volvo Group.
Mack Trucks confirmed a tentative agreement on a five-year contract early Monday after the UAW announced the deal just before midnight Sunday.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Mack said UAW members still need to ratify the agreement and that the union will schedule ratification meetings.
The deal announcement comes just after UAW expanded strikes against Detroit automakers Friday, ordering 7,000 more workers to walk off the job at a General Motors plant in Lansing, Michigan, and a Ford plant in Chicago, to put more pressure on the companies to improve their offers.
The strike began on September 15 when nearly 13,000 autoworkers halted work at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. A week later, another 5,600 workers at 38 GM and Stellantis-owned parts distribution centers in 20 states walked off the job. The activity marks the first UAW strike since auto workers walked out on GM in 2019.
Union President Shawn Fain told workers in a video appearance that the strikes were escalated because Ford and GM refused “to make meaningful progress” in contract talks.
The UAW spared additional strikes at Stellantis. Fain said the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram has made progress on negotiations, including in cost-of-living adjustments and giving workers the right to strike.
“We are excited about this momentum at Stellantis and hope it continues,” Fain said.
President Biden joined UAW strikers this week in Michigan on the picket line — a historically unprecedented move for a sitting U.S. president — saying they saved the auto industry following the 2008 financial crisis and urging them to “stick with it.”
What the UAW wants
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase across a four-year contract, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, restrictions on the use of temporary workers and a four-day work week. Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system adopted at the companies after the 2008 financial crisis.
Automakers have long said that they are willing to give raises, but they fear that a costly contract will make their vehicles more expensive than those built at nonunion U.S. plants run by foreign corporations.
The United Auto Workers is expected on Friday to announce additional work stoppages at Detroit’s Big Three carmakers, expanding a strike that has already shuttered assembly plants, parts distribution centers and other facilities across more than 20 states.
UAW President Shawn Fain is scheduled to appear in a broadcast on Facebook at 10 a.m. to give an update on the status of labor negotiations with Ford, General Motors and Stellantis (the parent company of Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, along with a number of foreign brands).
The UAW launched its “stand-up strike” — a rhetorical nod to the “sit-down” strike by GM workers in Flint, Michigan, in the 1930s — on September 15 when nearly 13,000 autoworkers halted work at Big Three assembly plants Michigan, Missouri and Ohio. A week later, another 5,600 workers at 38 GM and Stellantis-owned parts distribution centers in 20 states walked off the job. Ford was spared, with Fain saying the sides were making headway on wage, job security and other issues.
The UAW’s demands include a 36% pay increase across a four-year contract, annual cost-of-living adjustments, pension benefits for all employees, greater job security, restrictions on the use of temporary workers and a four-day work week. Along with a wage hike, the union also wants the automakers to eliminate a two-tiered wage system adopted at the companies after the 2008 financial crisis.
For their part, the automakers say they have made reasonable counteroffers, while arguing that the UAW’s wage and other demands would make it hard to compete with other car manufacturers.
Union leaders counter that the Big Three reaped hefty profits as car prices jumped during the pandemic, while workers failed to enjoy the same benefits.
The UAW striking in weekly waves allows the union to “inflict significant disruption while minimizing the number of workers not receiving paychecks,” Benjamin Salisbury, an analyst at Height Capital Markets, said in a report.
The UAW’s next targets are likely to include plants that make some of the Big Three’s most profitable vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Silverado and Ram pickup trucks, according to experts.
“Of note, the auto companies produce trucks at multiple factories,” Salisbury said. “Therefore the union may select only a few facilities to up the ante but continue work at others to serve as leverage if negotiations worsen.”
Striking workers are receiving pay through an $825 million fund set up by the UAW.
Khristopher J. Brooks is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering business, consumer and financial stories that range from economic inequality and housing issues to bankruptcies and the business of sports.
After nearly five months on the picket line, Hollywood writers reached a tentative deal on a new labor contract with major film and television studios. CBS News correspondent Elise Preston reports.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
President Biden will travel to Michigan next week to meet with the United Auto Workers who are striking against Detroit’s Big Three automakers. This comes after the union expanded its historic strike Friday to include General Motors and Stellantis parts distribution centers across 20 states. CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave reports.
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.
