Jamie L. LaReauPhoebe Wall HowardEric D. Lawrence
Detroit Free Press
UAW supporters gather outside of the Michigan Assembly plant
The United Auto Workers launched a historic strike late Thursday by targeting all three Detroit automakers at once after contract negotiations failed to land a new deal.
UAW members at three assembly plants in Michigan, Ohio and Missouri went on strike after their labor contracts expired at 11:59 p.m. The UAW confirmed that about 13,000 members across the three plants are walking the picket lines.
As the deadline for a new contract passed, cheering could be heard from inside the gates at Stellantis' Toledo Assembly Complex as cars and trucks streamed out and honking horns provided the soundtrack. At Ford Motor Co.'s Michigan Assembly in Wayne, union strikers cheered: "We love you, Shawn, we love you," when UAW President Shawn Fain arrived after midnight to join the picket line. He stayed until after 1 a.m. and told members, "I work for you."
The third plant targeted in what was branded as the first wave of walkouts was General Motors' Wentzville Assembly in Missouri. In Wayne, only the Final Assembly and Paint portion of the facility was targeted.
The strike, which the union is calling the "Stand Up Strike," is targeting specific plants of Ford, General Motors and Stellantis, which makes Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Fiat brands. Union leaders have said they will select new target plants to take out on strike in various waves if negotiations continue to fail to land new agreements with the auto companies. The strategy is designed to keep the automakers off-guard and leverage the union's position to secure a better contract than the offers the Detroit automakers have made so far.
"This strategy will keep the companies guessing. It will give our national negotiators maximum leverage and flexibility in bargaining. And if we need to go all out, we will. Everything is on the table," Fain said in a late night livestream to members on Facebook Live.
“No matter what, all of us need to keep organizing: Rallies, protests, red shirt days,” Fain said during the broadcast. “We must show the companies you are ready to join and stand up and fight on a moment’s notice.”
His comments came near the end of a day of last-minute bargaining that ultimately stalled. The UAW has been negotiating with all three carmakers separately, yet simultaneously, since late summer.
Automakers react in disappointment
Shortly before midnight, GM sent out a statement saying the union informed the automaker it was on strike at Wentzville Assembly as of 11:59 PM.
"We are disappointed by the UAW leadership's actions, despite the unprecedented economic package GM put on the table, including historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments," the statement said. "We will continue to bargain in good faith with the union to reach an agreement as quickly as possible for the benefit of our team members, customers, suppliers and communities across the U.S. In the meantime, our priority is the safety of our workforce.”
Stellantis also sent a statement: "We are extremely disappointed by the UAW leadership's refusal to engage in a responsible manner to reach a fair agreement in the best interest of our employees, their families and our customers. We immediately put the Company in contingency mode and will take all the appropriate structural decisions to protect our North American operations and the Company."
Ford did not immediately provide a comment.
Cheering crowds at striking plants
Just before midnight, a man in his white GMC pickup delivered firewood to the Toledo Assembly Complex for the burn barrel that was just bursting to flame. He didn’t want to give his name but said he works mornings at the plant building Jeeps and, “I’m just trying to make sure people stay warm,” he said.
Outside Michigan Assembly in Wayne, striking workers carried signs reading, “UAW on Strike” and others with the phrase, “Saving the American Dream.”
Parking lots across the street from Michigan Assembly rapidly filled as UAW members arrived cheering and chanting and singing and shouting. They carried signs and created a sea of red in their union shirts. Cars and trucks honked while passing.
When Fain arrived after the midnight deadline, an animated crowd of people quickly surrounded him and cheered. One man remarked that even at six foot four inches, he couldn’t see Fain in the crush of people surrounding the union leader.
Members shouted, “We love you, Shawn, we love you.”
Some of the handmade signs on display at Michigan Assembly: “Detroit is a union town,” “32 hours work for 40 hours pay!” and “get wise, organize.”
Not long after midnight, members in Wayne began to chant, “Mighty, mighty union, autoworker’s union.”
Retired autoworkers, members of other unions and politicians including U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, came out to support the strikers.
“We’re at a crossroads,” Dingell said, standing outside of the UAW Local 900’s union hall across from the plant in Wayne. Dingell was dressed head-to-toe in red, matching colors with many of those flanking Michigan Avenue on Thursday night. “These negotiations are the most important ones I’ve witnessed in my life."
'We gave up a lot'
The striking workers have their own reasons for wanting to walk out.
Dwayne Walker, 60, president of UAW Local 900, stood at the picket line in Wayne late Thursday. Local 900 has about 5500 members, he said, 4,000 of whom are now on strike at Michigan Assembly.
“Our motive is not a labor strike,” Walker said. “We’re trying to accomplish some things.”
Joel Ventimeglia, 46, of St. Clair Shores, said he inspects Bronco and Ranger vehicles on the line, and has worked for Ford at Michigan Assembly for 11 years. His reasons for walking the line are simple, “We gave up a lot a long time ago,” he said. “We just want what’s fair.”
