The United Auto Workers will not expand its strike against the Big Three auto manufacturers for the time being, union President Shawn Fain said Friday, since contract talks have made "significant progress" in recent days.
Fain said the union was poised to strike some of General Motors’ most-profitable product lines, but that the company made a major concession on bringing electric vehicle production under its master agreement with the UAW.
“We were about to shut down GM’s biggest moneymaker in Arlington, Texas,” Fain said in an afternoon livestream, referring to an assembly plant that makes popular SUVs. "GM has now agreed in writing to place their electric battery manufacturing under our master agreement. We were told for months this was impossible.”
Securing some guarantees amid the ongoing transformation from internal combustion engines to electric ones has been a top priority for the UAW in its negotiations with GM, Stellantis and Ford, and the concession will likely add pressure on the other two to follow suit.
It also is likely to be welcome news at the White House, which has been fending off union criticism of the EV transition President Joe Biden has been promoting.
"Because of our power GM has agreed to lay the foundation for a just transition," Fain said.
The UAW's announcement serves as an olive branch of sorts to the automakers, as well as at least a momentary respite for the White House and Democrats representing auto-producing regions, who support the workers’ demands while quietly fearing that an extended strike could hurt the economy and their political prospects heading into 2024.
Still, Fain cautioned that the union could reverse course and resume escalating its strike — which stands at 25,000 of the UAW’s nearly 150,000 members across the Big Three — if negotiations hit speed bumps.
“We don't strike for the hell of it,” he said. “The Big Three know we are not messing around and they know if they want to avoid more strikes, they will have to pony up.”
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