The president of the United Auto Workers union announced, Friday, September 22, the extension of the strike within the factories of manufacturers General Motors (GM) and Stellantis, due to lack of progress in negotiations, while “real progress” were carried out with Ford.
Shawn Fain specified that the 38 spare parts distribution centers of GM and Stellantis, located in twenty states in the United States, were called to stop work from noon (4 p.m. in France) Friday.
The three factories, already on strike since September 15, when the collective agreements expired without agreement for the next ones, will remain on strike, he said. These three sites – one for each of the big three manufacturers – employ some 12,700 of the 146,000 union members working for the “Big Three”. This is the first time that a strike has affected all three groups at the same time.
40% salary increase
Concerning Ford, Shawn Fain clarified that there had been ” movement “ but what “serious problems” persisted. Furthermore, on Friday he invited the President of the United States, Joe Biden, who has supported the strikers on several occasions, to join a strike picket.
Joe Biden notably pleaded for a sharing ” just “ of the “record profits”. And he said to himself ” proud “ Wednesday that his government “be described as the most “pro-union” administration in American history”.
He wore a red tie to the United Nations General Assembly in New York this week in solidarity with the strikers, the White House said.
The union is demanding, among other things, a salary increase of 40% over four years, corresponding to that which the group leaders have benefited from over the last four years.