Some of the striking workers in Wayne said they are concerned about paying for medical bills to address maladies they’ve accumulated from working such an active job.
“Plants put your body in shambles and the money they give you for retirement doesn’t go to cover the medical bills and it puts you in debt,” said Dino DeBlair, 57, of Carleton, an upfitter who adheres stickers to cars and has worked at Ford for 28 years.
DeBlair said benefits have dwindled and wages have remained stagnant for too long.
Charmaine Sanderfield, 34, of Canton, has been an assembly worker at the plant in Wayne for nearly four years. She said “record-breaking” profits should benefit workers, too. “It’s been a long time coming: It’s time to give us rightfully what’s ours,” she said. “People break their backs, their hands, their arms and spend time away from their families to build these vehicles."
Virginia Williams, a 65-year-old retired Wayne assembly worker, said she worked as a laborer for 28 years and is now chair pro tem of Romulus’ City Council. Williams retired 10 years ago, but has three children and a grandson working at Ford.
“We can’t have workers making cars they can’t afford to buy,” she said. “It makes them feel angry.”
But one arguments some analysts have made is that if they give the union members all that they ask for, prices for new vehicles, especially electric cars, will have to go up.
Supplemental work is 'hell'
Back in Toledo, Leticia Lopez, 38, of Toledo has been a supplemental worker at the Toledo Assembly Complex for four years. She's one of 1,400 supplemental workers there, she said. Before that, she’d been a supplemental worker for 3 ½ years at GM.
Early Friday morning, she stood outside her plant cheering. She’s been waiting, she said, for this moment. Working as a supplemental worker at the plant is more than difficult.
“It’s hell,” Lopez said, noting that during the pandemic, when others stayed home if they needed to, supplemental workers “were stuck in here,” she said, pointing to the plant.
The mother of seven said she stays at her job for the health care, which is free, but it doesn’t come with dental or vision coverage. Her current pay is $17 an hour and she said there’s no pathway to a permanent spot.
Dawnya Ferdinandsen, 54, of Sandusky stood outside the Toledo Assembly Complex cheering on the cars and trucks as they honked and sped by.
“Blow that horn, that’s it,” she said.
Ferdinandsen works at the GM Propulsion plant in Toledo but came to the Stellantis plant in solidarity.
“They supported us when we went out,” she said, referencing the 2019 strike against GM when workers from Ford and Stellantis, then Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, would join the picketers outside the GM plants during their free time.
'Spur negotiations rather than paralyze'
Stellantis makes its popular Jeep Wrangler, Wrangler 4xe and Jeep Gladiator pickups at the Toledo Complex. At Michigan Assembly, formerly called Michigan Truck Plant, Ford builds the Ranger mid-size pickup and the Bronco SUV. Wentzville Assembly in Missouri is where GM builds the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon midsize pickups and the Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana vans.
"At this point, the three assembly plants that will walk out are a dramatic shot across the bow," said labor expert Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at the University of California-Berkeley. "The closure creates economic pain without a wider paralysis throughout the company. It is meant to spur negotiations rather than paralyze the company."
If the tactic doesn't work to get a better offer, Shaiken said other more “strategic” plants may be struck that could increase the pressure on the automakers by crippling facilities that make engines, transmissions and other vital components.
"A GM stamping plant — the Chevrolet Metal Center in Flint — and a GM Delphi electronics plant in Flint went out on a 54-day strike in 1998 paralyzing virtually the entire corporation," Shaiken said.
The union's strategy possibly could lead to a lockout at other facilities that aren't struck but may not be able to operate with certain components, raising the spectre there that workers at those plants would suffer financial losses.
Alternatively, the union could revert to shutting all plants at a single automaker, Shaiken said.
"What puts us in uncharted waters is a number of sharply different paths open to the union to press its demands. We also have to be aware, however, that the UAW isn’t the only actor here," Shaiken said. "The automakers could begin choosing strategic options as well."
The UAW's initial strike targets are noteworthy because they affect an assembly plant at each of the three companies, said Marick Masters, a labor expert and business professor at Wayne State University.
"This action is significant enough to convey the union's resolve in escalating pressure to get a better deal than has been put on the table so far," Masters said. "By not striking critical components plants the UAW avoids painting the companies into the corner."
Ford's bargaining late into the night
Shortly after Fain's 10 p.m. Facebook address, Ford put out an update to its final day of bargaining with the union.
"At 8 p.m. this evening at Solidarity House in Detroit, the United Auto Workers presented its first substantive counterproposal to Ford a few hours from the expiration of the current four-year collective bargain agreement," Ford's statement read. "On the key economic issues that matter most to our UAW-represented employees, Ford has submitted four proposals to the UAW since Aug. 29."
Ford said its last offer was "historically generous," with "large" wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, more paid time off, additional retirement contributions and more.
