(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)
