United Auto Workers (UAW) union president Shawn Fain is expected to call for more strikes in remarks Friday morning after the companies failed to meet his deadline to reach a deal.
The union is demanding a 40 percent pay increase, better benefits and a four-day work week, but Detroit’s big three automakers say the demands are too expensive.
Mike Hayes, a member of the UAW’s bargaining committee said in an interview outside Stellantis’ North American headquarters, ‘We need to keep jobs in this country. They are taking billions in tax incentives but when it comes to keeping jobs here, they won’t guarantee anything.’
Automakers have countered with roughly half of what the union is demanding, saying they have given record offers.
General Motors Chief Executive Officer Mary Barra told salaried staff that the UAW’s latest counteroffer was still too expensive, reported Bloomberg.
United Auto Workers union president Shawn Fain is expected to call for more strikes Friday
The historic strike began last week after automakers and union members failed to reach a deal in contract negotiations
The union strategy is to call on select locations to strike to keep the companies guessing which plants may be affected next.
Workers at Ford Chicago plant could be the next group called on to join the picket line reported ABC 7.
‘They’re coming together and making progress, but there’s still a wide gap on the economic side and that’s our wages, our cost of living allowance and pensions for all and those are the sticking points right now,’ UAW Local 551 president Chris Pena said.
Currently, about 13,000 UAW members are on strike at Ford, General Motors, and Stellantis plants in Missouri, Michigan and Ohio.
The automakers have responded by announcing plants closures and hundreds of furloughs.
Stellantis temporarily laid off 68 employees at their Toledo Machining Plant in Perrysburg, Ohio, due to storage constraints as a result of the strike. The company estimated 300 employees in Kokomo, Indiana will also be let go.
General Motors announced 2,000 layoffs and closed its Kansas plant, claiming there is ‘no work’ due to a strike at another plant. Ford also laid off 600 employees when the strike began.
United Auto Workers members are asking for a 40 percent pay increase, better benefits and a four-day work week. Automakers say the demands are too expensive
The first round of strikes targeted plants that produce smaller trucks, but plants that produce the bestselling large pickup trucks could be next
Anderson Economic Group predicts a full 10-day strike could result in a total economic loss of more than $5 billion and would cause automotive suppliers and auto dealers to see both long and short term losses.
They say car dealerships only have inventory to last about 55 days and conditions from a strike will affect dealers and customers much sooner rather than later.
S&P Global Mobility estimated that the combined impact on automakers could be about 3,200 units per day.
The initial strikes targeted plants that make sport utility vehicles and trucks. Now there is speculation the companies most profitable vehicles, large pickup trucks, could be targeted next.
A recent Barclays report said pickups built in North America are the ‘profit engines’ accounting for ‘substantially all of the profit at GM and Ford.’
Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk
