UAW President Shawn Fain praises 'major breakthrough' with GM on EV battery plans

Doug Cunningham
·4 min read
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UAW President Shawn Fain said via a live stream strike update Friday that a major breakthrough was reached with GM to bring the company's EV battery workers under the national UAW master labor agreement. He said significant progress is being made at the bargaining table with the Detroit Three but no tentative agreements have been reached yet to end the strike. Photo courtesy UAW Facebook

Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Wearing an "Eat The Rich" T-shirt, UAW President Shawn Fain said during a live stream auto strike update that a major breakthrough was reached that will bring GM's EV battery workers under UAW contracts.

"Moments before broadcast, we reached a major breakthrough that dramatically changes negotiations and the future of our industry," Fain said. "GM has agreed to place electric battery manufacturing under UAW master bargaining agreement."

Fain said the UAW was ready to strike GM's Arlington, Texas, plant Friday that he described as GM's biggest moneymaker.

He said that threat brought a "transformative win."

"Today, under the threat of a major financial hit, they leapfrogged the pack in a major transition," Fain said. "Our strike is working."

Striking United Auto Workers, members of 2250 of the General Motors Wentzville Assembly Plant hold up signs in solidarity. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Striking United Auto Workers, members of 2250 of the General Motors Wentzville Assembly Plant hold up signs in solidarity. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

Fain said GM has agreed to lay the foundation for a just transition for autoworkers to an EV auto industry.

But he said that while there has been progress 22 days into the strike, the union is not there yet on reaching tentative agreements with the Detroit Three automakers ahead of a UAW solidarity rally set for Saturday in Chicago.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., leaves the stage after talking to striking United Auto Workers, members of 2250 of the General Motors Wentzville Assembly Plant in Wentzville, Missouri on Sunday, September 24, 2023. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., leaves the stage after talking to striking United Auto Workers, members of 2250 of the General Motors Wentzville Assembly Plant in Wentzville, Missouri on Sunday, September 24, 2023. Photo by Bill Greenblatt/UPI

The UAW seeks record contracts for its members in an era of record-high U.S. automaker profits.

"This strike is about righting the wrongs of the past and winning justice for all of our members," Fain said. "We are winning. We are making progress and we are headed in the right direction."

GM said Wednesday the strike so far has cost the company about $200 million, as it made a sixth offer to the UAW this week after meeting with Fain Wednesday at the UAW's Solidarity House in Detroit.

"We can confirm that we provided a counter offer to the UAW's most recent proposal -- our sixth since the start of negotiations. We believe we have a compelling offer that would reward our team members and allow GM to succeed and thrive into the future. We continue to stand ready and willing to negotiate in good faith 24/7 to reach an agreement," GM said in a statement to the Detroit Free Press.

"CEO's are trying to trivialize our strike. We want the public to understand our fight and to stand with us as poll after poll shows that they do," Fain said. "We've shown the Big Three we are not afraid to use our power."

Fain said progress has been made on wages, cost-of-living adjustments, profit sharing, temporary workers and wage progression (the time it takes new hires to reach full UAW pay in the auto plants."

Ford said Tuesday it made a "comprehensive" offer to the UAW that included a 26% pay increase over the four years that would convert all temporary employees to permanent status within 90 days of hire.

Fain said Ford started with a 9% pay increase offer and is now, three weeks into the strike, is offering 23%.

Ford's offer would also restore the traditional cost-of-living allowance the UAW wants and eliminate pay tiers that pay starting workers less than veteran workers. But it still falls short of what the UAW is demanding and says its members deserve.

Fain said Friday that Ford and Stellantis are "committed to returning to the 2007 COLA formula" and GM isn't far behind on that issue.

Last Friday Fain expanded the strike, calling an additional 7,000 Ford and GM workers in Chicago and Michigan to the picket lines.

The Big Three automakers have said the UAW demands to match record company profits with record contracts aren't sustainable for them to remain profitable.

But Fain and the UAW rank and file insist they deserve more and that the companies can afford to pay them now to make up for major concessions the UAW made when the Detroit Three were in financial crisis in 2008.

Fain said the UAW doesn't just strike "for the hell of it." He said the UAW's mission is to "fight like hell" for the best possible deal.

"GM agreed to put the future of this industry under our national agreement. This result is directly due to the power of our membership," Fain said. "We're not gonna wait around forever. We're not here to start a fight. We're here to finish one."