"Unfortunately, the UAW’s counterproposal tonight showed little movement from the union’s initial demands submitted Aug. 3," Ford's statement read. "If implemented, the proposal would more than double Ford’s current UAW-related labor costs, which are already significantly higher than the labor costs of Tesla, Toyota and other foreign-owned automakers in the United States that utilize non-union-represented labor."
Ford said union negotiators made clear that unless it agreed to the UAW's "unsustainable terms," it would strike at 11:59 p.m.
"Ford has bargained in good faith in an effort to avoid a strike, which could have wide-ranging consequences for our business and the economy," Ford said. "It also impacts the very 57,000 UAW-Ford workers we are trying to reward with this contract. Our hourly employees would take home nearly 60% less on average with UAW strike pay than they would from working. And without vehicles in production, the profit-sharing checks that UAW workers could expect to receive early next year will also be decimated by a significant strike.
"Ford remains absolutely committed to reaching an agreement that rewards our employees and protects Ford’s ability to invest in the future as we move through industry-wide transformation."
GM's last-minute offer
GM CEO Mary Barra said late Thursday afternoon that the automaker made a historic offer earlier to the UAW that pushes the hourly wage increase up to 20% over the life of the contract compared with 18%, which is what Fain said the company had offered a day earlier.
"We’ve worked days, nights and weekends since receiving the UAW’s demands. We have been bargaining in good faith to deliver a better package with historic wage increases and manufacturing commitments, recognizing your contributions to our company — past, present, and future," Barra said in a statement. "We are working with urgency and have proposed yet another increasingly strong offer with the goal of reaching an agreement tonight. Remember: we had a strike in 2019 and nobody won."
Fain revealed the list of "members" demands on Aug. 1 and they include:Eliminating wage tiers
A 40% wage increase over the life of the contract. The 40% signifies the increase to CEO salaries.
Restoring the cost-of-living allowance adjustments to counteract inflation
Defined benefit pension for all workers
The right to strike over plant closures
A reduced work week and more paid time off
Limiting the use of temporary workers
Increased benefits to current retirees
What is needed for a settlement
To get a tentative agreement that can be ratified by the membership, the UAW wants an offer that goes further on such critical issues as wages, workers reaching a top wage sooner, and the use of temps, Masters said.
"Something north of a 30% increase in general wages, a more expedited progression to the top tier (less than three years), and restrictions on the usage of temps will be necessary steps toward a settlement," Masters said. "Obviously, the more pay that can be put into the electronic accounts of the workers the better, and there are ways of doing so without further increasing base wages."
Early on in Facebook Live appearances to members, Fain shared the offers the Detroit carmakers proposed and he indicated they belonged in the trash because they fell short of meeting any of the union's demands. At the end of last month, he filed unfair labor practice charges against GM and Stellantis saying they were bargaining in bad faith because they had not yet made a serious offer to address the demands.
Fain has emphasized that the automakers collectively have made $21 billion in the first half of the year and billions more in recent years without giving hourly workers their "fair share" after they gave big wage concessions back in 2009 when GM and Stellantis, then called Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, were going through bankruptcy.
Lawmakers weigh in
Within minutes of the strike statements from key lawmakers started streaming in to media.
Democratic U.S. Sens. Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow of Michigan both support the UAW members. Peters said he will walk the picket line with striking auto workers Friday at 8:15 a.m. outside the Ford Michigan Assembly Plant..
Stabenow said union workers "helped build the middle class in our country and keep our economy strong. They deserve just pay and benefits, job security, and the commitment to be treated as equal partners with our auto companies as they lead the new clean energy economy.”
U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a Democrat representing southwestern Michigan, said, “I stand with the men and women on the picket line and urge the automakers to accept a contract that rewards UAW workers for the contributions they’ve made and the profits they’ve built.”
Speaker of the Michigan House Joe Tate, D-Detroit registered his support for the UAW members, noting about 300,000 Michigan workers are hourly workers connected to the auto industry.
“Workers are the backbone of the American auto industry, and organized labor is a part of our state’s enduring legacy," Tate said. "Decades of hard work and leadership by unions forged a path to help ensure safe workplaces, competitive wages, and the ability to raise and support a family. They helped make the American dream a reality for generations of Michiganders."
He said Michigan’s economy benefits when workers and industry negotiate together.
U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing, said she backs the UAW workers who are "fighting to make sure a hard day’s work means a good life for you and your family. For the last two years, we’ve passed bills to incentivize American manufacturing and bring supply chains home from places like China. But the companies that benefit from these policies need to do right by the workers who make their success possible."
Slotkin said she will join auto workers on the picket line this weekend, but hopes the strike is short and the parties can continue to negotiate to reach an agreement quickly.
More: In the last hours of bargaining, GM, Ford and Stellantis move to UAW headquarters
More:Possible UAW strike Q&A: Sticking points, company profits, how long it could last
Contact Jamie L. LaReau: jlareau@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @jlareauan.
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