UAW expands strike to Ford’s biggest plant, Stellantis in focus

(Reuters) – The United Auto Workers (UAW) are expected to return to talks with Chrysler maker Stellantis on Thursday, a day after a surprise walkout at Ford’s biggest and most profitable plant sharply raised the stakes for the Detroit Three.

The decision to shut Ford’s Kentucky truck plant employing 8,700 workers, the largest single walkout since targeted strikes began four weeks ago, came as the UAW and Stellantis prepared for another major round of bargaining.

As the union’s strike enters its 28th day, here is a timeline of events beginning with the election of UAW President Shawn Fain in March:

Date Development

March 25 Shawn Fain wins the race for UAW

president; vows to take a tough stance

against the Big Three automakers.

July 10 The union says it will open contract talks

with Detroit’s Big Three automakers starting

July 13.

July 11 Fain says the union is not afraid to hold a

strike at any of the automakers without a

fair contract.

July 19 Fain meets President Joe Biden at the White

House as the union briefed the staff on

contract talks with the automakers.

Aug. 1 The UAW presents demands to Stellantis, says

the union is seeking ambitious benefit

increases from the Detroit Three, including

double-digit pay rises and defined-benefit

pensions for all workers.

Aug. 2 The union presents contract demands to

General Motors.

Aug. 3 The union presents contract demands to Ford

Aug. 8 Fain angrily tosses contract proposals from

Stellantis in a trash can, citing numerous

concessions that the Chrysler parent is

seeking in labor talks.

Aug. 25 The UAW says 97% of voting members were in

favor of authorizing a strike at the Detroit

Three if an agreement is not reached before

Sept. 14.

Aug. 31 The union says it has filed unfair labor

practice charges with the National Labor

Relations Board (NLRB) against GM and

Stellantis, saying they have refused to

bargain in good faith.

Aug. 31 Ford makes a contract offer to the UAW,

providing hourly employees with 15%

guaranteed combined wage increases, lumpsum

payments and improved benefits over the life

of the contract.

Sept. 1 The NLRB says it will

investigate

the charges filed by the UAW.

Sept 6 The UAW makes a labor contract

counterproposal on economic issues to Ford.

Sept. 7 GM makes counteroffer to the UAW that

includes a 10% wage hike and two additional

3% annual lumpsum payments over four years.

Fain calls the offer “insulting.”

Sept. 8 Stellantis says it offered U.S. hourly

workers a 14.5% wage hike over four years but

no lumpsum payments.

Sept. 8 Fain says UAW

expects to go on strike against

all three automakers the following week if

they do not improve their contract offers.

Sept. 11 Stellantis says it plans to make a new

counteroffer to the UAW after the union made

its own revised offer on Sunday ahead of the

expiration of the current four-year labor

deal Thursday night.

Sept. 13 The UAW rejects counteroffers from the

automakers and outlined plans for strikes

targeting individual U.S. auto plants in what

would be its first-ever simultaneous strike

against the Detroit Three.

Sept. 15 The UAW launches simultaneous strikes that

will halt production of some popular models

at three factories owned by GM, Ford and

Stellantis.

Sept. 16 Negotiators for the UAW and Ford had

“reasonably productive discussions” toward a

new contract, while officials at Stellantis

said a proposal to resume work at an idled

Illinois factory has fallen through.

Sept. 18 UAW says it would announce on

Sept. 22 more plants to strike at if no

serious progress is made in talks.

Sept. 20 UAW says 90 workers went on strike at

Mercedes-supplier ZF’s plant in Alabama.

Sept. 22 UAW will expand its strikes against GM and

Stellantis, but has made real progress in

talks with Ford Motor, the union says.

Sept 24. Ford says despite progress in some areas, it

still has “significant gaps to close” on key

economic issues before it can reach a new

labor agreement with UAW.

Sept. 28 The UAW makes a new counter-proposal to

Stellantis, just one day before it was set to

strike at additional Detroit Three

facilities.

Sept. 29 The UAW will walk off the job at an

additional plant at General Motors and at

Ford, said Fain. The new strike will not

extend to Stellantis, which called before the

scheduled 10 a.m. ET announcement to make

significant changes in its contract proposal.

Oct.2 GM and Ford say they are laying off another

500 workers at four Midwestern plants.

Separately, the UAW confirms it presented a

new contract offer to GM. GM says it has

received the counterproposal “but significant

gaps remain.”

Oct. 3 Ford said it had made a new contract offer to

resolve a 19-day-old targeted strike but said

a dispute over battery plants remained

unresolved. Ford said the new offer boosted

wages for temporary workers, increased

company 401(k) contributions and had further

shrunk time needed to get to the top wage

rate.

Oct. 6 The UAW held off on additional strikes

against Detroit Three auto plants, citing

GM’s unexpected willingness to allow workers

at joint-venture battery plants to be covered

by union contracts.

Oct. 11 GM, Ford and Stellantis all

agreed to raise base wages by between 20% and

23% over a four-year deal. Ford and

Stellantis agreed to reinstate cost-of-living

adjustments, or COLA.

Oct. 12 The UAW

shut down

Ford’s biggest plant globally,

saying the automaker refused to move further

in bargaining. UAW negotiators are

expected to turn their attention

to talks

with Stellantis.

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal and Priyamvada C in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur, Shinjini Ganguli and Devika Syamnath)

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