UAW president decides not to expand strike for now, urges solidarity

Oct. 13 (UPI) -- UAW President Shawn Fain said Friday no additional plants were added to the union's ongoing strike against GM, Ford and Stellantis. But he called on UAW members still working as the strike hits the one-month mark to join picket lines Saturday.

In a Facebook message Fain said Friday: "If we're going to raise standards rather than lower them. If we're going to go from defense to offense. Then we're going to need reinforcements. We're going to need to show up for each other in a big way. So tomorrow, show up for each other on the picket line. Bring our strikers some warm food, some music, some solidarity. "

Fain said the union has entered a new phase of the strike and the UAW will no longer wait until Fridays to announce possible expansions of the strike to new plants but could call more workers out at any time.

On Wednesday Fain expanded the strike to Ford's Louisville Kentucky truck plant, a big profit center for Ford.

Ford called that action "grossly irresponsible" and said the UAW decision to reject Ford's last offer, which the company described as a record contract, carries serious consequences for the workers and the industry.

Ford has not made a different offer to settle the strike since that plant was struck. The company says it has reached the limit of what it's willing to offer.

"The ultimate authority in our union is the membership. We decide together whether we've won enough or whether we need to keep fighting for more," Fain said in the Facebook live stream Friday.

He said the company boss doesn't decide and the UAW president doesn't decide. The membership decides.

"Corporate America rebounded after the Great Recession and corporate profits are soaring. Corporate profits hit a 70-year high in 2022," Fain said. "Meanwhile, the working class has kept going backwards."

He said stagnant wages and rising inflation have eroded the living standards of workers.

Unless employers start coming to their senses, unless we start to see real gains in our contracts that match the gains we've seen on Wall Street, then I predict there's going to be a lot more strikes on the horizon."

Fain said that for two weeks Ford told the union that there was more money to be had in the contract offer. He said Ford urged the union to hang on because Ford felt the sides were close to reaching a deal.

He said on Wednesday "they owed us an offer and they gave us a call." Fain said Ford indicated the offer would be the same, so he told them if they were going to offer nothing they were going to do it "to our face" and not on Zoom.

UAW negotiators went to Ford headquarters, Fain said the company offered nothing further so he told them that decision "just cost them the Kentucky Ford plant."

Fain said at this point in the strike the UAW is looking for one thing only -- a deal, a tentative agreement.

He said the union is still bargaining hard with GM and Stellantis on an ongoing effort to reach a deal and end the strike.

Fain explained why the UAW is pushing hard for record labor contracts that match the record profits of the Detroit Three automakers.

"We are here to address decades of falling standards and unfair treatment of the American autoworker," Fain said.