United Auto Workers Reach Tentative Agreement with Stellantis, Expand Strike with General Motors
The United Auto Workers (UAW) has reached a tentative agreement with Stellantis, the makers of vehicles under the Dodge, Ram, Chrysler, and Jeep brands, the UAW announced on Saturday evening. However, the UAW failed to reach a deal with General Motors (GM) and has subsequently expanded the strike, with nearly 4,000 GM factory workers in Spring Hill, Tennessee, joining the strike.
The expanded strike comes on Day 44 of the UAW’s Stand Up Strike, which started on September 15. UAW President Shawn Fain announced the union’s victory in a video posted to social media, however, he made no mention of the talks with GM or the decision to expand the strike. The expanded reach of the strike was confirmed by a source with knowledge of the situation.
This marks the first time that Fain wasn’t the one announcing the expansion of the strike. The tentative agreement with Stellantis means that the 14,600 UAW members on strike at the company will be returning to work within days, although the ratification process will take weeks to complete. The UAW National Stellantis Council will vote on whether to send the tentative agreement to the broader membership on November 2.
The tentative agreement with Stellantis follows a similar deal reached with Ford earlier last week. The details of the agreement with Stellantis are not yet known, but it is expected to include a minimum 11% raise for all 43,000 of the UAW members at Stellantis, with total raises reaching 25% over the four-and-a-half-year life of the contract. The agreement is also expected to include a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to wages to combat rising prices.
The biggest surprise in the Stellantis deal is that the UAW announced that the company has agreed to reopen a plant in Belvidere, Illinois, which had closed earlier this year. The plant will produce a midsize truck to replace the Jeep Cherokee compact SUV that was previously built there.
Both the Stellantis and Ford deals aim to provide union workers with significant pay and benefits increases to combat inflation caused by the pandemic. If agreements are reached and ratified with the Big Three automakers, it would likely put an end to the longest autoworkers strike in 25 years.
Ford workers have already begun returning to work while the ratification process is underway. This move increased pressure on GM and Stellantis to quickly reach their own deals with the union. The UAW has been conducting targeted strikes at specific plants instead of having all members go on strike. The strike has caused substantial financial losses for the automakers, with GM reporting a loss of $200 million in the first two weeks of the strike, and an additional $600 million in the first three weeks of October.
The strike continues to impact operations and profits for both GM and Stellantis.